A speed study starring Justin Fields

There are so many traits that enter into the evaluation equation when it comes to the quarterback position. Of course there are the physical traits, the abilities that jump off the screen. Traits such as athletic ability, arm strength, arm talent, and play strength. Boxes that are checked off as a scout winds their way down the evaluation road.

Then there are the mental traits, and chief among them is the notion of “processing speed.” Simply put, this relates to how quickly a quarterback can diagnose, decipher and decide with the football in his hands. Today’s defenses can throw so much at the quarterback on a given play, that how fast you can make up your mind and get to the right decision matters.

A component of that is play speed. While making these decisions – or once the decision is made – how quickly does the quarterback execute on the decision? If the quarterback hesitates, the quarterback makes a mistake.

Playing quarterback is not a 24-hour, take home examination. It is a timed test. Sure, getting to the right decision eventually is a good thing, but those that do it faster than the rest stand out.

And the clock is always ticking.

Heading into the 2020 college football season three quarterbacks are commonly listed atop early big boards at the position: Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, North Dakota State’s Trey Lance and Ohio State’s Justin Fields. For many, the Buckeyes passer might be the best of the bunch, and there are certainly reasons to hold such a position. He combines great arm talent with tremendous athleticism, and watching him on film you can see that the future is bright.

However, if there is an area to focus on in terms of improvement, it is indeed the realm of speed.

Take, for example, this play against Clemson from the National Semifinal a few months back:

Now, Fields gets to the right decision here to throw this hitch route, but as we walk through the play we can see how it almost ended in disaster for Ohio State.

The Buckeyes run a staple of Ryan Day’s offense, a spacing concept:

Now putting yourself in the quarterback’s mind before the play, you might look to the slot receiver on the right. Why? Clemson is showing perhaps a Cover 2 Man Under coverage scheme, with the three cornerbacks in press alignment, feet parallel to the line of scrimmage and eyes trained on the receivers. That is a clear man coverage key. Both safeties are deep, albeit with one cheated down a few yards, but with both ten yards or more off the line of scrimmage, that is an indication of a two-high scheme. The only catch might be that defender lurking on your right, potentially showing a blitz. With the safety to that side cheated down, you – and Fields – might want to keep an eye on that as the play begins.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Brent Venables does have something up his sleeve, an uncommon rotation into a three-deep coverage:

Both cornerbacks drop to deep thirds, and the middle linebacker becomes the center fielder in this coverage scheme. That then asks the safeties to drive downhill and become the hook defenders underneath. Again, look at the route Fields throws, the hitch to the left slot receiver:

He reaches the correct decision. Because that safety has the most ground to cover, and the space the hitch route settles into is the softest part of this coverage. Initially. But the ball has to get out quickly.

Which it does not:

Fields hesitates, chopping his feet and taking an extra beat to reset himself before throwing. That gives the safety more than enough time to erase this cushion, and he almost picks this off for six going the other way.

So Fields gets to the right answer, but the speed with which the ball comes out – or lack thereof – almost costs him.

Here is another play from this game:

Again, Fields gets to the right decision – and shows some impressive eye manipulation along the way – but the speed with which that decision is executed is the concern.

Ohio State runs a Divide or Scissors concept from the left. One receiver breaks to the corner from an inside alignment while the outside receiver cuts towards the post:

Similar to the pre-snap expectation on the previous example, the Clemson defense shows two-high safeties before the play. This time, they stay in that look, dropping into Red 2, a red zone Cover 2 scheme with the middle linebacker running the middle:

With the deep coverage zones added, along with the rest of the route design, you can see what Fields will be working with and against. On the right side of the play Ohio State runs a Smash/Fade concept, and that vertical route works to hold the safety to that side of the formation. As he reads the Divide concept, he’ll need to throw based off of the safety. If he can move the safety with his eyes to the corner route, he’ll get a wide receiver breaking to the post working against a dropping linebacker.

Which is exactly what Fields does, moving the safety with his eyes and even getting him to fall in the process. But the QB takes too long to then work back to the post and make the throw, and since the ball comes out later than hoped for, the margin for error is slim:

The linebacker has enough time to retreat and influence the play.

If Fields, rather than taking again that extra beat, simply pulls the trigger sooner, this is probably six points.

So again, the QB gets to the right decision, but the speed of that decision and how quickly he then executes his final piece to the play, is the question.

Now, there are certainly examples of Fields getting to the right decision much quicker on his film, which we will get to in a moment. Also, this was the biggest game of his career to date and facing Venables’ 3-1-7 defense is a tough test for any quarterback. Remember how Joe Burrow and the LSU offense struggled early in the National Championship Game. So that important context is necessary.

For example, look at this read and throw against Maryland:

This is everyone’s favorite play-call, four verticals out of a 3×1 alignment. Before the snap the Terrapins show Fields a two-high alignment, with both safeties deep. Seeing this, Fields expects to work one of the boundary vertical routes. If the corners play with a “hard” technique, staying down near the line of scrimmage, he’ll try and attack the holes in the coverage deep along the sideline.

Instead, Maryland drops a safety late and they rotate this into a single-high coverage. Fields reads the rotation perfectly and delivers a seam route on time and in rhythm, with good velocity and placement. This is a great read of the rotation and a quick decision and throw.

Another aspect of the position that highlights processing and play speed is the ability of a quarterback to make anticipation throws, particularly to the middle of the field. That is why this play from Fields was so great to see:

Ohio State shifts into an empty formation, and as running back J.K. Dobbins moves out wide to the left, Maryland shows Fields a zone response, simply sliding defenders in response rather than using a linebacker to trail the running back. That tells Fields to expect zone coverage. When the play begins, the QB knows that the middle linebacker is going to open towards the three-receiver side. That creates space on the backside for this Inch (hitch/in) concept. Fields throws the in route before the receiver crosses behind the underneath linebacker, a true anticipation throw.

There are certainly examples like this throughout his season, and when you add these to the other aspects of his game such as athleticism and arm talent, you can see how Fields has a tremendous foundation upon which to build an elite quarterback prospect. The issues of processing and play speed, highlighted at the beginning of the piece, were going to be critical aspects to watch for in his upcoming season. Without the chance to play another year of college football – should Fields decide to forgo a spring season in the Big Ten and opt-out for the draft – how he grades in those areas might not be as high as it would have been with one more year and some sustained improvement and development.

There is no doubt that if Fields enters the draft right now, he is a surefire first-round pick and potentially a Top Five selection. But with one more year, and some improvement in that area, we might be talking about more than that. We might be talking about QB1. He can still be that guy, but it might be a tougher sell.

For more on Fields, his prospects and these traits, be sure to check out this video breakdown from myself and Matt Waldman, working through these plays and more.