Against The Spread

"I don't know if the Heisman ever goes to a player from a team that doesn't win," Arizona Cardinals Coach Ken Whisenhunt said. "A lot of times that helps when you have a lot of talent around you, whether it's a quarterback, or a running back, or a line in front of you. I think sometimes when you take that player and put them in a different situation, and you don't have as much talent, or the focus is more on you, it's difficult."

Although Whisenhunt was speaking in general terms, it's notable that before the season he benched Heisman winner Matt Leinart in favor of Kurt Warner.

Leinart, of course, came from USC, which runs the type of offense teams favor in the pros. Scouts didn't have to take as much of a leap of faith on him as they do with quarterbacks who are virtually never under center.

And polishing a three-step drop at this stage of the game isn't as easy as 1-2-3.

"You've got to learn how to trust your feet and let the ball go," said Rick Neuheisel, who was the Baltimore Ravens' quarterbacks coach then offensive coordinator before becoming head coach at UCLA. "Guys who have done that more often in college and high school are often much better off doing it and trusting it at the next level when the open space becomes much more limited."

Not only that, but the type of throws quarterbacks make in the spread are typically much different than the throws NFL evaluators want to see. For instance, NFL Network scouting expert Mike Mayock recently took a look at Graham Harrell, the highly regarded quarterback who runs the spread at Texas Tech.

Mayock charted two games and counted 76 passes by Harrell, 63 of which flew no more than 12 yards downfield. Of the 13 remaining throws, only six were in the 12- to 21-yard range that scouts like to see.

"I wanted to see those intermediate routes, the curls, the deep outs, the digs," Mayock said. "I call those 'stick' throws, where you have to have that arm strength to stick it in there with velocity."

Mayock's analysis after watching the two tapes of Harrell?

"I want to like him," he said. "But it's very difficult to evaluate him."

Coaches and scouts prefer to see live action of a quarterback under center, making NFL-type throws, rather than while wearing a T-shirt and shorts in a postseason workout.

And sometimes, the NFL folks don't even get to see that.