Author Archives: Timothy Beach

After reading this title you’re probably thinking that’s crazy there’s no way. The truth is though a quarterback only really needs to know how to throw off of three types of reads. There’s an inside outside read and a hi lo read. The last read is just thrown against man-to-man coverage which is one of the easiest coverages to throw against honestly. Well easiest if you are an accurate quarterback and throw well-timed ball. Timing is very important and something Bill Walsh used to setup perfect timing is good footwork. His footwork fundamentals were why Joe Montana and Steve Young were such great quarterbacks. I use Bill Walsh’s techniques when I coach quarterbacks. Back to the inside outside read!! This is typically thrown against a linebacker on the first level and the concept is simple. If he is outside I throw inside. If the defender is inside I throw outside. This is also done on the second level typically against a safety. Now for the hi lo read. This is typically thrown against a corner and the concept is this. If the defender is high I throw low and if he is low I throw high. This can be thrown against a linebacker and safety in the middle of the field typically. That is the only two reads against zone a quarterback needs. When a quarterback is developing he should master them individually but when they get to become a strong minded quarterback they need to do these reads multiple times in one play in succession. For instance they might inside outside read the outside linebacker and the linebacker is inside. This means throw outside but they might have to hi lo the corner before releasing the ball. After reading the corner they see they are low so they have to inside outside read the safety over the top before releasing the ball. Even though these concepts are simple they have to be practiced a lot. Quarterbacks take two years to truly develop and they have to rep these to increase the speed of their decision making. Even after mastering you have to practice this so you can stay sharp and execute quickly.

My very first rule as a coach with my players is not to negatively attack your teammates. When a teammate messes up I tell them they need to pick them up give them tips if they have any in a positive good attitude. By doing this you get rid of animosity and negative behavior that slowly takes down your team culture wise. Consistent negativity towards a player from another player will cause fights and slow the growth of the player that needs to grow still. At the end of the day though all attitude on a team starts with the coaches. Your players will mirror what attitude you bring to the table. Do you have to force kids to focus, have determination, and be respectful at all times. You cannot take even one second where you don’t enforce this or I could get away from you. Look at Facebook. That is a great example of constant negativity that just caused bickering and fighting no one working together and no success happening. There cannot be growth in a situation where the only thing that happens is people talking negatively to each other. A book that I do recommend by Jocko Willink it’s called “Extreme Ownership”. It does a great job explaining how teams should work to have high success.

There are lots of avenues that you can take in order to get better at football or learning more about the game. Something I started when I was about 12 years old was to start reading books. This can be a good way to learn knowledge from older generations or people who have done it really well in the past. The downside of this technique though is that reading can take longer because you have to read everything. But I started reading my dad‘s football books when I was about 12 like I said earlier. He was a football coach and really influenced my knowledge and my understanding of the game early in my life. so I would say that the best ways to learn more about the game are videos, books, clinics, camps, and shadowing. I watch multiple videos on football every week and I read a minimum of two books every year I try to do three if I can. I’ve been doing this for about 25 years on studying this game. The best thing you can do is schedule time each week that is designed for learning the game or whatever you’re trying to master in the game of football. So whether you are doing two hours three days a week or one hour three days a week doesn’t really matter as long as you have a schedule you do every week and you stick to it by the end of the year you’ll be much much more knowledgeable. I also recommend picking a topic that you’re passionate about with Football to start. So whether that’s understanding offense of line play or quarterbacks or secondary. By doing this it allows you to master one piece of the game or one position and then you can move on to the next position. So for one year maybe you’ll just study secondary and understanding how coverages work and techniques on how to cover man a man and so on so forth. You know the old saying how do you eat an elephant one bite at a time.