What Coaches Need to See from Their Quarterbacks in Spring Football

Improvement.

That's the one singular thing that all coaches like to see in every player at practice. But for quarterbacks, that improvement gets a little more specific because of the role they play on the team. 

Whether the quarterback is taking reps with the 1's, 2's or scout teams, a coach is looking for improvement by the quarterback in specific areas.

Sideline Communications

A quarterback may have the playbook memorized, but if he doesn't understand the signals being sent in from the sidelines, then his retention is useless. Does the quarterback understand what is being communicated to him from the coaches? Does he keep his eyes open for any new signals coming in? If he's not aware of a coach frantically calling for a time out or an audible, then he has a lot of work to do.

Leadership

Leadership skills are probably one of the important assets for a quarterback. A head coach is looking for poise in the huddle, poise in the pocket and a field general-type of quality in his quarterback. The quarterback can have a cannon arm, but when faced with a 3rd-and-long, does he calmly instruct his teammates or does he look like a deer in headlights out there? 

Does he communicate clearly to the team in the huddle when the noise level is almost deafening? Does he display authoritativeness under center? Is this the guy that should lead the men into battle? Does he rally the troops on the sideline and keep them focused, or does he sit by himself on the bench, alone in his thoughts? Does the team look up to him with respect? Does the offense want him as a team captain? Are his teammates really listening to him or just automatically nodding their heads up in down?

Finally, has he gained the respect of his teammates by doing something extraordinary, like sacrificing his body on a block? By no means are we encouraging quarterbacks to do this, but every quarterback who is well-respected by his teammates had that one moment where he wasn't just the Primadonna under center—he was one of them. 

In essence, a quarterback making a big block is showing by example that he would never ask them to do something that he wouldn't consider doing himself. Most receivers hate to block and they probably hate it when they get called out for a soft block. But when a quarterback makes a great block, that changes everything: "If he can block, than so can I."

Clock Management

Staying aware of the play clock is crucial to running an offense. Quarterbacks that get distracted and have to burn a timeout or incur a penalty due to an expired play clock can end a promising drive. The play clock is in plain view at each end zone—nothing frustrates fans and coaches more than when a quarterback is still calling out signals and the clock is at :01. 

Does he know when to spike the ball or does he wait until instructed to do so? When trying to keep his offense on the field (with the game's lead) does he use as much time as possible before snapping the ball or does he leave too much time on the play clock? How well can he run a two-minute offense?

Does he wait for the play to develop in trying to get the first down or does he consistently dump the ball off in the flat, well short of a first down? Finally, when running a two-minute offense, how much time elapses from when the ball is put into play after a first down until the ball is snapped? Running three or four seconds off the clock before snapping the ball is the same amount of time needed to attempt a game-winning (or tying) field goal.

Progressions

Most quarterbacks have their favorite receivers—they practice together and have a good sense of when their receivers will break off a route. Likewise, a receiver can feel when his quarterback is under duress and knows where to go to give his quarterback a better target. But when a play is called from the sideline, the quarterback should be throwing to the first open receiver in his progression, not his favorite. Does he actually look for his first receiver or does he skip him and find his favorite receiver? Does he ever get past his second receiver before taking off and running toward the sideline? Does he always dump off to his hot receiver under pressure?

How quickly does he go through his progressions? Spending more than a second looking at each receiver may give the defense an opportunity to sack the quarterback. Great quarterbacks can go through progressions very quickly; mediocre quarterbacks struggle in this area.

When the quarterback goes through his progressions and decides on his target, does he look him off or does he stare him down (telegraphing), giving the defense an opportunity to defend the pass or even intercept it? Finally, does he recognize when his fourth receiver is open for a deep bomb? Nothing frustrates receivers more than when they were wide open for a pass and the quarterback didn't see them. Then again, ask any receiver and he'll tell you he was open on every play. 

Reads

When a quarterback comes to the line he makes a quick survey of what the defense has presented to him. This is called a read. When a quarterback makes his reads, he is trying to anticipate what a defense is going to do on that play. Understanding defenses is crucial for a quarterback no matter how strong his arm is because the success rate of the offense's plays go up when a quarterback can counter a known defense. 

For example, if you have a 3rd-and-goal on your opponent's 3-yard line and the defense has stacked the box or shows four down linemen and four linebackers cheating toward the line, a blast up the middle probably won't have a high success rate. A savvy quarterback who made his reads correctly could call an audible and throw a corner fade to his tight end or slot receiver. Even if the pass is incomplete, the odds of turning over the ball are low because the ball is thrown to the corner of the end zone where it's difficult to intercept. 

A good quarterback will feel comfortable making reads and instructing his offense to make adjustments as he sees fit—this is a telling sign of great leadership as well. One of the biggest signs of a quarterback's progress in practice is when he says, "the game has slowed down for me." What he means is that when he first started playing, everything was a blur. He was trying to avoid getting sacked while trying to find an open receiver and everything became a blur—he didn't have enough time to do his job.

When he understands the game and recognizes defenses, the game slows down—everything that is happening around him is expected and he doesn't get thrown out of his rhythm. If a quarterback reads a blitz on a post play, he'll stand in the pocket and know just when to release the ball before getting hit.

If he doesn't read blitz while standing in the pocket and all of a sudden sees that end coming right at him, he may hesitate, which could cause a sack. Or he may react by immediately throwing the ball downfield, resulting in an overthrown pass. The game is still too fast for him.

Presence under pressure  

Some quarterbacks have great mobility and escapability; some do not. If a quarterback doesn't have a good set of wheels but a very accurate arm, it may not matter as long as he knows when to throw the ball out of bounds. In fact, most coaches would prefer that to a quarterback who runs like a scarecrow, and who doesn't take any risks by running through the middle of the field and risking injury or a turnover. 

The best pro-style quarterbacks throw the ball away if their receivers are covered—forcing the ball into double coverage is just asking for a pick. A dual-threat quarterback may want to gain some positive yardage on a pass play if no one is open and that will usually work in his favor. But remember, nothing is more hated by linebackers than a quarterback who dances around, evading tacklers and scampering out of bounds before ever getting hit—that backer will make it a priority to level that quarterback when given the opportunity. 

A quarterback under constant duress standing in the pocket may result in happy feet, errant throws or poor decision-making. Facing a blitz is part of the game but how a quarterback reacts—and keep in mind, he usually wears a red no-contact jersey at practice—to getting possibly destroyed by a middle linebacker can affect his play. 

Does he rattle easily? Does he have delusions of grandeur and try and pull some Brett Favre-type throws while crumpling to the ground? Does he tuck the ball when he's about to get hit? Does he throw it up for grabs on occasion? Does he display careless handling of the ball when defenders are in the back field?

Conclusion

Coaches look at different things depending on the experience level of a quarterback. A true freshman quarterback who has his reads down, goes through progressions quickly and has good sideline communications may qualify as a starter, but if he hasn't earned the respect of his teammates, he'll probably redshirt.

The game usually slows down for second-year quarterbacks, and that's where the little nuances are worked on, like looking away from receivers.

Coaches have a lot of variables to work with in practices and if you have a chance, go to your team's spring game and watch the quarterbacks intently. Get a scorecard for each quarterback and evaluate them on the attributes we've just gone over—if one guy scores highly in sideline communications, leadership, clock management, reads and presence under pressure, he's probably your starter, assuming all quarterbacks have equal accuracy.