Atascadero High School QB Carson Rinkenberger transformed by new throwing motion

Atascadero High School quarterback Carson Rinkenberger wanted to make sure everything was in working order following a minor knee surgery this summer. So he tossed a few practice passes during a rehab session at San Luis Sports Therapy in Templeton.

Karma Sage-Johnson, Rinkenberger’s physical therapist that day, noticed something about his throwing motion.

“She noticed my throwing motion used more of my shoulder than my core and my lower body, so it put a lot of stress on my shoulder,” Rinkenberger said.

So Sage-Johnson, a certified sports specialist, had Rinkenberger change from an over-the-top motion that he used last season to a more traditional motion with an outside release.

“She had me throwing a lot more with my hips and my core to reduce stress on my shoulder,” Rinkenberger said. “At first I was all over the place. It made me really angry. I would go with (the new motion) for like two days, and I would go home to my dad and be like, ‘I hate this so much, I’m just going to start throwing how I used to.’ ”

Eventually, after plenty of practice with his father in the front yard, it stuck.

The biggest change came with Rinkenberger’s deep passes. Atascadero head coach Vic Cooper said he would use backup quarterback Elijah Cooks when the team needed a deep pass last season, but not anymore.

“He had trouble with throwing any of the deeper routes last year, and it wasn’t an arm strength thing, it was a mechanics thing,” Cooper said of his senior play caller.

In Atascadero’s first game of the season Friday, Rinkenberger put his new motion on display with a couple of long touchdown passes — the prettiest of which came on a 36-yard pass to Cooks that traveled about 45 yards in the air.

Rinkenberger finished the game with three touchdowns on 10-of-15 passing for 168 yards — nearly 17 yards-per-attempt.

“It’s not easy, it takes a while to get used to, but once you get it, you get it,” Rinkenberger said. “I don’t have to think about it at all anymore.”

Rinkenberger’s new long-strike ability has added a new dimension to Atasadero’s offense and allows the Greyhounds to get the ball to deep-threat receivers like Cooks, Tysen Delkener and Lucas Sprouse.

“Any time you can stretch the field, that makes it tougher on defenses, for sure,” Cooper said.

Rinkenberger might be asked to air it out again Friday when Atascadero travels to take on Ventura, a team that hung 58 points on Thousand Oaks last week.

This story was originally published August 31, 2016 at 7:33 PM with the headline "Atascadero High School QB Carson Rinkenberger transformed by new throwing motion."