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After Tuesday’s practice, OC/QB coach Dan Enos weighed-in on how he’s been splitting up reps between his three QB’s, who have each rotated in with the first team.
“Based on their performance by the end of practice, they’re either going to get more or less because I do think there needs to be consequences,” Enos said. “If you go out there two or three plays in a row making mental errors, we’re not going to continue giving you reps. I think you need to understand as a player, if you play that way, you come out. Then I give another guy a shot and then eventually I put them all back in for another opportunity.”
While the QB’s have taken a small step forward overall this spring according to Enos, he is still looking for more improvement in various areas of the game, including preparation and technique.
“We’ve made a little bit of progress, but we have not made a lot of progress in any one area,” Enos said. “We have a lot of work to do. We have to learn how to be a quarterback first and foremost. We have to learn the off-the-field intangible things it takes to be a championship-level quarterback. We are learning those on a daily basis trying to mentor them and teach them how to do that with preparation, mindset, their focus, their attitude, the way they walk in this building every day, the mindset they have on practice days, off days, everything.
“So that is a work in progress and then obviously from a fundamental technique standpoint, we have a long way to go on just taking the proper drop with our mechanics on where our eyes and feet go. We’re making strides, but it’s a slow process as you would expect when we’ve only had four practices.”
Through those 4 practices, transfer QB Tate Martell has shown inconsistencies throwing outside the numbers and has let a good amount of passes get away from him. Enos feels Martell needs to work on his feet and be more decisive to ultimately improve that aspect of his performance.
“I think some of the inaccuracies come with mostly his feet and then some of it may be caused by hesitancy rather than being really decisive and I think that’s what the big thing is,” Enos said. “The ball may come out late. Sometimes when it comes out late, you’re not going to have a quick arm and when you don’t have a quick arm, the ball may wobble on you a little bit. The one thing I always tell these guys is quick feet equals a quick mind equals a quick arm. We’ve got to be quick in all of them.”
In addition to a new playbook and terminology, Enos is incorporating new signals and cadences into the offense before the snap.
“Right now, we want them to get very comfortable with the terminology,” Enos said. “They’re speaking a new language if you will. Some of these guys have never even called a play in the huddle before so that’s new, just articulating the play call to everybody as opposed to looking to the sideline to get the signal and the snap the ball. Some of them have never used cadence very much because they would clap a lot.
“We are incorporating different cadences with them, which will help us in the long run. When you are doing this many things that are kind of foreign to them, there are growing pains in practice, which we are experiencing right now, but certainly just going to continue to grind and grind and get better every day.”
Of course, any coach wants to see their charges get better on the field in a competitive environment as soon as possible. But Enos sees the most improvement coming from his group over the off-season.
“We don’t get to work with them in the off days as far as their techniques and fundamentals, but certainly we’ll continue to make progress this spring,” Enos said. “But where I think the biggest development will occur will be from April 20 until we report in July because right now we’re assessing where their inadequacies are and we’re going to work on those right now and when it comes to the end of spring practices we’re going to give each and every one of them a workout that will be totally detailed and focus on their technique and fundamentals. They’re going to have to do a lot of that in the off-season on their own.”
“Based on their performance by the end of practice, they’re either going to get more or less because I do think there needs to be consequences,” Enos said. “If you go out there two or three plays in a row making mental errors, we’re not going to continue giving you reps. I think you need to understand as a player, if you play that way, you come out. Then I give another guy a shot and then eventually I put them all back in for another opportunity.”
While the QB’s have taken a small step forward overall this spring according to Enos, he is still looking for more improvement in various areas of the game, including preparation and technique.
“We’ve made a little bit of progress, but we have not made a lot of progress in any one area,” Enos said. “We have a lot of work to do. We have to learn how to be a quarterback first and foremost. We have to learn the off-the-field intangible things it takes to be a championship-level quarterback. We are learning those on a daily basis trying to mentor them and teach them how to do that with preparation, mindset, their focus, their attitude, the way they walk in this building every day, the mindset they have on practice days, off days, everything.
“So that is a work in progress and then obviously from a fundamental technique standpoint, we have a long way to go on just taking the proper drop with our mechanics on where our eyes and feet go. We’re making strides, but it’s a slow process as you would expect when we’ve only had four practices.”
Through those 4 practices, transfer QB Tate Martell has shown inconsistencies throwing outside the numbers and has let a good amount of passes get away from him. Enos feels Martell needs to work on his feet and be more decisive to ultimately improve that aspect of his performance.
“I think some of the inaccuracies come with mostly his feet and then some of it may be caused by hesitancy rather than being really decisive and I think that’s what the big thing is,” Enos said. “The ball may come out late. Sometimes when it comes out late, you’re not going to have a quick arm and when you don’t have a quick arm, the ball may wobble on you a little bit. The one thing I always tell these guys is quick feet equals a quick mind equals a quick arm. We’ve got to be quick in all of them.”
In addition to a new playbook and terminology, Enos is incorporating new signals and cadences into the offense before the snap.
“Right now, we want them to get very comfortable with the terminology,” Enos said. “They’re speaking a new language if you will. Some of these guys have never even called a play in the huddle before so that’s new, just articulating the play call to everybody as opposed to looking to the sideline to get the signal and the snap the ball. Some of them have never used cadence very much because they would clap a lot.
“We are incorporating different cadences with them, which will help us in the long run. When you are doing this many things that are kind of foreign to them, there are growing pains in practice, which we are experiencing right now, but certainly just going to continue to grind and grind and get better every day.”
Of course, any coach wants to see their charges get better on the field in a competitive environment as soon as possible. But Enos sees the most improvement coming from his group over the off-season.
“We don’t get to work with them in the off days as far as their techniques and fundamentals, but certainly we’ll continue to make progress this spring,” Enos said. “But where I think the biggest development will occur will be from April 20 until we report in July because right now we’re assessing where their inadequacies are and we’re going to work on those right now and when it comes to the end of spring practices we’re going to give each and every one of them a workout that will be totally detailed and focus on their technique and fundamentals. They’re going to have to do a lot of that in the off-season on their own.”
