SNAFU
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David Yost, QB coach since 1996 to include FIU, Texas Tech (with Mike Leach), Utah St and Missouri-
“Coach (Leach) wanted to know what the guy’s completion percentage was,” Yost said. “So what I want to see is the last 100 plays of whatever season you just completed. Of that, I’m hoping to get 75 throws to try to get what I refer to as a true completion percentage. Not screens. What’s your completion percentage when you’re throwing the ball down the field? If you hit the guy in the hands, but he dropped it, I call it a completion. If you throw it badly and he makes an incredible catch, it’s an incompletion. If you find a QB above 50, 55 percent, that’s a pretty accurate thrower at the high school level to me.
“The guys who hit that number or above, they usually end up becoming guys who complete everything when they get to college. The guys I didn’t take who didn’t hit that number, most don’t ever end up becoming accurate throwers.”
The problem for Yost and other longtime coaches is that high school recruiting and player development are no longer the primary methods employed by college football teams to fill their quarterback needs. That’s given way to the transfer portal.
Of the 141 FBS quarterbacks who started at least five games this season, more than half (76) were plucked out of the portal. And 30 of the top 50 quarterbacks in passing efficiency were on their second (at least) stop in college.
So, how do coaches identify the right guys, put them in the right system and avoid a big swing-and-miss that can sabotage a season and set a program back financially due to misappropriated NIL funds?
Yost typically prefers a quarterback who has played a lot of snaps.
He also made the point that the sport’s newfound reliance on transfers has affected the way some programs build an offense.
“One thing I think and it sucks because it hurts the long-term development of these quarterbacks — it forces you as coordinators and play callers, you’ve got to stay simple,” he said. “Very rarely are you going to be able to build a system and have multiple players, quarterback included, in it for two or three years.
Part of bigger story from the Athletic
“Coach (Leach) wanted to know what the guy’s completion percentage was,” Yost said. “So what I want to see is the last 100 plays of whatever season you just completed. Of that, I’m hoping to get 75 throws to try to get what I refer to as a true completion percentage. Not screens. What’s your completion percentage when you’re throwing the ball down the field? If you hit the guy in the hands, but he dropped it, I call it a completion. If you throw it badly and he makes an incredible catch, it’s an incompletion. If you find a QB above 50, 55 percent, that’s a pretty accurate thrower at the high school level to me.
“The guys who hit that number or above, they usually end up becoming guys who complete everything when they get to college. The guys I didn’t take who didn’t hit that number, most don’t ever end up becoming accurate throwers.”
The problem for Yost and other longtime coaches is that high school recruiting and player development are no longer the primary methods employed by college football teams to fill their quarterback needs. That’s given way to the transfer portal.
Of the 141 FBS quarterbacks who started at least five games this season, more than half (76) were plucked out of the portal. And 30 of the top 50 quarterbacks in passing efficiency were on their second (at least) stop in college.
So, how do coaches identify the right guys, put them in the right system and avoid a big swing-and-miss that can sabotage a season and set a program back financially due to misappropriated NIL funds?
Yost typically prefers a quarterback who has played a lot of snaps.
He also made the point that the sport’s newfound reliance on transfers has affected the way some programs build an offense.
“One thing I think and it sucks because it hurts the long-term development of these quarterbacks — it forces you as coordinators and play callers, you’ve got to stay simple,” he said. “Very rarely are you going to be able to build a system and have multiple players, quarterback included, in it for two or three years.
Part of bigger story from the Athletic
