SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Every day, Carolina's quarterbacks find an array of obstacles waiting for them, but they're never quite sure how to be arranged -- or how they'll have to avoid them.
Some days, they're moving forward and backward between them. Others, they're high over them. Rarely do the passers take three steps back and throw, except in warmups. When it's time for passing drills, they're going to move around, be hit by tackling dummies, and have hands reaching into their grasp to try and grip the football.
In other words, they're going to have distractions that prevent the three- and five-step drops in a pristine pocket -- just like they will on game days.
Their position coach, Rip Scherer, wouldn't have it any other way.
"I've been doing this 35, 36 years. It's just things that you pick up along the way. Heck, I go on the Internet and Google quarterback drills," he said. "I've got one drill where there's four bags in a star; I got that off the Internet watching some high school coach. You never quit trying to find a new way and learning."
Scherer is not unlike a crafty pitcher, mixing things up to keep the quarterbacks sharp through the repetition of camp.
"I try not to get stale and do enough different things with those guys (the pitchers) so that they don't get stale," Scherer said. "Every day it's we're doing these drills for this reason. As long as they understand the purpose to it, these guys are pros, they want to get better."
In 35 years as a coach, mostly in the college ranks, Scherer learned that footwork is the hidden key to being a successful quarterback.
"We do a lot of footwork-type drills -- a lot of quickness, shifting and resetting your weight, because it's never go-back-seven-steps, put your foot in the ground, step up and throw," he explained. "You're sliding in the pocket; there's somebody falling at your feet; you've got to adjust; you've got to slide and yet at the same time maintain your base and balance."
Arm strength is important, but even the stongest one can't fire efficiently if the feet aren't set properly.
"The whole thing in throwing a ball is being balanced, having a solid base and making sure your weight is evenly distributed," Scherer said. "What happens to quarterbacks in the pocked is they move and adjust, and they have a tendency to get their base wide. I've got to keep my weight loaded on my back leg so I'm always ready to throw the ball.
"Sometimes, as you adjust your feet in the pocket, your weight gets more evenly distributed and you get a wide base. Now, if I get a wide base, you can't step and throw, so it's all arm and I lose some juice on the ball.
"The lower body is what really drives the explosiveness in the ball. If my base is compact and my weight is on my back leg, then I'm more in position of being able to step with my front foot and drive off my back leg."
They're fundamental lessons, and in quarterback Jake Delhomme, Scherer has found an eager pupil.
One month after joining the Panthers, Scherer flew to Delhomme's hometown of Breaux Bridge, La. to begin getting to know his new starting quarterback. Scherer didn't intend for the meeting to be about football; he was interested in learning about the man that the Panthers organization has come to know and admire over the last six years.
Delhomme, just a month removed from a five-interception night in the divisional playoffs, had other ideas.
"We went out to dinner, just the two of us," Scherer said. "It was funny, because we'd been just kind of small talk, feeling each other out, getting to know each other, and then we sat down to dinner and he goes, 'OK, tell me what I've got to do. What are we going to do to help me get better?' I said, 'Jake, I didn't really want to get into that.' He said, 'No, really, let's get into it.'"
And so the conversation turned.
"He and I talked at that time about what I saw at that point, what needed changing, and what I would do to focus on fundamentals," Scherer said. "I'm not going to assume anything. And he wants to be coached. He was extremely receptive to a different approach -- I'm not saying better, just different. Sometimes a change is good. So we talked through some of the different fundamental things we've been working on, and he's been extremely receptive to changes and how we approach the mental part of the passing game.
"There's three aspects to the development of a quarterback," Scherer added. "There's the emotional/psychological development, the mental development and the physical development. I think it's important to work on all three. There's different philosophies as to how to go about coaching quarterbacks, but Jake has been receptive in every area."
Said Delhomme: "(It's) just little things. The different bag work that we're doing. All the footwork we're doing. I know it's good. I think you've got to stay true to your fundamentals, and I think it's working well for me."
The same is true for Scherer.
"It's just hard to imagine there being a better guy to coach in terms of his disposition (and) his willingness," he said.
