Pocket change: Vince Young slashed, sprinted and spun his way to a pile of honors at Texas. But to excel in the NFL, he first needs to learn the pro quarterback ABCs

Which is not the same thing as not wanting to be there. Young's coaches rave about his teachability, work ethic and diligence. They shrug their shoulders at reports that he had a poor score on the Wonderlic test. In games and practices, he repeatedly demonstrates football smarts.

When he returned to practice last week after a week off, Young showed marked improvement with his throws and in his understanding of offensive formations and recognition of defensive schemes, which he credits to watching tons of video at home. All that, and he has been sitting on his hands instead of raising them. At Texas, he identified his weaknesses and asked for help, and he will do that in Tennessee--but not yet. He realizes rookies should be seen and not heard. Young has a list of questions to ask when the time is right. His first will address getting blitzed on third-and-long.

"When a team sees me on that particular blitz, they see me going a particular way all the time," he says. Imagine if he could run to the left, too. Somewhere, an outside linebacker just threw up.

THE NFL EDUCATION OF VINCE YOUNG IS ABOUT DETAILS. He understands the big picture of the position. Teammates gravitate to him because he's a natural leader. Fisher rates him a 10 out of 10 on willingness to learn and commitment. Young never will say the dog ate his homework.

With any quarterback, Chow focuses on eyes, feet and hips. Young needs to work on all three. "I was determined when I got started to go slow, and all of a sudden I was yelling at him to do a thousand things," Chow says. "It's a little bit overwhelming, but he's handled it well."

With his eyes, Young must learn not to zero in on his main target. He's learning to set his feet properly, take three- and five-step drops and step into throws instead of just swinging his leg. Young must use his hips more instead of throwing only with his arm. "He got by with that because he's such an athlete," Chow says. "We have to change that because the window in the NFL is a lot smaller."

The Titans' syllabus does not include work on Young's arm motion. Young cocks his arm at his right ear, pauses ever so briefly, then flicks the ball--which results in a low release point that could lead to a lot of his passes getting batted down. The Titans don't think that will happen because Young is 6-5 and the motion allows him to get rid of the ball faster. "A lot of people throw the ball all different ways," Young says. "As long as you get the ball to your big-time players, it doesn't matter."

THE NFL EDUCATION OF VINCE YOUNG REQUIRES--ABOVE ALL ELSE--PATIENCE. "It's just a different variable in the time and amount of studying one has to do to be successful," says Steelers quarterbacks coach Mark Whipple.

Titans coaches must not fall in love with Young's athleticism or be enticed by false impressions. "I can anticipate him making a lot of plays in the second half of preseason games," Fisher says.