Junior golfer Ryan Brehm is different.

At 6-foot-4, 205 pounds, he looks more like a lost John L. Smith recruit than a golfer. He's musically gifted, playing two instruments. He claims to be the "goofiest kid you'll probably ever meet" and admits to not having a whole lot in common with his teammates off the course.

And there's one other thing that's different about Brehm — his golf game.

"The kid has 192 ball speed, which basically means he's hitting it farther than anybody on (the PGA) tour," MSU head coach Mark Hankins said.

But Brehm doesn't try to be a "Happy Gilmore" freak show. He knows his shot off the tee requires a passport and carries an in-flight movie. His ability to resist unleashing his powerful shot says more about his golf game than any distance from the tee.

"Most people see the length he hits the ball," Hankins said. "But I can tell you he has a great short game.

"He's very golf savvy. He's willing to hit a two-iron off the tee if he has to and lay up when he needs to. He's very thought out when he plays."

Brehm, who recently received honors as Big Ten Co-Golfer of the Week and Golfweek Player of the Week for his performance at last week's Boilermaker Invitational at Purdue, was targeted by MSU at a young age.

The Spartans' recruiting efforts have paid off, and in a big way. Brehm is MSU's all-time leader with a 73.25 career scoring average and appears to be headed to the professional ranks, even though he won't yet say what his future plans are.

But Brehm's humility about discussing the future doesn't surprise Hankins.

"He takes it day by day," Hankins said. "He does the best that he can to get better at whatever he didn't do good the week before.

"We stress to them every week that the most important tournament is this next tournament coming up, and for him that's the truth."

Although Brehm has worked constantly at improving his golf game through a work effort that would put most to shame, his leadership skills weren't always as polished. Now that he is an upperclassman, he has noticed the younger players look up to him, something he wasn't necessarily prepared for.

But, just like his golf game, he has made marked improvements in the leadership category, too.

"Ryan, for sure, he's definitely a leader in all areas of our team," senior Matt Harmon said. "We had leaders when he came into this team and then last year, the whole season we were kind of just lost and nobody knew what was really going on.

"But this year, he's stepped in really nice. He's helped when he needed to help, he's stayed out of things when he needed to stay out of things. I think that's key in a leader."

As much as Brehm leads by his example on the course, his role as the team oddball has been important in boosting team morale and cohesiveness.

"My niche is to try and allow my teammates to laugh at me when they need to," Brehm said, pausing to laugh.

Still, Brehm's golf game is nothing to laugh about.

"He learns very quickly," Hankins said. "He takes his instructions from a lot of guys and he kind of molds it into his own game plan.

"He has collected this data and he's trying to move forward every week. I think for sure he has the ability to do it on the PGA Tour."