We welcome Ryan Hockman, former NCAA- University of Kentucky QB and Director of the Score 6 Academy as well as Precision Football.  We are honored that he will be doing a blog for the MYAA as well as speaking at our Youth Football Coaches Clinic in Livonia. (Visit at www.precisionfootball.net)

GO DEEP:

Welcome to Go Deep, a blog about quarterbacking and the passing game.  I would first like to thank the Michigan Youth Athletic Association for giving me the opportunity to share my knowledge of the quarterback position and offensive football.  If you want to know more about me and the work that I do, please visit www.ASAP-Sports.com. 

For the first blog, I thought it would be appropriate to share my thoughts on QB development. Where do you start? The QB positional needs are vast and demanding, so there are many facets to work on.  At the age of 41, I am still learning new things about the position all the time. 

Before attempting to develop yourself, your son or your player as a QB, consider what needs to be learned and then decide if you/he is good enough to be a quarterback.  It is important to know that QBs come in all shapes and sizes.  Some are tall; some are short. Some have outgoing personalities, while others are quiet and reserved. Some earn high marks in school, yet others do not.  Throwing motions and arm strengths vary.  However, successful QBs all share one factor. All successful QBs were able to get a lot of practice reps and game experience because they earned a starting job at some point in their development.  With these reps they learned to foresee openings in pass coverage and they learned to perceive danger and avoid throwing into it.  All good QBs foresee openings and avoid danger.

Assessing Your Abilities

Here is what you ask of yourself if you want to be a starting QB:

1. Can I see a expansive picture in a split second?
2. Can I file away a picture of all the important parts that I will ever see of a football play?
3. Can I precisely repeat a movement once I get a sense for it?
4. Are my natural reactions instant?  Are they as quick as anybody you know?
5. Can my mind retain a concept once it is comprehended?

QBs need to react to danger: the angle a defender is positioned in relation to a receiver or the proximity of a defender in relation to a receiver.  Most QBs – both experienced and novice – wait to throw when they see an opening.  This mentality generates danger in every throw because the QB is throwing to a defender or defenders who are anticipating the throw.  They get a jump on the throw.  The only kind of QB who has success this way is either pinpoint accurate or throws with great velocity.  In other words, it is difficult and those who can pull it off are rare. 

The mentality we need to develop in a QB is similar to batting against a pitcher with a high velocity fastball. To “catch up” to that fastball, the batter has to start his swing with every pitch and then stop the swing if the pitch is out of the strike zone.  Similarly, a QB can be trained to see those “positionings” of pass defenders as danger and to react by stopping or “checking” the throwing motion. 

For the sake of conversation, let’s call the defender positionings as pictures. How quickly can a QB’s eyes register a picture?  Instantly.  How quickly does an infant’s eyes register a new picture and make sense of it?  Not nearly as quickly as the adult.  A young QB is like the infant.  Once he begins seeing more pictures the quicker he spots danger.

How do we teach a QB about danger? Show him lots of pictures; pictures of defender/receiver relationships.  Some are pictures taken right before openings occur.  QBs need to see these pictures so they know what anticipation looks like.  Some of the pictures are of danger. Show these pictures – use literal pictures, use video, and most importantly, show the pictures on the field with real bodies.  In short, the QB needs to see and react to the various ways a defender is positioned in relationship to a receiver.  Once the QB has seen these pictures repeatedly, have him throw into these pictures or avoid throwing into these pictures.  When he throws into these pictures, have him throw the ball away from the defender.  When the danger becomes too great to throw, have the QB reset his feet and throw to another receiver or run the ball toward the LOS.  Sometimes the QB will not perceive the danger and he will throw an interception.  This is the greatest teacher he can ever have.  He will remember every split second of that interception and that memory will help him avoid future danger. Have him do this repeatedly from a static position. Then have him drop back before doing it.  Over and over.  Finally, add receivers and defenders until he is seeing what he will see in a game.

How much can he see? Our eyes “pop” from one “eye-fix” to another.  They do not scan.  They will pop as quickly as you can move your head from spot to spot.

If you are going to win the starting quarterback job, you must take more reps at seeing these pictures than your competition.

Displaying Natural Reactive Ability

To play QB with anticipation is to use your ability to respond quickly to danger.  To play with anticipation is NOT to spin, see, decide, load, step, and throw.  To play on with anticipation is to spin, load, step, see, and throw or check.  You do not think or decide. You stop so that you avoid danger.

You do not decide to load and throw.  You load and start to throw.  That is how to be ahead of the defenders.  Then, you avoid danger by stopping your throw and either re-loading for another throw or by tucking the ball and running upfield. To get ahead of the defender, you play fast and force the defenders to move, then you react to their movement.  You are in front and the defenders are catching up.  You are anticipating, they are reacting.  When the QB anticipates, the defense is not.  If the defense can anticipate, the QB throws interceptions.

What if the QB has Physical Limitations?

If he is short and throws with average velocity, he needs to learn to threaten the whole field from the shotgun. This calls for checking into good running plays.  The short QB also needs to become a great play action faker so he can create separation from the linemen and have sufficient time before rushers restrict his vision.

The farther a QB is from linemen, the easier it is to see.  Try this exercise.  Have someone hold up a hand in front of you about an inch from your face.  How much can you see?  Then, have the hand back up to 3, 4, 5 inches from your face.  You can see much more.  The farther you are from the blockers, the easier it is to see.

Slowing the Game Down

Pictures move fast.  The higher the level of play, the faster the defense.  The first few times you face a defense, you will not be able to see much of the action.  It is mostly a mass of bodies moving in a blur.

Bit by bit, you will see more.  The game seems to slow down.  Seeing more has more  to do with repetitions than any special ability or intelligence.  Master Speed-Chess players are successful because they have memorized more board positions than chess players that are a notch below.  In fact, one scientist conducted a study to see if these master speed-chess players had faster reactive ability than the normal person.  What he found was that they did not.  They simply were able to recognize board positions due to the thousands of boards they had seen.  It has to do with the process of slowing the game down.  Amazingly, the game will continue to slow down.  You will see more and more as you operate in the position.  That is why some QBs remain in the NFL for years – even as back ups. 

So how do you get to that level?  You get as many reps you can, and you watch when someone else is taking reps. You know that the game is slowing down, and you try to help it along.   Every time you look into a relationship of receivers and defenders, you will see more.

Having the Right Mindset

Starting QBs improved because they were able to become a starter early on and took the most reps.

There are different types of athletes in the positions (tall, short, those who have a sound throwing motion, some who throw sidearm) because different types won starting jobs at some point in their development.  The biggest factor in your success is going to be winning or retaining a starting job so you get those all-important reps.  So, how do you become the starter?

Outwork your opponent.  Work patiently until your competition plateaus. Drills for quarterbacking are so difficult to organize that they are rarely done.  You need to be the one who organizes them and does them. 

For most quarterbacks there is only one place for you to play.  The back-up may never see the field. You are confronted with having to commit completely to the quest for a goal you might never reach. 

How do you handle that? Risk it.  However, by taking the risk, you have another goal that you can achieve.  The goal is to start… somewhere, on some field.  Maybe the field becomes something else… an office, a science lab, an operating room, a courtroom.  In committing completely to training to be a quarterback, you will be developing traits that will carry you through life.  You will develop your leadership skills, composure, perseverance, and much more.

Great QBs take risks, and are not afraid of the results – good or bad.  Losing the QB competition is not to fail.  You are merely learning more about yourself and preparing for another goal.  Go for it! 

Do not let anyone dissuade you from trying.  Parents can be over-protective, teachers are often pragmatists, while your peers want you to stay at their level.  Coaches are notorious for being wrong. 

About six years ago, a tall, gangly, awkward kid came to me asking if I would help him learn to play QB.  He had been the back-up for his 6^th grade team and felt he had some ability to play the position.  I began working with him.  The next season he did not play a single snap at the QB position.  His 7^th grade coach told him that with work he could become a pretty good high school tight end.  He told him to forget about playing QB.  He wasn’t agile enough.  He continued training with me after that season.

In 8^th grade he had the same coach and the same result.  His parents asked me if I thought QB training was worth his time.  I said we will never know if he stops now.  He kept training.  In 9^th grade he started for the junior varsity squad.  As a 10^th grader, he started on the JV again.  As a junior, on the varsity team he shared time with another QB and barely played at the end of the season.  His family kept believing and he kept training.  To increase his chances, his family moved to Knoxville, Tennessee.  Heading into his senior season, he took all the reps in the 7 on 7 leagues and tournaments.  He started every game during the season.  Finally, last week, the University of Massachusetts offered Mike Wegzyn a full scholarship to play QB for them.  In the face of all odds, he only listened to people who told him he could.  He tuned out the people who told him he could not or should not.  He went for it and he got it!

Once again, thanks to the MYAA for the opportunity to share my thoughts on the QB position and the passing game.  Next week, I will be blogging about throwing the football.

Ryan Hockman