Anyone who plays quarterback or watches the game of football knows that a great quarterback has mastered the technique of throwing a football. For many quarterbacks or those that just enjoy throwing a football were taught early in life the form needed to successfully throw a football. In this episode of Steve Clarkson’s #QBQuickTips, Steve Clarkson is working with the University of Oregon quarterback, Travis Jonsen. Steve is helping to fine tune his form to be successful on the field.  Read on and then check out all of Steve’s QB drills and instructional videos for quarterbacks.

When watching a quarterback throw you always see them bring the ball back. This is what Steve calls “loading up.” A quarterback needs to load up for numerous reasons. One is the power of your throw. When a quarterback doesn’t successfully load up before throwing a great deal of power on the throw is sacrificed. Another reason to load up when throwing a football is it helps to improve accuracy. Finally, loading up allows you to maximize your accuracy when throwing a football. When a quarterback’s throws without properly loading up, their body isn’t lined with the direction of their throw. This leads to interceptions and incomplete plays since accuracy, power and balance all suffer. The pros that line themselves up properly, load up and stay in balance are the ones that make the play.

As we see Steve showing Travis, there is an optimal way of loading up with your quarterback mechanics. One problem is when loading up is bringing the ball further back than they should. This increases the vulnerability of a quarterback and adds unnecessary movement in the throwing motion. Another problem that Steve shows Travis is when loading up is a common one, where quarterbacks tend to bring their arm out too far from their body. Going back to the basic principles of throwing a football that you learned when you first started throwing a football, a quarterback’s body needs to be lined up with your intended target they will be throwing to. When a quarterback starts to bring their arm out during the throw their shoulder and hip are not on the football. When your shoulder and hip aren’t fully on the football then you start to throw with your arm alone.

Throwing a football is an effort of synchronizing the whole body in unison. If a quarterback throws with their arm alone, they will struggle to make the play. Throwing with the power of the arm solely is not beneficial for any quarterback to do. It reduces the power of the throw and the accuracy of the throw. Throwing a football like this also leads to greater risk of injury to your shoulder or elbow. Everyone who has played a game of catch when first learning to throw a football has done this. At the end of the game of catch you’ll remember how your shoulder got tired and it was difficult to keep going throwing as well as you did earlier in the game.

The fine adjustments Steve is showing Travis Jonsen is are useful lessons that any quarterback can use. The position of being a quarterback calls for constant improvement and adjustments in order to succeed. If you want to improve your game Steve has numerous #QBQuickTips for your disposal. If you are interested in learning more about Steve Clarkson and what he has to do go www.steveclarksondreammaker.com.