Taking flight: Savvy QB Joshua Dobbs looks to defy labels in NFL
Don’t reduce Joshua Dobbs to the aerospace engineering major who plays quarterback, even if he’s probably the only prospect who will travel to Arizona the week before the NFL draft to test a model airplane he’s building with his senior design class in a competition.
For that matter, Dobbs doesn’t think he should be reduced to a so-called “dual-threat QB” whose legs were as much a weapon as his arm at the University of Tennessee.
“Everyone’s going to try to label my skills and abilities, try to put me in a box that’s going to define me,” Dobbs told USA TODAY Sports recently by phone. “But at the end of the day, I don’t abide by those labels. The only thing I really care about is my own.
“I know that when I step on the field, I create another dimension – with my leadership, with my ability to make every throw on the field, with my ability to extend plays if needed to at times. If you go back and look at my stats throughout my last five games, I had like a (74.2%) completion percentage, threw for (12) touchdowns, ran for (seven) more. I know what I can do on the field.
“At the end of the day, I’m trying to be the best Josh Dobbs I can be. If I continue to do that, I’ll be as successful as I want to be.”
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He seems to be doing his part to convince NFL teams in the pre-draft process, dating back to the Senior Bowl in January.
Several scouts said Dobbs was impressive last week at his pro day workout, where he ran a 59-throw script – without direction from one of the ubiquitous “quarterback gurus” – that showcased his comfort making pro-style drops from under center and command of the football. He visited the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday and said he’ll also visit the Kansas City Chiefs. As a thin class enters a QB-deficient league, Dobbs has a shot to be taken on the draft’s second day.
There are still doubts about Dobbs’ vision, decision-making and accuracy as a passer, as well as what some feel is overreliance on his legs. But Tennessee coach Butch Jones points to Dobbs’ 27 touchdown passes last season (in addition to 12 rushing) as evidence of his growth. “He’s really worked his craft every day,” Jones said. “He’s not a runner. He’s a quarterback.”
Former Tennessee offensive coordinator Mike DeBord, now at the University of Indiana, is quick to say the Volunteers’ variation of the shotgun-heavy spread offense favored by many college programs included NFL concepts in the passing game. Though plays were signaled in from the sideline, Jones says Dobbs fit the profile of a “CEO quarterback” – a leader whose responsibility grew to include checks, protection adjustments, etc. And Dobbs didn’t need things explained twice.
“Some guys can be book smart but not football smart,” DeBord said. “Josh Dobbs knows football. He knows coverages very well. He is a perfectionist. He wants to know everything and that’s why, in my opinion, he’s so good and he’s going to continue to get better.”
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It’s no surprise Dobbs embraced technology during training at IMG Academy – a drone to record his throwing sessions for evaluation afterward, vision boards to test his reactions, a sleeve to evaluate the force he was putting on his arm and make sure he wasn’t overthrowing. He continues to use a customized sleep schedule created when he was at Tennessee.
In a way, Dobbs is engineering himself to be a better quarterback, even if it’s not quite the same thing as designing a plane that can complete three courses, the final project towards a degree Dobbs surely hopes he won’t need anytime soon.
“Many people ask, ‘You know physics, does that ever come into play on the field?’ That’s not really how aerospace engineering comes into play,” Dobbs said. “How it does is in the preparation, in the time and in the effort to put forward to be successful in the classroom. Being a quarterback, you have to put together that same effort to be successful on the field, in your preparations, in your study habits, and just pushing your mind to another level.
“Everything that you do is going to give you an extra advantage, especially if you maximize it. At the end of the day, you still have to go play.”
Follow Tom Pelissero on Twitter @TomPelissero.
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