A biomechanical analysis of the football quarterback pass and comparison between university and high school athlete

The purpose of the study was to determine the most effective joint movements, velocities and body positions to perform the fastest and most accurate pass in high school and university football quarterbacks. Secondary purposes included developing a quarterback throwing test to assess skill level, determining which kinematic variables were different between high school and university athletes as well as determining which variables were significant predictors of quarterback throwing test performance. Ten high school and 10 university athletes were filmed for the study, performing nine passes at a target and two passes for maximum distance. Thirty variables were measured using Dartfish Team Pro 4.5.2 with Microsoft Excel and StatView being used for statistical analysis. University athletes scored slightly higher than the high school athletes on the throwing test, however this result was not statistically significant. Correlation analysis and forward stepwise multiple regression analysis was performed on both the high school group and the university group in order to determine which variables were significant predictors of throwing test score. Ball velocity was determined to have the strongest predictive effect on throwing test score (r = 0.900) for the high school athletes, however, position of the back foot at release was also suggested as important (r = 0.661) for the university group. Several significant differences in throwing technique between groups were noted during the pass, however, body position at release showed the greatest differences between the two groups. High school players could benefit from more complete weight transfer and decreased throw time to increase throwing test score. University athletes could benefit from increased throw time and greater range of motion in external shoulder rotation and trunk rotation to increase their throwing test score.