Vikings' third-string QB Booty keeps pushing

MANKATO

John David Booty appeared to be in trouble when he slipped to the ground while dropping back to pass in a team drill Friday night.

However, the Vikings second-year quarterback quickly got to his feet, gathered himself and zipped a 25-yard pass to Vinny Perretta. It wasn't a textbook completion by any means, and it was only one play in one training camp practice. But it did offer a glimpse of Booty's improvement and his potential as he continues to navigate the difficult learning curve as a young NFL quarterback.

"It does take time for any position, especially at quarterback with everything we have to know," he said. "I really feel I've come a long ways in a year but still have tons of miles to go. But as long as I'm headed in that direction I feel good."

By all accounts, Booty still needs lots of work and grooming before he's ready to become an NFL starter. A fifth-round pick out of Southern California last season, he's still learning to process all the information that quarterbacks must digest in order to make quick decisions.

Quarterbacks coach Kevin Rogers said Booty's development is fairly typical for most young quarterbacks who are trying to learn their craft without the benefit of getting lots of live reps in practice.

"It's so hard for those guys," Rogers said. "Once you get through rookie minicamp your first year, the snaps are minimal. When you get to the season, it's almost zero. It's all about getting snaps and getting that familiarity."

Booty saw his workload increase dramatically after Tarvaris Jackson suffered a sprained knee early in camp and missed three days of practice. Booty said he typically gets eight to 10 snaps in team drills during practice. But with Jackson sidelined, Booty and Sage Rosenfels split all the reps, which Rogers described as a "silver lining."

"I thought he did a nice job of taking advantage of those snaps," Rogers said. "It showed things that he does well and things that he needed to improve on. He doesn't have the worldliness at this point in time, but he's in a normal stage."

Booty said his comprehension of the Vikings version of the West Coast offense is night and day compared to this time last season. He no longer feels unsure about different things and is able to identify defenses more quickly. He said the extra work in practice this past week was extremely valuable because it allowed him to gauge his progress.

"Especially when you're not getting reps, it's really hard," he said. "You can see it on paper and draw it up [in meetings]. But when you get out there and things are flying around, that's a totally different deal. The amount of reps I've gotten is so much more than last year and have made me a better player."

Booty said he also feels better physically. He is noticeably slimmer after losing some body fat, and his arm feels stronger after he took time off this offseason. He felt he lost some velocity last season because of the hectic post-college schedule that included the Senior Bowl, NFL combine, draft workouts and then the Vikings offseason program.

"It was like two years of nonstop throwing," he said. "In January, I took a little time off and rested. I felt when I came back [this offseason], my arm was like it was going into me senior year at SC. It was that strong again."

Booty's workload in practice is back to normal now that Jackson has returned to the field. His reps will be limited, so he's anxious for preseason games to get a better sense of how much he's improved. Rogers sees it as a work in progress, but he likes Booty's approach.

"He's worked hard at it," Rogers said. "The guy has good movement skills. I think his arm strength is probably better than it's been. He's a great guy to coach. He has a great want-to. You don't have to be real tough on him, because he's going to be that tough on himself."