We caught up with quarterback Jack Sears last week. The redshirt freshman opened up on how he's adjusted his delivery, the upcoming QB battle and the public's fascination with teammate and challenger JT Daniels.
--on if he’s still tinkering with his delivery
“Yeah, that was my main focus in the beginning of the summer, just fine tuning little things. It wasn’t anything too serious, but I figured out a little tweak and it’s helped me a lot. I feel like I'm throwing the ball a lot better, a lot more consistent, and coming out a bit faster.
--on if a quicker release was the objective
“Yeah, quicker and consistency were the two focuses when I went back, trying to fine tune it. … It’s not like I’m trying to redefine my motion at all, it’s literally like one little tweak, one little throwing thought, to kind of just help quicken everything up. … Just a little bit less takeback, a bit more straight to the throw.”
--on what he’s working on aside from his release
“I wasn’t so much trying to work on my release, it was a little thing. I've always been confident in my throwing motion. Just as a quarterback mentally you always have to understand the playbook, and there's so much to our playbook that you're always going to be learning. So that's kind of what I'm trying to do, keep learning.”
--on if it bothers him that the public at large seems to have already anointed JT Daniels as the future starter and is pulling for him most
“I can’t really look too much into that. It’s not really my place, and everybody has a job and everybody's doing their part, and I just got to focus on what I can do.”
--on how aware he is of that narrative
“From what I’ve heard. I try to stay out of it. It’s gonna be fun; coaches are going to make the decision, we're going to compete, and I'm going to control what I can control.”
--on his offseason focus outside of PRPs
“Just trying to get up in the film room as much as possible. My course load kinda impacted that in the beginning but then really hitting it hard in the afternoon and night, throwing with the guys when I can, and then those morning workout have been pushing us so I think the coaches have been doing a great job getting us physically in shape and it's our job as players getting mentally in shape when the coaches aren't here.”
--on whether he already feels the tension of the upcoming QB competition in training camp
“I don’t think there’s tension, just kinda excitement. We had a great summer as a group. I think we've really come together and we're having fun out there, helping each other and just being competitive in PRP, so fall camp’s going to heighten that and make it that much more enjoyable and probably more fun to watch.”
--on if there will be more urgency with each rep, now that they’ll be divided three ways
“Just make the most of each rep. That’s what we try to do in the spring, that's what we're trying to do in camp, we’re gonna try to do it in the season.”
--on the difference between training camp and spring, when Helton made it clear he was not going to choose a starter
“It’s just one more guy, it’s competition, it’s gonna make us better players.”
--on what he looks forward to most in the QB battle
“I think I’m kinda just looking forward to fall camp, just ball for a couple weeks, no classes, just being around the team from 6 a.m. to whenever we get out, so it’ll be fun.”
--on if anything else feels different in his preparation this year aside from the obvious absence of Sam Darnold
“I’ve just been here. I’ve learned a lot about the little things. It’s more about the little things that you do whether it's recovery or film, or just watching yourself and trying to figure out what you can do better each day. That’s the biggest thing. You can’t think you’re gonna have these huge changes right away. It's going to take time, you have to enjoy that process.”
--on his current weight
“Between 210-213."
--on what he weighed last year
“I was 200.”
