How to Throw the Football

How to throw the football is easy to learn. You start with your grip. How you hold the football determines if you throw nice tight spirals or wobbling ducks. Next is your throwing stance, it affects your accuracy. Your delivery, release and follow through come from your passing stance. Now you are ready to practice how to throw the football.

Your Grip

You want your fingers on the laces of the ball. Be sure there is daylight between the ball and the web of your hand. If there isn't you are chocking the ball. that leads to throwing wobbling ducks.

As you drop back to your stance, you want to protect the ball by securing it with both hands. Remember there are rushers that want to strip you of the ball making them a hero and you the goat. Two hands on the ball as you drop back.

Your Throwing Stance

While you are dropping back to your throwing stance, look down field to find your open man. Now that you have identified your target, don't hesitate, get into passing stance. Have your forward shoulder pointing at your target. Now this is important, the center of the arch of your plant foot should be lined up with your receiver.

Your Delivery

Now that you are in your throwing stance, bring your throwing arm up and back. Use both hands, releasing your non throwing hand about chin high. (Remember those pass rushers that want to separate you from the ball.)

Bring your throwing arm back, elbow bent, and cock your arm. Extend your free arm forward for balance and your hand pointing at the receiver. Your weight will transfer to your plant foot and your ready to make your delivery.

Pushing off your back foot, bring your front foot forward stepping into the throw. Bring your throwing arm forward delivering the ball. You will feel your weight transfer to your forward foot during your throwing motion.

Your Release

Snap your throwing arm forward releasing the ball just above your ear. When you are releasing the ball snap your wrist and fingers for additional velocity.

While you are bringing your arm forward, bring the hip forward, transferring your weight from your plant foot to the forward foot. This helps you put your weight into the throw.

Avoid throwing a wounded duck pass. Bring the heat, snapping your hip into the pass at the point of release puts speed, power and distance into your pass.

Your Follow Through

Now you have released the ball snapping your fingers rolling the ball off the index finger, giving you that nice tight spiral. You want to bring put your shoulder into the pass bring the plant foot forward. Completing your throw, your passing hand will come down to the opposite hip.

Warm Up

Many of you might think ball speed comes from arm strength; arm strength comes from legs and hips. Warm up and loosen those hips.

Stand with your shoulder facing the target, the ball seated on the top of the numbers. Using a short stroke use the front foot step into the throw and toss the ball towards your target following through with the throwing hand coming to the opposite hip, finishing with your weight on the front foot.

Next standing with your hips forward, rotate your throwing arm back, keep the hips facing forward, your other shoulder will be pointing at the target, throw a few balls.

The last on you do to really get the hips loose, stand opposite your throwing motion. Making you really rotate the throwing arm around to get the opposite shoulder facing the target. Throwing the ball using the hip to generate the velocity.

In conclusion do your pre-practice warm ups, practice your grip, delivery, release and follow through because now......you know how to throw the football.

Basics of the 3-5-3 Football Training Video: Product Review

Basics of the 3-5-3 is football training video made by Coach Bert Williams, head coach of the Georgia Military College.

During the first two seasons Georgia Military used the 3-5-3 Defense they compiled a record of 21-1. Played in two national championship games, winning one and producing 8 All-Americans.
2001 was a perfect season, winning the NJCAA national title and producing the NJCAA Defensive Player of the year.

Coach Williams made this DVD in 2004, it runs 53 minutes and is still considered by many, the gold standard for football training videos teaching the basics of the 3-5-3 Defense.

Well produced, this DVD's sound and video are both clear, meeting the quality standards for the industry.

Bert Williams explains to you the basics of the 3-5-3 Defense in easy to understand laymans terms, using both chalk board diagrams and actual game film clips to illustrate his points.

Coach Williams goes into depth explaining the 4 fronts used in the 3-5-3 Defense, beginning with a easy to follow diagram of the Base Front.

He pays alot of attention to detail diagramming how each defender must line up and why. Listing the front 3 as down rushers, he explains to you detail which hand the ends use as the down hand and the reasons why.

Coach Williams takes you through the first alignment, The Base he uses the chalk board and more actual game footage to demonstrate for you, the variations you need to use the other 3 fronts. The Solid, the under and the Tuff Fronts.

During this process of going through the 4 fronts, Williams shows you disguise the stunts, blitzes and defensive coverages that you can use with each front, whether its man to man or zone coverage.

In conclusion, Basics of the 3-5-3 is a well made football training DVD. It is easy to follow and illustrates its points very clearly. Whether you are a player or coach this DVD will give you a better understanding how to play The 3-5-3 Defense.

Visit us our 3-5-3 Defense page and see our full line of the 3-5-3 Defense training videos

Copy Right by Andrew Berkey January 15, 2009

Basics Of The 3-5-3 Defense

The 3-5-3 Defense gives you a very powerful defensive scheme. Offering you 4 different defensive fronts you will find it effective against any offense you face, whether it’s the Triple Option or the very popular Spread Offense.

In the first two seasons the Georgia Military College switched to the 3-5-3 Defense, they had tremendous success, producing 8 All-American Defensive players and playing in two NJCAA national title games.

In 2001, Georgia Military had a prefect season, producing the Defensive Player of the Year. While winning the NJCAA Championship, they held their opponents to a NJCAA record setting 61.7 yards per game.

In this article we will discuss the first front: Basics Of 3-5-3 Defense.

We will start with the alignments and position names.

... End...............Nose Guard...............End

Corner..........................................................Corner

...Left Dawg.....................................Right Dawg

...Left Bat...............Mike..................Right Bat

........................Free Safety

The diagram above is the 3-5-3 Defense alignment in The Basic Front, featuring 3 down rushers.

1. The Nose Guard lines up square with the center, either hand is down.
2. Ends line up square with the tackles, inside hand down, keeping the outside arm free.
3. The Dawgs {safeties) line up 3x3 behind the ends,
4. The Bats (linebackers) line up behind the ends, 5 yards deep, with their noses off the ends outside hip.
5. The Mike Backer lines up 5 yards deep directly behind the Nose Guard.
6. The Free Safety lines up about 10 back behind the Nose Guard.

Disguising the Point of Attack

The 3-5-3 Defense requires a lot of movement. Disguising the point of attack begins with your player alignment.

Your 2 ends are lined up directly in-front of the tackles and the Nose Guard over the center. This prevents the quarterback from getting a read if your point of attack is a straight ahead, strong side or weak side rush.

Have your ends place the inside hand as the down hand. You want the outside hand free whether he is going inside or out.

Ends using the same down hand every play prevents the tackles from reading your angle of attack.

Having the Mike, Dawgs and Bats lining up behind the ends and Nose Guard prevents the quarterback from reading your defensive back strategies.

The Basics 3-5-3 Defense gives you 4 different defensive fronts and alignments you can use to attack the offense and keep them on their heels.

Each of the four fronts and alignments gives you the ability to do zone or man to man coverage. You can run a cover 1 or a cover 3 defensive schemes, run stunts and blitzes.

If you are using or thinking of using the 3-5-3 Defense, there are many fine 3-5-3 Defense training videos on the market and it all starts with using the basics 4 fronts.

1. The Basic Front

2.The Solid Front

3. TheUnder Front

4. The Tough Front
Basics of the 3-5-3 Defense Footballs 3-5-3 Defense

Is The BCS Fair part 2

BCS Busters came to pass when in 2004 The BCS was threatened with an anti trust law suit.

The first BCS Buster was The Utah Utes, winner of this years Sugar Bowl and winner of the 2004 Fiesta Bowl.

Since that time, the BCS has set a higher standard for the mid-majors, they must nationally ranked in the top 12. Which usually means they must be undefeated.

While other teams from BCS Conferences can get in with two or more losses because they are automatic qualifiers.

This season, there were 3 mid majors ranked in the top 12 and yet only one team was taken while teams with lower rankings were included through at large berths, such as Ohio State in the 2008 Fiesta Bowl.

In my mind this still violates both anti trust laws and what sports is all about, sportsmanship.

Proving the talent gap is closing between BCS teams and the non BCS teams is the current record. Mid-majors lead the series 3 to 1. Rendering moot the argument the "little guys" just can't hand with the "big boys".

Millions are at stake, as the BCS said, it is not their role to be fair, just to try and match #1 against #2. Even at this mission, it appears they fail, just ask this seasons Texas Longhorns.

Is a 16 team playoff a viable answer, probably not. Again its the money, cities make too much money from the bowls and a 16 team tournament would damage the current bowls.

What is the solution, I am not sure, but the BCS better find an equitable solution that is fair to the mid majors and football fans across the nation.

BCS greed is what fuels the current system, it is broken, they need to fix it.....before Congress does.

Is The BCS Fair part 1

The title to this article asks, is the BCS Fair? The answer is no, they are not fair nor do they have any intentions of being fair.

As you read down through this article you will see the BCS- mid majors history that will bear that statement out.

The Sugar Bowl has put more egg on the face of the BCS.

Prior to the match up between Alabama and Utah the pundits and BCS supporters had the annual debate, does a mid major football program belong in a BCS Bowl.

Barry Switzer and his pack said no, they just are not good enough. Followed up with the traditional rhetoric, who did they play?

Utah as did Boise State before them, proved the pundits and BCS wrong.

The Utes manhandled The Crimson Tide from the opening kickoff to the final gun. Alabama was no match for The Utah Utes.

Bama had been ranked #1 in the nation for 5 weeks before falling to Florida. Their stingy defense allowed just 16 points per game. Utah hung 21 points on The Tide in the first quarter.

So much for the argument Utah was not good enough and could not hang with Bama.

The argument, who did they play is meaningless, Utah played and defeated everyone on their schedule. That included and Big 10's Michigan and two highly nationaly ranked conference mates, BYU and TCU.

The problem is, its not about who is good enough to be in the BCS Bowls, it's about money and the 6 BCS Conferences want it all to themselves.

In 2004 both Boise State and the Utah Utes were undefeated mid major teams, both were highly ranked, yet the BCS said they were not good enough and did not want to see either team humiliated playing in a BCS Bowl. Translation its our money and we are not sharing.

How ever when some one in Utah filed suit and Congress told the BCS fix it or they would, the clouds parted, rays of light poured forth bathing the BCS in wisdom.

They elected to put Utah into the 2005 Fiesta Bowl, declaring each year they would accept a mid major that had to be ranked in the nations top 12.

Since then there have been 4 BCS Busters in their games. Each season as the mid majors do better, the debate of do they or don't they belong starts again.

This season the debate has reached a new high with 3 mid majors ranked in the top 12 and above BCS teams like Ohio State, and Cincinnati, only Utah was selected.

Adding new fire to the debate was Boise State beating heavily favored Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl Jan.1,2007.

The Boise State Broncos not only won a come from behind game, they gave what is considered by many as the best bowl game finish in history, winning on a two conversion in overtime and finishing with a perfect record.

That started the new heated debate, should Boise with its perfect record been allowed to play for the National Title.

Utah destroying Alabama in this years Sugar Bowl has rekindled that debate. Prior to losing to Florida, Bama had been ranked #1 for 5 weeks, Florida has moved on to tonight's NC game.

In fairness to the BCS, they have stated in this most recent round of controversy, their goal is only to try to match up #1 vs #2 to determine a collegiate national champion. Yet tonight, Utah, the only undefeated team in college football will sit home and watch the game on tv. Just like Boise State did in 2007, when Florida played Ohio State in the 2007 NC Fiesta Bowl.

The BCS has said it is not their stated goal to put by virtue of national ranking the best teams in the remaining BCS Bowls as evidenced by taking Ohio State as an at large team over #9 Boise State or getting #11 TCU into a BCS Bowl.

Great Catch | The Coaching Clinic You Wear

Receivers, Great Catch is the coaching clinic you wear, this football training aid will help you make catches like the pros.

Great Catch is a revolutionary receivers training aid, designed to give you those " soft hands" every receiver needs.

Soft hands are the trade mark of every great receiver.What makes soft hands? The ability to catch the football the right way every time.

The proper way for receivers to catch the ball is with the finger tips. As the ball comes in, you want to catch the ball with your finger tips, drawing the ball in to your body. There should be space between the web of the hand and the ball.

So many times we see receivers dropping passes they should catch, frequently this happens because the receiver used the palms of his hands to catch the ball.

Using the palms of the hands is like throwing a tennis ball against a wall, it will bounce back. In this case the football bounces out of your hands..

Great Catch is two elastic bands that fits over the center of your hands, placing a miniature tennis ball is the center of the palm of your hand.

As the football comes in, you are forced to catch the ball with your fingertips.

Many receivers said at first it was ackward trying to catch the ball wearing Great Catch. However the all decided it was easy to get used to and could see improvement in their catching skills.

The way Great Catch works is it does force you to catch the ball with your fingertips. This will make your fingers stronger, each catch exercises the fingers. With stronger fingers you will catch more balls.

Receivers training with this product will have better muscle memory. The more you train with Great Catch, the more you will find it second nature to use your fingertips to catch the ball and take your game to the next level.

Use this link Great Catch, watch the training video then order Great Catch and train like the pros.

Read The Fine Print Before Accepting Athletic Scholarships

Before you accept a college athletic scholarship read the fine print. Miami Hurricane quarterback Robert Marve wishes he had.

Two years, one season and 11 starts later, Marve has told his coach he wants to transfer. to a different school.

Robert Marve is trapped, at the mercy of the University of Miami and his football coach Randy Shannon. They have the power to block him from transferring to schools not only in the ACC, Miami's conference, but to other conferences as well and have exercised their right to limit his choice of schools.

That's right, in essence Miami and Coach Randy Shannon own Robert Marve and have the right to exercise undue influence over his future in college sports and where he wants to finish is college education.

How is that you ask? Read the fine print in his scholarship.

The NCAA allows and schools can prohibit student athletes from transferring from one school to another within the same conference.

Another rule often enforced is a D-1A wanting to transfer to another D-1A school must sit out a year before joining his future team.

Iona Key is a perfect example. He was a member of the 2006 Boise State Broncos and elected to transfer to the University of Utah.

Sitting out the 2007 season, he was a member of the Utes Team that played and upset Alabama in last nights Sugar Bowl.

D1-A athletes that don't wish to sit out a season can keep their eligibility and play transferring down to a D-1AA school or lower.

We saw that with the Louisville Cardinals. They had a back up quarterback whose senior year would have seen him as back up for Brohm.

Opting to transfer to a D1-AA team he became a starter and led his new school to the D1-AA national championship.

What makes Robert Marve's situation different? The way Randy Shannon and the University of Miami are treating him.

In an article published Yahoo Sports writer Dan Wetzel on January 2, 2009, Marve claimed the University of Miami had exceeded what is the standard practice and precluded him from transferring to 27 different colleges.

Not only was he prohibited from transferring to another ACC school, they prevented Marve from playing for any or the 12 SEC schools as well as 4 other Florida schools which includes a real threat to the Miami Hurricanes, Florida International. Robert Marve and his family are Florida residents. Wetzle's article states the young man's father resides in Tampa and suffers from prostate cancer. Though this is not the stated reason for transferring, it does stand to reason Marve would want to stay in Florida, close to his father.

The national media has picked up on this story and humiliated the Miami Hurricanes and the ACC Conference.

Wetzle reports in his January 2 article that Miami has relented some what. They will now allow Marve to transfer to the SEC but exclude LSU, Florida and Tennessee, alleging the SEC schools have tampered with the athlete, a charge Marve has denied through the Associated Press.

They are standing pat on banning Marve from playing for any Florida School.

Today we see the NCAA spending millions of dollars telling the " student athlete" these schools will take these kids and mold them into adults that will can go pro in something other than sports.

The Marve treatment says different, it tells us these kids are meat on the hoof for schools to promote their athletic programs, making millions for the schools and that their sports performances are more important then their education.

It is a shame the ACC Conference, University of Miami and the NCAA have treated Robert Marve so poorly.

In conclusion, if you are a student athlete being offered a college scholarship read the fine print. have your parents and high school coach involved in your acceptance process.

Ask the tough questions, ask what happens if you decide to transfer to a different school. It is your future, make sure you know what you are getting when you accept that college scholarship.