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Hey Rifle, a request

banker6796

Platinum Buffalo
Jan 15, 2007
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Can you go watch some highlights of our new QB committ, Chase Litton (if you aren't already familiar with him) and give me your thoughts? I hadn't really seen much of him until the signing event at Marshall this evening and his release point just looks awfully funky to me. Looks like he's pushing the ball out from shoulder height instead of having a nice high release point.

I'll admit that I know little about QB mechanics, but it looks like he needs some work, at least to me.
 
he is tall, so his release point isnt a huge issue for me. he does push the ball, but being 6'6, having a lower release point shouldnt be a problem except for taking away that advantage of being a tall QB. what is an issue is that he never gets on top of his throws; meaning, throughout his entire motion, his hand is always underneath the ball. that limits the power he can get on the ball as he doesnt get all his arm power into it. an advantage is that it gives him a quicker release than normal for having long arms, but that isnt worth the trade-off. it not only could create future arm problems, but it also tends to have a ball takeoff or float high. of course, you wont see that in a highlight video. a good view of him never getting on top of the ball is at the 2:54 mark in his HUDL video. the down marker says 2nd down in the background.

because he doesnt get on top of the ball at all during his motion, he does a good job of keeping the ball above his elbow line. it appears that he has been coached to get the ball into the L position, but in doing so, he neglects other important parts of mechanics. perhaps, he may have been overcoached or he overcoached himself on focusing on that L position. if you watch his HUDL video, you will notice two big things: 1) his hand is never on top of the ball. from the beginning of his motion until he releases it, his palm is always underneath the ball 2) he has no ball rotation. throughout his entire motion, the front of the ball if facing forward and the back of the ball is facing backwards. that's fine at the release point, but you cant get any shoulder rotation/as much velocity into your throw by doing that. there is absolutely no shoulder rotation in that throw.

now, there are different schools of coaching in this situation. if you think a kid has enough arm strength already and arent as concerned about throwing mechanics/arm injuries down the line, you dont touch him. why mess with something good, right? that is even more true if you only have a year or two to work with him (you started coaching him late into his college career, he is a transfer, etc.). why mess with a good thing? the other school of thought is the complete opposite. ron whitcomb, the QB coach at old dominion, focuses his entire QB coaching on the phrase "if it's not perfect, it isnt right." i can respect that throught process to a certain extent. however, there are dozens upon dozens of top NFL and college QBs who dont do things, especially throwing mechanics, in a perfect manner. overcoaching is an underrated problem. you start overcoaching kids on throwing, and before you know it, they have lost all accuracy, power, and confidence in their arm. it's a fine line. when i came to cookman, the kid i liked as the best QB had a flaw in something he did. with the three freshman QBs i had my first year, i made it a point to call out the older QB for the flaw. but, i also explained to everyone that i wasnt going to harp on the older QB about the issue because 1) it was too late to fix (risk vs. reward) and 2) he had been successful doing it that way, and it hadnt been a major issue for him. but, i wasnt going to allow the younger guys to get into the same habit.

the pics below show some of the things i was talking about. i am a huge believer in pictures. luckily, cookman had two photographers who took hundreds of shots just about every game. i used those still-shots as great teaching points for QBs. it became so helpful for them that the RBs started coming to me to breakdown their flaws, which were easy to see in pictures when it came to ball security and blocking technique out of the backfield.

the first picture of byron shows a huge flaw he had. his wind-up was so big, his ball dropped well below his elbow line. it negated his height and made his release time shitty:

left1_zpsprwoxlvs.jpg


these next two pics show the L position of the ball in relation to the upper arm and then again with the body:

left6_zpsxiwtzuuu.jpg


left2_zpslnyehnfl.jpg


these final few pics show the big thing i never see litton do - getting on top of the ball because he tends to push the ball, shortarm it, and not get any shoulder rotation:

left5_zps7j25ocrs.jpg


left4_zpshjfoyvdn.jpg


left3_zps8ggw0uqq.jpg
 
Nice post Rifle. I was thinking 2 things when I watched him, prior to your post:

1. He pushes the ball

2. His hand is always below the ball

I really liked your breakdown. The kid reminds me a little of Phillip Rivers, awkward, but effective. His mechanics lead to the ball floating a bit. It appears he has good vision and makes good reads, which can be as hard to teach as mechanics.

I love the game of football and if I can retire early one day, I would like to try my hand at coaching it. Maybe I can get some coaching lessons from you.
 
Thanks rifle, knew you wouldn't disappoint. I just saw it looked funky and that he was pushing the ball. If it works for him, great, but I do worry about him negating his height advantage, he'll be throwing over taller, more athletic, players at this level.
 
Thanks.

Interesting that Phillip rivers was mentioned. The current OC at north Texas, whom I coached under while I was there, was rivers' college coach. He took over after his freshman year. We would watch video of practice drills of rivers and how bad he was with mechanics, footwork, and even work ethic at times. But, he had just thrown for 3000 yards as a freshman when that coach took over, so he simply wanted to fine tune some minor things and not touch his poor mechanics.

It's a really ridiculous business. It's all about who you know more than any industry I have ever seen. There is a special teams/kicking coach at a local high school here (albeit, a top 25 national team) who is phenomenal in coaching the kicking game (mechanics for snappers, holders, and kickers). I've learned more from him than any D1 kicking coach I have worked with, which includes guys at some big schools. He has invited me to be an instructor, alongside a handful of current NFL kickers, this weekend at a free camp for middle and high school kids. This young coach has worked with a bunch of major D1 and NFL kickers, knows more about kicking than anyone I've been around, yet is an assistant at a high school.
 
I hope you find a great next job. You obviously have a passion for it and most people simply don't get to spend their life doing a job they love so I hope it works out for you.
 
I'm not rifle but i doubt that he'd turn down a job on that level because of the whole WVU/Marshall rivalry thing. Coaching is such a fraternity that they seldom get swept into the whole fan hatred thing. Most coaches coach at over a dozen schools in their lifetime. I doubt they would limit their options by rivalry and consider opportunity the main factor.
 
Hell if I was in coaching i wouldn't turn down a job at wvu if it was a step up for me, and I can't stand the bastards.
 
I have another point of discussion for rifle as well. I coached softball for a lot of years. You used the term "school of thought" in your post and that caught my attention. I used to spend a lot of time studying and reading about swing and pitching techniques. What I discovered was that there were different "schools of thought" about techniques on a very high level and those techniques were defended vigorously. Both sides would have experienced success on a very high level with coaches boasting Olympic athletes and NC level athletes on a collegiate level.

What I discovered quickly is that competing for these high level athletes was cutthroat. among the technique doctors. Egos were rampant and each side dismissed the other. Yet both sides experienced success with their own school of thought. On the travel ball level I coached, most of these athletes also had swing and pitching coaches that they went to as well. Sometimes these techniques would be taught differently to members of the same team making it difficult as a coach to assimilate various styles and beliefs into team practice and instruction.

My personal philosophy was that an athlete can experience success with many different approaches and buying into or committing to a an approach was much more important than which approach was used. I guess my question for you is, how much does this same stuff...the different schools of thought on qb techniques play into coaching? Are there the same ego defended coaching philosophies going on in football on a coaching level that I would suspect there is? Or do head coaches give you free reign to teach the technique you personally subscribe to?
 
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