QB Drills to Practice Pocket Awareness & Movement

The importance of anticipation, a solid base, and a capacity for chaos.

Defense is hard when the QB gets the ball out on time and accurately.

So one thing that we focus on all the time is throwing from a good base from the pocket. This process starts out with learning all the drops that we use and understanding how to maintain a base for the time of the throw. But the game of football invokes chaos and as a result, the pocket moves often. A good QB navigates the pocket and is able to still throw on time and with a good base.

Setting Up a Firm Foundation

The most dangerous QB is the one who can get the ball out on time and accurately within a messy pocket. As I see it, there are three primary factors that make this happen:

1. Anticipation

2. Solid Base

3. Comfort in Chaos

The QB’s anticipation will help soothe the chaos of the pocket because he’ll know what he’s seeing and how to react to what he’s seeing. That starts from a strong pre-snap understanding and knowing the called concept so well that you can react to whatever happens post-snap.

Having a solid base is important for the sake of consistency. The idea is that throwing from a good base is better than throwing from a bad base, and that the difference between the two matters in terms of completions and incompletions. In other words, throwing from a solid base as often as possible is another way to stack the odds in your favor. Therefore, its a high-priority focus.

The third factor that determines how well the QB will be able to navigate a messy pocket is his capacity for chaos. The ideal situation on a pass play is to take a drop and let it rip on rhythm. But so often the pocket gets a little messy and forces the QB to move ever so slightly so that he can maintain a base (and obviously get out the way). So the QB must develop a comfortability in handling the unknown and not panic amidst unideal circumstances.

And while the game requires the ability to throw off-platform, that is not the focus here in these drills. Instead, we’re asking the QB to deviate from his drop just a tad because of a shift in the pocket and still get the ball out on time. Sometimes this does require an unconventional throw, but we want to minimize those happenings by getting the QB comfortable with throwing from a solid base the majority of the time. So the rest of this post will go over a simple drill progression that we’ve been using for the past year and a half to teach this.

A Note on Establishing Proper Drop Footwork

A pre-requisite for success in these drills is having solid footwork in each drop that we use. Each play requires a particular drop, so our first job is to teach the QB which drop to use for each play and why we use that footwork. The following drills will enforce why we use each footwork too.

And while we will get into the following drills before the footwork is fully polished, I’ve found there is a point where the QB can’t succeed in these drills because they won’t ever get to a proper base or they will rush the drop and abandon it completely because they know they will have to move during the drill.

A key part of the following drills is for them to take the full drop as if they were not going to have to move. We emphasize this because that’s how we want to play initially — on proper footwork so we can throw on rhythm to the first receiver in the read. These drills will be a test of the QB’s ability to play on rhythm, maintain a base, and get the ball out on time.

Predetermined Movement from One Side

This drill will have the QB catch a snap, take a drop, and then move either up or back or away based on the rush he gets. We tell the QB which way the pocket will move because we want him focused on moving well with a base instead of worrying about what type of movement he’ll do.

We only spend as much time on this drill as necessary — its purpose is to get the QB comfortable with the footwork that’ll get him back to base (balance) after he is forced to move in the pocket. In fact, we want to move past this drill as fast as we can, but it this part of the process cannot be rushed. He needs to know what it feels like to move with a base and more importantly, he needs to be convinced of its importance. Good and bad throws should reinforce this.

Important note: we are not practicing escaping from the pocket or against a free rusher. So while the drill drawings below show a rusher, we are simulating an offensive linemen or running bock blocking someone who forces the pocket to move off the launch point (which is determined by the drop).

The two movements the QB is working on are stepping up in the pocket or back/to the side. We tell the QB which way the pocket will move (or said another way, which way the rusher will come — either in front or behind) prior to snapping him the ball because the goal is to get used to the movement, not learn to react to it.

Here’s how the drill is set up when he needs to step up:

And here’s the drill when he needs to step away or back:

We’ll take the QB through all our drops during this drill so he knows what it feels like to need to move for each one. We’ll do it from both sides, and every rep ends with a throw to test the nature of their base. I ask the QBs to analyze their base after each one to get them to pay attention to it.

In short, this drill’s purpose is for the QB to figure out how to keep a base off a small, subtle movement in the pocket. He should’ve bring his feet together in some dramatic step up. He should have a base at the back of his drop and maintain that base through his step up, back, or away. We don’t want the QB to “be dramatic” in his movements. They should be tight and efficient.

Predetermined Movement from Either Side

This drill is the exact same as the one before in that we’ll tell the QB if the rusher will be going behind him for a step up or a in front for a step away. The new variable is that the QB won’t know which side the rush will come from.

So it will look the exact same, there will just be an extra person to rush needed (if we don’t have another person, the QB will snap to himself):

So this drill’s purpose is to add a reactionary element in a simple, non-burdensome way. The QB shouldn’t struggle too much here if he’s done well during the first one.

Reactionary Movement from One Side

Next, the QB will not know prior if he’ll have to step up or away or back:

Now the drill is getting close to real life football. Throughout one period of this drill we can run through as many different drops as we have, but I’ve found that at first, it’s best to work one at a time so the QB starts to get a feel for how that one drop will play out against different rushes.

We’ll also start to swipe at the ball some to make sure the QB has two, secure hands on it throughout the drop and movement.

Like all the drills, the QB will end the rep with a throw to test his base. We can move the WR around the space we have to coincide with the drop and concept we want to work that day.

Reactionary Movement from Either Side

The last step is to add both reactionary elements — the movement force can come from either side and could come in front or behind.

All the elements of the prior drills are wrapped up into one here to get as close to a real pocket situation as possible. However, this is an indy drill — the real “last step” in this drill progression is in team period when you run the concepts and have a real rush.

Putting It All Together

The only way to know if any of this is working is during a team period or a game. Based on my experiences coaching QBs, the ability for the QB to handle the pocket has proven critical to our success. So this drill progression is the product of us trying to help our QBs get through the game without abandoning our pass concepts. Without a strong pocket awareness and ability to move, the passing game can quickly become a “one and run” scheme. Meaning, if the first read isn’t open, then the QB takes off. Another byproduct of bad pocket awareness and movement is if the first read is there but the pocket moves and the QB doesn’t adjust so he can’t throw it.

We place pocket movement and awareness as a high priority skill for the QB, so we practice these drills all week. We’ve changed them throughout our time, so this is where we are at the moment.

Until tomorrow,

Emory Wilhite

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