Tajh Boyd and The QB Learning Curve

Welcome to the solid verbal.

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You want to be happy for Dake Ado State? Is that woo whoo? And no?

Dan and Ty, welcome back to the solid verbal. Boys and girls. My name is Ty Hildebrand. Joining me is always over there in New York City. My man Dan Ruvenstein, Sir, how are you?

Scheme?

Theme, scheme deme steam theme. It rolls on, Dan, it does. I'm good. I'm very excited for this show. I've long admired our guest, both in terms of his ability on the football field and as a speaker. Taj Boyd is and I mean his college career started out as heartbreak for me because I was positive he was going to go to Oregon, which is insane for somebody from like the tidewater region of Virginia. Yeah, that's right, Just be

Now, and this is not a true scheme theme show in the same way that we've done these shows over the last couple of weeks.

This is much more human. Tie a human discussion.

Hey, high profile quarterback, What's it like to try and apply all the x's and o's that we heard from Seth Latrell and Joe moorehead? What's it like to communicate in the manner that we heard Chris Brown elaborate on a week ago? What is it like to actually be the person trying to execute these things out there on the field and in the huddle.

In a certain way? Then, Ty, it might be the most scheme theme true, because we are adding all of these elements together and going inside of the brain responsible for holding a football and moving a football in a forward direction. Absolutely all right? Well, Daniel, Yes, who sponsors are scheme theme month? Oh my god, I am so

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Yeah, I know everybody has workout stuff from like college. That's sort of the elastic's been stretching and maybe there's sweat marks everywhere. You're a grown up, Tie, I've seen you. You're a grown up. Up your game a little bit. This is a new phase of life, Tie, this is a lifestyle for me, and everything's made here the great us of a Yep. I'm a huge fan Oliver's Apparel dot com.

Huge, huge fan of Oliver's check them out. We are also here at the Verbal huge huge fans of our next guest. He is a gentleman by the name of Toaj Boyd.

So a terrific career at Clemson, including All ACC ACC Player of the Year. He's an All American his final game and I think we watched this together tie. Yeah, that's right, the Orange Bowl against Ohio State in twenty fourteen win over Braxton Miller in Ohio State. When I last interviewed him, he says, after he was drafted, he told me he didn't trust dolphins, the animal, not the team. Paes and gentlemen, Taj Boyd, Hey you doing well?

So man, appreciate you guys having me, don't Will you know about to go hit the gym real quick?

What's what's today's focus at the gym? Is it leg day? We're working on shoulders? Where are we hitting?

Well?

You know, I hit legs yesterday. I think a spin class is more than just get cardio and and so I'm trying to straight up a little bit. I'm hoping that it helps my golf game, but I don't think that's the that's the cost.

For my problems out there.

So enough so, so, what.

We're talking about this week, and this is sort of a broader theme for the month, but also for what we're going to talk about today is sort of the the learning and application process of being a quarterback. And you started for three years, you were at Clemson for four years. You had huge amounts of success. I think you only won double digit games every year. So it feels like, even though you are consistently very good, you would have I think some interesting insight into this. So

Well, all right, so where I'm from in Virginia, there's been disc pliniful amount of athletes to come out of there.

So e J.

May was my We went to middle school together. And for those of you who do know EJ. May Or, he's a quarterback for the Oklahoias right now. Tyrod Taylor is my rival in high school. The area's just flooded with talent. Man Percy Harvor we played liter League in.

High school together. In my first year.

I used to go watch the Adela Hall when he was at Deep Creek High School. Uh, seeing Marcut's big play safety, punter, and quarterback.

As far as.

Me in the quarterback realm, my dad man was really the one who who gave me an opportunity and instilled in me that I could do that. So I didn't really have any like some of these kids now are working with these top grade quarterback coaches.

I didn't have any of that.

It was my dad built a handmade target. I never had any real friends out there.

My friend with the football, and we.

Just put a dumb amount of hours to perfect that craft. Which is why I was disappointed and my NFL career turned out because I know the amount of work I put it then. But went to high school and then went to Phoenus. There, I was forty three and two of the starter won two state championships, lost in the state simmes my junior year. Didn't really think about a lot, though, so I used to go to all these different circuits.

Twelve games of the touring ACL.

Got a last late invite to the Army Old American Game, ended up winning.

MVP of that.

So in my high school career was pretty prolific. But when I went when I decided to commit to Clempson, Crimpson wasn't at the time of spread office.

I didn't want to play in the spread offense. I wanted an opportunity to play in the NFL.

So at the time, I thought the only way to do that was to play in a pro style office. Hence, while I didn't go to West Virginia, that was the team I originally committed to, and I even got rived with to change my classification. So originally I was a dual threat and I was like, look, I don't want to be labeled as that. I want to be labeled

But yeah, let's go what you guys got.

So what what was it like in terms of do you feel like you were a good studier? Do you feel like, you know, going from high school to college. Obviously you committed to I think was Billy Napier your freshman year offense of course, Furter. Do you feel like you had good studying habits? Do you feel like you had a good command of the playbook? Do you feel like you took things seriously in terms of your responsibilities in learning what was expected of you from a learning the offense perspective.

Yeah, but I never felt like I had the formal training as far as understanding schemes and things of that nature. I mean, in high school we pretty much broke it down and choose out of the fields. So you were looking at your initial shale, but it was either one high or too high, and that's pretty much how based all of my concepts off of so it's too high, you know, stand away from the outside of verticals, which

Everything I did was under center right, So.

I remember trying to get a shot a shotgun snap, and Mores having to teach me every thing over and over and over, and he essentially told me that spring like, look, if you can't figure it out, you know, I'm gonna find somebody that will. And This is heading into my sophomore seet.

Tom, So let's talk about that in particular, because obviously, as you've described, the jump from high school to college is pretty significant, not just in terms of the style and the schemes and the speed of the game itself, but the playbook is a lot more sophisticated. How long does it take you to see on the field, to be confident on the field with what you're essentially trying to absorb on paper, Well.

That's the thing it depends on.

Because now you break it down and we classify into two types of learners. Some guys are can take mental resks and just pick up on it. I was never one of those guys. Unfortunately, I had to physically do it out there for me to understand it, for me to make sense. So I think that's where you get when you get some of these guys taking Bruce Gradkowski

Is there such a thing as studying for the speed of the game, because it's something you always hear, how the speed as you go from level to level is something that you need to adjust to. Can you study for that at all? Or is it truly just a matter of you need to go out there and take the reps before you can get a little bit more confident with it.

Yeah, you can't study steed. I mean like throwing a banggate in that first window, right, Yeah, a bandgate is a seven step skinny post and you can look at it, but if you never rep it, you don't understand that when your foot hits that fifth step, that ball there's no time for anything else. There's no time for a hitch, there's no time to drop the ball. I mean, you got to fire cluse that fits step hits the ground. But you can't really see that on film or watch

Happens a lot for a lot of guys.

The thing about college and pros though, is that first off, you select the college you go to. You get a chance to make that decision. The pros all words like that they select you for what reasons you don't never really know, and they might have an idea of what's going to happen before you can get there.

You have no control over that.

Just out of curiosity, can you give us an example of how things might vary from college to the NFL from coach to coach.

Martin Morrowlegg is an extension of Bill Walsh in the original.

West Coast offense. There's still a few of those guys left in the NFL.

Is a pedigree where they're.

Built and taught a certain way.

And tree right Florida nine at Clemson was a three by one set three receiver to the right wide receiver to the left, and it was a it was the same concept my my individual player, I've isolated to the left runs a shallow cross prey by one trade right Florida and same play with the New York Jets and the Martin morning leg would shift a half back from right open two Jets scat slam all though specially eagle shallow cross, the exact same player.

And you were running it with tempo at Clemson right.

And I'm running it in the damn huddle. Yeah, But in the Jets, I'm running it with Nick Nagle screamers, spit the damn playout, rookie. And now I'm almost pissing down my pants because I had to get to play from Marty twelve times, you know, for me to really be able to recite it.

I'm sitting there and.

Now I finally get to play down and spit it out in the huddle. But then I watched a lot of screaming and I don't forgot what I damn called, you know, And I remember sitting there like my goodness, because at that point, I mean, it's either you understand it or you don't.

They don't. Really, they're not in the business to be your frame or really your coach. It's a business.

True is you'll find a few coaches out there where they're going to take that time and really, you know, spool feeds you. But it all depends on where you're drafted at, you know, first second round.

Is they get that treatment course through seventh. I mean, you're kind of on your own out there, you know, so kind of one of those deals too.

But man, we're getting forty fifty plays a day install and I'm getting two through reps of practice. So not only am I not seen it, I'm seeing it on the sideline, but I'm not really doing it physically right. And I'm still trying to digest this first first set of plays before I get to the next day install.

So when you're at Clemson just to get back to terminology, did you find that that way of learning with a more simplified way of calling plays, especially because you had to call them quickly. You weren't in huddles like you would have been there in the NFL, for sure, So that simplified way of play calls and perhaps a simplified

I think from a college standpoint, yes, because we played at such a high tempo that you got to make quick decisions. So if you can pick up on a diagnosed to defense and still get the ball off with twenty second left on the clock, you're doing amazing. NFL is a slower pace still, it's not a lot of temple. You'll see some floating around, but they use that whole clock, so it's not necessarily a huge deal to not run tempo.

So you pick up the offense relatively quickly in college, and you talked about needing those physical reps and live action to really get comfortable. Yeah, what took the longest to get comfortable with at Clemson? Was it sort of recognizing and diagnosing defenses. Was it, you know, certain option routes or whatever, you know, just the chemistry with your receivers. Was it your own timing and footwork and sort of vision.

For me, it was the speed of it because of where I played at a high school and the type office we ran. We weren't a temple team either. You know, we took our time. Hell, we played four minute offense the whole year, you know, long we won the game.

That's kind of how we ran it. You know.

Whereas Chad Morris's whole concept, this whole system was built for speed. Because it's not built for speed, then it doesn't work as effectively as would you know, we're trying to draw defenders off side, take free shots. You know, get this, guys tired run free vertical concepts in a row.

So you mentioned the installation on the on the pro level of being you know, forty fifty plays per day or something like that on a certain level. Yeah, when you're in college, what was you know, you have the job for three years, and maybe this changed over the course of your three years as you got older and more experienced, but what was the typical how many plays were installed in a given week in college? You know, you would feel comfortable.

With in our game plan.

I mean, we had about seventy eighty players in the game plan. It would take probably a little bit more every now and then. And I mean the biggest thing with that is, you know, you have I think in colleges you have so much more time to understand what you're doing because I mean, you're in a team setting

You know, they want to get away and do their thing. So the self teach is harder to do.

In a professional ranks than it is college, and mainly because you know, in college there is always gonna be that support the coaches go on the skeet trip, but there's always gonna be that graduate assistant who understands the playbook inside it out will help you diagnose.

That understand it.

Whereas in approach, you're the only one sitting there there and they're watching it by yourself, so you can sit there and watch you can watch it. I have one hundred minutes of film, But did you understand why you're watching what you're watching me really wait their time.

You talk about in college sort of the communication that you had with coaches and always being in a team setting and the grad assistant who knows the playbook inside and out. Did you have input? I know, you know people have sort of mentioned this in the pros. You know quarterbacks who have been there forever. But you're in college. You're succeeding. Obviously, your coaches are seeing how you're succeeding

Oh?

Absolutely, I mean we will go through and the whole week will be based off of that. So Monday, so you would have off. Obviously Sunday, well, Monday will be your correction on film. Tuesdays it's pretty heavy prize one day. It's a pretty heavy practice. Thursday is to walk through. Fridays walk through in the movies at Top Corner and everything else.

Game time.

So essentially what happened is that Tuesday Wednesday. Tuesday you would really figure out, you know, really what happened in the game, what was good, what you're gonna scrap, and everything else that nature. And Wednesday is when we would start kind of dumbing it back down and say, all right, looks like the defense will playing against.

This is what you're gonna be looking at.

Tell me what you like in this situation or base that system, and that those players based off of the look that I was going to potentially get that week. So I mean the coach made happen the decision, I mean the other half of it. And you know, really it's based off of the strength of that particular player. I mean, I love throwing the DP ball, so we aim to throw ten to twelve deep balls a game, and at any given time during the game I saw that look, I would take off and trying to take a shot.

And really what that would do was just put.

That defense in the situation where you're loosing them up to the point where we were able to throw out route so our hitches, our slants and everything else that nature.

But I did have enough input to the.

Point where I was comfortable with everything that I was running. It wasn't one time that I can remember in college when we called a play and I wasn't comfortable with it like this, like I noticed, player's gonna die right here.

So what was your favorite third down play in college?

I love the fail concept. So I was three by one as well outside their number. I guess, goanna call it the number one outside or run a vertical the number two. We're running fourteen to sixteen, r a out route. Number three we're running flat. So it gives us each level of depth down the field. And I was essentially read that flat defender or that strong side linebacker. Most of the time we ransom the field. We ran to

If people go get it. But I love that concept.

On the backside, I had a deeper outroute as well or come back based off of.

Who we were playing. If you're playing against an Xavier Road.

That's some damn lockdown out there, so you're not gonna take that shot anyways. But you know, I love that concept and I love throwing smash concept.

Man. I was a big hoghow kind of guy.

Just because I mean, easy decisions you got there, I mean equipment, the decision to make it happen, and usually it's eighty percent of the time become make completion out there. But I mean I was a different kind of built player. So I mean everybody in the house knew it was gonna happen on third or four or less. Emotion, He's coming on a jet, sip, I'm taking the jets sweeping, I'm coming downhill.

So you know that's kind of the way we ran our system, TODJ.

So you're you're at Clemson as you're getting prepared for game day, your relationship between your quarterback coach, your offensive coordinator, your head coach, Can you give us a sense for how those dynamics come into play when you're trying to put a scheme together.

So it was it was really big with technically towards quarterbacks, to Chad Morris.

Sure, So at the particular time, I mean I spent most of the time with him, and I would I would even go on on.

That Sunday and we would watch the film together, so on the Monday and Tuesday we could talk about what was going to happen and what we liked and didn't like during the week.

So, I mean I spent most.

Of the time games planning with him. He was very common practice man in the game. He was carting crazy stuff there. So you know, he would call a concept and it wouldn't work and like, you know, I don't know where my quarterback wait, but you're gonna have to figure it out and I would have to rely on my backrounds behind me. I look, you know this is what I'm saying.

What are you saying? And now we get the con version from those guys.

If Chad Morris was the guy that you spent the most time with in trying to scheme, at what point does the head coach come into the whole scheming realm.

So the best part about Coachwee is he's more of a facilitator.

I mean he's a true head coach.

He has a coordinator on defense and coordinator on offense left him do the job. Now, Grantett being about three or four trick players that he wanted to run a game, and if he didn't get it his way, you know, he would throw a fit over there, but usually what he called him, they would, So you know, it's a lot better for his confidence over there. Man. Jack can't say anything on that on that nature, but coach we

So you're obviously, when you're at Clemson, you're responsible for yourself first and foremost and having command of things. Did you feel on a certain level you're the quarter back? Do you feel responsible for everyone on offense? Do you want to are you personally making sure you know the

Well, you know, that's the biggest thing is it's all about confidence. I mean, it exudes when you're walking out there in that field. So, man, I remember my first game starting. We were losing at half after like two

So really, even if you didn't know what you were doing, you had to act like.

You know what you were doing, just an inspire the guys around it, because it makes a difference, especially when you're talking about playing. Fact, sometimes you'll look and for particular quarterbacks not in the game, it looks like that the offense is moving a little bit slower, And a lot of times that is the case. It's not that the quarterback isn't moving slow, it's just that they don't

So now you mentioned that you're working with younger players now competing for jobs, and you're working with sort of mentoring and you know, helping train quarterbacks.

A lot of it is just I mean just the minute preparation. I mean just going through these exact experiences that I had that they're going to go through. And I mean they got a little bit more time than they think they do, you know, because in college, I mean anything can happen at that point. I mean you look at last year in the last championship game, I mean to it and know he was gonna play that game, but he was ready when the number was called. And

You really know it, You really know.

Why you throw all hot off his corner cap blitz right here because you know your back is supposed.

To be picking that up and over there.

You throw hot anyways, and you got a guy in the middle of the field street going I don't if you just lost the game. So the intricate details the parts of the quarterback is what makes some guys elite and what makes.

Some guys not.

Do you think it's more difficult now because teams are more used to to spread concepts or do you feel like offenses are are better prepared? You know, everything has evolved on offense to the point where you know there's ourpos they're you know, there are quicker ways to study with iPads and stuff like that. Do you feel like it is easier to play quarterback in a spread system in twenty eighteen or is it is a little more difficult because of what people know now.

I think that the spread offense is IOUs been more accepted at this point maybe football, And I mean it's not flowing down from here. I mean, well, the last time he went to a middle school game, it's start chang dropping back into and play actions. We haven't really That's just kind.

Of where we're at in football.

But at some point, I mean, the whole NFL system is going to change because the older players, who are the older coaches that were once and control everything are going to are going to face the Sean mcgays where they grew up in this generation right here. So from a from a skim standpoint, I mean, the offense is always gonna have to evolve a little bit, just because the defense is always going to become a little bit

S U.

My junior year, and I remember having to pick up on that and that was a transition, you know.

And then I remember the Jets.

The Jets asking me about it. But hey, you know, and clumsy. I ran this, this, and this, tell me how it works. And I remember telling them to the exactly how it worked, and it was like, no, no, now we're gonna do.

It this way. And it was the same way that I had just told.

Them, so they really wanted to just make it there. But now, at some point, I mean, the games just the game was gonna be college football, man, whether people like it or not. I mean, the players don't change. I mean we were the same guys that are playing at that level. But you know, if the NFL could be separate, I think that's what people would like the most. But at some point they're going to have to accept it. That's just a new way of football at this point.

Well, very cool. This is really insightful. Thank you so much.

Yeah, man, Man on the season. Let me know.

We'll get up here and chat some more. I still don't like dlphin, but callowing me on Twitter, Instagram or whatever.

Man, appreciate it as always. Man, you're the best.

Okay, Dan Again, that is Taj Boyd, former standout quarterback from Clemson. You know him well if you're a college football fan. I thought a really honest conversation Dan. Yeah, a much different kind of conversation than the ones we've had with Seth Latrelle and Joe Moorehead and Chris Brown. But really some insight from a first hand perspective as to what it's like to actually be the guy in the huddle trying to recite the verbiage, trying to run the plays.

I had minor panic attacks when he was talking about having to learn like a hundred plays in an hour with that were full on sentences that sound like each play call was an essay, you know, and you know of the draft is coming up in what about a month from when we're recording this. Right now, we've got four, five, six, you know, depending on how how deep you think this class is going into the maybe early mid second round

All right, don't forget to check out our friends over again at Oliver's Apparel dot com. Use the code solid at checkout the knock fifteen percent off your order. We will be back tomorrow. Oh man, We're gonna do a bonus show tomorrow and talk questions, talk answers from the

Into scheme theme here on the show. We'll be back at you tomorrow. Stay solid, Peace

Laund