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Jim Thomas
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/bruce-ready-to-lay-some-knowledge-on-aspiring-wrs/article_b5bd50f5-1794-5735-a5fc-f521de92d7d0.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football ... 2d7d0.html</a>
Isaac Bruce remembers watching LSU cornerback Patrick Peterson, now with the Arizona Cardinals, dominate a bigger wide receiver a few years ago during a college game.
“The receiver was a physical specimen,” Bruce said. “He’s towering over Patrick. And Patrick was all in his chest. The guy couldn’t get off the line of scrimmage. I didn’t like that at all.”
Bruce cringed when he saw what Peterson was doing to the wideout.
“I kind of spoke to the guy (through the TV),” Bruce said. “Either you’ve been coached that way or someone’s allowing it to happen. This guy has no clue how to defeat this. That should not be.”
Technique and knowledge at the position are everything to Bruce, who ended his 16-season NFL career second on the league’s all-time list for receiving yards and No. 5 in career receptions.
Bruce’s interest in seeing receivers get it right has reached a new and unusual level. In conjunction with a free football clinic he’s holding June 1 at Rams Park under the auspices of the Isaac Bruce Foundation, Bruce is offering personalized instruction May 31 and June 1 at Rams Park to those serious about the craft.
There will be hundreds of youths attending the free clinic. But just a handful at the personalized teaching sessions, which aren’t free. The fee is $175 for a one-hour, one-on-one session from Bruce, and $150 a person for group of two to five people.
Since he retired following the 2009 season, Bruce has spent time in training camp working with Chicago Bears wide receivers. But after all those hours put in as a player, he doesn’t want to commit to a full-time coaching job in the NFL and the crazy hours that come with it. Nonetheless, he feels like he can offer something in teaching the fundamentals and the subtleties of the position he played so well for so long.
“This is kind of scratching my coaching itch right now,” Bruce said. “I can go home and be at home at night, and really not have to game plan and that type of stuff. But at the same time, I can help someone else get better.”
Bruce’s involvement in personalized instruction began when “I had a couple guys call me and inquire about wanting to pick my brain. They wanted to get on the field with me, have me share some of the knowledge that other people gave me.”
The personalized instructions are open to anyone from age 12 through the professional ranks. Since so few are involved in these sessions, he’s not getting rich on the fees. More likely than not the money will end up being used by his foundation, which has donated more than $250,000 in grants, scholarships, and to various programs since it started in 2006.
“I always say that talent gets you there, but that wisdom keeps you there for a long time,” Bruce said. “I like to see the game played the right way. I like to see guys be successful. I’ve seen talented guys with poor technique not last very long.”
For information on both the free camp and the individual instruction, visit <a class="postlink" href="http://www.isaacbruce.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">www.isaacbruce.org</a>. The free camp June 1 is from 9-11 a.m. for youths ages 8-10, and from noon-2 p.m. for those ages 11-13.
During his NFL career, Bruce said he was fortunate to be taught by accomplished pass-catchers Henry Ellard, Flipper Anderson and Jessie Hester. Anderson and Hester were Rams teammates at the start of Bruce’s pro career. Bruce never played with Ellard, who left the Rams following the 1993 season. (Bruce arrived as a rookie in 1994.) But Ellard returned to the Rams in 2001 as wide receivers coach.
“I would ask Hester, ‘OK, why are you catching balls after practice?’ ” Bruce said, laughing. “Or, ‘Why are you on the Jugs machine before practice?’ ”
Anderson, and later Ellard, helped teach him the importance of change of direction, getting in and out of breaks, and the finer points of catching the football.
“You’ve got some guys that are (in the NFL) for their speed, and it’s 50-50 if they catch the football,” Bruce said.
The Rams have been searching for wide receivers to replace Bruce and running mate Torry Holt since Bruce left following the 2008 season and Holt departed after the ’09 campaign. What’s become the annual Rams wide receiver search continues in the 2013 draft later this month.
“You’ve got to know what you’re looking for,” Bruce said.
As the Rams have painfully discovered year after year, that’s easier said than done.
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/bruce-ready-to-lay-some-knowledge-on-aspiring-wrs/article_b5bd50f5-1794-5735-a5fc-f521de92d7d0.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football ... 2d7d0.html</a>
Isaac Bruce remembers watching LSU cornerback Patrick Peterson, now with the Arizona Cardinals, dominate a bigger wide receiver a few years ago during a college game.
“The receiver was a physical specimen,” Bruce said. “He’s towering over Patrick. And Patrick was all in his chest. The guy couldn’t get off the line of scrimmage. I didn’t like that at all.”
Bruce cringed when he saw what Peterson was doing to the wideout.
“I kind of spoke to the guy (through the TV),” Bruce said. “Either you’ve been coached that way or someone’s allowing it to happen. This guy has no clue how to defeat this. That should not be.”
Technique and knowledge at the position are everything to Bruce, who ended his 16-season NFL career second on the league’s all-time list for receiving yards and No. 5 in career receptions.
Bruce’s interest in seeing receivers get it right has reached a new and unusual level. In conjunction with a free football clinic he’s holding June 1 at Rams Park under the auspices of the Isaac Bruce Foundation, Bruce is offering personalized instruction May 31 and June 1 at Rams Park to those serious about the craft.
There will be hundreds of youths attending the free clinic. But just a handful at the personalized teaching sessions, which aren’t free. The fee is $175 for a one-hour, one-on-one session from Bruce, and $150 a person for group of two to five people.
Since he retired following the 2009 season, Bruce has spent time in training camp working with Chicago Bears wide receivers. But after all those hours put in as a player, he doesn’t want to commit to a full-time coaching job in the NFL and the crazy hours that come with it. Nonetheless, he feels like he can offer something in teaching the fundamentals and the subtleties of the position he played so well for so long.
“This is kind of scratching my coaching itch right now,” Bruce said. “I can go home and be at home at night, and really not have to game plan and that type of stuff. But at the same time, I can help someone else get better.”
Bruce’s involvement in personalized instruction began when “I had a couple guys call me and inquire about wanting to pick my brain. They wanted to get on the field with me, have me share some of the knowledge that other people gave me.”
The personalized instructions are open to anyone from age 12 through the professional ranks. Since so few are involved in these sessions, he’s not getting rich on the fees. More likely than not the money will end up being used by his foundation, which has donated more than $250,000 in grants, scholarships, and to various programs since it started in 2006.
“I always say that talent gets you there, but that wisdom keeps you there for a long time,” Bruce said. “I like to see the game played the right way. I like to see guys be successful. I’ve seen talented guys with poor technique not last very long.”
For information on both the free camp and the individual instruction, visit <a class="postlink" href="http://www.isaacbruce.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">www.isaacbruce.org</a>. The free camp June 1 is from 9-11 a.m. for youths ages 8-10, and from noon-2 p.m. for those ages 11-13.
During his NFL career, Bruce said he was fortunate to be taught by accomplished pass-catchers Henry Ellard, Flipper Anderson and Jessie Hester. Anderson and Hester were Rams teammates at the start of Bruce’s pro career. Bruce never played with Ellard, who left the Rams following the 1993 season. (Bruce arrived as a rookie in 1994.) But Ellard returned to the Rams in 2001 as wide receivers coach.
“I would ask Hester, ‘OK, why are you catching balls after practice?’ ” Bruce said, laughing. “Or, ‘Why are you on the Jugs machine before practice?’ ”
Anderson, and later Ellard, helped teach him the importance of change of direction, getting in and out of breaks, and the finer points of catching the football.
“You’ve got some guys that are (in the NFL) for their speed, and it’s 50-50 if they catch the football,” Bruce said.
The Rams have been searching for wide receivers to replace Bruce and running mate Torry Holt since Bruce left following the 2008 season and Holt departed after the ’09 campaign. What’s become the annual Rams wide receiver search continues in the 2013 draft later this month.
“You’ve got to know what you’re looking for,” Bruce said.
As the Rams have painfully discovered year after year, that’s easier said than done.
