How Burnet football develops quarterbacks

CAPTION: One student of Burnet CISD quarterback school is junior Fisher Powell (right). The school was conducted by offensive coordinator and quarterback Tyler Fambrough (left). Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

At about the same time the Burnet Consolidated Independent School District’s football program was starting 7 on 7 in May, new offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Tyler Fambrough had just finished teaching his quarterback school.

Three of the students included juniors Cooper Evans and Fisher Powell and senior Brian Johnson. Powell and Johnson split time at the position in 2025.

Fambrough said a lot had been thrown at the quarterbacks, and he was pleased with how they responded.

“That was a ton of information at them, and so they were great with that,” he said. “They took it by storm and were ready to work every single day with that, and so there is an element of trying to see how much they can retain. But I’ll tell you this – the Burnet athletes right now haven’t blinked one time so far, so it’s been great.”

That trait, especially at this position, is invaluable to a position room, an offensive room and the locker room.

Fambrough described some elements of his quarterback school with one important part at the top of the list.

“I’ve tailored the quarterback school to try and get the quarterbacks to understand not only what their job is but what everyone’s job is, how the offense is honestly originated and then on top of that, how to evaluate defenses in real-time before the game, how do we scout, what different defenses have in terms of their weaknesses and strengths, when they run different things,” he said. “So all of that is a part of it.”

The coach and his quarterbacks spent a month learning, conversing, watching video, drawing the Xs and Os, anything and everything they could do to lessen the curve and learn quickly.

“We’ve watched a ton of film so far and all the different aspects and mechanics I’m talking about,” he said. “And then on top of that, every single time we’ve installed a concept. We also give the players a chance to see it on video and then in quarterback school, we’ve been on the whiteboard, talking about our different formations, how different motions affect the defense, what it means when the defense is adjusting. But they’ve been able to do a lot of cool things in terms of watching film, on the whiteboard and then actually get on the grass and throw as well. We’ve made some huge progress in their mechanics as well.”

The school also included some on-field work, too.

“Then we can get into the quarterback mechanic side of it and we really dialed in their mechanics – down to the finer details and trying to get them really rotational,” the coach said. “And then we start throwing to the receivers and we start going through individual, and so there’s a huge process over about a month where the quarterbacks go through a huge classroom phase of how to be a leader, what does the defense look like and how do we attack it? When they do this, what does that mean to us?”

All of that work provides a path to becoming the Bulldogs quarterback.

“Here’s how we play quarterback in Burnet,” Fambrough said. “And here’s how we’re going to lead, here’s how we’re going to operate the huddle, here’s how we’re going to go no-huddle, all this different stuff, and getting them really in-tune with the offense so that it can operate at an efficient level from the gun and then it can spread out from there.”