Inside Notre Dame QB Drew Pyne's Workout With QB Country & Daniel Jones
Prior to having to resort to workouts via Zoom and FaceTime, Notre Dame quarterback Drew Pyne had the chance to work in person with Thomas Morris of QB Country during a session that also included current New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones.
“I was able to get with Drew right before this thing all started, right before the first couple days of spring,” Morris said. “I was training him and Daniel Jones, so that was good to see them before all of this happened.”
Morris is pictured above next to Pyne with Mickey Brueckner of QB Country New Jersey on his left and Jones on the far right at the workout in New Jersey before the COVID crisis shut everything down.
“It was a great couple workouts with them,” he said. “It’s always good to be challenged and to see where you want to go. Daniel is such a perfectionist and Drew is too, so they’re similar personalities. They’re both extremely gifted and extremely smart and intelligent and very detail-oriented. Everything has a detail, especially when you get to the NFL level. If you’re a half-second off, that could be the difference in everything.”
Obviously, it’s helpful for Pyne who is entering his first season for the Irish this fall to spend time with an NFL signal-caller.
“For Drew to be with Daniel and see how he operates, how he works, I thought that was huge,” said Morris. “To be challenged and pushed by somebody who is special is always a plus. It’s going to make you better.
“They hit it off, but I felt like they were able to get challenged and Drew was able to see how he needs to improve his game to get to that level. I thought that was paramount and very important.”
Jones didn’t just lead by example, either.
“There’s always a constant dialogue at these workouts,” said Morris. “‘Hey, this is what I’m thinking.’ Then Daniel would say, ‘Hey, this how we run this in my offense. Hey, this would be the playcall, this is the concept.’ You compare concepts and terminology.”
Morris believes it was “huge” for Jones to learn from Eli Manning, who is tight with the guys at QB Country, during his first year in The League.
And now, Jones is in the position to teach younger guys like Pyne.
“I think Daniel is a natural leader and he’s just a great dude,” said Morris. “He wants the best for Drew. Obviously, every rep he’s trying to get better, but when he’s not going, he’s watching and studying. He’s saying, ‘Hey, this is what I would have done.’ Or, ‘Hey, I thought that was perfect.’ There’s a give-and-take there, but Daniel is so good about the dialogue.
“He has an eye too just like I do for training because he’s been in it for so long and has been coached by some the top guys with the Giants and at Duke. He may see different things from what I see and I think that’s great. Anytime somebody can see something and put it in laymen’s terms for them to understand it like Drew, that’s important.
“Daniel has always been great about working his tail off and encouraging and talking when he’s not. I thought that was a great experience for Drew and for Daniel.”
Morris said it was “awesome” to get so much individual time with Pyne and Jones.
“It was great to be with them because they’re both super, first-class dudes who come from first-class families,” he said. “Obviously, Duke is an academic school and so is Notre Dame. With the Pynes, academics is so important and the same holds true for Daniel and his family. There are a lot of similarities there. They’ve kind of known each other for a little bit just through us.
“It’s always special when you get two great people together and two really talented guys.”