Junior Year Box Set

Kent is an electrifying player on the field. He’s big, athletic, and fits into the Cameron Newton playing style. He has a big arm and the ball comes out hot. Kent needs to work on having some touch on the ball. He is the perfect college quarterback who can beat you with both his arm and his feet. He is very much a work in progress but has a huge ceiling. Kent just needs to work on his fundamentals as a passer to make it to the NFL.

Matt Long was six-two, 196 pounds, and ran a 4.8 forty. He was ranked as the number four quarterback, the tenth overall recruit in the country, and had committed to USC.

Long is a gifted signal-caller and will be an elite quarterback at the next level. He shows poise in the pocket and never seems to get rattled. Long is also one of the toughest kids around and doesn’t shy away from contact. He throws with touch and accuracy. He is the best pure pocket passer in the class. Long is very good at his read progressions, making him extremely hard to defend against.

It sounded like I had my hands full this afternoon.

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They called out that quarterbacks, receivers, and cornerbacks were to go to the main football field. There were sixteen quarterbacks. I was surprised when I wasn’t put with the three Elite 11 quarterbacks, and Mike was. They put me into a group that included my backup, Trent Buchannan; Washington’s starter, Gabe Verity; and St. Joe’s starter, Hack Eaton.

They divided the field up into four sections of twenty yards each. Michigan had us line up on a hash mark and begin throwing easy down-and-outs to the near sideline. I think they wanted everyone to gain a little confidence. They then moved us to the middle of the field to make the throws longer. Finally, we moved to the far hash and had to throw the ball three-quarters of the field to the sideline.

I could tell I had a little rust and was floating the ball. To be honest, I was still more accurate than the other three. The down-and-out to the far side of the field can be a difficult throw; you need to get a little heat on the ball to get it there. Throwing intermediate passes downfield is easier. You had to put some heat on it because the defensive backs were playing the receiver tight. That meant you were at risk of throwing an interception that’s run back for a touchdown.

Coach Title, the offensive coordinator for Michigan, was running our drill. He was just watching, not saying much. I soon forgot about him.

Hack struggled the most, and it was apparent he had a problem with his throwing motion. Between turns, I took him aside.

“Do you mind if I give you a couple of pointers?” I asked.

“Are you kidding? Of course I want help.”

“Throwing a football is an individualized skill, and no two quarterbacks do it exactly the same. With that said, there are a few things we all have to do to throw the ball accurately. The first is grip the ball correctly; you’re doing it wrong,” I said.

I held a ball up as if I were going to throw and slid my index finger between the ball and the palm of my hand.

“You need to have some separation from the ball,” I said, and took the ball out of my hand and held it back up. “You want a comfortable grip with the ball between your thumb and index finger. When you throw, keep the tip up. As you release it, the last part of your hand you want touching the ball is your index finger to give it rotation. If you leave it in your palm, you get the wobble.”

Hack skipped his turn so he could watch me throw. I’d warmed up now and was putting some zip on the ball. Mine were no longer floating out there because I was now throwing with a purpose. Hack said throwing it that way felt weird, but he couldn’t argue with the results. His next three balls were all better than what he’d been throwing earlier.

Over the next hour, I spent time with each of the other quarterbacks, helping them improve. I was happy to see that Trent had gotten over his attitude and accepted my coaching. As I worked with them, I found I was also throwing better because I was focused on setting a good example.