being handed the cranial drill 

To be given the sole responsibility of an important task or mission. Usually, this applies to situations where an experienced master of their craft passes on the mantle to a rookie with little to no prior experience. This rookie is often attributed to be "built different".

Doctors rushed to get this very important patient to the operating table as quickly as possible. The top neurosurgeon at NYU Langone informed the others that the graduate student will be joining them. The others who collectively represented 200 years of experience, panicked as they argued that this wasn’t a place and time for a rookie to shadow them. “Oh, he won’t be shadowing us”, as the student was being handed the cranial drill.

being handed the cranial drill by Hotwhip8 September 8, 2020