Every practice starts the same way, with the same drill Andrew Robinson and the rest of the Syracuse quarterbacks must repeat.Orange quarterbacks coach Phil Earley calls it the ‘high-toe’ drill. Each passer takes a short stride, throws and follows through without letting the heel of his stride foot hit the ground. The drill forces the quarterback to stride on the ball of his lead foot – a technique which encourages the passer to follow through with his lower body.

Earley keeps an extra-close eye on Robinson. There is a slight malfunction in the junior quarterback’s delivery, a glitch Earley said helps explain why Robinson scuffled this summer and, eventually, lost his job. Monotonous as it is, Earley’s high-toe drill zeroes in on Robinson’s issue.

‘He locks his front leg when he throws,’ Earley said. ‘When he locks his front leg, then he ends up stopping the transfer of weight to his front foot.’

Stripped of its jargon, here’s what Earley’s explanation means:When Robinson strides, his lead foot often lands flat. This shifts weight to his heel. Earley said that causes Robinson’s lead leg to straighten and lock as he begins his throwing motion. From there, Robinson’s rigid front leg blocks his momentum as he releases and follows through. This forces his throws to be weaker, wilder and more unpredictable than normal.

The high-toe drill targets this wrinkle Robinson hopes he’s finally ironed out, as he tries to win back his job and regain the form he showed his sophomore season.

‘It’s something that I worked on as far as fundamentals and fine-tuning some things,’ Robinson said. ‘Now I feel like I’ve finally made some strides and worked past some of those things I was doing earlier in camp and earlier in season.’

Earley has seen this problem plenty of times. The end product of a quarterback’s work – the passes themselves – comes from his arm. But a quarterback’s power and accuracy come via the lower body. A passer needs his feet properly aligned. He needs to drive off his back leg to generate velocity. He needs to follow through after the release to complete the motion and propel the ball accurately toward its target.

Earley said he often sees young passers struggle with the follow through.

That’s why Earley said he makes the high-toe drill a part of every practice, so emphasized that SU quarterback David Legree called the drill ‘part of Coach Earley’s religion.’

‘High-toe was one of my biggest things,’ said Legree, a 6-foot-4, 214-pound redshirt freshman from Brooklyn, N.Y. ‘When I first got here, Coach Earley was talking about ‘high-toe,’ and I really didn’t know what he was talking about.’

It’s been a similar situation for Robinson. Earley, whose arrival at Syracuse three years ago coincided with Robinson’s, noticed the quarterback’s hitch immediately.

‘That’s always been an issue with him. We’ve worked to get it better,’ said Earley, who spent a year as quarterbacks coach at Auburn before coming to SU in 2006. ‘He’s not the only one it happens to. It’s just with him it’s a little tougher to overcome.’

This, of course, begs an obvious question. If Robinson’s problem has lingered all along, how did he have the season he had last year? How did he pass for 2,192 yards, the fifth-highest single-season total by an SU quarterback? No, Robinson wasn’t an All-American. But he was good enough to stand out in a 2-10 season. Good enough to be christened the unquestioned leader of the Orange offense coming into this season.

Earley admits the answer isn’t simple.

‘He was in stride a little bit,’ Earley said. ‘I think he just got into a groove last year. And still, there were times last year when we had to make tweaks.’

That form continued into the spring. Things started to tunnel downhill when Robinson returned after a summer lull. ‘He wasn’t throwing the same way.’ Earley said.

Much of that came down to mechanics, Earley said. Because Robinson’s front knee didn’t flex during his delivery, Robinson had a tougher time controlling the plane of his throws.

‘If you have that flat foot,’ Legree said, ‘that ball’s either going to drive on you into the ground, or it’s going to sail on you.’

Robinson staggered through a 14-for-28, 103-yard performance in a season-opening loss at Northwestern. He was noticeably off target much of the contest, his most infamous pass an underthrown sideline route that was picked and returned for a score by Wildcats safety Brendan Smith.

The next week, Robinson was benched in favor of junior Cameron Dantley. Save for a pair of garbage time possessions against Penn State, Robinson hasn’t seen the field since.

Two months later, playing understudy isn’t any easier. Remember, Robinson was labeled the heir apparent before he set foot on campus, handpicked by head coach Greg Robinson. He was handed the starting job his sophomore season, despite having never started a game.

Losing his job to a former walk-on was never in Andrew Robinson’s college itinerary.

‘You never get used to it,’ Robinson said. ‘I’ve never been a backup in any sport that I’ve played. … Then you snap back to reality and realize that nothing is given to you.’

Yet his detour seems to have done little to sour Robinson’s demeanor. The junior has made little secret about his desire to remain a leader, even if he wasn’t starting. Robinson is active on the sidelines, advising Dantley and chiming in with advice to the SU coaches. He said his friendship with Dantley remains strong – even if Robinson said shortly after losing his job he felt he would get it back before the end of the year.

‘He’s got a great attitude,’ offensive coordinator Mitch Browning said. ‘He’s been extremely supportive of Cam and the rest of the offense. … He’s bought in.’

‘At first when he was benched, I thought he was going to take a backseat role,’ Legree said. ‘But I think it’s motivated him more. He talks more now. He’s always out there willing to help somebody.’

And Earley said Robinson’s time out of the lineup has given him a chance to focus on fixing his stride. During game situations, Earley said he wasn’t able to preach fundamentals to Robinson.

‘Andrew prepared to play,’ Greg Robinson said. ‘I think he’s done a great job of preparing every week and also, really focusing to try and work on the things that he can improve.’Andrew Robinson said he’s throwing the best he has all season. As far as he’s concerned, his mechanical issues are in the past. Now he’s just waiting for a chance to re-establish himself.

As for Earley? He said he’s pleased with the strides he’s seen, but stopped short of saying Robinson had turned any corners.Until that happens, you can bet Robinson and the rest of the Orange quarterbacks will toil through plenty of those high-toe drills.

‘He’s a winner. A fierce competitor,’ Earley said. ‘He’s an intelligent guy. And there’s no one that wants to be right more than him when it comes to this throwing glitch.’

jsclayto@syr.edu

Published on November 4, 2008 at 12:00 pm