SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. -- The coach kept yelling about an off arm, the one you never think about, the one with lots of power, the one that should be kept tight to the body on follow-through.

"The one you have no idea where it is half of the time!," the coach continued. "Your off arm, fellas! Concentrate on it!"

That's how it is with Bob Johnson. He is as meticulous about the tassels as he is the brand of loafer.

It is another Kodak day at Rancho Capistrano, a 175-acre sun-splashed oasis of lakeside gardens and towering palms that sits an hour south of Los Angeles. It is said those who make the journey here learn about balance of body, mind and spirit.

And, on this particular day, proper form when throwing an out-pattern.

Johnson is the long-time Orange County high school football coach who has again gathered the nation's top prep quarterbacks for five days of intense summer training, of breaking down and then building up techniques that will one day lead some of the country's best programs.

	Elite 11 roster
	Name	Hometown
	Derek Anderson	Scappoose, Ore.
	Kellen Clemens	Burns, Ore.
	Nic Costa	Aloha, Ore.
	Brodie Croyle	Rainbow City, Ala.
	Billy Hart	Mission Viejo, Calif.
	Matt Leinart	Santa Ana, Calif.
	Ingle Martin	Nashville, Tenn.
	Adrian McPherson	Bradenton, Fla.
	Kyle Orton	Runnells, Iowa
	Casey Paus	New Lenix, Ill.
	D.J. Shockley	College Park, Ga.
	Paul Troth	Charlotte, N.C.

The second annual Elite 11 camp also includes five college counselors, faces that have painted the covers of nearly every preseason magazine. Drew Brees of Purdue is here preparing for fall camp. So too is USC's Carson Palmer, Illinois' Kurt Kittner, Oregon's A.J. Feeley and Washington's Marques Tuiasosopo.

Last year's camp featured a pair of seniors named Brock Berlin and Casey Clausen -- both of whom are now battling for starting jobs at Florida and Tennessee, respectively -- and counselors Tim Rattay, who starred at Louisiana Tech and was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers, and Chris Redman, who played for Louisville and was selected by the Baltimore Ravens.

The Elite 11 camp is a who's-who of Division I arms.

"The great thing about Coach Johnson is you can think you just threw the perfect pass and he'll find something you did wrong," Palmer said. "He is amazing."

First things first: Who in the world is Bob Johnson?

He coached El Toro High from 1978-90, winning four league titles, two section championships and 119 of 164 games. Last year, he returned to the sidelines as head coach at Mission Viejo. He is the father of Rob, starting quarterback for the Buffalo Bills. His other son, Bret, starred at El Toro, played in the CFL and now assists on the Mission Viejo staff.

Fifteen years ago, Bob Johnson met a man named Andy Bark, who played his college ball at Cal and worked for Student Sports Inc. The two clicked. The relationship grew.

"(Johnson) wants to give these kids the same advantages his sons had playing for a dad who was also a coach," said Bark, whose company sponsors the Elite 11 camp. "The more I watched him coach over the years and work with quarterbacks, the more I knew he should package all his knowledge into something like this."

Every throw is not beautiful and every read is not correct and that's how it should be. Flaws are meant to be exposed here. Mistakes are magnified, but only in front of Johnson and his selected assistants. Access is limited to the public and media to just one of the five days. Drills are instructed over a two-hour period (thanks to 40 or so volunteer wide receivers), followed by another 90 minutes of staring at Xs and Os on a chalkboard.

Johnson spends as much time talking about a player's mental strengths as his physical ones.

"I played and coached the position for 30 years," he said. "I've been around a lot of great quarterbacks and want to push these kids to that level. But you can't be great if you don't have it going on between the ears.

"We preach character, patience and persistence. Those things all make for a great quarterback," Johnson said. "You see guys with talent screw things up all the time, whether it be by drugs or abuse or the party scene or just not being a team guy in the locker room. It's a very complicated position from head to toe and I want to bring out the best in each of these guys."

One such quarterback is Paul Troth, a youngster from Vance High in Charlotte, N.C., who gave a verbal commitment to East Carolina, choosing the Pirates over Miami and North Carolina. Troth received his Elite 11 invitation in February.

"I couldn't stop jumping up and down," he said. "To come out here and compete with the best players in the country and to play alongside guys like Drew Brees and Carson Palmer each day ... it's a wonderful experience."

Said Matt Leinart of Santa Ana Mater Dei, who lists USC and Michigan as his early college favorites: "Coach Johnson tells us all the time the position is all in the feet and mind. This is preparing us for the next step."

The college players here have already taken it, and yet are using this time for more than instructing younger minds on the advantages of a co-ed dorm. This became apparent during one drill, when the Heisman hopeful Brees lofted a 20-yard pass to his round target.

It hit dead center and Brees responded as if he just beat Michigan with a last-second touchdown pass.

His throw actually landed in the garbage can.

"We're all getting better out here," Brees said. "It's good to see the high school kids have level heads, despite all the attention. I try to tell them not to expect too much too soon, that there are going to be hard times. Attitude is very important. And to have this kind of advantage ... to learn the position from Coach Johnson ... there is nothing better."

Not even a perfect off arm.

Ed Graney covers college football for the San Diego Union-Tribune