[needle]

If there is serious talk about having an offensive consultant come in (which I doubt, honestly), Stanford could do worse than Helfrich.

It’s clear that Helfrich knows how to develop quarterbacks: He did it with Bart Hendricks at Boise State, and he did it with Andrew Walter and Carpenter at Arizona State, and he did it with Darron Thomas at Oregon; he has done it with Mariota, the most stunning pure talent in Ducks history. He is, his former players say, thorough and utterly prepared and calm on the sideline, an intellectual at heart who happens to be a football coach. When Helfrich was at Arizona State, Carpenter says, he asked his quarterbacks to go back and study the history of the ASU program, to learn about Whizzer White and Ron Pritchard and John Jefferson. When Thomas was at Oregon, Helfrich once spent a session breaking down the ins and outs of Buddy Ryan’s 46 defense.

“Coach Kelly’s an on-the-field guy,” Thomas says. “Coach Helfrich is a book kind of guy. We could ask him about any position, anything about it. Coach Kelly would call the plays in the game, but Coach Helfrich would make up all the play sheets in practice.”

http://grantland.com/features/mark-helfr...hip-kelly/

[needle]

If there is serious talk about having an offensive consultant come in (which I doubt, honestly), Stanford could do worse than Helfrich.

It’s clear that Helfrich knows how to develop quarterbacks: He did it with Bart Hendricks at Boise State, and he did it with Andrew Walter and Carpenter at Arizona State, and he did it with Darron Thomas at Oregon; he has done it with Mariota, the most stunning pure talent in Ducks history. He is, his former players say, thorough and utterly prepared and calm on the sideline, an intellectual at heart who happens to be a football coach. When Helfrich was at Arizona State, Carpenter says, he asked his quarterbacks to go back and study the history of the ASU program, to learn about Whizzer White and Ron Pritchard and John Jefferson. When Thomas was at Oregon, Helfrich once spent a session breaking down the ins and outs of Buddy Ryan’s 46 defense.

“Coach Kelly’s an on-the-field guy,” Thomas says. “Coach Helfrich is a book kind of guy. We could ask him about any position, anything about it. Coach Kelly would call the plays in the game, but Coach Helfrich would make up all the play sheets in practice.”

http://grantland.com/features/mark-helfr...hip-kelly/