The relationship between Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and California Golden Bears head coach Jeff Tedford has been much scrutinized. It appears much of the trouble has come with his quarterback development, and that Rodgers had to shed Tedford's "outdated techniques" to become the type of NFL star he's been.
Much of that has to deal with the way Rodgers held the ball in college. Rodgers held the ball high up above his shoulders, and it always looked a little off compared to the way most quarterbacks held the ball. It was commonly thought that Rodgers held the ball in this unorthodox manner because his college quarterback guru instructed him to throw that way. Steve Young called the technique "goofball" and plenty of others have stepped up their criticism of the method, which would appear to gravely discredit Tedford's acumen as a quarterback coach.
But it's looking like Tedford and Rodgers are starting to clear up those misperceptions. In an interview with Razor and Mr. T after the announcement of Cal's successful recruiting class, Tedford mentioned that Rodgers always held the ball high. Tedford never wanted to tinker with it because of how good he was in spite of the eccentric grip. So this seems to be a tendency that Rodgers had even before he came to Cal. He just ended up being so wildly successful with it as a Golden Bear that the head coach didn't bother to mess with it, which seems perfectly fair.
It makes sense when you think about it; if you compare Rodgers's quarterback mechanics to other of Tedford's pupils, almost none of them held the ball as high as Aaron did (considering how well Rodgers succeeded to the others, perhaps they should have held it higher). So obviously.
And of course, it's good to hear what Rodgers has to say on the subject.
"I got the best of the best from Jeff Tedford."
He also gives credit to Tedford for his perfect throwing motion. Perhaps analysts need to stop worrying about the outside appearance and focus on the technique and delivery of quarterbacks. Therein lies the excellence of a quarterback coach like Tedford, and his ability to mold a pupil like Rodgers.
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