Coach,

Austin Adam, OC and QB Coach at Tarleton State learned how to better grade his QB by from Pro Football Focus. In between jobs, he had planned on working for PFF and it shed light on how he should view and evaluate the effectiveness of his quarterbacks.

This is a process used daily regardless of if it is a practice, scrimmage, or game. He evaluates six components:

#1) Mechanics

#2) Accuracy

#3) Decision (Needy, Greedy, Indecisive, Conservative)

#4) Game Changer

#5) Leadership

#6) Practice Production

These all go into evaluating the quarterback’s performance in order to determine playing time.

He explains the Decision Grade and what needy, greedy, indecisive, and conservative mean to the grade:

Video: QB Decision Items

Relying on pure completion or yardage stats can give you a picture of success, but not necessarily the complete picture. For those purposes, Coach Austin uses the Game Changer multiplier.

The Game Changer multiplier also works to give a better picture of performance.  These have both positive and negative multipliers ranging from -2% to +2% depending on what the QB did during the play.  

This allows you to turn off the coaching lens to more of an analytical lens to give you the best picture of how your QB is doing.

Here is an example of the grade that Coach Austin walks you through:

Video: Grading Example

It’s important to have a sound evaluation system. It does more than just give the player a grade, it shows you as the coach where there are areas needing improvement as well as strengths that you can build on. This is valuable information as you build both a weekly game plan and practice plan.

Thank you to Coach Austin for putting together this presentation. This is a great resource for you to utilize this season.  All proceeds support Lauren’s First and Goal Foundation for Pediatric Brain Tumor Research and Cancer Services.

Good luck as you prepare your quarterback for the next test!

Always be growing!

Coach Grabowski

Presentation: Adam Austin - Quarterback Evaluation