By A.Siegal

FORM LETTERS from the Colleges.

HANDWRITTEN Letters from the Coaches.

 PHONE CALLS from the Coaches.

 Coaches visit you at School and  at your House

Coaches bring you to their School on a OFFICIAL VISIT

You receive a Written SCHOLARSHIP OFFER!  

    The form letter just means they have received information on you. Handwritten letters mean they have an interest in you. THEY HAVE NOT OFFERED you yet, but have an interest and will evaluate you further. When a Coach starts calling you they feel you are a recruit for that school. They have seen on film you have the ability to play at that level. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THEY HAVE OFFERED YOU YET! When they visit you at school, they are making sure all their information is correct. They are trying to learn what kind of person you are. They are getting academic information on you and good recruiters will do spy work. They will talk to your teachers, counselors, coaches and maybe even other students. They want to know what kind of student and person you are. A scholarship is a huge investment by the college and they want to know what they are getting for their investment. They will visit your house to talk to you and your family. They are trying to build a strong relationship with you. A good recruiter should almost become a family friend to you and your family. They do this so that when it is time to offer you it is very hard for you to say no. Who wants to say no to a great family friend? Next if you get to the official visit stage, they are pretty sure they want to offer you a scholarship. They will be evaluating you on the visit. They may verbally offer you on the visit. If they do not, it means you have a few people higher on their list at your position but they still like you. Finally, when they offer you in writing a scholarship, you know you have reached your goal. How can you get help getting into this funnel and navigating these confusing waters of college recruiting? PROSPECT-FIT! They will get you to pass the eyeball test when the coach comes to see you. They will help you increase your performance on the field and they can help get your name into the funnel! CALL PROSPECT FIT TODAY! Tell Them Coach Siegal Sent you.

By A. Siegal

As the summer heats up. Players will get tired, frustrated and cranky. Remember that your work ethic and reputation are every important. Your name is what is the most important thing in a coaches eyes. This poem say’s it best:

                                                                                                ” You got it from your father,
                                                                                                  it was the best he had to give,
                                                                                                 and right gladly he bestowed it
                                                                                                 It’s yours, the while you live.
                                                                                                 You may lose the watch he gave you
                                                                                                  and another you may claim.
                                                                                                  but remember, when you’re tempted,
                                                                                                   to be careful of his name.
 It was fair the day you got it,
and a worthy name to bear,
when he took it from his father
there was no dishonor there.
Through the years he proudly wore it,
to his father he was true,
and that name was clean and spotless
when he passed it on to you.
Oh there’s much that he has given
that he values not at all.
He has watched you break your playthings
in the days when you were small.
You have lost the knife he gave you
and you’ve scattered many a game,
                                                                                                    but you’ll never hurt your father
                                                                                                     if you’re careful with his name.
                                                                                                     It is yours to wear forever,
                                                                                                     yours to wear the while you live.
                                                                                                    Yours, perhaps some distant morn,
                                                                                                    another boy to give,
                                                                                                    and you’ll smile as did your father,
                                                                                                   with a smile that all can share.
                                                                                    If a clean name and a good name,

                                                                                              you are giving him to wear.”
                                                                                                         -Edgar   A Guest                                                                                                                                        

Guy’s remember make your family proud. Do the right thing! Go to NFA Camps and learn from Coaches that will make your family proud. Our Coaches are proud of our Family name-NFA!

Photo Courtesy of Bayard High School

Bayard, NE – When Brandon Stuart began his junior season at Bayard High School he and his head football coach Philep Willey had high hopes for the season but it turned out to be much better than either expected. 

“Our offense really exploded this year.  I knew we had the potential to put big numbers up, but we exceeded a little bit what was expected,” said Stuart. 

Brandon led the Bayard Tigers to their first Nebraska state playoff appearance since 1993 while breaking 5 state records.  Brandon now owns the records for most completions in a season (209); per game passing average (268.6); most completions in a game (38); most passing yards in a game (448) and maybe the most impressive, most touchdown passes in a game (7) with all of them in the first half!  He also came within 5 yards per game from breaking the Nebraska record for most combined total yardage per game of 311. 

“Brandon had a great season,” Coach Willey said.  “The team had to count on him a lot on defense as well as offense, and he handled that pressure well.  He was able to get us out of a lot of bad situations by making plays, and he was able to utilize the players we had.  He was able to get our playmakers the ball in space.”

Finishing the year with 2,417 yards 28 touchdowns a 64% completion percentage and adding over 300 yards and 5 TDs on the ground, Stuart was named the Western Trails Conference’s Most Valuable Player.  Stuart, though credited much of his success to his teammates.

“I think I had a lot more help around me this year, and I was a more experienced player.  Things just fell into place,” he said.  “I had plenty of time in the pocket thanks to my linemen, and the receivers caught the ball.  I had four or five good receivers and not many quarterbacks can say that.  It was fun to have that kind of offensive year.  I got to throw the ball around. 

Stuart came to QBA’s Denver Camp last summer and said it was the best camp he’s ever been to.

“The camp teaches the basics of how to correct yourself and to be able to learn from what you do wrong.  One of the most important things I learned from the camp is how to become a better leader and how important the teammates around you are.  Throwing the football is only a small part of the game learning how to play and be responsible for your teammates as a QB is one of the hardest things to do. The camp teaches you some of the important characteristics to that job. The technique part of the camp I use every time I pick up a football. It has made a difference in the way I throw a football in both accuracy and velocity.”

Coach Willey also saw the difference in Brandon, “The part that surprised me was the change in Brandon that happened from the moment we left the camp.  The mentoring and leadership aspects of the camp paid big dividends for our team this season.  Brandon focused on sacrificing for the team and serving his teammates every chance he could.  I noticed he starting wearing his Get-2-0 “Passio Bellator” band halfway through the season.  I asked him why he started wearing it and he told me he finally earned it.   I knew our team would be in great hands from that point forward.”

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/highschool/article.aspx?subjectid=227&articleid=20101119_227_0_JENKST489683&ref=nf

John is a Freshman leading Bishop Kenny to it’s first district championship since 1977. Wolford has 17 touchdown passes this season.

John competed in the Duel of the Dozen this past off season and is one the most exciting quarterback prospects in the country.

42-28 win of No. 5-ranked Kingsland (Ga.) Camden County Friday night, Rudock led the Raiders to a huge win putting them back into the picture as the number 1 ranked team in the country.

Rudock threw for a school-record 333 yards and four TDs. Last season as a Jr, he completed 128 of 197 passes for 1,945 yards and 34 touchdowns with a 13-1 record.

Rudock has been participating in training with QBA for the past 5 years with camps and private instruction. He’s has developed into a major d1 prospect and committed to Iowa earlier this off season.

Link to previous article on Jake

While reading the article, The Pursuit of the Perfect Throwing Motion by David Flemming http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=fleming/100421 I was intrigued by some of the things he learned from his study.  In particular, he discovered throwing the football is the most complex motor skill in all of sports.  With most exercise scientists and kinesiologists agreeing, more people are finding out what most coaches have known for quite some time.  Changing a quarterbacks throwing motion is challenging and can be flat out intimidating.

Once most people come to this conclusion there tends to be two schools of thought as it relates to changing quarterback throwing mechanics.

1. It’s all about the footwork (the feet are what throw the ball)

2. You can’t change a quarterbacks mechanics (he can either throw or he can’t)

This is the dilemma I found myself in as a coach five years ago after getting upset in the first round of the playoffs.   Having to watch a very talented sophomore quarterback struggle with his mechanics that season pushed me to a path of pursuit on how to teach the perfect throwing motion.  As I began my research through clinics, DVD’s, books, college visits, and local guru’s, I had compiled a list of coaching points like, “Stand tall, step small”; “Flick the booger of the finger”;  “Pick the dollar out of the left pocket”;  “Turn the key”; “Answer the phone with ball”; “Crush pebbles with your feet” ; “Slap the wall”; “ watch how Brady, Montana, or Elway throw” and the list goes on and on.  At the end of it all I was left with a myriad of different philosophies and techniques and the same conclusions that Flemming had in his article.  As a result, I had almost submitted my belief on throwing mechanics to one of the two prevailing schools of thought.  It wasn’t until I came across a 3 DVD set on Passing Mechanics by Darin Slack that I knew that I had finally found someone who had cracked the code on how to teach and train the most complex motor skill in all of sports.   He was explaining the “Why” behind every motion and drill.  He was backing every movement up with science and biomechanics.  I felt like I had just discovered gold.  I no longer had to submit to the two schools of thought on mechanics and what I didn’t believe to be true.  After 5 years of coaching quarterbacks at Jenks High School and working for the Darin Slack Quarterback Academy here is what I have learned as it relates to the two prevailing schools of thought:

1. It’s all about the footwork (the feet are what throw the ball)

It seemed when I first started my pursuit of learning how to throw the football that everywhere I turned most coaches only focused on the feet.  Most of the material I came into contact with stated that the feet are what throw the ball.  My struggle with this concept stemmed from two pictures in my mind…a picture of a man with no arms and another picture of a man with no legs.  If the feet are what throw the ball then how does a man without legs throw?  At the NFL combine, Tim Tebow clocked a 4.7 forty time, 4.17 pro agility time, and a 38.5 inch vertical.  If I submit to the school of thought that footwork is the key to consistent power, accuracy, and velocity then Tebow should be the best pure passer coming out of the draft.   Yet he is the most scrutinized, Why?  In Flemming’s  article he states,  “Throwing the football well is not about doing one or two big things great. Instead, it’s about perfecting a thousand different parts of an intricate, complicated kinetic chain that starts in the toes and ends at the finger tips.” Through Flemmings article I am finding that people are starting to discover what I found through a set of 3 DVD’s 5 years ago.   Throwing a football is more than mastering footwork; it’s about mastering the sequential movements in the kinetic chain through the entire throw.    If I only focus on footwork I am only focusing on half of the kinetic chain. What about the other half?  I go back to the picture with the man with no legs.  What does he use to throw the football?  It is his arm.  If the arm is the mechanism that throws the ball then wouldn’t it be important to understand how this mechanism controls proper ball flight?  To overcome the arm issue a quarterback must understand the 4 key positions of the arm motion in the kinetic chain.  (To demonstrate we will use Peyton Manning on the left and Jenks QB Sawyer Kollmorgen on the right)

1.  Pre Pass Triangle-the kinetic chain in the arm starts in the Pre Pass Triangle position.   With the elbows level at the base and a loaded wrist in the “cocked” position off the back shoulder,  the triangle shape provides for a powerful position to launch the football.  If the body was going to throw a punch it would load the arm instinctually in the same position.  The Pre Pass Triangle position reduces tendency to internally rotate (wind up) on the throw, aligns arm in a power position, and reduces wasted motion for faster a faster release.

2.  “L” Transistion-is the next position in the kinetic chain during the throw.  The move to this position is done by using the 4 rotator cuff muscles that surround the scapula.  The infrasprinatus and teres minor externally rotate the arm back into the “L” position.  When the arm is in the “L” position it elongates the suprasprinatus and subscapularis which allow the muscles to accelerate the elbow to the lead position.

3. Elevate to “Zero”-is the lead position the elbow has to be in to support the wrist. You may have heard coaches say “get the elbow up”.  The elbow only needs to go high enough to get over and ahead of the shoulder on the throw.   The smoothness and efficiency of this move is the key to consistent power and accuracy on a throw.  With the loading of the suprasprinatus and subscapularis muscles in the “L” position the elbow can now elevate and move ahead of the shoulder aided by the deltoid to get to “Zero”.  “Zero” is orthopedic term given to the elbow in the lead position because the rotator cuff muscles are neutral with no strain on them.  The “Zero” position places the elbow 6 inches ahead of the shoulder 45 degrees up and out and loads the tricep in a position to fire the ball down the target hallway.

4. Extension- is the kinetic chain of power that occurs as the tricep fires energy up through arm and out through the wrist/fingers into the ball.  If the wrist fires early before the tricep the kinetic chain is out of order and the ball will sail or wobble.  A quarterback that pulls down on the football does not extend and therefore is not getting the full benefit of the tricep.   When trying to understand the power of extension on a throw, think of the difference between a pistol and a sniper rifle. Which one is more accurate and can shoot the bullet further?  The sniper rifle.   Why?  It has a longer barrel that allows the force and spin to act longer on the bullet which in turn puts more accuracy and velocity in the bullet as it comes out of the barrel.

When a coach and a quarterback get on the same page and understand the (How’s and Why’s) behind the most complex motion in all of sports it provides for a drastic advantage on the playing field.  However, getting your quarterback to understand the concepts of throwing mechanics will not support a change on its own, which leads us to the second school of thought.

2. You can’t change a quarterbacks mechanics (he can either throw or he can’t)

There are many coaches who know way more than I do about football  that have said you can’t change or quarterbacks throwing motion.  I have even heard some say to stay away from the quarterbacks arm entirely.  I have always struggled with this.  If I am in the weight room and I see a kid with 315 pounds on the squat rack and he has he is leaning over at the waist with his chest down and a curved lower back am I going to not try to fix him?  The argument could be made that teaching a proper squat is easier than teaching the most complex motion in all of sports.  But just because teaching a proper throw is more difficult does it mean that I am pardoned of having to teach it at all?  Maybe it just means that I need to put more effort into knowing my craft.   The key to changing any motion (especially the most difficult) is knowing how a quarterback learns to throw.  Most quarterbacks learn to throw by picking up a football at a young age and just chunking it.  This is called implicit learning.  Implicit learning is learning in the absence of proper instruction.  While learning to throw implicitly allows for a fluid motion it tends to produce bad mechanics.  The other type of learning is called explicit learning.  This is learning with proper instruction.  This type of learning focuses on the non-negotiables or rules of the task.  While learning to throw explicitly allows a quarterback to know all the( how’s and why’s) of throwing a football it tends to produce a mechanical and choppy motion.  This is the point where a coach becomes frustrated and gives up submitting to the second school of thought… you can’t change mechanics.  The secret to changing mechanics is in the power of a process and the formula is the hinge pin of The Quarterback Academy by Darin Slack.

In order to produce lasting change you have to take a quarterback and teach

him the non-nogotiables (how’s and why’s).  Next, you build a battery of drills that isolate each mechanic and then build each drill sequentially on the previous mechanics (process).  Then you rep the movements  over and over until you are feeling the move instead of thinking about it.  Instead of muscle memory we call it the power of informed feel.  When a quarterback learns the (how’s and why’s) combined with the feel he now has the ability to Self-Correct, not Self-Destruct….advantage Offense.  To learn more about throwing mechanics and quarterback play come to a camp or visit www. quarterbackacademy.com.