Posted on Wednesday, 27th May 2009 by RicMoonII
On any level, from PeeWee to professional, the quarterback is the pivotal player in a football team, especially as the competition level increases; at the professional level, the difference between a good team and one that can go deep in the playoffs is usually the play of their quarterbacks, and training quarterbacks to play well is an important part of your job as coach of the team.
Basic quarterback drills are always important, but there especially important at a young age. This is when habits are formed and basic skills are remembered for the long haul as hardened techniques.
The first is ball handling. Have your passer take a football in his hand, and move it in a circle over his head; the goal here is to build muscle memory for how the football moves with your player’s body. Have him move it around his shoulders, around his back, and between his knees and legs. Have an assistant watch the quarterback and call for change ups, to simulate the trick of keeping ahold of the ball when circumstances change, like when a defender is rushing straight at him.
You can make this more challenging by having another player or a coach walking around the player or running at the player and trying to swipe the ball out of his hands. The purpose of this drill is to instill ball control and comfort with handling the ball.
Moving up to the next drill you will have to teach your quarterback the proper way to hand the ball off. Line up as the running back behind your quarterback and have him simulate taking a snap, turning around and handing the ball to you. Be sure to show him how to hold the ball during the hand off process and where it needs to be placed, in your stomach where your hands and arms are ready to grasp it.
Moving from the handoff you can then practice more difficult hand offs and tosses, such as reverses, sweeps and pitches. These are harder and take more time to learn, but it’s all about getting the practice in. Be sure to do each movement a sufficient amount of times, as your quarterback will need solid reps in to build that muscle memory and mental aptitude to be able to confidently perform each move when it’s game time.
Throwing the ball accurately is more important than throwing the ball with force, and this drill will help instill accuracy while also building strength. Have two of your quarterbacks each be on one knee about ten yards apart from one another. Without ever standing up or moving from side to side, one quarterback picks up a football from the turf and with proper techniques throws it to the other player. They alternate in this fashion without ever getting up which forces accuracy and teaches sound technique.
The goal is that neither player should have to get up and move to catch any of the passes or make any of the throws. You’ll be emphasizing accuracy and teaching solid techniques, while building core strength and range of motion. Each player should complete two or three dozen passes, then switch knees and do it again. After a few practice sessions, have the players be down on both knees when performing this drill.
Tags: fitness, football, Football Fitness, health, Quarterback drills, Quarterback training, sports, sports_and_recreations
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