Russell Wilson’s QB coach shares exclusive details on Broncos throwing camp

Not many people know Russell Wilson as well as his QB coach, Jake Heaps.

Heaps, a former Seahawks quarterback himself, has been Wilson’s personal coach for more than four years.

He was present at Wilson’s compound in San Diego when several members of the Broncos arrived for workouts with their new QB earlier this week. Heaps joined “The Drive” with Tyler Polumbus and DMac on Thursday and shared several fascinating details.

The camp was four days long and featured Courtland Sutton, Tim Patrick, KJ Hamler, Albert Okwuegbunam, Andrew Beck, Kendall Hinton, Lloyd Cushenberry and more.

“It was great, man,” Heaps said “Honestly, a big part of it is building relationships and getting to know everybody. For the guys to get to know Russ and Russ to get to know the guys. We got a lot of work in out on the field when it comes to routes and understanding what Russell’s looking for and how these guys move and operate. Overall, it was an amazing four days. I’ve been doing this with Russell now for four years, going on five, and this was the best group we’ve had.”

Heaps shared that Wilson shows up at 5:30 in the morning by walking out his back door and into his own backyard. Wilson’s house features an entire facility that could rival some NFL team’s practice headquarters. The rest of the Broncos arrived around 7:15 a.m. and the work started about 45 minutes later.

According to Heaps, Wilson paid for Broncos players to stay at nearby hotels. Wilson has a “full body team,” physical therapists, trainers, mental coaches and chefs as well.

“This is something that when Russell talks about being invested and all the clichés that you may hear and go ‘is this guy really like this?’ No, he’s really like this. He’s wired like this 24/7. I got to see it first hand as his teammate and now as his quarterback coach. There’s no one that is wired like him in regards to his dedication to his body, to his craft, to the mental side of the game. He really is obsessed with winning and obsessed with being great,” Heaps said.

The Broncos in attendance got in “introductory” work with Wilson since the whole playbook isn’t installed yet. Wilson has been talking with Broncos coaches to get everyone on the same page.

“For these guys this was a crash course into Russell Wilson’s world. A crash course into his mindset, his expectations, the way he operates and the way he expects them to operate. And this culture that’s been there with the Denver Broncos,” Heaps said. “In terms of that winning culture and setting those expectations and what’s going to be demanded of them each and every single day. Russ made that very clear over these four days and the guys responded to it tremendously.”

These workouts will happen “here and there” throughout the offseason, according to Heaps. They will do a big workout in July right before Broncos training camp starts as well. One of the biggest perks is every Bronco in attendance had access to Wilson’s full facility.

“Guys, you should’ve seen their eyeballs,” Heaps said. “It’s just like Candyland. I’m used to it now, but this is unbelievable, what he has here. It’s a player’s dream. These guys, just enjoying it all, getting to recover afterwards. But also, have lunch, go shoot some hoops, go play pickleball, play some games, jump in the pool, you name it. Guys were having a lot of fun.”

One of the Broncos noticeably absent was wide receiver Jerry Jeudy, which sparked a lot of social media chatter. While it’s officially unclear why Jeudy wasn’t in attendance, DMac reported Jeudy had a very legit reason for his absence. Heaps echoed that sentiment.

“There’s no question that Jerry wanted to be here and wanted to be here badly. For anybody that’s trying to give Jerry a hard time let’s hold up before you start judging, think you know what’s going on, before you know somebody’s work ethic and all of the above,” Heaps said. “Jerry had a very good reason for not being here. We’re supportive of him and super excited to eventually get a chance to work with him. I know Russ is fired up. And quite honestly, working with all the receivers here, we’re going ‘there’s another guy that is an absolute bona fide stud?’ We’re super excited about that and they’ll get together. Don’t you worry about that.”

The whole interview is worth your time and gets rolling at the 12:15 mark. You can listen to it here.
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