Trainer | Determination Sets Notre Dame QB Commit Blake Hebert Apart
When Mike McCarthy started working with Blake Hebert, the quarterback trainer noticed a couple things about the then-eighth-grader.
Hebert possessed tremendous amounts of talent, humility and hunger.
“I could just tell there was something a little bit different about him,” says McCarthy, owner of M2 QB Academy in Massachusetts. “His preparation is what separated him at an early age.”
Hebert would show up for sessions early with plenty of questions and a passion for learning.
“Some kids come in and they think they know more than they do or they're a little bit overconfident,” McCarthy says. “But, he was never that. He was always trying to soak up as much information as he could from all of the coaches. That was something that impressed me right from the start.”
Over the past four years, Hebert has grown literally and figuratively, earning scholarship offers from some of the nation’s top programs, ultimately committing to Clemson before flipping that pledge to Notre Dame last week.
But he’s never changed.
“The biggest thing with him - he has such a high ceiling, very big, athletic kid - but he knows there's always room for growth,” McCarthy says. “After his sophomore year when he started to get all these big-time offers - some kids would let that get to their head - with him it kind of motivated him to work even harder and continue to grow. I think his work ethic, his determination and his process are things that have separated him from the very start.”
As a freshman at Central Catholic High School, Hebert sat behind senior Ayden Pereira, a record-setting quarterback who was named Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year before heading to University of Maine.
“He was phenomenal,” McCarthy says of Pereira. “Blake sitting behind him for a year and learning from him and learning from the coaches, he really used that year as an opportunity to grow and continue to get better.”
A year later, it was Hebert’s turn to take the role of starter.
“Once he had his opportunity to put some game film out there, I think that was the last box that he needed to check for some of those college coaches,” McCarthy says. “Obviously he had the physical stature and he had the ability, but to show that he could process and get it all done on the field, which he did a very good job of his sophomore year. I think once he showed that, that offseason things started to really pick up.”
But even after committing to Clemson before his junior season at Central Catholic, Hebert didn’t let up.
“The work just continued,” says McCarthy. “He's gotten bigger every year. He has gotten stronger every year. He has gotten faster every year. He's really turned himself into an elite level prospect through obviously his intangibles and his God-given talent, but also his work ethic.”
Not only has Hebert gotten bigger, stronger and faster, he’s also become a better passer.
“He's done a really good job of understanding that he can improve his mechanics,” McCarthy says. “When he came in, he was a little bit raw, but he's done a much better job of using his hips when he throws and just maximizing his size and using his levers to his full ability. When he came in, it was more just his raw talent. He could throw the ball but, it wasn't always the most accurate or it wasn't as consistent as he wanted it to be. He did a better job of shortening his stride, getting more out of his hips, using his levers.
“Then, as he continued to grow and develop, the strong mechanics that he built over his freshman and sophomore years really started to pay dividends for him and he was able to generate a ton of force on the ball. The thing about him too is he is just a natural thrower of the football.”
McCarthy notes the power of Hebert’s arm coupled with his touch and ability to layer the ball.
“He can make throws to all areas of the field with good touch,” he continues. “Some things you can't teach, like his ability to process or his ability to put the ball in between defenders. Things like that he's just had since a young age and because he's been able to develop physically year over year, that's something that's continued to improve and I think will continue to improve.
“I've been impressed even this year how much he's grown as far as his strength and his speed. He wasn't always a dual-threat kid, but now he's running a low 4.6, high 4.5 and is a really big strong kid. So for his size, to be able to move the way he does, it was definitely enticing for a lot of these college coaches.”
After missing essentially his entire junior season due to injury, simply getting additional on-field experience at his new school, Brunswick, is one of the most important parts of Hebert’s continued development.
“What he wanted to do this year and why he transferred is because he wanted to play against the best competition possible in the area,” McCarthy says. “That was the reason he went to Central Catholic originally, to play against good talent, but then he realized, 'I can even take it up another notch. I really want to start to prepare for college, so I'm going to go play against the best competition in New England.'
“He's shown that against the best competition, he can produce. I think each game he's growing, he's learning and he's just taking it day by day. That's the biggest thing, just continuing to gain that experience on the field playing. I think this year at Brunswick has been huge for him.”
McCarthy is convinced Hebert would have fit in at whatever college he chose, including Notre Dame.
“I think he could play in a more pro-style system or can play in a spread system,” he says. “He kind of defines the modern quarterback, where he has the size and he has the ability in the pocket to sit back there and process and go from his first to his second to his third read, but he also has the ability to get the ball out quick on RPOs and screens and quick game. Then, the third facet of his game is his ability to throw on the run, his ability to extend the play and make off-platform plays and change his arm angle.
“He really is the definition of a modern quarterback in that sense, where I think he would've been a good fit in whatever system he went to. But, I think with Notre Dame it's going to be a really good fit as well.”
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