From making checks at the line of scrimmage to firing accurate passes in tight coverage, the quarterback position requires a combination of strong leadership, as well as mental and physical skills.
DePauw quarterbacks' and wide receivers' coach Brett Dietz understands what it takes to lead a successful offense as the signal caller, having spent three seasons as the starting quarterback for the Arena Football League's Tampa Bay Storm.
After playing for the Turku Trojans in Finland, Dietz, a 2004 graduate of Hanover College, broke into indoor football with the Cincinnati Marshals of the National Indoor Football League in 2005. While leading the Marshals to the conference finals, Dietz began receiving exposure in the Arena Football League.
"A scout for the Tampa Bay Storm saw me play and liked what he saw of me and two other teammates," Dietz said. "I was one of the ones that happened to make it, so I got really lucky."
Dietz joined the Storm's practice squad in 2006, but left during the season to take over as the starting quarterback for the af2's Louisville Fire.
In 2007, he signed with the Kansas City Brigade, an AFL team, when the Storm came calling again. Due to a series of injuries at quarterback, Tampa Bay claimed Dietz off the Brigade's practice squad. Dietz was almost immediately thrust into the starting role. "When I stepped in, I just tried to get completions and move the ball just like we try to do in outdoor football. I was able to provide a spark," Dietz said. "We had some good defensive plays in my first game, and we were able to get the victory versus Columbus. The team kind of gathered around me."
Dietz helped the Storm turn around their season, going 8-1 as a starter during the regular season and leading Tampa Bay to the playoffs. The Storm lost to the Columbus Destroyers 56-55 in the first round of the playoffs. For his breakout season, Dietz was named the Arena Football League's co-rookie of the year.
"I was really just trying to protect the ball and not create any turnovers and just try to get first downs and let the touchdowns happen as they may," Dietz said. "That turned out to be the best formula for me. We had a good defense and a good pass rush. We just had to not turn the ball over on offense, and I was fortunate enough to do that."
In 2008, Dietz and the Storm narrowly missed the playoffs with an 8-8 record. His promising career was put on hold following that season, however, as financial troubles forced the Arena Football League to cancel the 2009 season.
The AFL was restructured as a new league, incorporating teams from the af2 and the old Arena League. The new setup made it nearly impossible for players to make a career out of playing in the AFL. The pay was significantly less, meaning many players had to work a second job.
"Not too many people weren't too sure if they were coming back or not, but a lot of the guys did come back," Dietz said. "We were fortunate enough to have a lot of our team back from 2008, so we already had a playoff-caliber team coming back. A lot of the other teams were either coming up from [af2] or trying to put the pieces back together."
Despite a 2-3 start, Dietz guided Tampa Bay to an 11-5 record during the 2010 regular season and another playoff berth. Knowing that 2010 might be the last season for many of them, the Storm put everything on the line in the playoffs.
Tampa Bay defeated the Tulsa Talons and rival Orlando Predators to reach Arena Bowl XXIII. Playing at the home arena of opponent Spokane Shock, Dietz and the Storm fell just shy of an Arena League Championship, losing 69-57.
"We came up a little bit short, but all in all it was a great season," Dietz said. "I'm happy I went back and played for that last season."
Dietz earned all-arena second team honors after the 2010 campaign. He finished third in the AFL with 5,054 passing yards and 107 passing touchdowns. Both totals set new Storm single-season records.
As Dietz established himself as one of the Arena League's top quarterbacks, he never forgot about his aspirations of playing in the NFL.
"That's why you played," Dietz said. "The NFL scouts were telling you they need more film, and they need to see you play against better competition, especially me being from a Division III school a lot like DePauw."
With his playing days behind him, Dietz viewed coaching as an obvious career choice. Since the AFL was mostly a spring sport, he was able to coach high school or college football during the league's offseason.
"I started thinking that all my experience was in football, so I should probably stick in that field," Dietz said.
Dietz joined the DePauw coaching staff on a part-time basis last fall, but moved into a full-time role as the quarterbacks and wide receivers coach heading into spring practices. He has been integral in helping DePauw implement a new offense.
Dietz is looking to help his players make the jump from high school ball to the college ranks, drawing on his experiences from the Arena League.
"I'm trying to get them to watch more film, see how they watch film, and kind of transform the way they do it to make it more efficient," Dietz said.
In particular, Dietz has focused on helping first-year starting quarterback Ethan Schweir become an expert on the Tiger offense.
"Once you know the offense in and out, then you can really start to thrive in it," Dietz said. "I want to get Ethan to the point where he knows the offense so well that he knows what we're doing when we call a play, he knows what we're looking for, he knows what checks to make, and we have to get there to be a good football team."
Though Dietz's professional experience is at the quarterback position, he has been teaching his wideouts about techniques he picked up from receivers he worked with in the AFL.
"We don't see a whole lot of man-to-man like we used to in college football, but Arena is a lot of man-to-man, so I have some man techniques of turning the defensive back's hips," Dietz said. "Kind of you control how they back pedal to get yourself more open. It's just trying to explain them that in small doses."
Junior wide receiver Taylor Wagner believes Dietz has been an invaluable resource for both quarterbacks and receivers.
"He has the tricks of the trade that are hard to come by," Wagner said. "He's been making it very technical, which is something we really haven't had in the past."
With an inexperienced set of quarterbacks and receivers, Dietz will be critical as DePauw looks to improve with every game.
Looking back on his decision to join the Tiger coaching staff, Dietz thinks DePauw has been a perfect fit.
"It was an easy choice for me," he said.