Key components of Josh Heupel and his staff developing quarterbacks is teaching footwork, fundamentals and stance.
Heupel and his staff teach quarterbacks how to stand first with their base being the foundation of everything they do.
A signal-caller’s fundamentals and base is to have their feet wider than shoulder width, while playing to their height with a slight knee bend in stance.
Cleats are in the ground with pressure on insteps and the balls of the feet. A quarterback’s feet should not be more than one inch off the ground, while their toes, knees, hips and shoulders are aligned.
Part of the quarterback position is movement as the signal-caller will try and escape pressure, throwing to moving targets and reading defenses. A quarterback learning how to stop and react is equally important as moving.
A quarterback’s feet should never get tighter than his base. When a quarterback drives off his back hip, it allows for a loose front half, having curve on the backside and squeezing in the shoulder.
When throwing, a quarterback’s motion is seen to have their thumb in a downward position, avoiding a curve motion.
Kent Myers played quarterback for Heupel in 2015 at Utah State.
In the book “Josh Heupel’s Offense,” Myers detailed how he still uses what he learned from Heupel.
“I do personal training on the side and those tools that we used, I continue to use them,” Myers said. “When we were there at Utah State, we had so many drills that Heupel brought in with footwork and fundamentals. Everybody enjoyed it. Even after he left, we still used them, some of the tools that he taught us.”
Below are photos of Tennessee’s quarterbacks in practice developing with Heupel’s tactics during the spring and fall training camp.