Where Do You Fit?

It’s been over 20 years ago now, but I remember when a guy that I worked with asked me who I played at quarterback. I told him and also the reasons why. Those were leadership, confidence, ability to read the defense and accuracy with his passes.

The guy looked at me and said, “If I was coaching I’d line everybody up and have them throw the ball as far as they could. The guy that threw it farthest would be my quarterback.”

I said, “That’s one way of determining arm strength but not accuracy. It doesn’t give you a good idea how they will react under pressure or the ability to change the play at the line and call an audible. It also doesn’t determine one’s ability to control the huddle.”

I also told him, “At the high school level I’ve seen coaches put their best athlete at QB because they want that guy to have the most touches whether just handing off, passing or running. For a lot of coaches it works. For me the best athlete needs to catch a pass in space or be a running back that gets a lot of handoffs. Throwing the long ball isn’t the only way to become successful.”

I’m not sure he completely agreed with me, but since he never coached, it was all speculation on his part anyway and advice I never followed.

It is really interesting when you watch a sporting event and you try to figure out why certain players play certain positions. At times, it is because better athletes fill all of the other positions and that one player has to play somewhere because they are good enough to play.

I remember when Randy Johnson came over to the Mariners in a trade. The Big Unit could throw hard and strike a lot of guys out, but he was wild and would often walk a bunch of guys as well. Johnson struggled with control problems and really didn’t solve many of those issues until he talked with Texas Ranger pitcher Nolan Ryan at the end of his career.

Johnson was fearful that he would hurt another player with a high-octane pitch. Ryan told Johnson that it was up to the hitter to get out of the way of those inside pitches. It made a difference as Johnson became fearless and his wildness worked in his favor. That and an unhittable slider he called “Mr. Snappy” that made some hitters look foolish.

The same can be said for any player at any position. Play fearless and with confidence and good things can happen. Play with fear and you’ve lost confidence and bad things will follow.

So it just goes to show that having the talent to do one thing really well doesn’t make that person the smart choice to play the most important positions. It only means that the possibility is there.

It takes so much more to play a key position on any team. And if you really want to play that spot it is going to take more than throwing an object farther than anyone else. Where you fit is also determinate upon how much work you are willing to invest.