Mario Verduzco is more like a professor than a quarterback’s coach. As a graduate assistant, he completed his master’s thesis titled “The biomechanics of the quarterback position: a kinetic analysis and integrative approach.” He has built a reputation in college football as a coach who excels at developing his players. “I spent my whole life with the idea—and the haunting idea—of eliminating stupid interceptions and near misses.” He’s been called the Indiana Jones of quarterback coaches while coaching quarterbacks at Rutgers, UCF, and Nebraska.

Verduzco expects each of his pupils to prepare and execute on the field. Each quarterback receives a 50-page manual and faces major tests in the spring and fall. When discussing the maturity of one of his quarterbacks who fumbled the ball, he said, “I asked him if he cheated. Ultimately, that’s my fault. I’m the coach. That progression needs to be outside in, not inside out. I didn’t do a good enough job of hammering the point. Just like I didn’t do a good enough job of hammering the point on ball security. That comes back to me. He’s 18 years old, right?”

Hebrews 5 – Spiritually Lazy

The growth of Verduzco’s students affects the entire team’s future, so arrested development is unacceptable. The writer of Hebrews warns his readers about their lack of spiritual maturity. Many of the readers have not grown enough spiritually (5:11). The word used, “dull,” means “sluggish” or “lethargic.” Their problem was an acquired condition marked by an inability to listen to spiritual truth. They had become spiritually lazy.

The Hebrew believers had listened attentively to the central Christian doctrines, yet they had begun to regress or fail to grow in spiritual maturity. Most athletes and coaches know what it means to “use it or lose it.” A constant, consistent approach to reading, studying, and applying God’s Word is essential. My former college coach, Tom Osborne, often said about training, “You’re either getting better or getting worse. There’s no staying the same.”

The Kingdom Coach and Athlete study the Bible’s elementary truths to help teach others (5:12). They know there’s no such thing as a static Christian and believe they are either moving forward or falling back.

Bible Memory Verse – “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 (LSB)

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