Hit the High Notes: Hornibrook looking to build on MVP performance
April 20, 2018 | Football, Mike Lucas, Varsity Magazine
Badgers QB not satisfied after throwing four TDs in Orange Bowl win
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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — Alex Hornibrook has traveled a handful of times to the West Coast to train in San Diego under George Whitfield Jr., the nationally-recognized quarterback instructor/guru.
Hornibrook knows how to pack for such trips. Only the essentials.
Over spring break, he took A.J. Taylor and his guitar.
Taylor is a Wisconsin wide receiver. A QB should never leave home without one.
But a guitar?
"I've been playing since my freshman year in high school," said Hornibrook, a graduate of Malvern Prep, whose campus is 25 miles outside of Philadelphia. "I played in a guitar ensemble."
Strumming, no singing, 12 guys playing the guitar. He brought his to Madison. "I'll usually play every night when I get home," he said, "and I'm done with everything (film study, homework)."
His favorite artist is "King of Country" icon George Strait. But he also listens a lot to Jon Pardi ("California Sunrise").
"I told him I'm going to stop over and he's going to have to play me a song," said quarterbacks coach Jon Budmayr. "It's a distraction, it kind of gets him away."
Budmayr cited another example of how Hornibrook will carve out some space and time for himself; a necessity for any athlete but especially one who's so invested in his sport like Hornibrook.
"Alex will hop on his moped and go riding out in the country on a beautiful Sunday afternoon just for the heck of it," he said. "He's neat that way. He knows what he needs to energize."
Confirming as much, Hornibrook said, "I do like being outside and driving my moped places. I have probably triple or quadruple the miles on my moped that anybody else does."
On April 24, Hornibrook will take a short ride to the Overture Center for the Arts, where he will play his guitar and make his singing debut at the Buckinghams, a celebration of UW student-athletes.
The 10-year-old, red carpet event recognizes individual and team achievements in the classroom and community while highlighting the artistic expression and performing skills of the student-athletes as entertainers.
Former UW quarterback Joel Stave was a piano-playing, singing regular at the Buckinghams. Stave's go-to was "Drops of Jupiter," written and recorded by the rock band Train.
As to what Hornibrook will sing, he said, "It's a secret. But it's a country song."
Hornibrook has played in front of 111,646 at Michigan Stadium, but he conceded, "This is going to be a lot different. I'll probably be more nervous than I've ever been on a football field."
• • • •
Not many saw it coming. Miami didn't.
"He was throwing darts," said Hurricanes coach Mark Richt.
"Other than one or two throws," said Canes safety Jaquan Johnson, "he was dead-on all night."
They were both talking about Hornibrook, the Orange Bowl MVP.
"He threw it on the money into a lot of tight coverage," added Richt, concluding, "Good route-running, good concepts, good protection, good throws and good catches."
Great results. The Badgers rallied to beat the Canes, 34-24, and Hornibrook completed 23-of-34 passes for a career-high 258 yards and four touchdowns, a UW bowl record.
"Something happened to him in the second quarter (10 of 11 for 139 yards and three scores)," Taylor said. "Once he was in the zone, we all locked in, and we all got in the zone."
Taylor, a sophomore, was the game's leading receiver with eight catches for 105 yards and a TD. True freshman Danny Davis made the most of his five receptions by scoring three times.
"When we couldn't move the ball too much with the run game (3.2 yards per rush), we put it into Alex's hands," said All-American right guard Beau Benzschawel.
"We knew if we gave him enough time, he was going to make plays. We have great confidence in him."
In upping his record to 20-3 as the UW starter, Hornibrook was sacked just once and was nearly flawless on the "money" down, connecting on 7-of-10 third-down passes for 85 yards and a touchdown.
Last week, Hornibrook, a junior-to-be, was asked to reflect on the Orange Bowl. What was his takeaway? And will there be any carryover next season?
"I saw what I can be and what I should be every game," he said. "If I can do it one game, I should be able to do that in all of them. There were a few things I did (differently), I'll probably keep to myself."
But what is a fair and reasonable expectation?
"What you're asked to do within each game can change," cautioned Budmayr, a former UW quarterback. "There may be times where we need to throw it 40 times.
"Or, we may be pounding the defense with the running game and we want to keep their (the opponent's) offense off the field and we're going to throw it 20 times.
"So that puts him into a different situation. But some of those things can carry over: consistent decision-making and pocket movements."
In exploiting the Miami game plan — the Canes played mostly man coverage — with his darts (accuracy), Hornibrook sensed pressure and stepped up in the pocket to get cleaner passing lanes.
"Obviously, you're not going to have that every game," Hornibrook said. "Some games it's not possible to throw that many times. But you have to take advantage of the opportunities you do have."
Budmayr felt like Hornibrook did "a lot of good" throughout the 2017 season. Overall, he completed 62 percent of his passes and threw for 2,644 yards and 25 touchdowns.
The highs …
In mid-September, he was 18-of-19 (.947, a school record) for 256 yards and four TDs at BYU.
In late November, he was 15-of-19 for 151 yards (.789) and three TDs at Minnesota.
The low …
In early December, he was 19-of-40 (.475) against Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game.
"But you started to see a lot of his pocket movements, pocket awareness and decision-making show up," Budmayr said. "You saw that stuff really come to life.
"Even counting the interceptions (Hornibrook had 15), he had a year where he has so much that he can build off. He has a big library of stuff to study."
DAWG WHAT!? ?? (via @BadgerFootball)
— Overtime (@Overtime) April 19, 2018
Hornibrook's resiliency was constantly put to the test because of the turnovers. Against Iowa, he had two of his picks returned for touchdowns. But he persevered and never succumbed to the moment.
"When we'd come back to the huddle," Benzschawel said, "he wouldn't miss a beat, it was like the pick didn't happen. If he does something wrong, he's going to come back the same guy."
Budmayr and Hornibrook agreed that there's an undeniable link between the mental and the physical; a bridge between a quarterback's mindset and mechanics. One plays off the other.
"You can have the best mechanics in the world," Hornibrook said, "but if you don't know what you're doing or how you're doing it, you're not going to be able to perform."
Everybody can scrutinize those throwing mechanics. They're in full view on every pass. But what can be overlooked or taken for granted is Hornibrook processing his pre-snap reads for the run game.
"I've been trying to get more information," he said, "where I might not be making the play myself, but I can still make an impact, like when to get out of a bad look in a certain run play."
"He already had a great work ethic coming in. But he has just taken that next step. He's taking it personal every day." What has Alex Hornibrook been doing this offseason to help the #Badgers be at their best in 2018? ???? http://go.wisc.edu/varsity-8-31
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) April 20, 2018
Along with being entrusted to check into a more favorable look, if warranted, he has the responsibility of making sure the Badgers are in their most advantageous protection scheme.
"He's continuing to grow his football knowledge," Budmayr said.
"I'm just taking complete ownership of everything," said Hornibrook.
Together, they've become more of a team, Budmayr and Hornibrook.
"I'm very close with him as a coach," Hornibrook said. "He's willing to do things different in order to do things better. Some people are always stuck to what they've done in the past.
"But he's always willing to change or improve at what he's doing or what he's telling us to do. I know he's doing everything he can to make sure I'm as good as I can be."
In January, Budmayr, who had been a quality control assistant, was named the full-time QB coach. "We've built a great trust," he said of his relationship with Hornibrook. "He really wants to evolve."
Hornibrook's teammates have noticed changes; some more subtle than others.
"He's a lot more comfortable with the game," Taylor said. "He has a lot more poise. He had poise last year but it's even more so now. I feel like the game has really slowed down for him."
"I'd probably say he has more maturity," said Benzschawel. "He already had a great work ethic coming in. But he has just taken that next step. He's taking it personal every day."
On whether Hornibrook has ingratiated himself to the offensive line, Benzschawel said, "No doubt about that. If only he just had another 100 pounds on him, he'd be one of us."
Going into the final week of spring drills, Hornibrook has seen the offense come around.
"I definitely thought we took jumps from the beginning," Hornibrook said. "One thing I've noticed: we're not just calling a play and getting up to the line and running it.
"The whole O-line is aware of what they're doing and what the defense is doing and how they have to adjust. Everyone is really in tune on how the play can change at the line of scrimmage, starting with Tyler (Biadasz) at center and branching out to the receivers."
Budmayr couldn't be happier with Hornibrook's approach to spring practice. Mentally, he has been challenging himself with the protections and different schemes that have been implemented.
"And, then, physically he's putting himself out there to get uncomfortable with some of the throws that he's making and some of the windows that he's trying to throw into," Budmayr said.
The practice field is the equivalent of a lab for all the quarterbacks. Especially in the spring.
"That's something Coach (Paul) Chryst says … spring ball is big to see what windows you can throw into," Hornibrook said. "If there's a tight one-on-one, you probably wouldn't throw it in the fall.
"But right now, you might as well try it out to see if you make the throw and to see if those guys (receivers) can make some plays. Whether it's a good or bad rep, you're learning from it."
Budmayr concurred. "He has done a really good job with his approach of not getting hung up on the results necessarily but getting comfortable with the muscle memory of different types of throws."
To his credit, Hornibrook views himself as still learning, still soaking up everything that he can. "There's still room for me to grow," he said.
Budmayr has faith in Hornibrook growing and building on last season.
Even the way he played in the Orange Bowl?
"Even though it was a great game," he said, "it wasn't a perfect game, which you rarely get."
Spoken like a true coach.
"But he can match it, he can certainly match it," Budmayr went on. "He knows that he can do that now. But instead of just one game, how can I do it consistently over 12 weeks?
"That's a great challenge. It takes time and preparation and he's going to put in the time and prepare.
"That's where he's special. He wants to be great."
It's not the first time that has been said about Hornibrook. And probably not the last.
