Geaux247 Board

His ball doesn't look very pretty, but he sure is quick!

2-3 inches taller

I really like his video. Admittedly, he has some mechanical flaws but not any that are egregious or unable to be corrected. Truthfully, many highly ranked high school QBs have way worse flaws.

Just a few things that I noticed:

-On the day of the camp, he held the ball too far into his palm. This is likely an issue with the placement of his thumb. Although I can't tell from the video, he likely has his thumb too far back on the ball. Although it feels unnatural, the thumb should slide forward and be opposite the white strip on the ball, which creates a small pocket (about the width of 2 fingers) between the ball and his palm. This ensures that the nose of the ball remains up at release and that the pass does not end up short. This may be why a few of his passes were slightly short of their intended target. This is very easy to correct.

-A few times in the video, you could clearly see that the only finger close to contacting the laces is his pinky finger. Check out the grip at the 2:06 mark. While not catastrophic, when the pinky is the only finger over the laces, it can pull down on the nose of the ball. This can cause a pass to be short of the intended target or to wobble. Also, the lack of a finger (we teach the ringer finger on the laces, pinky inserted into a gap in the laces) on the laces affects the ability to generate rotation. The power release of the ringer finger on the laces is one factor to throwing a tight spiral. Not the only one but it certainly plays a role. Again, this is very easy to correct.

-On drops greater than 3 steps, he, like many HS QBs, had a tendency to let his plant foot get too far past his back hip. Although accuracy comes from the arms, velocity comes from a combination of the legs, core, and tricep. When the plant foot extends past the hip, the QB is losing the ability to generate forward power with that leg. If his plant foot on the last step of his drop would land closer to, if not, directly under, his back hip, he would be able to drive forward off of it and likely see an increase in velocity.

-Lastly, he needs to focus on extending his arm fully toward the target. If you notice, at the end of some throws, there is a bend in the elbow after he release the ball and completes his follow through.That bend represents untapped power in his tricep muscle. Again, this is not uncommon and can be corrected.

Some of the good I noticed:
- He is very quick and nimble on his feet. An essential quality in a modern QB. Whether a true runner or not, footwork matters. very comfortable throwing on the run.

-Seems like an great competitor. You don't win MVP of an Elite 11 regional camp without having some great skills.

-When he does put it all together, he throws a great ball. Check out the throw at the 1:01 mark.

Admittedly, I haven't seen too much in game film and this was only a review in a camp setting (which is not a great indicator of the success of a QB.) Overall, I really like this kid's skill set.

AJ

wow you went above and beyond what I asked for
+1

Thanks. I love working with high school football players, especially QBs. Often, they haven't forgotten that this game is supposed to be fun!

It is definitely a possibility. Another possibility is that the grip issues are a result of a lack of coaching. Not saying that his HS coaches are bad. Just the opposite, they must be quite impressive because they have developed an impressive young QB. However, most state athletic associations limit the amount of time coaches have to work with their players. As a result, more time is spent on scheme and less time is spent working on what is often thought of as minutia (grip, finger placement.) As long as the results (ie completed passes, TD, low ints) are positive, focus is placed on other aspects than mechanics. As a high school coach, I struggle with this all the time.

With Kincade, it is more of an issue of his grip being inefficient than being "bad." He is not necessarily getting the most from his grip. While this may work fine in high school, the window of perfection is that much smaller in college.

The hardest part about evaluating QBs though is not evaluating their mechanics, which can be corrected. The hardest part is evaluating the 1 square foot of real estate between their ears. I'll take an ugly pass thrown to the right guy at the right moment over a beautiful pass into the hands of the opposing team any day. If you ever watched Kellen Moore from Boise St, he did not throw the greatest ball and certainly did not have elite arm strength but he threw with incredible anticipation. It was almost like the game was moving in slow motion around him. He saw things faster and recognized defenses better than almost any college QB in the last 15 years.

That's the real issue with Kincade or any QB for that matter. Do they have what it takes to keep their head when all hell is breaking loose around them and be able to process that chaos to make the right decision at the right time?

AJ

Great post.

If the staff thinks the kid has a good chance of becoming a cerabal QB with the ability to cut defenses up with his mind with correct pre-snap reads then sure go for it if they think they really need another QB?

But if the reason if purely because we want to recruit a dual threat QB just so that we can once again run spread option looks mixed in with power I formations then the answer is hell no.

A clear cut offensive identity is what I want to see and right now this team is built for a pro-style offense and for that reason I will take a football mind over feet all day and twice on weekends.