THE QUARTERBACK POSITION is undoubtedly the most scrutinized position on the team. The QB is repeatedly analyzed — by every coach, player and fan. To become a successful QB, the player himself must understand, from the onset, what is expected of him. He must take it upon himself to analyze the things he must improve upon to be successful in leading his team. By identifying his areas of “needed improvement,” he can enhance his ability and performance.
Toughness, consistency, and repetition are things that all coaches talk to their QBs about on a regular basis. While these are certainly three critical factors that may determine the effectiveness of your QB, these terms and concepts are too vague and intangible to be of any real use. Compiling an extensive checklist for QB success would take many volumes of this publication. But to make these concepts more concise, we’ve developed three key points that will provide a solid foundation for enhancing your QB’s ability to lead.
POINT NO. 1: Throwing The Football Is A “Total” Body Movement.
Entirely too much emphasis is placed on the “arm strength” of a player in determining his ability to play the QB position. While possessing a strong arm is certainly a plus, this is only part of the equation for physical success in a QB. Learning to throw the football effectively and efficiently involves the entire body, from head to toe.
The following factors will enhance the power of your QB as a passer:
O Leg Strength: As in all athletics, lower body strength is a tremendous asset. For a QB throwing the football, enhancing his leg strength provides him with a solid base and enables him to generate more power from the ground up.
O Mechanics: Improving a QB’s throwing mechanics is a total body effort. From foot movement to head position, the throwing mechanics of a QB encompasses his entire body.
O Hip Flexibility: Flexibility is often overlooked by young athletes, but we as coaches know that flexibility is often more important than strength — especially as it pertains to injury prevention. Flexibility must become a priority to improve performance on the field.
In throwing the football, a QB’s hip flexibility allows him more efficient hip rotation. A more powerful and efficient movement in the hips allows more power to be put into the throwing motion.
O Abdominal Strength: This is another area of training that doesn’t receive enough recognition as being a key element of QB success. The strength generated from the “core” of the body is critical in determining the power generated in the throwing motion. One great thing about developing this area of the body is that your QB can work on strengthening his abs at home, on an every-day basis, on his own.
O Hip, Torso Rotation: Like a batter at the plate in baseball, the QB can increase “hip power” as a passer through the momentum created by his hip and torso rotation. This can be developed through increased abdominal strength, hip flexibility and fine-tuning the mechanics of the throwing motion.
O Ball Position: At the QB’s “release point,” his elbow should be above the shoulder. This creates a “longer lever” — which in turn — generates more power in the throwing motion. Everything leading up to that point varies from one QB to the next. While it’s not necessary to insist that all your QBs look exactly alike in form and throwing technique, you want to ensure efficiency of the throwing motion.
O Arm Strength: While this aspect of playing the QB position is not the most important element of a successful QB, it still helps. By paying proper attention to the mechanics of the throwing motion, increasing overall body strength and flexibility, you can turn a QB with average arm strength into a more powerful passer.
POINT NO. 2: The QB Must Be Your “Coach On The Field.”
Becoming a great QB requires an even greater commitment to the mental aspect of the game than the physical side. Sure, the QB must execute the plan on the field come game time, but the mental and emotional “intangibles” possessed by the best QBs are already instilled prior to kickoff.
Through meetings, hard work, dedication and lots of practice repetitions, your QB should nearly be able to “read this coach’s mind” come game day.
To play this position and play it well takes a great commitment outside of normal practice time. Time spent studying the game with the coaches and “playing the game through” in his mind beforehand are all things the most successful QBs do.
The QB must know and understand the assignments of all the offensive players on the field. If a play goes bad, your QB must be able to tell you exactly what went wrong. While you should never tolerate a QB to “lay the blame” on someone else for a busted play, it’s a tremendous asset when your QB possesses that sixth sense with a great feel for the game.
QBs must be responsible for knowing all the routes of the receivers, the offensive line’s protection schemes and the running back’s protection and/or route assignments on each play. Not only does this allow him to make corrections during the course of the game; it also demonstrates to his teammates an ability to lead the team. This is a great responsibility, yet no aspect of the QB position earns him more respect from teammates and coaches than a QB who truly comprehends the offense in its entirety.
In addition to knowing the full scope of your offensive scheme, a QB must recognize the defensive front and secondary coverage being presented by the opponent. This is beneficial for a number of reasons.
- Knowing Which Plays Work Best. A QB who knows how and when to get your team into a better play is a coach’s best play-caller.
- Ability To Audible. Not all coaches have the courage to allow it, but our staff believes it’s necessary that the QB be able to audible into a more advantageous play call at the line of scrimmage.
- Recognizes Defensive Weak Points. A QB who understands defensive fronts and coverages allows you to take advantage of what the defense is giving you. Prepare your game plan to automatically allow your QB to check to certain runs and passes when the defense presents a particular look. If this philosophy is used properly, oftentimes the best play calls never come from the sideline.
Preparation Is Key
A QB who prepares each week through his study of game film and scouting reports of an opponent gives you the advantage of having a player who understands why you are attacking the defense in the way you are.
As in all offensive packages, there are runs against certain defensive fronts and passes that we prefer to utilize against particular coverages. We build these “favorites” into our game plan each week and make sure they are a part of our practice plan each day leading up to game day.
A well-prepared QB is often confident and this confidence becomes contagious to the rest of his teammates.
Calming Influence
Probably the greatest aspect of having a QB as your “coach on the field” is the role he plays as the calming voice and fiery motivator to the rest of the team. Just as a coach must calm his team down when things get out of control and motivate his team when morale is low, your QB must be able to do the same thing on the spur of the moment. There are not enough time outs available for a coach to talk to his team each time they need to be calmed down or fired up, therefore the QB must recognize what the situation calls for and deliver the right message at the opportune moment.
Stress to your QBs about becoming this type of leader within their own personality. Not all players who play the QB position are boisterous or outspoken. In fact, some successful QBs tend to be high-strung themselves. It’s more important that the QB be who he is, yet be able to calm the troops and rally the forces when the time is right.
POINT NO. 3: A QB Must Maintain The 3 “P’s” — “Pride,” “Poise” and “Precision.”
‰ Pride: The QB position is the most difficult position to master. This is not the toughest position physically, but it is certainly the most demanding mentally. Anyone who does not believe this has never coached the QB position.
Our team demands a great deal of commitment out of our QBs. Because of this, we want the players who play position to show great pride in what they do.
‰ Poise: Emphasize to your QBs from Day 1 “to never let them see you sweat.” What you are referring to, obviously, is for your QBs to never outwardly display their anger or frustration to anyone on the field, or even to teammates off the field. QBs — or any team leader, for that matter — who show frustration or lose their cool will lose the confidence of their teammates and “build” momentum for the opposition. This is tricky however, as it presents somewhat of a double-standard, because you want your QB to be the first to congratulate and celebrate your successes on the football field. As a competitor (player or coach), the most difficult thing to do is maintain poise in the adverse conditions.
‰ Precision: Timing is a critical element for success in football. In our team’s passing game, timing is of the utmost importance. A mistimed or misplaced throw leads to interceptions and incompletions. Often, other coaches look at our passing game and ask us how we find the time to teach and implement so much detail into the passing attack. The time-consuming part of our passing game is not the installation of the schemes, it is the thousands of repetitions necessary to build the cohesion and timing required between the offensive players for efficient execution.