We received a recent question from a fellow youth football coach. He coaches the older level players in the 6th through 8th grade level and is having problems with his quarterback turning the ball over via the interception. The question is copied below as we received it and our response will follow below the question.
I’m the coach of a youth flag football team (11-14 year old’s)…our quarterback has a great arm, but he always finds a way to throw an interception. Are there any drills or tips that would help/prevent him from throwing so many interceptions?? The basic rules of our league state the defense is allowed to rush our quarterback from 7 yards away, and we play with no offensive line.
Our first question would be what kind of an offense are you running? All passing offenses need multiple options to be successful. That is the main reason having a passing game at the youth football level is so difficult. You need to be running a scheme with hot reads (meaning if there is a blitz the receiver runs a certain route, like a slant) and check-down receivers as a safety valve in case all of the primary receivers are covered.
You need to have set routes as well as timing routes. If the quarterback is throwing too many interceptions, and there is no offensive line, then the problem is the quarterback and receiver are not on the same page. Video tape your games and show both players the reads you want them to make based on how the defense is playing them. Maybe your offense is not reading the coverage right. Some man under, zone deep coverages can be tricky for the young players to read correctly.
Review the tape and I’m sure you’ll be able to pinpoint the problem.