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AFM Magazine


Quarterback Play – Focusing on Strengths

by: Josh Gehring
Quarterbacks Coach, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
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“A leader needs to know his strengths as a carpenter knows his tools, or as a physician knows the instruments at his disposal. What great leaders have in common is that each truly knows his or her strengths – and can call on the right strength at the right time. This explains why there is no definitive list of characteristics that describes all leaders.”  - Donald O. Clifton

As a football coach, it’s very easy to get caught up in the strategy and design of a practice week and game plan. Our competitive nature drives us to find the perfect play for the perfect situation in order to beat our opponents. Often, however, we can lose sight of our primary responsibilities which actually enable us to be successful in the first place – the development of our players.


     I believe that everything you do as a coach, you should have a philosophy for it. Much of our success hinges solely on the production of the quarterback position. What then do you do when your quarterback is new or doesn’t have a lot of experience?  In other words, what is your philosophy behind the tutoring and development of a new quarterback?

How to Build Confidence Within Your Quarterback

1. Focus on Strengths

    Determine what kind of QB he is. I believe this is one of, if not the most important questions to answer. Many of us as coaches spend countless hours putting together an offensive strategy and what we want to do from game to game and season to season.  We go to clinics, visit coaching staffs, and call our buddies for that new wrinkle or new package that can give us the advantage. Often, however, we focus more on content rather than determining if our quarterback can actually execute it.  It may have the perfect design, but if it doesn’t align within the strength of your quarterback, it’s just another play.

    One of the ways you can easily determine a quarterback’s strengths is by breaking down his ability into one of three specific categories – drop back, play-action, and quick game. 

A drop back quarterback is one who can naturally see the field.  He understands how to read coverage and take advantage of leverage.  He has incredible accuracy, pocket presence, and performs best with his feet underneath him.

A play-action quarterback may struggle with accuracy at times but when in rhythm can throw with precision.  He has the ability to make simple reads and come off primary routes to his second option or check down.

A quick game quarterback is one who needs things minimized and simplified – minimal reads, mostly determined pre-snap.  This kind of quarterback is typically good with his feet and disciplined in his drops.  He understands rhythm and the timing of his throws.

    There may obviously be some overlap from one category to the next, but for the most part you will begin to see what your quarterback can do well and what he can’t.  Once you understand what your quarterback can do then you can begin building your offense around his strengths.  If your quarterback is not a drop back quarterback but performs well within your play-action packages this is where your investment needs to begin.  For example, if we want to throw the football around 30 times a game, I know that 25-30% of those plays need to be reserved for third and medium and third and long downs. This is around 7-9 plays.  These situations I would consider more ‘drop back’ oriented so taking into account that we can run the same play 2-3 times or more we probably only need to carry around 5-6 ‘drop back’ plays.  This leaves around 20 plays for us to develop around our quarterback’s strengths.

    If he’s a play-action quarterback, then the majority should be play-action oriented plays.  Once we add a few screens and high percentage concepts we’ve easily fulfilled our allotment needed.  This may seem like a simplistic way of thinking, but as you decrease the amount of plays that your quarterback doesn’t perform well and increase the amount that he can perform, confidence and production will increase.  
 
2. Emphasize Rhythm

    A specific area where you can build confidence within a quarterback is play selection and design.  Once you understand his strengths you can build within your game plan a confidence building approach. For lack of a better analogy, just as a child learns how to walk, a quarterback develops his confidence.  As a child begins to take his first steps his excitement level is high and he bravely but carelessly bounds forward, many times resulting in an abrupt collapse on the floor. The effects can be frustrating, because although he is close to walking, with each fall his confidence cracks and relies once again to shrinking to all fours in order to crawl to his destination.  As you begin to help by holding both hands and then eventually only one, his steps begin to move more slowly and better calculated. With each new opportunity, confidence is reestablished and his development begins to move forward.

    It is no different with a new or inexperienced quarterback. Building rhythm with your quarterback is like taking baby steps with his development. I believe that many of these ideas can begin as early as the junior high levels. Identifying his strengths, selecting a small package, and allowing time for mastering the appropriate skills can produce long-term benefits as they begin to mature.  There are two specific aspects to consider when establishing rhythm - 1) pass drops, and 2) play calls.

Pass Drops.  I think one of the most important fundamentals that you establish early is how the quarterback should drop. We spend most of our time at the University-Wisconsin Whitewater during our individual drills working on the rhythm and routine of our pass drops. From our one-step drop to our play-action half-boot each practice week we’ll cover all the drops that we carry in our offense. Within each drop there are a set of standards; one drop may allow for a hitch step, another we may want to double-stick, and another may be thrown on the last step.  Either way, we know exactly when our release point should be.  For example, if we are using our three-step drop, I know that the football can be released in less than 1.5 seconds.  Because of our rhythm, every quarterback we have throws at the same time. This takes a large amount of work and discipline but our production increases because our receiving corps knows when and how to expect the football.  This builds consistency within our passing game and produces confidence within our quarterback.

Play calls.  One the first things that I try to identify within preparation of a game week is what our quarterback’s feel most comfortable with.  This may stem from specific questions I ask or conversations we have or may simply come from evaluating how our quarterback is doing within practice with our concepts. Whatever the case, I make sure to mark those plays on our call sheet. Whenever I feel he is out of rhythm, we can go immediately to those “rhythm passes” in hopes of reestablishing his confidence.  

    Finally, take time scripting your practice and game plan to allow for success early.  I believe one of the things that has really helped ensure confidence in our quarterbacks is creating an opening script with plays we know he can execute at an 80%-90% rate.  These calls may be paired with runs to force him to make decisions and see the field or may simply be called by themselves simply to establish his throwing rhythm early.  Either way, scripting high completion percentage plays early within the practice or game can build confidence in a quarterback. 

3. Keep It Simple

Less is more. The fact remains, especially with young quarterbacks, you’ve got to pull back on the amount that you give them. I’ve visited with numerous coaches on this subject and many have their own ‘magic number’ that they believe they can coach, practice, and rep for a given week. Some carry anywhere from 90-100 plays within their game plan while others carry only 55-60.  I’m not sure what the perfect number should be, but I have always leaned more toward the idea that ‘less is more’ even with experienced quarterbacks. The challenge is to identify what your quarterback can execute and what is needed to carry in order to win the game.  Studying this part of your offense is one of the essential steps in the development of your quarterback. Each spring , we look at the previous season’s average plays per game, first downs, third-and-short, third-and-medium, and third-and-long plays.  Although it isn’t science, it does provide some clarity toward evaluating how much is needed.

4. Define Progressions

    In order to build confidence within your quarterback, eliminating uncertainty must be of the utmost priority. One method for doing so is defining exactly how your quarterback should identify coverage and an opponent’s defense. This can have several benefits but most importantly it gives your quarterback a systematic approach to determine coverage and proper reads, as well as giving you the ability to see the game through the eyes of the quarterback. In other words, if you understand the process by which your quarterback goes through during his pre- and post-snap read progressions it allows you to better communicate why and how they should attack an opponent.

Safeties, Corners, Leverage, Line, Hot.   Before our freshmen or incoming quarterbacks arrive for fall camp, they need to have memorized the following sequence; Safeties, Corners, Leverage, Line, Hot. This is our pre-snap read progression. Once they arrive, we spend much of our time in the beginning teaching our quarterbacks how to watch film with this process as well as tutoring them on the practice field.  Through repetition and constantly rehearsing the sequence they begin to formulate positive pre-snap read habits.  With each category of the read progression there are questions to answer.  When they get proficient at using it, they can go through it within a matter of a few seconds.  Here’s an example of what they may ask themselves:

Safeties:
•  Is the middle of field open or closed?
•  What are possibilities of coverage? (Open = 2, 4, etc.; Closed = 1, 3, etc.)

Corners:
•  At what depth are the corners aligned?
•  What is their body demeanor? (Looking in towards quarterback,            staring at receivers, etc.)
•  What leverage do we have?

Leverage:
•  How are the outside linebackers aligned?
•  What is their body demeanor? Looking in, look at WR, creeping, etc.
•  What leverage do we have?

Line:
•  What front are they in?
•  Is anything obscure?

Hot:
•  Is anybody in a position to bring pressure?
•  Who do we need to be most concerned about?


Create Decisiveness.  When installing a new concept or reviewing a concept’s read progression, clearly define the expectations and leave no gray areas. You want to be sure to leave no uncertainty within your passing game.  Additionally, give your quarterback an out. Whether check down, throwaway, or scramble, articulate exactly what he should do when things break down.  One suggestion is “1-2-Go!”  Check your first option and then your second. If both are covered, run!  By simply clarifying what he should do given the situation, he can produce decisiveness and unforced errors.

    Preparing a new or inexperienced quarterback can be one of the biggest challenges that a coach can face. Having a clear philosophy of how to prepare and build their confidence early will advance their development as they continue to gain experience.  The Chinese phrase ‘Mushin’ translates into, “Without conscious thought.”  It is a term associated with their ancient warriors as a state of mind where they can perform and execute with emotionless focus. They rely not on what they think should be their next move but rather act and react toward the situation or opponent as it develops.  In football terms, the game has slowed down and they are able to play fast and make good decisions with great confidence.






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