Luke Braun's Film Room: Michael Penix Jr.'s Biomechanics Explain His Inconsistency

With the season end comes quarterback talk and Luke Braun is here to break down some of the most talked about passers in the draft. First up: Michael Penix Jr. and his quirky motion.

Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images

Sometime around 1987, Mike Furyk spoke to a college recruiter about his son Jim, a young, promising golfer with professional aspirations. Jim didn’t learn the game from anyone but his father, which meant he had some habits that most golfing coaches wouldn’t accept.

The recruiter saw these as blemishes in young Jim’s technique, but he was excited to mold the prodigy into the game’s next big thing. He wanted to change Furyk’s swing to something more traditional. Mike told the recruiter he was excited to hear that - not because of the potential to grow, but because he knew he could eliminate that school from Jim’s options.

Mike Furyk knew that Jim’s golf swing worked, odd as it was. He had taught it in a particular way that, while unorthodox, worked for Jim. As any regular golfer can tell you, nothing will ruin your game faster than trying to change the way you swing. That might be worth it in the long term, but not if it means short-term failure for a kid with college at stake.

Mike was right. Jim Furyk would go on to win 17 PGA Tour events including a U.S. Open win in 2003, a FedEx Cup and, more recently, a Senior Tour Championship. As of this writing, he holds the PGA record for the lowest round ever shot, a dazzling 58 at TPC River Highlands.

Furyk has never changed his swing. It still loops and hitches in a way that would drive most golf instructors crazy if they encountered it on your uncle’s first day of Saturday lessons.

But for Jim Furyk, it works. There is plenty of analysis out there trying to explain why. There are interesting biomechanical tools at play, but there is a grander lesson to learn as well. To borrow a phrase from the great John Jacobs: Golf is what the ball does.

[Ed. Note: golf courses should be banned]

I Promise, I’m Going Somewhere With This

Football, especially for positions with torque-based movement like quarterback and kicker, shares a lot of traits with golf. There is an undeniable and immeasurable mental aspect to each game. They both necessitate a balance between distance and precision. And both games rely on certain biomechanics that encourage consistency, power and control.

The reality of Michael Penix Jr. is that he has a weird throw like Furyk has a weird swing. To project him to the NFL, you have to reconcile with the same question that Jim Furyk’s college recruiter got so wrong. It looks wrong, but what if it works anyway?

It’s debatable. Penix Jr. took a beating from the Michigan Wolverines on Monday in the College Football Championship Game. He threw up plenty of lowlights from clean pockets as well. This stands in stark contrast to his 430-yard performance in the Sugar Bowl. How do we make sense of his highs, his lows, and his weird-looking throwing motion?

To answer this, I needed to learn a lot more about quarterback throwing motions and biomechanics. And since I learned it, I’m going to inundate you with it. 

The Physics Of Quarterbacking