The most important quality in a quarterback is the ability to
make good decisions. Not how far they can throw, not how tall they are,
not how they act in the locker room - those are all good things, but
decision-making is the key. The QB is responsible for distributing the
football in your offense and unless you run something remarkably restrictive and
primitive he's going to have to make a lot of decisions during the course of a
play. Whether those decisions are good or bad will dictate how much
success your offense has.
I learned this lesson my first season at Buckley. I had
two potential QBs to choose from - one was a stronger, better athlete but not as
"football smart". The other didn't have much of an arm, but he
was agile and had a good head for the game. I chose to start the athlete
and we struggled offensively. At halftime of a particularly difficult game
I decided to make a switch and in the second half the good decision maker led us
to several touchdowns. Unfortunately it was the next to last game so I'd
learned my lesson too late to salvage that season.
It was a lesson that would serve me well in following seasons,
however.