How Ohio State quarterbacks warm up without a football

By Adam Wire

As athletic training techniques evolve, teams are trying more and more innovative ways to improve performance. Ohio State University’s football team is no exception.

The Buckeyes instruct their quarterbacks to grab a long stick, elastic bands, a pair of weighted, round balls, and a baseball before they can even touch a football at the start of their pregame warmups.

Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett spoke to landof10.com:

“I think when people see the warmup, they look at me and think like, ‘What in the world is he doing. At first, it even kind of threw me off, because I was like, ‘Where is the football?’”

Ryan Day, the Buckeyes’ quarterbacks coach, explained it this way:

“When you’re warming up your muscles, there’s a way to do it. And then when you’re working with the weighted balls, you’re actually working some muscles, some deceleration muscles, so the theory is that it actually puts strength back into your arm.”

Watch the Buckeyes’ warmup routine below.