- April 29, 2024
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Jake Medlock accepted FPC's offensive coordinator position and has started working with Flagler County's young quarterbacks. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Jake Medlock directs his volunteer receivers. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Jacob Daugherty, 13, throws to a receiver in a passing drill. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Luke Elsbree, 10, steps into the pocket and flings the ball. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Jason Ebding gets his steps and technique down. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Brody Elsbree, 7, watches his pass. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Jake Medlock unleashes a long pass to one his FPC receivers during his QB training session at Wadsworth Park. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Jake Medlock instructs his students. Photo by Brent Woronoff
"Hips and legs are the key to the position baby," barks former college quarterback Jake Medlock to his young students. "If you don't use your legs, your arm will die."
To prove his point, Medlock heaves a long pass to the other end of the Wadsworth Park football field. One of his Flagler Palm Coast receivers runs under and catches the ball.
Medlock has brought his quarterback training academy to Flagler County twice a week during the summer.
He lives in Orlando and trains quarterbacks there — from Pop Warner to college players. But now, at the urging of his former Valdosta State University teammate — FPC head coach Daniel Fish — he accepted the job as the Bulldogs' offensive coordinator. He commutes every morning during the week for FPC's summer conditioning. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he drives back to Orlando and returns to Flagler County in the late afternoon to train three or four, and sometimes as many as 10, fledgling QBs.
"There hasn't been local quarterback training here for a while, not specific to the position," said Jason Ebding, whose son, Jason Jr., 14, participated in the training session on Thursday, June 29 at Wadsworth Park. Brothers Luke Elsbree, 10, and Brody Elsbree, 7, also participated. Jacob Daugherty, 13, traveled from Port Orange to learn from Medlock.
"This is the first time we came," said Jacob's father, Rob Daugherty. "He just started playing quarterback last year, and he hasn't had this type of instruction before."
Several FPC receivers and defensive backs ran routes for the young students.
Medlock, who is from Jacksonville, played quarterback at Florida International University and Valdosta State. He coached at Jacksonville Sandalwood High School, Shorter University, Missouri Southern State University, South Cobb High School in Georgia and finally at Catawba College, where he was let go last year after the head coach was fired.
"I was tired of having others dictate to me, so I decided to move back to Florida and train quarterbacks full time," he said.
But then Fish called shortly before FPC's spring practice and took Medlock out to dinner at Break-Awayz in Flagler Beach.
"He said, 'I need your help,'" Medlock relayed.
Medlock doesn't know how long he'll stay at FPC, but right now he's loving it, coaching high school kids and running an offense and then training younger kids in the same area.
"It's fun getting to pass on knowledge to the next generation. Where else would a 10-year-old learn how to re-mesh?" he asked.
"I want to fill this field up with kids," he added. "The best feeling is before a game when a kid on the opposite team is a kid you trained, and he comes over and gives you a hug and then tells you he's going to kick your butt."
For more information on Medlock's quarterback training, call 904-909-0394.
