The first thing you can do as a WR without a QB is work on your hand eye coordination/grip strength to improve your hands. It’s a false notion that WRs need QBs to improve their hands. It certainly helps, however if you don’t have a guy who can constantly throw to you, you still need to work on your catching ability. Doing solo tennis ball exercises like bouncing them off of walls or over your head and tracking them will be great for your hand eye. And doing exercises like finger tip push ups will also be great for your grip strength to help with tough catches. Obviously catching 100 footballs a day helps, but most high school kids don’t have a QB who wants to do that or can afford a $3,000 jugs machine.
The second thing you can do is get in the gym! Nobody said you need a QB to improve your explosiveness off the ball, speed at the top of the route and overall athleticism. WRs should be solely focused on working fast twitch exercises in the gym. Box jumps are great, power cleans and more. Make sure you are lifting properly to help your on field play. Don’t lift like a bodybuilder. Lift like a football player. If you want 2 months of specific workouts for WRs in the gym to improve your on field performance with specific sets, reps, rest days and more click below!
Last but not least, you can always work routes without a QB. Sometimes this is better, you can really emphasize technique and what you need to do to create as much separation as possible. I hear the excuse 24/7 “I don’t have a QB to run routes for” and quite frankly that doesn’t matter. Run the routes without a QB. Yes it helps to have one there but that doesn’t mean you can’t get better. You need to be obsessed with the details of the position and how you can improve your skill dramatically is by doing the lonely work.
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