Post by TheShadow on Jun 20, 2007 20:15:19 GMT -5
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Associated Press
VICTORIA, Minn. -- It's not easy to get a fifth-grader to remember to hold the ball with two hands and count the steps of his drop and keep his eyes downfield and lead the wide receiver on a slant route so he doesn't have to catch the ball behind him.
But in the experience of Rich Gannon, it's not that much easier to get a high school or college quarterback to remember all those details, either.
That's what the former National Football League MVP noticed first about Mike Hammerseng: his ability to work everything he'd learned into his mechanics and keep it there.
"What happens with a lot of these kids is you teach them something, and then the next time you see them, they haven't incorporated it into their regime or their workouts," Gannon said. "That's the thing you look for: you can tell a guy something and work with him, but does he go away and work on it and come back and have it incorporated into his repertoire?
"That's what you want to work for, and that's what you want to see. Mike does a pretty good job of that."
Gannon spent most of a week earlier this month as the featured coach at the Holy Family Football Camp, instructing players in elementary school and junior high. One of the lesser-known tutors he recruited was Hammerseng, the St. Cloud State quarterback with whom he's established something of a teacher-pupil relationship over the past five years.
Wearing a red "NFL on CBS" cap and looking as limber as he did when he led the Oakland Raiders to the Super Bowl in 2003, Gannon spent most of his time with the quarterbacks, offering tips to players with forearms only as long as the footballs they were throwing.
And ever since they've known each other, Hammerseng hasn't hesitated to snag a one-on-one workout to boost his skills.
"He's kind of a busy guy, working with CBS and all that stuff and going to different camps," said Hammerseng, who started the first four games of last season for St. Cloud State before separating his shoulder. "I'm fortunate to even have a week or so of time in the summertime where we can work one-on-one. It's been a blessing."
It was a stroke of extraordinary luck that Hammerseng even met Gannon.
Even though their two families attended the same church in Chanhassen, he didn't talk to the NFL star until he met his former college roommate at a camp at Western Michigan in 2002, the summer before his senior season in high school.
With the encouragement of their mutual friend, Hammerseng tracked down Gannon to pick his brain about playing quarterback at a high level.
"I think I made the mistake of saying, 'If you want to get together, call me,' and he called me every Sunday," Gannon said with a chuckle. "He was persistent, and he'd show up on time, and he was willing to work."
Gannon was still a high-profile NFL star when he met the future St. Cloud State signal-caller -- he would win the league's MVP award in 2002 after passing for 4,689 yards and 26 touchdowns as the Raiders reached the Super Bowl for the first time since 1983.
But with the eagerness of Hammerseng as the spark, the pair went right to work on refining Hammerseng's fundamentals -- his grip, footwork, mechanics and weight distribution. At other times, the younger quarterback just picked the brain of the veteran for tips about the mind-set required to succeed as a passer and the leadership qualities inherently necessary.
(At one point during camp on Wednesday, Gannon barked to a group of soft-spoken young signal-callers, "Who runs this drill? The quarterbacks! We run the show! We make the big money! This is our party! You've got to take control!")
As Hammerseng advanced as a passer, so too did the training. Once he could pass the ball with consistent accuracy, the focus shifted to throwing differently to different receivers based on their pass-catching abilities.
"I always try to keep it in the back of my head, the things he says," Hammerseng said. "He talks about how there are different receivers, like tight ends and running backs, and everybody needs to be thrown the ball differently. When I'm throwing to a tight end, I'm thinking about hitting him right in the chest because some are more athletic than others."
Hammerseng was a standout quarterback at Minnetonka High School when Gannon met him, but standout high school quarterbacks are a dime a dozen at the college level.
"It's like the difference between being a good driver in the parking lot and a good driver on 494," said Gannon, who has worked for CBS for the past two years. "You're the all-conference kid here, but when you go to St. Cloud, they're all good or they wouldn't be playing. They're all all-district or all-state or all-region wherever they come from.
"The real good players are going to separate themselves from the players that are decent or average and have some potential."
That's what Hammerseng, who will work with Gannon again in early July, hopes to do at training camp in August: separate himself from two other talented quarterbacks vying for the right to call signals for the Huskies this season.
It certainly doesn't hurt to have an NFL star on his side.