Q&A With: Terry Shea

[MTK]

Sign up for the Redskins Report | John Keim's Redskins Report

Terry Shea knows NFL quarterbacks, from having worked with them and from having trained college players trying to become one. In the past three years, he’s tutored four quarterbacks who have become first-round picks: Matthew Stafford (first overall), Sam Bradford (first), Josh Freeman (17th) and Blaine Gabbert (10th). Shea’s latest project: Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III. As you may have heard, the Redskins likely will select him with the No. 2 overall pick next month.

Here’s Shea’s take on Griffin, whom he trained for nine weeks.

Q: What impressed you most working with him?

A: I’ve had a chance to work with a number of these kinds of quarterbacks over the years. There’s two parts to Robert Griffin that jump out at you. No. 1 is the way he brings such an upbeat demeanor to every time he steps on the practice field. It’s infectious. It seemed to affect the receivers that he works with in the time we were together. I can’t imagine how his teammates were at Baylor. They just have to every day play at a very high level because of his presence. That certainly sticks out. And No. 2 is the fact that he’s such an explosive athlete. He can do just about anything you ask him to do, whether it’s setting that back foot to throw or [throwing] on the run. He’s got tremendous skill in terms of passing the ball, but his explosiveness is what separates him from other quarterbacks who have come through.

Q: I know you’ve worked with Sam Bradford and Matthew Stafford in the past. As a passer, how does Griffin stack up with them?

A: I would say that his passing skill is very comparable to both those quarterbacks. I also worked with Josh Freeman. Matthew Stafford had a very quick arm and a very consistent arm and consequently his accuracy was a product of that. I see Robert Griffin having a similar quick arm, and he’s athletic enough to get his feet in alignment to where he’s throwing the ball so his accuracy is also quite good. Sam Bradford is as accurate as I’ve ever been around for the period of 10 weeks or so. Robert Griffin is right there with the accuracy of a Sam Bradford and the quick arm and velocity of the ball that Matthew Stafford has.

Q: What areas did you focus on in your time together?

A: There’s no doubt I tried to build him from the ground up. His passing mechanics were very fluid and very efficient. Every once in a while I’d remind him to keep his elbow up when he was throwing that eight- to 10-yard throw between the tight end boxes. Other than that, his upper-body mechanics were quite good and very efficient. I built him from the ground up, meaning I concentrated on his drops to make sure he had the proper balance. I really stressed how important his alignment was getting that lead foot to actually direct him right to the catching spot, not at the receiver but where the ball was going to be caught. His feet placement, alignment with his hip and shoulder and just his drop-back mechanics. He’s done a little bit of that at Baylor. Not as much as he did from the gun and not as much as he did on the move. He had to learn the fundamental steps of dropping back. Everyone has to learn that. He learned it very quickly. I can’t tell you how many times where I’d say Robert you threw that 18-yard dig route but you’ve got to get it right at his neck line now. And the next throw is, bang. It was incredible how he would translate and be able to demonstrate with his physical skill. He has a little bit of that; not many quarterbacks have that.

Q: Did you have to work a lot on his drops? Was that something he had to get used to?

A: Well, the way we introduced him to the drop-back scheme is the way I learned it going back to my days with Bill Walsh. We would stress getting depth with the first three steps and then getting balance and rhythm on the next four. We didn’t regulate him to any certain depth. And that’s the way you really coach a quarterback if you want to stress the balance of the last four steps. He grasped that. I’ve been around other quarterbacks who showed it but when it came to their pro day they were all over the place. He was efficient with his feet, very disciplined with his feet.

Q: How strong is his work ethic?

A: Well, it’s very apparent as soon as he steps over the line to go to the practice field. One thing I did appreciate, just about more than anything, was at the end of an extensive workout — say an hour and 15 minutes where he’d throw close to 100 balls — he’d turn to a group of receivers and say, ‘Is there anything else you want to work on?’ It was like clockwork. Every day he would turn around and I know he was close to exhaustion. He would always bring that to his receivers. He’s that kind of a guy.

Q: He has a solid football IQ. Where did you see it?

A: He would talk me through his Baylor film in preparation for the combine and also prep to put out a script together to see what he was all about in terms of some routes he chose to throw. He’s got that quarterback IQ. It’s more a quarterback IQ than a football IQ. He has the ability to take information, and I saw this every day, and translate it to the practice field without a glitch. He knew exactly what the concepts were and what was discussed in the meeting room. He’s a real quick study. He doesn’t need two reps for a certain concept. Like any quarterback, he needs to rep the play one time and he’s got it. Some quarterbacks need two or three or four reps per play.

Q: How often do you see a guy like that?

A: You see it with the real elite quarterbacks who go on and prove they’re elite. I saw it with Sam Bradford, and he proved in his first year with the Rams that he’s pretty special. Last year they had a rough go. Sam had that ability to take it to the practice field, but Robert Griffin can do that as well and he then he can almost translate it into his physical skill as well. All of a sudden he does it just the way you want it. From that standpoint, he brought some really special things.

Q: One concern about him is durability. What do you see here?

A: The one thing I have to start with is his work ethic in the weight room and his strength development. He won’t quit. I’ve been around these situations where you’ve got nine weeks with a quarterback and they choose to concentrate on one area more than another area. He gets into that weight room and tears it up. His endurance and his strength will be there. Whether he gets an unfortunate injury … that can happen to anyone. And he’s extremely flexible. You watch when he trains with our running coach that we had in Phoenix, and you see a guy training with very talented college athletes and you say man, Robert looks like a track athlete compared to these other guys. I think he has that flexibility and the strength. I can’t imagine anybody could claim he won’t be durable.

Q: He’s almost becoming a myth. He has great skills, background, personality. He’s almost too good to be true, don’t you think?

A: At times John I would concur with you. After you’ve been with somebody for a while you say I’ll see how he reacts when he’s around another element of people. Well, he’s the same guy. He’s so engaging and he embraces people like he does you can’t help but say I’ll follow this guy forever if you’re one of his teammates. I can see that.

Q: Did anything surprise you about him during your time together?

A: Yes. I was unaware of his upbeat reputation and personality. But you really don’t appreciate it until you travel with a person like I did for nine weeks. He’s very consistent with how he handles himself and what he puts as his priorities and he never lets you down. I don’t care if it’s, ‘Hey, Robert do you think you could make this one call for me?’ He’ll never let you down. He reacts that way with a lot of people. I think he’s really excited to be a Washington Redskin. I know Robert would look forward to being [first overall], and I know his goal when we first met was to be the No. 1 draft pick. If anyone deserves it he does. But in this case, maybe it’s not meant to happen.

[freddyg12]

great read, this really makes me want RGIII as the Skins QB more than Luck!

[JoeRedskin]

I know it's a win/win and getting Luck would be amazing. Really!

... I want RGIII.

[iRepDMV]

HTTR and RG3!

[Chico23231]

High character and intelligence...cant teach/coach either one. RG3 is the complete package

[NYCskinfan82]

Great stuff, the Draft can't come fast enough.

[skinsfan69]

Nice piece w / Shea. We all have man crushes on RG3. But none of this is going to matter until he does it against NFL puss rushers and NFL db's that are mixing up their coverages. And of course the Shanahan's not messing him up. But all of this looks very promising.

[mooby]

Originally Posted by skinsfan69

Nice piece w / Shea. We all have man crushes on RG3. But none of this is going to matter until he does it against NFL puss rushers and NFL db's that are mixing up their coverages. And of course the Shanahan's not messing him up. But all of this looks very promising.

The way some people think around here, and in real life (McNabb) you'd think he's doomed before he even takes the field. I mean really, a couple of you guys really think Shanahan is going to hold him back? You think they paid the price they paid to get him, only to try and force him into something he might not understand?

Same thing with Luck. I know we all want Griffin at this point, but is there anybody out there that can't see the difference between a guy like Griffin, or Luck, and guys like McNabb/Beck/Grossman? This will honestly be the first elite qb prospect we've had in a long time, and you can't judge the future by what they've done in the past with lesser talent. It's not the same situation, point blank.

[JoeRedskin]

Originally Posted by skinsfan69

Nice piece w / Shea. We all have man crushes on RG3. But none of this is going to matter until he does it against NFL puss rushers and NFL db's that are mixing up their coverages. And of course the Shanahan's not messing him up. But all of this looks very promising.

I dare you to call Jared Allen or Terrell Suggs a "puss rusher" to their face.

[Chico23231]

Originally Posted by skinsfan69

Nice piece w / Shea. We all have man crushes on RG3. But none of this is going to matter until he does it against NFL puss rushers and NFL db's that are mixing up their coverages. And of course the Shanahan's not messing him up. But all of this looks very promising.

In college I was a 5 year All American Puss Rusher myself. No red shirt for me, I loved it so much gotta extra year of eligbility to stay at the college level.

[skinsfan69]

Originally Posted by mooby

The way some people think around here, and in real life (McNabb) you'd think he's doomed before he even takes the field. I mean really, a couple of you guys really think Shanahan is going to hold him back? You think they paid the price they paid to get him, only to try and force him into something he might not understand?

Same thing with Luck. I know we all want Griffin at this point, but is there anybody out there that can't see the difference between a guy like Griffin, or Luck, and guys like McNabb/Beck/Grossman? This will honestly be the first elite qb prospect we've had in a long time, and you can't judge the future by what they've done in the past with lesser talent. It's not the same situation, point blank.

I simply don't trust MS or KS. Are they going to put in some spread concepts? Not the entire offense but some of it has to be what he's done and exceled at in college. Are they willing to do what Mike McCoy did in Denver? We'll see, but like I said, I don't trust them.

[skinsfan69]

Originally Posted by JoeRedskin

I dare you to call Jared Allen or Terrell Suggs a "puss rusher" to their face.

[mooby]

Originally Posted by skinsfan69

I simply don't trust MS or KS. Are they going to put in some spread concepts? Not the entire offense but some of it has to be what he's done and exceled at in college. Are they willing to do what Mike McCoy did in Denver? We'll see, but like I said, I don't trust them.

I don't think we're going to start running the spread permanently, but I think the Shannies will ease him along at the pace he's comfortable at. If the article is true and Griffin is one of those guys who only needs to practice something once before he learns it permanently it could greatly speed up his development. Plus Griffin will have a hell of a longer leash than McNabb did. I think in the brief period where McNabb was starter, the Shannies saw enough to know it wasn't going to work out long term. If Griffin gets off to a slow start, I think the Shannies will do what it takes to ease the transition better.

[CRedskinsRule]

I don't really trust the Shanahan's in terms of QB selection (sorta put my eggs in that Beck basket and had it bite me), but I do trust them on the on field stuff. That's why I am glad we put the chips all in and will get one of the 2 "sure fire" prospects. The worst thing for me would be having us select a 2nd tier prospect, only to watch the other ones succeed while ours muddled through (not saying that would happen only that it would be a miserable happenstance). I am very hopeful that either qb - Luck or Griffin - will be successful here.

I want Griffin.

[Lotus]

Thanks Matty - great stuff.

I have to stop reading things like this. They make me too excited with too many months remaining before we see results.