Improve Quarterbacking Skills with Specific Drills
There is no more important a position in football than the quarterback, this is true at all levels of the game. The quarterback is arguably the most important player on any sports team. Therefore it is of the utmost importance that you keep your quarterbacks playing to the best of their ability, and you can do this by using drills to improve their skills.
Especially at the high school level, the skills and habits learned here will be the foundation that every quarterback works from. These are skills that need to be ingrained deeply, and they’re fairly straightforward to teach.
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.
A variation on this drill is to have the quarterback do this, while calling out a cadence countand while someone is walking behind them trying to randomly tip the ball out of their hands. This is all about ball control and keeping awareness of your body in space.
Another useful drill is the handoff drill. Each quarterback holds a ball and an assistant coach stands behind them, down low, where a running back would normally be. The objective is to have the quarterback act as if they’ve just received the snap, and then do the hand off to the coach. The ideal form is to put the ball between the coach’s arm, right around his gut.
After practicing the hand off, the quarterback practices a reverse and sweep toss to the running back. This pair of drills is good for multiple quarterbacks; as each one completes it, they fall out and watch the next player do it. As with everything building muscle memory, it’s the number of repetitions that matter - everyone should be doing this drill at least ten times.
Another great drill for your quarterbacks will help improve their core body strength and flexibility, while teaching throwing mechanics and form. You can have two of your quarterbacks work on this together, or you can have a quarterback work with a coach. Facing each other at a distance of about ten yards, each player is on one knee with a ball at their opposite foot. The player has to pick up the ball and complete a full throwing motion to accurately complete a pass to the other player.
After completing maybe 20 passes each, the players then switch the knees they were on and do it again. Having to throw without the use of their legs and hips will build core strength and stamina. After several practices doing this drill, have the quarterbacks perform it with both knees on the ground. The goal is to maintain solid form and be accurate with all of your throws.