j/c:
I think Darnold may have fallen a bit this week. His decision not to throw in a year where every other qb is throwing was odd and combined w/him saying he isn't changing his motion makes one wonder about where his head is at.
Compare that to Rosen, who has a much, much better motion and is working w/Tom House to even get better.
Here's an article from July 2017 describing Darnold working with Jordan Palmer. Palmer does a good job explaining Darnold's throwing motion and what they worked on to tweak it a bit.
DANA POINT — When Mel Kiper Jr., ESPN’s longtime NFL draft expert, published his first 2018 mock draft, he pegged Sam Darnold as the top selection.
It included one footnote about the USC quarterback.
“He does have an unorthodox, long delivery, however, that will have to be retooled,” Kiper wrote.
Analysts over the past year have remarked on the loopy motion Darnold makes when he throws a pass, akin to a baseball player playing long-toss by grabbing the ball out of his mitt and dropping his arm back to start a windy circular movement.
Darnold presented his own baseball analogy after a recent workout. As if he were an infielder prepared to scoop up a grounder, Darnold crouched for a second. He slightly dropped his left arm, ready to simulate the transfer of the ball between his mitt and his right hand. He brought his arm back and mimicked a quick throw to first base.
“It’s just kind of natural for me,” Darnold said.
Through his freshman year at San Clemente High, Darnold was a baseball player. He was predominantly in the lineup as an outfielder for the Tritons, but had also played third base, catcher and pitcher.
Darnold said his windup was akin to NFL quarterback Jameis Winston, who was also a pitcher and outfielder at Florida State. Winston retooled a similarly elongated throwing motion after he was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2015.
Although Darnold made plenty of throws look effortless in his first season as a starter, leading the Trojans as a redshirt freshman to their first Rose Bowl victory in almost a decade, he eyes adjustments before training camp begins in late July.
He plans for his loopy motion to be a little less so.
Jordan Palmer, his Orange County-based private quarterback coach and the younger brother of USC’s former Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer, described it as his “circle.”
“His circle is, when your hands come apart, the ball comes down a little bit, and then it starts to come back up and then it goes all the way up behind your head and it goes forward when you throw,” Palmer said. “Right now, Sam’s circle is bigger than it needs to be.”
WORK IN PROGRESS
Palmer, a former NFL quarterback who runs an offseason training program known as QB Summit, noticed the quirk in Darnold’s delivery after last season and proposed a couple tweaks, though cautioned the changes were not drastic.
“I’m not overhauling or changing anything,” Palmer said. “I’m just trying to help him make something more efficient.”
They started last month.
“He knows the success I’ve had,” Darnold said, “but it’s never enough. You can always get better.”
Darnold first met Palmer as a high school sophomore. He was attending a workout put together by Bob Bosanko, the tutor for a swarm of San Clemente High quarterbacks and Palmer’s offensive coordinator at Mission Viejo High a decade earlier.
They continued to forge a bond the following summer, in 2014, when Darnold was invited to the Elite 11 Quarterback Competition. Palmer was a counselor. They have worked out together since. Palmer lives in Dana Point near Darnold’s parents’ home in Capistrano Beach.
FINDING POSITIVES
For the young passer, a shortened throwing motion offers some benefits. Palmer emphasized two.
With a shortened delivery, Darnold should put less stress on his arm — this fall and in the seasons ahead — serving as a preventive measure against injuries. Jordan noted his brother, Carson, has battled elbow injuries throughout his NFL career, in part due to a heavy reliance on his arm.
A second benefit could come with improved accuracy. A tighter motion could produce passes with a little extra zip and more consistent placement.
“Sam has all the hard stuff,” Palmer said, noting his instinctive style that often sparked breathtaking big plays. “I think this is the answer for helping him execute all the simple stuff over and over again.”
The simple stuff is the high-percentage throws that, Palmer believes, could be completed at an even higher rate — a quick pass to a running back in the flat, just a couple yards past the line of scrimmage, or a stick route, where a tight end hurries about five yards downfield before cutting toward the sideline. Can he deliver every throw on time? Last season, Darnold completed 67 percent of his passes.
In order for Darnold to compress his “circle,” start with his arms.
Before the quarterback prepares to make a throw, he typically uses both hands to hold the ball. As he scans for an open receiver, it rests in front of his sternum. Once he spots an open target, he drops his right arm back.
At this point, Darnold makes his loop. To shorten it, Palmer thinks he can reach a 90-degree angle more quickly, a faster windup developed through repetition this offseason.
“I’ve done it before,” Darnold said, “to create muscle memory to do things or not to do things. I think if I can just continue to work on it, it’ll improve, you know?”
CORE MESSAGE
An accelerated delivery also comes with more hip movement.
On a Friday evening in late May, Darnold gathered with more than a dozen other college and high school passers to work out with Palmer over the Memorial Day weekend.
They stood in pairs, facing each other about 10 yards apart, on one end of the Dana Hills High football field. Darnold was across from Josh Allen, Wyoming’s quarterback.
Palmer introduced one drill he observed three years ago from recently retired Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler. As if he was standing in a pocket, his body parallel to the sideline, Palmer threw a pass, thrusting his right hip forward.
“I want this hip to be in front of the shoulder when the throw is finished,” Palmer told them.
Of course, Cutler had a strong right arm, but he also relied on his hips for some of the strength behind his throws.
“Your core is the strongest, most coordinated, most explosive muscle group in the body,” Palmer said. “I want to incorporate that and use all that energy, so firing my hip creates that energy.”
Thus, more emphasis on core would alleviate pressure on the arm, the thinking goes.
Before Darnold’s throwing motion is destined to be scrutinized by countless draft analysts and NFL front offices, perhaps as soon as next spring, his hope is a quicker delivery can first take effect this fall, helping USC to meet its ambitious preseason expectations.
“None of this has to do with the NFL at all,” Palmer said. “This is all about winning a national championship. That is the only thing this guy cares about. We haven’t had a single conversation about the NFL other than to agree it’s there and it’s down the road and it doesn’t even matter.
“He should be dead set on winning a national championship. And that’s all him.”
the OCR Register
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