Tim Tebow: A quarterback guru would have helped - NewsOK.com (blog)

on April 6, 2012M at 9:30 am

Landry Jones spent his spring break with quarterback guru George Whitfield Jr. out in California. Raised all kinds of political questions. I wrote about it for the Wednesday Oklahoman. You can read it here.

But whatever benefits Jones can reap from Whitfield, or any other quarterback can reap from Whitfield, or Jones and any other quarterback can reap from any other QB guru, are minimal at his age. Fifth-year college seniors and NFL quarterbacks have had years of solid tutoring.

Let me tell you who could have used George Whitfield years ago: Tim Tebow. The New York Jets quarterback is not a fundamentally-sound passer, and most of his problems can be traced to his throwing motion, which was an issue long before Tebow reached the NFL. Even while winning a Heisman Trophy at Florida and producing one of the great careers in college football history, Tebow was a technically-flawed quarterback.

It’s scary to think how good Tebow could have been â€" could be â€" without the obvious flaws in his throwing motion. NFL coaches are trying to correct him still, but it’s hard to change a 25-year-old. A 15-year-old, not as much. What if Tebow had developed the proper techniques at a younger age?

What if Tebow’s family, when he was a youth, had found a quarterback instructor who could get the prodigy to routinely use the proper motion? For all I know, the Tebows did send their son to every quarterback guru they could find. But nothing substantial took. Think of Tebow’s status if he could throw even at a mid-range NFL level. He would be a nearly-indefensible quarterback.

That’s the whole concept around quarterback instruction, be it George Whitfield out in California with NFL talent or some high school coach in an Oklahoma summer, instructing 13-year-olds. Give yourself every opportunity to improve. Give yourself every opportunity to do the craft of quarterbacking just a little bit better. Be just a little bit better, and maybe you quarterback Kingfisher High School. Maybe you get a scholarship. Maybe you get drafted in the first round instead of the second round. Maybe you quarterback the Jets instead of back up Mark Sanchez.

I don’t know what Landry Jones learned from Whitfield. I don’t know if he’ll be any better. But I know that some players get better through personalized instruction. And I know one player who most definitely could have used such services years ago.

-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.

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