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Inside This Week’s SI: Lone Star Struck

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Texas QBsSeven Texas-bred passers (Drew Brees, Andy Dalton, Robert Griffin III, Andrew Luck, Christian Ponder, Ryan Tannehill and Matthew Stafford) started last week in the NFL, making up 21.9% of NFL QB1s. With 12 more backup and practice-squad quarterbacks hailing from the Lone Star State, Andrew Perloff asks in this week’s SI: Why are so many NFL quarterbacks from Texas?

While some of the Texas-bred passers have different styles, such as Stafford, a classic dropback passer, and RG3, a new-breed mobile QB, Perloff writes that “they share a few traits: comfort working out of the shotgun, an ability to improvise and total confidence that they can make the big play even after a mistake—all virtues that they developed playing high school football in Texas, a hypercompetitive world that is increasingly leaving its mark on the NFL.” (PAGE 32)

Many of these traits are learned in seven-on-seven football, an organized brand of touch football that is growing in popularity in Texas. “That’s what we do in Texas,” Stafford said following Detroit’s 27–20 win, beaming with a grin not unlike the one he wore after leading Highland Park High to the 4A Division I state title in 2005. “We throw so much, it’s not a big deal when we get to the next level. It’s year-round—off-season workouts, spring football and definitely seven-on-seven.” (PAGE 32)

Perloff went to the Texas State Seven-on-Seven Championship tournament in Leander, Texas in July to get a glimpse of how future NFL quarterbacks are developing.  There he saw young quarterbacks pass downfield in a game that resembled the spread game found throughout college and the pros. There are no running backs, no blocking and no pass rush. Perloff says, “Most important in the development of a young passer is the rule that he cannot take off running, which forces him to read the field and find somewhere to throw.” (PAGE 33)

Some high school kids in Texas compete in more than 50 seven-on-seven games during the summer, giving quarterbacks more opportunities to get in extra passing reps. Tannehill, for example, also played baseball and basketball and was a defensive back during his sophomore season in high school. “Seven-on-seven was huge for me,” says Tannehill. “Without it, I’m not sure I would have had the chance to develop as a high school passer the way I did. It gives you a chance to work on fundamentals like footwork and timing in a game setting. I wouldn’t have gotten that elsewhere.” (PAGE 34)

For decades Texas was known as a running state, producing backs like Earl Campbell, Eric Dickerson, Thurman Thomas and Ricky Williams. Then, in the late ’90s, the football landscape shifted. Perloff says a lot of that had to do with Stephenville High coach Art Briles. The current Baylor coach, Briles, oversaw RG3’s 2011 Heisman season. To compete with bigger players and budgets, Briles developed his version of a spread offense, and it took off. Stephenville won four state titles between ’88 and ’99. “I was just trying to figure out something each year. We were having trouble with bigger players, and we started spreading the field to counter that. We kept developing it from there,” says Briles. (PAGE 34)

Now, NFL coaches are turning to college and high school coaches in Texas for advice and are adjusting their offenses to their quarterback’s skill sets. The Redskins, for instance, lined up in shotgun or pistol 76.8% of the time last year with Griffin.  Says Briles, “With seven-on-seven and all the [evolving] passing attacks, Texas is going to keep churning them out. Other states will catch up in some ways. But they’ll never match the passion in this state. We’re going to keep pushing the envelope. And we’re definitely going to keep passing.” (PAGE 36)


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