Steelers QB School is Working: Here's How We Know

PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers have a new head coach. That head coach is bringing a not-so-new quarterback school with him to the black and gold, and already, it's starting to show results.

Mike McCarthy was hired by the Steelers for two big reasons. The first is to remain Super Bowl contenders. The Steelers won the AFC North last season and aren't trying to go backward. Well, McCarthy is a winning head coach, and certainly keeps that door open.

The second is to develop a quarterback. To finally find their long-term starter after Ben Roethlisberger.

That's where the quarterback school comes into play.

What's the QB School?

McCarthy has developed a "QB School" throughout his years in the NFL. Working with QBs like Joe Montana, Aaron Rodgers, Brett Favre and many others, he's developed a program to help take young passers to the next level.

It's formulated to focus on the fundamentals of throwing a football. Players will learn to improve their footwork and throwing motion, and how to read defenses. Sometimes, that's more work in one area, and sometimes, it's a more spreadout approach.

But it works. Ask Tom Arth, who underwent it in 2006 with the Green Bay Packers.

"In terms of the fundamentals of it, it's all very similar," Arth said. "It's all what I remember, and it's time-tested. It's proven."

"When I went through it, I feel like … we were there lifting weights at, like, 7 in the morning,” Arth detailed, explaining the program. "We’d have quarterback meetings from 8:30 until 11. We’d be on the field from 11 to 12. We’d go to lunch, we’d come back, have meetings from 1 to 3:30. And I’m, like, how are we going to do all of that with the current rules?"

So Far, It's Working

Leaving OTAs and minicamp, Will Howard is the leading candidate for the team's backup quarterback job. He looks very comfortable working within the offense and his throwing mechanics seem much smoother than they did a year ago.

We're waiting to see if he's got more zip on the ball, but he has launched a few deep balls that looked stronger than they were last offseason, even if it's only helmets and shorts.

For Allar, he went from not being able to throw a ball to looking pretty good by the time the team joined and left this spring.

When Allar arrived for Rookie Minicamp, the Steelers ripped his throwing motion down to the studs. He was inaccurate, looked like he was thinking through every piece of his throw and somewhat erratic about where it was even going to go. Sometimes it was too much, sometimes it was well short.

Leaving UPMC Rooney Sports Complex at the end of OTAs, Allar looks much more comfortable with his throw. He's no longer thinking through every piece of a drill or a pass attempt, his accuracy is much better and he finally looks like a normal quarterback at practice.

Which tells us the QB School is working.

How much further can it go? Everyone is going to find out, but the amount of growth in a short amount of time tells you there is hope. A lot of it. And it makes it very interesting to see what McCarthy can do with his two young quarterbacks throughout the summer, and even into the regular season.

"It’s pretty remarkable,” Arth said on the program. "It’s a proven methodology, and we’re certainly seeing it in our guys in a short amount of time that we’ve been working with them. There’s been a big improvement in a number of different areas."

We'll see how much more Howard and Allar can learn this semester.

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