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Shane observations (coach perspective) after film review from yesterday.

Hiesman84

All-League
Gold Member
Dec 1, 2002
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Disclaimers:
Shane can be a very controversial subject on the board - the backers can get WAY too offended when someone is critical of Shane. And likewise, critiques often bring it stronger than maybe they should. The result is quick escalation into an unproductive argument. I'll do my best to avoid creating that here.I am lucky enough to attend some practices, and know several others with that privilege as well. While I cannot speak about things seen at practice (program orders), I think yesterday was a fair representation of what Shane is and is not at this point in his career (without arguing about what that will and won't become). In other words, anyone making the "lets not over-analyze what we saw him do on 1 day of spring game", well actually in this case I think that 1 day was representative of most days for Shane.

On to the analysis:

These will be "in general" thoughts about where Shane is right now on a broad level - I'll try to avoid going "play-by-play", otherwise I'll be here all day.

When Shane has the chance to stand in the gun, catch, and make a deliberate, paced delivery, this is when he is at his best (especially on throws to the outside). It allows him to focus on his target, stand tall, and keep a consistent arm slot. Sure, these are helpful for ALL QB's, but these are extra-important for Shane. He needs these extra accommodations to be made in order to help him overcome his accuracy struggles at this point. When given these accommodations, you do see good accuracy, and some touch. Look at the several sideline throws to Darboh and Dukes. Regardless of whether Norfleet was in coverage or not, those were well placed, well timed, well touched balls.Regardless of how he takes the snap, Shane really only excels at 1 throw right now - the "hole" route vs Cover-2, and throws similar to it. (vs Cov-2, a quick window opens along the sideline, about 18 yards deep, behind the CB but out of reach of the closing Safety). You can use the same technique/throw to beat press coverage to the short side of the field, to fit a ball into a WR who has beat the press-CB off the LOS, but fitting it in BEFORE the safety gets over. This is what we saw on the 2 throws to Darboh, and similar to the Dukes TD. It's been his best throw for a while.The short post/crossing route he hit yesterday to Butt that went for 12-15 yards yesterday, that was a nice sign to see, b/c that is the area where he has consistently struggled the MOST - working the middle of the field. While that arm of his allows him to hit that "cover-2" hole I spoke of, he doesn't have the height-arm slot-mechanics combination to hit those seems up the hashes or over the middle. He frequently overthrows those middle throws, dropping his elbow and getting under the ball. On the throw to Butt, he was able to stand tall and take something off of it, which was good to see, but not indicative of his normal work up the middle or up the hashes. I'm confident JH will continue to work hard on this part of his game.Shane's worst throws have been consistent for a long time, and continued yesterday. He does not throw a catch-able ball on the slant. Yes, our WR's drop some, but some of it is throwing a catch-able ball, and to this point he just isn't there yet. A large part of it, IMO, is his lower body. On ANY 3-stop drop that he makes, the effort he makes to both drop quickly, AND get depth when he does it, translates into a poor throwing posture for his body. Call it a bio-mechanical issue if you will. His lower body is so geared up to work the effort that it takes for the quick drop, that is translates into over-tension through his legs. He never takes the "rhythm" bounce to relax his body, instead throwing will still under the stress of the aggressive drop. The result "looks" like a guy over-throwing the ball, trying to drive a ball into a window WAY too hard. And that's partially true, it is overthrown into the WR, given the short distance. But it also comes in on a trajectory that makes it a very difficult catch because he's releasing it on the end of that aggressive drop. So it lacks accuracy (the WR never know where it's going) and a catch-able trajectory. This is in contrast to when we ask him to throw "Spacing" routes (think of a slant or cross that then sits down when the WR finds a hole) - he CAN complete those, because he's had to "rhythm" hop waiting for the route to develop, thus getting his body back into a much better throwing posture.Anytime he has to move his feet, his mechanics break down quickly. Why? I can only assume (dangerous I know) that it's from a life of having a LASER for an arm that could get him out of trouble, and the bad habits that you build in relaying on that laser. But you saw yesterday when he had to move around a little, the results were inconsistent. He missed a wide open Darboh up the right side for a big play when he had to move around some. But then he hit Kerridge on that 4th down when he had a rusher in his grill. The difference between the 2 are what he had to rely on to make the play. On the long miss to Darboh, he needed the mechanics to make a throw that long and keep the accuracy - and he didn't have it. But Shane IS a PLUS athlete, and that dump off to Kerridge was absolutely an athlete play.
In summary, you could really see yesterday some of the things he's been struggling with for a while. You could also see that some of the things that made him so successful as a 7 on 7 QB are still inside him. But I think yesterday was a fair representation of who Shane is at this point, and accurately represents what's been going on at practice.
 
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