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Building a QB factory
Entrepreneur sees opportunity in training camps
Ryan Osborne
3:04 AM, Jul 2, 2015
Copyright 2015 Journal Media Group. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
PIcture by PAUL MOSELEY
As the parent of a middle-school football player, Bill Webb was the “ultimate consumer” of what had become a cottage industry. But when he decided to start his own quarterback training business, it wasn’t because he thought he could out-coach the gurus. He just saw an opening in the market.
“Nobody really treated it like a business,” said Webb, a private equity investor. “Where we thought we could add the best value is to go in and start working with high school coaches and receivers.”
The model Webb created seems to be a fit for Texas high school football, where most programs’ success hinges on how well they can run a spread offense. He even gave it a Texas appropriate name: The Quarterback Ranch.
Instead of creating business through one-on-one workouts, The Quarterback Ranch partners with schools and instructs entire teams of quarterbacks and receivers, from middle school through varsity. The cost for each athlete is around $10 per session, which run about 90 minutes once a week for eight weeks.
Webb’s staff doesn’t arrive with its own playbook. It adapts, as much as necessary, to what offense each school runs.
“Our whole goal is, and what we try to explain to the coaches before we work with them, is we want to be as much of an extension to their coaching staff as they will allow us,” said Nate Poppell, the camp’s lead quarterback instructor.
Poppell, a former quarterback at Texas A&M-Kingsville, met Webb last spring and started working for Quarterback Ranch last summer, when the business was still in a trial phase.
Its list of clients began to grow, though, and Webb kept Poppell on full time.
They’ve now worked with Euless Trinity, Hurst L.D. Bell, Arlington Bowie, Arlington Lamar, Arlington Seguin, Northwest and Trophy Club Nelson. They work with Northwest and Nelson middle schools, too, and they have close ties to Southlake Carroll, where Webb’s son is a freshman.
Former Carroll quarterback Chase Wasson (the son of Dragons coach Hal Wasson) is Webb’s founding partner, and Carroll offensive coordinator Clayton George has been an instructor for the camp.
Its quick growth has stemmed from two reasons: Like most quarterback instructors, Webb’s staff provides development at a competitive position in a competitive area. Webb’s business model also makes that development affordable. Seguin coach Carlos Lynn signed up for the camp this spring. Each of his players participating paid $96 for eight sessions.
Most of what Lynn’s players learned was what the Seguin staff already coaches. But for two months each Saturday, they were able to get the reps needed to make it stick.
“A lot of this stuff is universal,” Lynn said. “There’s nothing that new or revolutionary about it: If I can get eight more weeks of work vs. your quarterback, then I can get the edge there.”
The team model is what makes The Quarterback Ranch unique, at least for now.
“Every QB instructor wants to go work with the next 5-star QB,” Webb said. “But there’s only so many of those.”
But for instructors who train players individually, landing a high-profile talent is key. It’s how Trenton Kirklin has built an impressive list of clients by age 23.
Last spring, Kirklin started working with Jarrett Stidham, the former Stephenville star who signed with Baylor in February. Now he’s also working with Mansfield Timberview’s Devin Williams (Texas State commit), Manvel’s D’Eriq King (TCU), Milton’s (Ga.) David Moore (SMU), Sachse’s Jalen Mayden (four offers) and Cedar Hill’s Avery Davis (five offers).
As an injured quarterback at Tarleton State, Kirklin would soak up the game and watch film on YouTube for hours. When surgery didn’t fully heal his broken ankle, he became a student assistant and struck up a friendship with Travis McClain, another young assistant. McClain, who now works with Kirklin, introduced him to Stidham last spring.
Stidham had just lost out to Kyler Murray for a spot in the Elite 11 finals, and instructors at the qualifying Nike camp told him his mechanics looked flawed.
Kirklin saw a minor issue and adjusted Stidham’s throwing motion, steadying his nonthrowing arm to generate more power.
“I’ll never forget the reaction he had after he threw the next ball,” Kirklin said.
A few weeks later, Stidham earned MVP of the Dallas Elite 11 camp, putting him in the finals. With Stidham sold, Kirklin’s list of clients grew.
His “deep training” method focuses on building shoulder strength and rotating the hips. At its most complex, it’s mastering what his Dynasty Mechanics website calls the “kinematic sequence.” At its simplest, it’s building muscle memory.
Williams, who has starred at the varsity level the last two seasons, has worked with former Texas A&M quarterback Kevin Murray and now Kirklin.
“What type of information you can grab from these instructors, you can take it over to your team and you can fix your own mistakes when it comes to the game time,” Williams said. “All the quarterbacks that I know have somebody they work with.”
Copyright 2015 Journal Media Group. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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