QB Drill and Thoughts on Practice

QB Drill - Quick Feet

Get a line on the practice field. Get the ball shoulder high, ready to throw. On your call have them quickly patter their feet back and forth on both sides of the line, rapid fire. Do this with them in various positions, stepping over it in different ways. When you show hands they must immediately throw the ball to you (or other QB or manager). Must be able to have quick feet and set quickly, always under control.

Brief Thoughts for Good Practices and Prep:

1. Simplify your handouts and playbooks. Can you fit everything that each position has to know onto two sides of a sheet of paper? What about one side? Double spaced?

I read an article where Norm Chow said at BYU he created a big power-point presentation about his offense and put it on CD and distributed it (which is already light-years ahead of what other coaches are doing). He realized it was "a bit long", so he put in a slide at the end with his phone number saying, "If anyone is still awake and reading this last slide, you can call Coach Chow for a $100 reward." According to his story, one player called: the all-american center who was also a 4.0 student.

The point? If even power-point presentations are too long, don't even think about dumping a big playbook on the kids. As a colleague and friend of mine used to say, "playbooks are just something for one coach to turn to another and say 'look how big my playbook is'. The kids rarely get anything from them."

2. Explain principles, gameplans, rules, and even some techniques in the classroom, not on the practice field. Time on the practice field is poorly spent with everyone standing in their equipment trying to listen to you speak (assuming they can even hear you). This may mean that you are not spending enough time in the classroom. If you coach high school, the time right after school before practice is best. The kids are in learning mode (whether they admit they are or not). After practice (an 8-10 hour day depending on school and practice length) they will not focus well.

3. In reference to point one: the field is for reps, reps, reps. Spend some time walking through the things you've installed in the classroom, but quickly pick up the pace--always stay moving--and just rep out the kinks, always demanding great technique.

4. Use the time before and after practice to hone the little things that aren't necessary for the full team, such as QB center snaps and certain timing for the passing game.