Football University is the primary destination for football players in the off season. This is no different for eighth grade quarterback Landen Powell out of Arizona. The son of former Louisiana State quarterback, Doug Powell, will attend Football University’s Phoenix camp at the end of April. Landen will play quarterback as he does for the Desert Vista 14U Thunder in Phoenix. This will be Landen’s first time at an FBU camp and his father could not be more excited for his experience.

“From the development standpoint, the individual coaching by NFL talent and guys who know the game inside and out will benefit Landen at camp,” said Doug. “He will see guys who were already in a position he wants to be in. Landed competes every time he is on the field.”

Doug believes Football University provides the foundation for kids to learn the technique and challenge them to compete at the next level. Talent and technique are important characteristics to have as a football player and there is always room for making improvements on mechanics, from middle school all the way to professional stage. As an eighth grader, Doug has already seen improvements Landen has made.

“Landen holds all of the traditional quarterback mechanics and understands the defenses and how to diagram them,” said Doug. “He reads and changes about forty percent of the plays just based around the defensive formation. He can always improve on reading the defenses and knowing when and how the offensive plays should change.”

Not only does Football University train on the field, the film room is an important component of the two day camp. Athletes are able to study their one-on-one and seven-on-seven film to quickly see what improvements can be made. Landen is looking forward to the film room sessions with his coach and already has a routine of film study.

“He studies his own film every week and gets graded from the previous week on the changes he has made,” said Doug. “Landen puts himself in a position to be critical of his game and coachable.”

Aside from dad, Landen’s football hero is Steve Young. This may surprise many since Landen is not even in high school yet. As a left handed quarterback, he studies Young’s film quite a bit and hopes to make a similar impact on football as Young did.

As a young player, Landen has a lot of time to grow with his football talents. He will be coached by someone who has studied and played the game, who can offer him keen advice to become better at the high school level. Football University will be in Phoenix, Arizona on April 29-30 at Chaparral High School.