PASSES IN SESSION
‘QB gurus’ help ease transition to NFL offense
BRADENTON, Fla.
Ryan Tannehill rolls to his right and fires an 18-yard pass toward Rutgers wide receiver Mohamed Sanu. The Texas A&M quarterback’s throw falls incomplete for a second consecutive time. Before Tannehill, who could be a top-10 pick April 26 in the NFL draft, can get back to work, a voice booms. “Hope those (video) guys have good editing skills,” cracks Chris Weinke, referring to a video crew shooting on the IMG Madden Foot- ball Academy’s field. The dig is Weinke at his prodding best. Weinke, 39, was once the guy throwing the passes, leading Florida State to an undefeated season and national championship in 1999 and winning the Heisman Trophy in 2000 before graduating to an NFL career. Now he’s leading a new wave of coaches, joining other former players in tutoring some of the country’s most talented passers.
They’re not on college or NFL team coaching staffs. And they won’t be found on a sideline in the fall. Instead they’re on practice fields working as so-called quarterback gurus.
“The words ‘quarterback guru’ kind of scare me,” Weinke says. “I know this: I love what I do. It’s one thing to say you’re a college or NFL quarterback coach/coordinator. But there’s no
job in the world that compares to this. We have an opportunity to change lives.”
Weinke has impacted a who’s who of quarterback talent, working last year with Cam Newton (first overall pick, Carolina Panthers) and Christian Ponder (12th overall, Minnesota Vikings) and this spring taking on Tannehill; Michigan State’s Kirk Cousins; Wisconsin’s Russell Wilson; Joe Montana’s sons, Nate and Nick, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Josh Freeman.
“Chris as a coach is perfect at what he does,” says Newton, who was back to work with Weinke this month after throwing for a rookie-record 4,051 yards last season. “He knows what buttons to push with anybody from 7 years old all the way up to me.”
Weinke is a 6-4, 235-pound straight shooter with an easy smile, hard-won wisdom and no tolerance for slackers.
“Either a guy is willing to buy in and do the work or not,” Weinke says. “I simply provided Cam with a structured environment and guidance to hopefully elevate his game.”
Filling need
Weinke is not alone. Quarterback gurus are popping up all over the country.
-George Whitfield Jr. and Hall of Famer Warren Moon are working with Stanford’s Andrew Luck, the presumptive first overall pick. They also teammed with Newton before the scouting combine last year.
-Terry Shea, a former college head coach and NFL coordinator, is honing Baylor’s Robert Griffin III, probably the No. 2 pick. He also has worked with Sam Bradford and Matthew Stafford.
-Others with similar job titles include former New York Jets quarterbacks Chad Pennington, Ken O’brien and Vinny Testaverde and former Cincinnati Bengals signal-callers Turk Schonert and Ken Anderson.
-And even the Manning family is involved with the Manning Passing Academy run by former New Orleans Saint Archie with Super Bowl-winning sons Peyton and Eli as well as their brother, Cooper.
“A couple of my friends, Turk and Kenny Anderson, are now coaching guys one-on-one,” says Cris Collins- worth, an NBC analyst who was a Bengals receiver. “These coaches have even more significance now because of the limited offseason time NFL coaches are allowed to spend on the field with players.”
In previous years, teams could start working with players in the middle of March. That date has been moved to April 16 under the new collective bargaining agreement.
The result has been a coaching void at the game’s most complicated position. That’s where the quarterback gurus have stepped in.
Weinke is credited with helping Newton to become the first overall pick last April, but he also prepared him for his rookie season while the NFL was shuttered by the lockout.
“What Chris did for Cam was tremendous,” Panthers coach Ron Rivera says. “It was very fortunate for us that Cam decided to go to IMG and develop that relationship with Chris. It really paid off.”
Weinke prepared Tannehill for his pro day today, implementing Hall of Fame coach John Madden’s curriculum of fundamentals and film study supplemented by Weinke’s mantra of “building quarterbacks from the ground up” with metronomic footwork.
“Chris is doing a great job,” Madden says. “It’s something that’s just going to get bigger and bigger.”
Weinke is a sculptor of rhythm and timing with outside-the-box drills. For instance, he creates an obstructed pocket with a wall of four 6-foot-plus tackling dummies.
“You don’t see the rush, you feel the rush,” he says. “That visualization is how you have to operate.”
Tannehill, whose initial issue was herky-jerky footwork, Weinke says, drops back five steps and lets fly based on blind faith.
“I didn’t have my eyes closed, but I couldn’t see the receiver at all,” Tannehill says.
Weinke is a full-time employee of IMG, a sports agency. His clients include athletes represented by IMG and other groups. But a large portion of his time is spent training kids as young as 7, and Weinke estimates he has worked with more than a thousand players from 25 countries.
It’s a unique job Weinke came to after a unique career. He was a secondround pick of the Toronto Blue Jays in 1990 as an infielder, playing for six years before going to Florida State as a quarterback.
“Now I get my satisfaction helping kids develop,” he says. “I grew up in St. Paul, Minn., wanting to be an NHL player. I took another route instead.”
No time to rest
After his 90-minute workout with Tannehill in a group that includes Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly and local high school receiver Garrett Pratt, Weinke extols Tannehill’s upside as a receiver-turned-quarterback with 19 starts.
“Ryan is throwing the ball as good as I’ve ever seen,” Weinke says. “He’s got all the tools and is going to be special.”
The Miami Dolphins, who select eighth, would be a natural landing spot considering his former Texas A&M coach, Mike Sherman, is the Dolphins’ offensive coordinator.
Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, whose team has the 12th pick, also has interest despite recently signing veteran Matt Flynn. “We are considering Tannehill,” he says.
Tannehill hasn’t taken a day off since January, following his mentor’s indefatigable example.
“Cam and Christian ended up getting a lot better and playing well working with Chris,” he says. “That’s the goal — to start and play well in the NFL.”
Recovered from January surgery for a broken foot, Tannehill watches video of his first day throwing on the move. Weinke switches to Tannehill and Texas A&M falling to Arkansas in 2011. He pauses and then calls Tannehill to the white board: “Draw that play up.”
“Chris and I are on the same page talking plays and protections,” Tannehill says. “I’ve gotten so much better in my time here being smoother in my drops and not aiming the ball.”
Weinke earns a six-figure salary and aspires to become a college head coach. But his payoff on game days is watching Newton and Ponder apply his lessons on his office flat screen.
“I don’t ever show the excitement,” Weinke says. “But internally I’m sitting there saying, ‘I’m proud of those guys, how they operate in the heat of battle.’ Seeing them succeed is really what it’s all about.”