Why the Player needs a WhipASnap shotgun snapping machine

    The era of the Spread Offense in football has been around since the 90s and it is here to stay.  This means QBs have been taking snaps from shotgun for at least that long, perhaps longer.  More important, it means that for decades there has been NO affordable or practical training equipment on the market for a QB to simulate a snap machine. They have had to resort to other players, coaches, friends, parents/siblings, to give them a snap and, to put it bluntly, we all know how hard it is to consistently depend on them being available, much less to do a job competently. Such is reality and this won't change. Eventually, after coming to this understanding, many a QB has decided it's not even worth the headache in effort and time to get someone to snap it and decides to take the easy way out and flip it to his or her self or just hold the ball. This is a failure by coaches, players, and yes, the marketplace.  

The skill of locking onto the snap, catching it cleanly, getting it to your carriage, getting into your drop or playaction and executing the throw is perhaps THE most overlooked part of a Quarterback's training.  As a high school, college, semi-pro QB, and High School Offensive Coordinator/private trainer, I can attest to the lack of skill development in this area.  It is so overlooked, dare I say completely taken for granted, yet it is SOOOOO crucial.  Every single play in football, except for kickoffs, starts with a snap. How many drives have you seen destroyed by muffed shotgun snaps, poor exchanges due to the snap, or QBs simply not practiced at fielding a snap and executing? Personally, I've seen so many at every level that it is sickening.  

I can always tell when a Quarterback has not been practicing with a simulation of a snap when they start getting actual snaps from the center the first few weeks of practice.  Their timing and rhythm is off.  They aren't catching it cleanly.  Their arms are flailing on playaction.  Their eyes aren't disciplined.  They can't pitch and catch on a screen, hitch, or slant.  They were so used to picking a ball up from a table during 7v7 (which probably accounted for the vast majority of their reps in the offseason) or getting that cute little unrealistic soft toss snap from another coach or QB. 

I always tell my QBs to practice game speed, worst-case scenarios.  Make every rep as realistic and as challenging as you can so that the games are not surprising your muscle memory.   But, how can I ask them to do this if I can't provide the tools necessary to do this?  Think about this: How can we ask a wide receiver to practice these scenarios if nobody is willing to throw him a ball? Enter the jugs machine.  How can we ask a place kicker to get better if he can't even get anybody to hold the ball for him.  Enter the place kicker holder where he can practice by himself.  How can we ask a QB to simulate realism when he can't rely on another person to simulate a snap? Enter the WhipASnap.  It can be easliy transported and used anywhere, for any drill,  at any time.  

 No more excuses-QBs!  You have hated having to snap it to other QBs while they get reps and you miss out on seeing the play develop.  You have been facing the wrong direction and no coaches have felt your pain.  Yes, it is a big problem when coaches are not aware of the fact that you should not have to be snapping the ball.  They are wasting your time, your mental development, and your energy all the while giving lip service to the ideas of "efficiency", "no wasted motions", "no wasted reps".  But are they seeking solutions to the problem that the shotgun snap actually presents? Most likely not.

As a QB, part of your training should be intense focus on your mechanics.  Unfortunately, it is tied to how you catch and shotgun snap and execute from there.  There is no way around it.  When training alone, as you should be very often, you should be catching a snap and getting the ball out of your hands and into a QB net (I recommend the BowNet) thousands of times during the offseason.  Fast screen execution requires a QB to catch and throw immediately and to get a high level of skill development it requires more reps than any coach or teammate is willing to stand there and snap for.  Actually, this concept applies to every single skill a QB must continue to refine and develop.  

I am a former QB. The more I developed mentally and physically as a player the more I realized that the drills that helped me the most were the ones that more accurately simulated the way things would be in a game.  I needed tens of thousands of reps doing it the right way before I had refined any skill.  This is the reason I made this machine.  This is the purpose of the WhipASnap. Load it.  Walk away.  Snap it with a remote.  And do it over and over for more reps than your center would be willing to snap it to you.  That is how you get better.  That is how you do the things that others are not.  That is how you catch attention.  That is how you win.