Building Blocks of the Modern High School Quarterback, Training Begins Early

If you want your quarterback to be great, is that player going through the proper steps to truly be great? Take a closer look at how the nation’s top 2025 prospect trains.

Brian Smith | Feb 11, 2022

JACKSONVILLE - The days of playing three sports – or even two – and being a great high school quarterback that’s capable of being recruited by elite college programs is dwindling.

The players that go through extensive training, the ones that literally have a trainer, or two, those are the ones that tend to advance more and do so faster. Of course there are many sacrifices for parents like paying for the training, but today’s description of how to build the modern quarterback will look at the new science of throwing mechanics and at least touch upon attempting to merge other aspects of training. Also, effort and desire never go out of style.

To accomplish this goal, 2025 quarterback phenom Colin Hurley was gracious enough to allow his workout to be filmed, as well as his trainers Tom Gormely and Denny Thompson going in front of the camera. Thompson is the owner of 6 Points, the training facility Hurley works out at. In fact, they are as much the stars of this episode as Hurley believe it or not.

Just about anyone can hire a so-called quarterback trainer. Does just the ordinary quarterback trainer manipulate the mechanics of throwing different objects and getting a quarterback to eventually translate those motions to making excellent throwing motions time after time? It all starts with throwing different types of balls, with different weights, in an effort to allow any quarterback, Hurley included, to feel comfortable with the desired throwing motion.

The Warmup throws ⁦@ColinHurley⁩ @GormelyTM @denny_thompson pic.twitter.com/O4qshLDLz3
— Brian Smith (@fbscout_florida) February 11, 2022

Who’s the Mad Scientist?

Gormely is actually a doctor of physical therapy, and if you read his Twitter profile far enough, he also wrote “Developer of Athletes & Arms.” While nearly impossible to comprehend his methods through words, considering the following.

His goal is simply getting a quarterback to consistently create a throwing motion that is not only effective, but also adaptive (much more on this below). In short, in a real game, yes, a signal caller needs to make traditional passes from the pocket. Realistically, pass rushers change the footwork, timing, rhythm, arm motion and even arm speed of a pass. That’s true tackle football. It still all starts with that first basic motion that the vast majority of even NFL quarterbacks will struggle with during spurts of poor play. Gormely briefly explains his concepts through working with Hurley:

Understanding modern throwing mechanics, how it begins to work: ⁦@GormelyTM⁩ ⁦@denny_thompson⁩ ⁦@6pointsjax⁩ ⁦@ColinHurley⁩ pic.twitter.com/ZsLEXXuLr6
— Brian Smith (@fbscout_florida) February 11, 2022

Terms like biomechanics and arm motion and strength training and nutrition and weight training all come together under the umbrella that Dr. Gormely described in that video. If there was a three hour segment, each aspect could be broken down more extensively. In short, it’s a life-altering commitment. That leads to Thompson being discussed.

The Quarterback Coach

It’s not just traditional mechanics. Directing Hurley to change throwing angles, on practically every few plays at the latest, is one of the areas that Thompson works with Hurley the most. Now, they work together often so there’s an understanding of expectations and the language the two speak that is truly modern quarterback lingo. That helps.

Still, watching Hurley be asked to do something different, on the fly, and watching him articulate that concept and make it a reality is truly something unique.

Pivotal and traditional talking points about utilizing hip power and leg drive are significant between the two as well. What separates their terminology and ideology would be excellent ball placement time and time again.

On point: ⁦@ColinHurley⁩ ⁦@GormelyTM⁩ ⁦@denny_thompson⁩ ⁦@JohnGarcia_Jr⁩ ⁦@6pointsjax⁩ pic.twitter.com/14lSx4GSys
— Brian Smith (@fbscout_florida) February 11, 2022

Additional Clients

Keep in mind that Thompson and Dr. Gormely work with college athletes, as well as NFL and MLB players, to help improve their ability to throw a football and baseball. Hurley is right there with them throwing, working out and learning technique each day. He’s home schooled, so during part of the day he’s actually at 6 Points working his craft. The results have been incredible.

The Phenom College Coaches Are Drooling Over?

Playing at Jacksonville (Fla.) Trinity Christian, Hurley is a gym rat. Always has been. How early did Hurley start training?

Try 10 years old as a starting point. Hurley wants it. He’s different. Really, really different. That’s the other aspect of this scenario that cannot be placed into finite terms. It expedites Hurley’s quarterback advancement by leaps and bounds. Considering who he’s working with, that’s vital. His work ethic has been noticed, as Thompson discusses:

What makes ⁦@ColinHurley⁩ different? QB trainer ⁦@denny_thompson⁩ explains: pic.twitter.com/qXmMBAYYqk
— Brian Smith (@fbscout_florida) February 11, 2022

Hurley goes through white board discussions with coaches from programs out of the B10, SEC, etc. He does quite well with those discussions, too. He’s also earned offers from programs like Georgia, Florida, Florida State, UCF, and many others. That’s when the fun begins.

Throw after throw, with the power to spin it 56 miles per hour at just 14 years of age, Hurley’s release was incredibly consistent during a workout that was around 100 passes. To that end, his quarterback trainer, Thompson, kept altering his throw ever so slightly play to play. It was incredible how the nuances of Dr. Gormely coincided with the work that Thompson also does with Hurley. The two play off of one another in an incredible way that allows Hurley to learn between each repetition. The results lead to not just excellent mechanics, but also the ability be creative with movement prior to throwing the football, just like a real game with a blitzing linebacker in Hurley’s face:

Creating a pass rushing scenario and adjusting in the moment. #MakeItWork @ColinHurley @ProImpactJax7v7 @24k7v7 @zackdrawdy @GormelyTM @denny_thompson pic.twitter.com/EynslmYJWP
— Brian Smith (@fbscout_florida) February 11, 2022

What it Takes

Today’s quarterback that wants to reach the upper echelon of college football needs to do so with as much help as possible. Hurley sure has. He’s a natural talent, but Dr. Gormely and Mr. Thompson also helped him along in ways he simply would not have known without their abilities and expertise.

While probably difficult for many to understand, Hurley’s abilities combined with the evolution of his trainer’s ideas have helped him be one of the most unique quarterback recruits in recent memory. His quarterback upbringing is likely the future. Earlier in nature and with more position-specific training than ever before.

A special thanks to all the parents that bring their kids to 6 Points to catch passes from Hurley. The wide receivers themselves would be: Zack Drawdy, Taylor Bradshaw, Brendon McMilan, Seth Bialek, and Miles Burris. All of them are good receivers looking to land in the college ranks themselves.

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