Building for the future

Well, it's official. I am certifiably crazy about this game and those who play it. Much water has roiled under the bridge in the past few months, as we have navigated our first 7 camps, and a glazier clinic. We are days away from the launch of our new R4 QB Expert system, a quarterback decision making system tied to reads and recognition. This has been a much anticipated work, that is already receiving great reviews! My reference to crazy is all the other things that we are doing in adding a receiver's skills academy, a offensive line camp, a youth component to our quarterback development called QBnext, and I have purchased Top Gun Challenge. A quarterback competition for talented athletes around the nation to participate in. We are truly excited about driving our program into some new areas, and already we are seeing the incredible transfer of ideas, concepts, and teaching. It is very encouraging. This is the time to get better, and we are doing all we can to provide that opportunity to more and more athletes. Watch the web for more updates.

One of the best things about starting these programs has been the inclusion of some of the most amazing men. God has truly blessed me with a staff of very talented people. Dub Maddox, my camp systems director and master certified coach, spoke in Sacramento last week as the first one ever who has gone out to represent us, and he was considered one of the top speakers of the weekend! Jim Thornton, my national sales manager and certification coach, has been an invaluable source of training and assistance for me. His passion and heart to see us succeed is inspiring. Andy Hall, a 9 year veteran of DSQA, just stepped up and took on all the logistics for our camp programs nationally, no small task whatsoever. Talk about a loyal and faithful friend. He is what everyone who desires to succeed needs - he is a player. A newbie has distinguished himself as a future star - Will Hewlett, a part time staffer in the Home office and certified DSQA instructor, has done a wonderful job of getting up to speed on the program, and has already demonstrated an ability to deliver a quality teaching experience. More impressively for me however, is that he drives 2 1/2 hours 1 WAY to get to my office, 3 -4 times/week! Simply incredible! Joe Anderson, my director of operations at DSQA, continues to drive a multi-tasking entrepeneurial environment with the skill of a seasoned veteran, even though he is younger. He possesses the calm spirit necessary to handle the hurricane of Darin's life.

I am a blessed man to have so many great people investing in who we are and what we do. I hope you have the opportunity to meet these, and so many others, that are coming online to serve the young men, coaches, and parents of our generation in this great game.

Update from a little less wider Seat

Been plugging right along with the weight loss. Still hung up around 25 pounds, but the holidays didn't get the best of me, we are still in the fight. There have been a number of all nighters I have pulled trying to get projects finished for the offseason, but the training continues this week for the new year, and so it goes...

Meaningful "Matt" Moments, A Year in Review

2007 ended with some exciting events at DSQA! See the website for all the successes enjoyed by so many of the athletes we have trained.

Two of the most Meaningful ones for me, was First, watching my son Matthew tear through secondarys, and special teams cover guys, with "Devin Hester like" grace, and cuts that wilted ankles on opposing teams. I could not have been more proud of him, as he embraced the opportunity to serve where he was needed on his team, rather than where his talents lie. And, without complaint, gave an outstanding effort all season. As a father, it doesn't get any better than that. Michael also enjoyed a banner year, "out of position," as he played Free Safety in a backup QB role all season. Rather than complain, he regularly made key momentum shifting plays improving throughout the season. Being just a parent for the first time as my boys played, was an excellent experience for me, and for the whole family. It was a great year of learning about team. Orangewood had a great season, going undefeated as District champs, and made a trip to the playoffs

The second most "meaningful Matt" moment, was sitting at home last evening, and watching Matt Flynn, a young man I have coached in the offseason for the past 2+ years, deliver an MVP performance on a National stage. I still have never understood the mentality so many seem to have in overlooking Matt throughout the season. He regularly engineered comebacks that had he not done so, last night would not have been possible.

One of the privileges of my unique job is that I don't just train young QBs. I become a part of the process, and in some cases, a part of the family. Alvin and Ruth Flynn, Matt's parents, have been so willing to include me in Matt's development and life. They are some of the most wonderful parents I have ever been associated with in my 21 years of coaching QBs. I have been able to witness the life of a big-time SEC QB, with all of its ups and downs, and I can tell you it is no picnic. I remember the days of waiting for Jamarcus to decide if he was leaving, working Matt through a mechanics change that removed the shoulder problems he had each fall, enjoying Matt's stellar performance in the 2005 Peach Bowl over Miami, FL 40-3, watching him weather an early 2007 season severe ankle sprain, and him having to deal with those who thought he shouldn't be given the full opportunity at LSU that he rightly deserved.

I have to say that this experience has certainly made me appreciate the measure of anonymity I enjoy in my life. What a pressure cooker Matt has been in this season, and what a demonstration of character in the BCS National Championship! Coming off a shoulder separation in the Arkansas game(1st quarter) where he had to bring the offense to the rescue to keep the overtime alive. Having to take the entire bowl prep time to heal, and upon doing so, he calmly overcomes an early OSU surge of momentum and 10 points, dropping 31 unanswered points on the nation's #1 defense. He would end the night with 4 TD passes, the MVP honors, the appreciation of the LSU faithful, and the respect of this coach.

I am proud of Matt Flynn, not because I have been able to train him, but because I have had the privilege to know him. That is an honor few will have as his stock continues to rise, and I count myself blessed because of it. Thank you Alvin, Ruth, and Matt, it has been an honor.

Reality Check. I just returned from a Church conference with my family, and I am down for the count, sick. At least I will get some needed recovery. We have been moving right along on the training, but this one got me for a few days. I will pick up the Slack mid-week. I am returning my diet to Nutri-system to break the logjam, and hopefully the weight will come off. Will keep you posted.

Training Update

The soreness is setting in. Always happens when you go to the next level, but I am confident the progress will be positive.

Tuesday - 10/9 the P90X plyometrics workout - 58 min. This is a keep the trash can nearby workout. I think I tasted my water a few times, but with my wife taking the plunge with me, I had to man up and keep up the intensity.
Following the plyo workout - Did an 11-mile bike with my #3 son Mark, for another 50 minutes. The pace was slower in the first 2 miles because my daughters joined us, but we ramped it up when they pulled into the driveway.
Shopped at a health food store for some specific items. That isn't going to be a regular thing...it was different. I am not sure everything I saw was edible.

Wednesday - Shoulders/Arms/ABs in P90X - 59 min. Hung in there with a good first effort, but I wanted to use soup cans by the time I was done - those dumbbells got heavy halfway. I needed a pair of heavy hands and that would have done it. Tried to throw later in the day during an evaluation and the message went from my brain to my arm...but whew! I'll be back, stronger than ever, come camp season.

Ate salad...salad with cheese...salad with turkey...pretty much just salad. Oh, and a protein recovery drink in the AM.

Water...Water...Water

Tomorrow, back on the bike, and YogaX. Don't laugh, that stuff is the hardest of all.

The scale has started inching downward again...I think. We will see.

Grip and Rip it? OR, Coach it up?

A Passion for Coaching QBs Throwing the Football

I didn't really start passionate, for about the first 4 years of the 20 I have been doing camps. During that time, I was more interested in demonstrating and being impressive, not coaching.

I thought that was how it was done. Do as I do. "Monkey see.." mechanics. Man, was I wrong!

I was ambitiously upwardly mobile, and just got jazzed by the idea of "being in charge" of kids and they would "listen." BUT, when I realized that nothing was really getting better in the camps and workouts, that is when the onion layers had to be peeled back, and my "coaching" had to be retooled. It humbled me, and I am not a humble man.

You know what it was...I would try to work 3 step drop, 5 step drop, Sprint out...FEET, FEET, FEET, JUST LIKE I WAS TAUGHT... and while they could get from point A to point B, but most of them couldn't consistently throw it in the ocean, if I put their feet in the damp sand on the beach! AND THEY HAD NO EARTHLY IDEA WHY!

Some were baseball players who made 2 great throws and then 2 bad ones, etc. It was simply that I didn't get those naturally talented kids. I had to teach them how to throw a ball, and they just didn't know how. Period.

I simply asked the question, "How much do you go out and play in the yard, street, etc. with the football?" What I have found is that kids don't go outside and play in the yard anymore. They specialize way early in baseball, but the ability to throw a football, jump a rope, run a ladder, etc. just isn't there.

So, I HAD to go back to their level, and start over, and I have found a whole new world of ignorance that I did not know existed in the QB culture at large, until I started doing it! I assumed most people knew how to throw, just not these kids I had...WRONG AGAIN!

I travel the country, over 1,000 kids this year, and you can ask my coaches, and they will attest...The QBs are just standing there, no footwork, no drops, just playing catch... Ask any QB, 15 yards away who misses a target, WHY did you miss? and, WHAT will you do next time to fix the miss, and they have no genuine idea.

Many had been to 2 or more QB camps. They will guess, say something like, "I came around, and need to get HIGHER," and when they miss again, Their heart deflates. Do that 5 times as pressure increases, and you see why QBs are train wrecks on game day!

I hear coaches say, Well, they were just thinking too much about the next throw. If they just threw it, they would hit it. They might - a few times, but they are still uninformed. IGNORANT.

Is that how a SNIPER SCHOOL coach would teach. Oh, hey, don't take into account all these factors, don't think when you shoot. Just shoot from the hip! Now, in battle, under pressure, with all that training they can do it by feel. BUT, it started with good information, thought, and practice. I know we aren't talking about Snipers, but what if a kid could PROCESS those factors, what if they COULD "feel" and understand immediate change...How good could they be? What if you could inform their "feel," so that the thoughts BETWEEN, not during, the throws actually served to control flight and feel, and their misses were small, and they couldn't wait to get the ball back to try again?

The worst part for me in this process, was finding out, that I didn't know how to throw either! I wasn't even doing what I was trying to get them to do... I was icing my arm after camps, and my demos were marginal. I just did it like the other talented ones, grip it and rip it, and hope for the best.

However, if I was going to coach it, I had to reteach myself (Probably shouldn't try to teach, what you cannot do, or do not believe yourself), and what it feels like. This is where the passion comes in, because I know what even a little input can do now.

FOOTWORK IS MISSION CRITICAL, I AM COMMITTED TO FOOTWORK...but when you add the ability to "feel" control and process flight feedback with it...WOW!

I got a lot of kids who couldn't throw it out of their shadow, and had to grind it out and learn other ways to achieve what I wanted from them. That is where this passion was forged. Thousands of "gonnabes," not "already weres."

I think that working with the more talented can be great, but truly developing players, hones your edge as a coach. It takes longer and it isn't flashy, but the reward is greater, because you know you made a difference to the QB. Now that I am getting more chances to see better players try some things, I am seeing how quickly the talented player improves with even just a little input. That's all.

It just gets me pumped at the possibilities of implementing what I have learned on a higher level.

I want to be clear, I am not suggesting some fountain of youth in the things we are talking about, nor the answer to everything, but I think it would help some of these very frustrated guys I observe, catch up to the ever increasing speed of the game.

Building A Flexible, “Multiple” Offensive Scheme…

Segmenting an offensive package is fine, just make sure your terminology overlaps in the running game, and blocking schemes remain consistent. The higher the collision rate, simplify the requirements(line has less to know, than the skill people).

Formations create some opportunities, but, in my experience(not everyone's I know), most defenses do what they do, and don't react too much to massive formation changes. However, motion can create problems and advantage, so you want to use that as much as possible.

SO, that leaves your play schemes.

Here is what I did...

I melded a numbering system that got me the passing game I wanted with all the bells and whistles of TT, Mesh, Shallow, etc. and it is it's own standalone package out of a few formations in the gun.

The rest of the run offense I numbered using DW concepts to allow me to create any misdirection I wanted with rules that were easy to follow for the line, and the backs. The backs had to know where they were in relation to the play call, but most were pretty sharp, and enjoyed what the plays did, so they wanted to show me they could run the "creative" stuff.

The key to your creation is molding a system that is reasonably easy to understand, makes sense and is sound, but maintains flexibility to run what you want, just built to your numbering system.

That system has to be integrated enough to carry the weight of significant play calls, reduced memorization, reasonable chance at execution, and soundness in its blocking and spacing structure.

It took me 4 years, but I got close to what I wanted. No matter what you do, it will take time and repetition, but it can work if you have the right mix.

Oh yeah, one other very important thing - you as the coach of this offense, have to stay within the rules you create for what you are going to do. You cannot run something that doesn't jive with the rules you have set. So be careful how you set the rules, but that keeps you from overdoing it. If it doesn't fit, you can't Run it.

I Combined 3 x 1, Spread, Empty, Jet, Spread Option, I, 1 back, 2 X 2, Sprint Out, Double Wing, and some bunch. Basically, I wanted a DC to have to prepare for 4-5 different kinds of concept attacks on any given night.

I just needed to be able to change packages, at will, to create opportunities. If I had athletes, which I did, we would just design whole compliments out of each package around those kids. Same stuff, just getting the ball to them every way I could.

A basic multi-look option attack, an ISO/Trap/PA with mirrored route package, a Wing misdirection, A conventional and spread Jet pkg, and a full compliment of the Spread/Sprint passing game with screens. Kids understood they could always compete, because if ever something wasn't working, we had some other "hole cards" we could try.

The guys didn't know they were running a TT, WVU, or some other college option play. The secret is in the rules, numbering, and tags - with wristbands.

Keep memorization limited, build concepts, explain the purpose of those concepts vs. looks, follow the rules, run only the "concepts" that are needed each week, and simple can be very involved without getting out of hand.

2 things to keep in mind in a multiple scheme like this:

Tendencies: reduced formations and packaging creates tendencies and predictability. Overlapping reasonable counters within the packages was important, and emotional play calling had to be kept to a minimum - leads to predictability.

Fundamentals: Point-of-attack blocking, Down-field blocking, & staying with a block. Athletes aren't dumb, they're just lazy, and need to be inspired by an offense's ability to produce(whatever it is), and to sense the motivation to execute. That is always on me, as the coach.

I think any coach, has to create challenges for athletes to execute on a higher level, that shows his confidence in them, and that can be done with scheme. Too fancy and kids can see right through a coach's insecurity, and too simple for the sake of basic, while effective at times, can communicate reduced confidence in players, and less inspired play, and that isn't good either.

The right balance is in the willingness of a coach to remain willing to adjust.

Just my experience.