Vaas knowledge: Veteran keeps it simple

Peter Vaas has played quarterback, coached quarterbacks, tutored quarterbacks, scouted quarterbacks and is currently the primary coach of the Rivals Quarterback Challenge Presented by Under Armour series.

Despite all the mental, physical and technical aspects of the position, the long-time veteran boils his philosophy down to two words: Complete it.

"Most kids are overcoached," Vaas says. "Most kids are too robotic. How natural can you be? I'm a big believer in being natural. Relax and throw the ball with your God-given ability. Be as natural as you can athletically. Complete the football. Don't lose sight of that."

Vaas will be coaching high-level quarterbacks this weekend at the Rivals Quarterback Challenge in Cincinnati, the fourth and final stop in a new series Rivals has put together this spring to help evaluate and improve high school quarterbacks with college futures. The event reflects Vaas' mindset when it comes to being a successful quarterback. Players are asked to hit stationary targets in a variety of ways - rolling left and right, shotgun, under center, timed. If you hit the target, you get points. If you don't, you don't.

"Lots of times, you can have two guys disagree on which quarterback is better," Vaas says. "In this, the players are performing under the same conditions, with the same football, throwing at the same targets. It is objective. How well did he perform?"

While Vaas may simplify the end-goal, there is nothing simple about his vast experience with the position. Vaas walked on at Holy Cross, where he eventually started for three years and set nine school records as a senior. His coaching career, which began immediately upon graduation, varied from an assistant at Allegheny College to two stints as quarterbacks coach at Notre Dame to head coaching jobs in NFL Europe over 37 seasons.

"He was born to play the position and born to coach the position," says Brady Quinn, who was an AP All-American after each of the two seasons spent with Vaas at Notre Dame. "We talked all the time after I left Notre Dame. He has studied a long time and has a very clear idea of how the position should be played."

One point of emphasis for Vaas is how well a quarterback can play in the final two minutes of a game under pressure. He said Quinn had the ability at Notre Dame to thrive in those situations, pointing to the final regular season game in 2005 as proof.

"He had a $5 million drive," Vaas said. "If we beat Stanford, we're going to the Fiesta Bowl for $10 million. If we lose, we're going to the Citrus Bowl for $5 million. He takes us 80 yards in the final two minutes on the road to come from behind and win. To watch how efficiently he took that team down the field was heart-warming to see."

To add pressure in the Rivals Quarterback Challenge, points are doubled in the final round, incompletions to the wrong side of the target become interceptions and there is a stricter time limit to each round.

"I want them to come out of this event knowing they have to control their emotions," Vaas says. "You can see how guys have done well in the first round in these camps, and then the emotions and intensity of really competing at a higher level for something big, which in this case is a trip to Baltimore (for the Rivals QB Challenge finals), then they don't perform as well. How can you perform better at the end of a game than you do at the beginning? The great quarterbacks are the ones that function casually and efficiently in the final two minutes of a game."

Quinn says Vaas emphasized being happy with a completion no matter how it happened.

"A lot of quarterbacks struggle with striving for perfection," Quinn says. "They push too hard and are never happy with the result. Be happy with the completion and move on."

Quarterback Austin Kendall, a recent Oklahoma commit, said he enjoyed working with Vaas both at the Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge in 2014 and at the Rivals Quarterback Challenge in Atlanta earlier this spring.

"I've had some good one-on-one time with him and I really learned a lot," he said. "He's a good mentor."

Vaas says in his experience, it is not the level of player that dictates how much enjoyment he gets out of working with the player, but rather their willingness to learn.

"Everyone thinks that it's great to work with the big-name guys," Vaas said. "Well, some of the relationships you have with guys who were just good high school players or college players are some of the most endearing relationships. It isn't a question of level. It is the attitude, approach to the game. How do they go about things?"

The camp setting has proven ideal for Vaas, who last served as a full-time coach on the sideline at South Florida in 2012.

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"The great quarterbacks are the ones that function casually and efficiently in the final two minutes of a game."

-- Peter Vaas

"When we made the change to have the Quarterback Challenge series at Rivals, he was a natural for us," says Al Luginbill, the football director of the Rivals Camp Series. "He has always been involved in the passing game and he loves the fundamental aspects of the quarterback position. He really enjoys working with the kids and they see that very quickly."

Vaas says the rise in popularity of quarterback tutors and coaches for young players is not necessarily a bad thing if the player can find the right match.

"Every coach is going to phrase things differently, every coach is going to tweak things, and you can get confused," Vaas says. "If you are going to get a coach, get a coach. Don't get a dozen."

And when the player gets under center?

"Complete it," Vaas says. "The rest doesn't matter."