“Lighting Strikes Twice.”
While travelling across the country looking for the next great quarterback one of the most common things I look for an important key attribute:
Do they command the room? At one of my most recent football camps I came across a young aspiring quarterback by the name of Tate Martell. There were over 300 quarterbacks in attendance and he absolutely owned the room.
Some of the things I immediately noticed:
He was a fierce competitor, pushing his way through all the quarterback drills
He never walked anywhere on the field
His athleticism and accuracy was advanced for his age
First thing I wanted to know about Tate was what grade he was in? I was guessing he was a sophomore in high school. When I asked him how old he was he said he was in the 6th grade and he was 12 years old. I immediately asked myself, “Does lighting strike twice?”
In trying to make an assessment of young Tate and what quarterback he compared to, I couldn’t come up with anyone. After some thought the answer was quite clear, no single quarterback can best describe this young man’s talent. Therefore I came up with two that fit the bill: a perfect hybrid of Brett Favre and Fran Tarkenton.
Remember when I referenced “lighting strikes twice?” i.e. David Sills? David was 10 years old when he came to me for quarterback training, three years later in 2010 he was making national news headlines. It was during Super Bowl XLIV...#44 (Colts vs. Saints) that the young David stole the spotlight from Peyton Manning and Drew Brees. A small one liner scrolled across the bottom of ESPN, “13 year old David Sills verbally commits to Lane Kiffin and USC Class of 2015.” Again....this was 2010
Fast forward...two and a half years later and Tate Martell verbally commits to Steve Sarkisian and the University of Washington Class of 2017.
Coincidence? Or planned? You be the judge.
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