QB Coach Chris Palmer, 05.12.09

RE:  Rhett Bomar

A:  He has a short, quick release that is a little bit low.  I thought he was a little bit anxious at the beginning of camp and was trying to make everything perfect.  I think he settled down as the camp went on.  And I thought he was very similar to Eli going to his left.  He had his shoulder open a little bit and was all arm.  But I thought he improved as the camp went along and did a nice job.  I will say this to you, it goes from Point A to Point B very, very quickly.  And the interesting thing is that he did not have any balls knocked down in the camp in the team and play action period.  So that was a good sign.  He only threw one interception.  And I think for the first time in a new system, that speaks very highly of him.

Q:  Does he remind you with his delivery at all of David Carr?

A:  Yeah, Carr’s was a little bit higher than his and wasn’t as quick.  Rhett’s delivery is extremely quick.  It is almost like he is throwing darts.  There is no wasted motion.  It comes out very, very quickly and I think that is one of the reasons why people aren’t knocking it down.  It goes from A to B so quickly and it gets out of his hand.  You really don’t have an opportunity to get your hands up defensively.

RE:  The difference in Woodson this year as compared to last year.

A:  It was like night and day.  He was much more relaxed.  His mechanics were better.  His delivery -- a year ago he wound up and brought the ball and twisted it around his ear.  He reverts back to that every once in a while.  It is like being on the driving range as a golfer.  You look pretty good there, and then it is a long walk to the first tee.  But he did a real nice job in camp.  He completed 72% of his passes in the camp with receivers that he really hadn’t worked with.  So we were very, very pleased there and it is going to be an interesting battle between the two quarterbacks.

Q:  Is Bomar’s release too quick?

A:  No, no.  What we would like to do is raise it a little bit. And I think when we get to Albany and have pads on – and it may even show up in our OTAs, whether it is a problem.  When I was with Bledsoe, Bledsoe had a tendency to wind up and like anything, if I wind up, you are going to have a chance to get your hands up and deflect the ball.  I don’t know if you are going to be quick enough to get your hands up there and knock it down.

Q:  Is there anything that he needs to do more of?

A:  He needs to get his body into it.  Right now he is a young guy that can get away with some things because your arm is so young and so strong. And then as you start to grow as a player and get on in your career, all of a sudden you have tendonitis in your elbow, you have tendonitis in your shoulder.  And that becomes a major, major problem.

Q:  Do his long balls sail? 

A:  There was some wind out there and we did have some new balls that the quarterbacks complained about all of the time – and “that is the reason I threw that fluttered ball.”  But no, he threw some nice balls down the field.  In the last team period he threw a very, very nice ball.  In fact his balls look so flat – it doesn’t turn over.  So one of the things that we will do when he gets back, we will work on trying to drop some things into buckets and things like that.  But his ball just has so many RPM’s on it and it generally is a little too flat at times. Going to his left he has a tendency to be open.  And that could be a problem down the road.