As the OC and QBs coach at Leavenworth High School, I have a base core philosophy regarding our quarterbacks and how I want them to play. I will divide this article into four parts:
1. What we look for in a QB and how our expectations came about.
2. Statistics for our QBs.
3. Specific individual/group drills.
4. Coverage reads/adaptations.
I. What we look for in a QB and
how our expectations came about.
Every coach looks for a leader at QB and we are no different. We want a player that is:
• Coachable.
• Competitive.
• An accurate passer.
• A hybrid player.
Generally speaking, being competitive and coachable go hand-in-hand. As a former head coach for eleven years, I learned from experience that coachability is many times more valuable than pure talent. Not that talent isn’t important, but coachability is imperative.
I have coached the wishbone, I and power I, the double wing, and pure zone scheme offenses. My experiences are as varied as most of us who have coached for any length of time. In each of these offenses, you are better served to have a physically dominant offense and a QB that isn’t going to put the ball in the air often. That is perfectly fine if that’s what you believe in, but hopefully your team doesn’t get behind by too much or it will be extremely hard to play catch-up with any of these offensive schemes. I have found that, through these various offensive systems, there really aren’t too many teams that can consistently “overpower” opponents week-in and week-out. We quickly found that we needed an edge. I have always been interested in wide-open offenses and we began visiting with other high school and college programs trying to find that edge. It is our belief that the spread offense gives us the edge we need. It is also our belief that in order to have a successful spread offense, we need a competitor at QB.
A TRUE HYBRID
We wanted a player who had good hips and legs and when needed could become “speed in space”. We needed a RB/WR/QB type of player who could be successful at any of these positions. He also had to be an accurate passer but didn’t have to have a cannon for a arm. We have been fortunate to have such players when I was in my previous position at St. Thomas Aquinas High School (KS) and now at Leavenworth High School.
II. 2008 Stats For Our QB
To illustrate my point as to our QB’s effectiveness, here is our 2008 season statistics for our offense (13 games):
Passing Offense 3,380 yards
Total offense 4,482 yards
Offense per game average 372 yards
Individual QB statistics 153/235 24TD’s-8 INT’s
Leading receiver 75 receptions/1,287 yards (K-State leader)
III. Specific Individual/Group Drills
We have daily, individual, and group drills that will help with the skills required of the position.
A. Ball Handling Drill
This is a basketball drill that has great carryover for football. Each QB will circle the football around his head 3X, then waist 3X, then both legs, right leg, left leg, figure 8 and then ‘Pistol Pete’s.’ Based on the Pete Maravich basketball drill, the QBs hold the ball between their legs with one hand on the front and the other hand behind their legs holding the ball from the back. The QBs then switch hand placement quickly and the front hand now becomes the back hand without letting the ball touch the ground. A coaching point is to remind players we want hands snapped on the ball and the ball should be grabbed at each contact point.
2. Ball Tug of War
With a partner, each player uses one hand to grip the ball as hard as possible and tries to “tug” the ball away from his partner. We do this with both the throwing and non-throwing hand. We want to work on the power grip on the ball.
3. Knee Throws
This is done with the right knee down, then the left knee down, and then both knees down. Players partner up and get 10 yards apart. The WR should always give a target for the QB to hit as we expect accuracy at all times. The football should be up in a high position, open, and the correct throwing technique used. When drilling on both knees, we work on the transfer of weight and have QBs fall forward when throwing and then push themselves back up.
4. Hip Warm-Ups
QBs have a partner, face in opposite directions and have their “feet in concrete”. While throwing, they do not move their feet. After five throws facing one direction, they both switch and face the opposite direction. This is a great drill for warming up the hips.
5. Speed Throws
A coach plays the center. We have a QB and another player as the WR simulating an out, hitch, and fade. I will snap the footballs very quickly so that the QBs don’t have the time to find the laces so they must throw quickly and accurately.
6. Scramble Drill
We will line up with a DE, SS, ILB and then give the QB various looks and rushes. The QB will work on moving right, moving left, sliding, ducking under, stepping over, stepping up, tucking and running and throwing. I will shout out the commands. From scouting and game film, we can show any number of potential blitz reads. The QBs must not retrace their steps.
IV. Coverage Recognition
If you are going to make a commitment to throw the football, your QB must be able to recognize the coverages that we tend to see from high school defenses. With all of the new looks of today’s defenses, we really want to know two things:
• How many safeties are there and are they giving us a blitz read?
• Are the corners in man or zone coverage?
I don’t want to fill my QB’s head with too much because we never want him to have “paralysis by analysis”. If the secondary is taught to read eyes, then so can we. The defense must sooner or later show their technique.
One thing we stress not only to our QBs but to all of our players is that we will never ask them to win a game by themselves. This alleviates a lot of stress on them. We also let our players know that we can’t show them every possible situation. They will have to rely on instinct and learn as they go. We can, however, throughout the summer and pre-season, show them many variations so that they will have a mental library on how to respond to different situations. We also review and preview coverages and plays daily.
About the Author: Eddie Minor is the OC and quarterbacks coach at Leavenworth High School (KS). He previously was the offensive coordinator at St. Thomas Aquinas (KS) and the head coach at Washington High School in Kansas City. While coaching at St Thomas Aquinas, his teams played in the state semifinals in six out of seven years and in the 2008 championship game. Minor is a graduate of the University of Kansas.