Worthman’s work ethic pushes him to be the best

AIR FORCE ACADEMY» Antoine Worthman pondered the question as he watched his son shuffle in and out of drills during an Air Force practice.

What more should Falcons fans know about Arion Worthman?

The quarterback’s father reached back about eight years for the answer. Arion, now a junior entering his first full season as Air Force’s starting QB, was about 13 years old and had gone 3-for-4 in a baseball game with a couple of extra-base hits.

Antoine congratulated him for a good game, but Arion would hear none of it.

“I missed a 3-1 fastball,” Arion lamented, thinking of a spoiled hitter’s count in the one at-bat in which he didn’t reach base.

The purpose here isn’t to assist in myth building. Arion didn’t go home that day and chop down a cherry tree. What is relevant, however, is that his father — someone who knows Arion as well as anyone — thinks first of a competitive spirit, confidence, perfect recall and unquenchable perfectionism when finding traits to describe his son. All of those are vital to playing quarterback at the college level — particularly in Air Force’s option offense.

Those traits have only grown in Worthman, who guided the Falcons to a 6-0 record down the stretch last season and earned Arizona Bowl offensive MVP honors. He has his sights set well beyond maintaining his starting job over senior Nate Romine.

“I want to push myself to be the best player in the conference and in the country,” Worthman said. “It’s not about being the starter, it’s about being the best player in the conference, best player in the country. I push myself each day in practice to be the best player I can be.”

The work comes naturally for Worthman, because the alternative is accepting the status quo. And that just won’t do.

Ask him about his first touchdown pass, thrown to Jalen Robinette in a relief role in last year’s season opener against Abilene Christian, and Worthman recalls not the throw or the excitement but the fact that he failed to check the protection to the right side to pick up a blitz.

He knows he left points on the table in the form of missed receivers and missed checks at the line, and it eats at him.

Heck, just watch him mishandle a center-quarterback exchange while warming up before practice and his frustration is instantly visible.

“There are so many plays I could have made, so many things I could have done better just in terms of reads, ball placement, throws,” said Worthman, who completed 59 percent of his passes and averaged 5.2 yards per carry last year.

He compiled a list of missed plays from last year and recreated those scenes with teammates over the summer to fix them.

With Worthman, the talk is never about what he brings physically — although at 5-foot11 and 205 pounds, and with 4.4 speed in the 40-yard dash, there would be much worth discussing — but rather how he approaches sports at a cerebral level.

That approach has already helped Worthman to a perfect start at Air Force, even if he doesn’t see it that way.