Why 7-on-7? -- Quarterbacks

This is the first of a series of articles about reasons why teams should participate in 7-on-7 football during the summer. This article discusses the benefits for a quarterback participating in 7-on-7 competitions.

From Burt Reynolds to Adam Sandler, Kurt Russell to Keanu Reeves, the quarterback is the glamour position in almost every football movie (Rudy and Waterboy are the obvious exceptions). Although real high school quarterbacks are not looked at in that high esteem, they do carry a lot of weight on their shoulders. When you start talking about any team, often one of the first questions people ask is “Who is their quarterback?”. Although usually unjust, the success of a team is often placed squarely on the shoulders of their signal caller.

The purpose of this article is to chat about the importance of 7-on-7 in the development of a quarterback. A quarterback can use these opportunities during the summer to help his timing with his receivers, learn to read defenses, and gain invaluable experience leading his team.

The timing between a quarterback and his receivers is obviously a key in being successful in the passing game. Although receivers can go run routes and catch just about anytime, 7-on-7 competitions allow them to do this against a defense. A 10-yard out may be an easy pass to complete against air, but can they do it with a defender right on the receiver’s heels?

Simply talking about secondary coverages and seeing them drawn out on paper doesn’t really give a true feel of what they’ll see on the field. However seeing different coverages live, as well as different ways those coverages can be played by different teams they’ll face is a huge plus in the development of a quarterback. I realize Madden is a great tool as well, but nothing beats having to recognize live what the secondary and linebackers are trying to do to you.

Lastly, I want to show you why I think the competitive experience of 7-on-7 can be extremely beneficial for a quarterback. With these events being so reliant on the performance of a quarterback, he really is forced to step up and be a leader. I think 7-on-7 is advantageous because he could get any or all of these situations in a single weekend:

• His team gets a big early lead, and he needs to go for the jugular.
• His team gets behind big early, and he needs to get them back into the game.
• He is in a nail-biter in which he has to score every time just to keep up with the other team.
• He has a small lead late and needs to learn to be smart to protect it.
• He is behind late and has the ball one last time while running short on time.

There are many other things that I believe helps a quarterback in his development by competing in 7-on-7. We will uncover many of those in our discussions throughout this series as we delve into the benefits other positions gain by playing 7-on-7 football.