DENVER BRONCOS 2016 NFL DRAFT QUOTES
VIRGNIA TECH HEAD COACH JUSTIN FUENTE
CONFERENCE CALL (RE: QB PAXTON LYNCH, 4/29/16)
VIRGINIA TECH HEAD COACH JUSTIN FUENTE (QB PAXTON LYNCH’S COLLEGIATE COACH AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS)
On when he knew QB Paxton Lynch could be ‘the’ guy and what he thinks he needs to make the transition to an NFL offense
“The first part of your question, as soon as we got him on campus and saw him throw the ball and move around, we knew he had some special talents. The question was going to be how hard could he work to develop those talents. That was the variable. It was pretty easy to see that he was a large person that moved around pretty well, had a really good arm and a natural throwing motion. He did not have great strength and he hadn’t played a tremendous amount. It was not like he was coming from a prestigious high school that had been throwing 7-on-7 reps since he was 8-years-old. You get to see that there was something in Paxton, first of all, that he wanted to be good, he had a desire to play quarterback, he actually played the position very well and he had the confidence. This was a kid that felt like he could do it. He put the work in and developed all the way through and he ended up getting better visibly almost on a daily basis. I saw him improve from one practice to the next and made everything go through twice. As far as the transition to the NFL, from playing under the center, he’s a natural thrower and he’s going to be able to throw the ball. He’s going to be able to adjust. It’s not like there won’t be an adjustment, there will be and he’s going to make that leap relatively quickly. It’s going to be the NFL game. I would imagine and I’ve never spent a day in the NFL, never coached and never played in the NFL, but I watched a lot of it on TV and it’s going to be the game, the speed of the game and the physicality of the game that’s going to be the biggest leap in my opinion that he’s going to have to make.”
On examples of leadership that Lynch showed
“First of all, he gets along with everybody and he’s a very laid back guy. The thing I always loved about him as a coach was in the middle of a game, from the first line, he was level-headed. He’s not too high, he’s not too low. He looks you dead in the eye, listens to what you have to say and he tries to do what you need done in the middle of the [difficult situation]. I think that’s served him well and he experienced the ups and downs of playing college quarterback. The kids enjoyed being around him and he’s approachable, he’s certainly not an ego guy, he’s a guy that kids from all different backgrounds enjoyed playing with. When it came down to it, there was no question, at least for us at Memphis, there was no question who was in charge. He was the guy everybody turned to kind of save the day, and more often than not, he did.”
On what it showed when he stuck with his commitment to Memphis
“I was appreciative of it. I have never really talked too much about that whole deal, I was just happy that he stuck with us. I appreciated it and I think it says something about the way he was raised and his core values. I think his family did a fantastic job. Him mom and dad raised a hard working young man that tries to do everything that he says he’s going to do, and that’s part of the reason we got along so well.”
On Lynch’s intangible characteristics
“I think the first and foremost thing and I think the thing in Paxton’s mind is what’s going to be best for the team. He’s going to know that he has work to do to develop as an individual, but he’s always been a team guy and I can’t imagine it being any different just because he’s in the NFL. The beautiful thing about coaching Paxton is that whatever you tell him to do, he’s going to do it because he believes in coaching, he believes in direction and he’s going to take that. The leadership of the Denver Broncos is going to draw a pretty direct path of what they expect and I imagine Paxton is going to follow it to a ‘T.’”
On when he saw Lynch turn into a pro prospect
“I think he viewed himself as a quarterback and nothing else, but I really saw him blossom when he developed some more strength. If you go back and look at his film as a freshman to his sophomore and his senior year, when you watch him run, and sometimes this happens in college with long kids as they develop more strength in their hips, their quads and more core strength, they run better. I think that’s what happened with Paxton. He became a better athlete as he became stronger. He was always focused on the best way to play quarterback. He’s been touched and he’s been given a beautiful gift to be able to throw the ball with great height and intelligence. To me, the thing that we saw on a daily basis was that he continued to work to get better in all facets of his game.”
On Lynch’s intelligence
“He’s proven out to be [a smart football player]. He’s a highly intelligent young man and when you tell him something, he’s going to digest it, learn it and understand it, and probably refer back to it. You just have to make sure you tell him the correct thing because he will remember it. So much of playing quarterback is can you run, can you throw, do you have height, do you have strength and can you maneuver you emotions through the ups and downs of the game. And then some of it too is being judicious with the football. Sometimes you have to know when to duck it down or throw it away. He made huge strides in the three years he was playing for us in terms of the old Kenny Rodgers, know when to hold them and know when to fold them. It was really fun to watch that and teach off of that as he progressed through his time realizing that he couldn’t make every play but there were times when he could throw the ball in certain areas that only gave our guys a chance to catch the ball. You saw that in some of his film, which is probably what made such low interception numbers was that he kind of developed that knack to intelligently put the ball in a place where only our guys could get it or nobody could get it.”
On Lynch’s desire to learn and improve
“I’m going to give credit to our quarterback coach and offensive coordinator Brad Cornelsen, and I think he did a fantastic job with Paxton on a daily basis. I think it was to challenge him whether that was in the summertime taking him out of what we called the big skill group and putting him in the elite skill group to run his conditioning. Or whether it was continuing to challenge him in terms of objectives he needed to accomplish film wise. Or bringing him in on Tuesday mornings or whatever it was, he always met that challenge. I think that there was never a situation where you had to pick a pop poker and stick it, it was always you tell him to do ‘A,’ and he’s going to do it. Then you move over to ‘B,’ and he did that. Then you move over to ‘C,’ and he tried to accomplish that. The biggest thing I guess I would say is that we just tried to raise the level of expectation as he moves through his career.”
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