Scotty Young can't remember the last time he reached below the center's legs, received the snap, retreated five steps and cocked his arm.

"We've had a few plays here and there where that's required," the Denton Ryan quarterback said. "But we haven't run them this year."

For much of Young's high school career, the ball has arrived 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage. This season, almost every rush and every pass has evolved out of the shotgun – the base formation that enjoys a prominent place in nearly every Texas high school playbook.

Quarterbacks at the high school level are more productive than ever before, running sophisticated offenses and putting up outrageous numbers. But beyond their eye-catching stats is often a lack of fundamentals that worry some of the game's best offensive minds.

Passing guru Steve Clarkson, a former San Jose State quarterback who has tutored Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Cassel and Matt Leinart, said many lack the basics to make the successful transition to a pro-style offense in college or the NFL. And he is not alone in that opinion. From former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden to Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino, there is concern about quarterback development at the youth level.

"It's amazing how devoid they are of the basic concepts of the position," Clarkson said. "I see this popping up all over the country. There are very few kids taught traditional values. For some kids, the transition of getting back there and making a read is paralyzing. Ultimately, they are going to have to pay the piper at some point."

Clarkson's reason for the lack of advancement among quarterbacks? The very offense that has swept through the high school ranks and revolutionized the passing game at the grassroots level: the spread. He calls the offense that spreads the field with receivers an "epidemic" and a "lazy man's out."

While Texas has produced 24 of the 120 Football Bowl Subdivision starting quarterbacks this season, there are only two from the state who are currently in charge of NFL offenses – Matthew Stafford and Drew Brees. Both played outside the Big 12 and had experience in college performing all the tasks required of a quarterback in a pro-style system – peeking over the line, dropping back five to seven steps, scanning the field and delivering the ball in a short window of time.

"You would have to look at that if you are an aspiring quarterback," Clarkson said. "The kid in the traditional offense will probably elevate himself faster than someone who is not."

That's one of the reasons why former Southlake Carroll quarterback Greg McElroy reneged on his commitment to Texas Tech to attend Alabama. McElroy spent the last three years practicing in a backup role before assuming control of the offense this season.

Meanwhile, the Crimson Tide installed the pistol formation – a variation of the shotgun in which the quarterback lines up 3 yards closer to center and 1 yard directly in front of a running back – to take advantage of McElroy's experience and the team's strong running game. This season, McElroy has completed 65.5 percent of his pass attempts and has thrown for 1,086 yards in five games.

"Having already tackled the challenge of playing a spread offense, I wanted to try my hand in something different, and that was obviously a pro-style offense," said McElroy, a junior. "I felt like that was something that really fit with what I wanted to do and what I wanted to learn as a quarterback."

But Texas Tech coach Mike Leach isn't buying the notion that the emphasis on the shotgun can stunt quarterback development. Last spring, when predraft rumblings emerged from NFL teams regarding Graham Harrell's ability to work from under center, Leach went on the offensive.

"I can do that," Leach said of teaching a quarterback to drop back. "I only need a three-hour window. I'll have a great clinic for all the NFL coaches who are so horrible that they can't teach a guy to take a snap under center and go backward."

Shortly after Tyler Wilson arrived at Arkansas, coach Bobby Petrino asked him to line up in a pro-style formation, take a snap and drop back. He struggled to carry out those simple steps.

That's because Wilson had worked exclusively out of the shotgun since the eighth grade.

"At times, it's been frustrating to coach him because it's all brand new to him," Petrino said of his second-string quarterback. "It's not something he's done for five or six years. It takes him a little longer to get adjusted to it. ... But I wish [high school coaches] would make [their quarterbacks] take at least 40 percent of the snaps from underneath center."

At Highland Park, where coach Randy Allen has seen his team make considerable strides since he recalibrated his plays to be executed exclusively out of the shotgun, the Scots are averaging 41.4 points per game. Allen estimates his team has generated 150 to 200 more yards per game and scored twice as much since he scrapped its pro-style packages.

"We're still putting up big numbers offensively," Allen said. "And when we were under center, we were not as efficient. Production is what I am interested in. As long as we have success, I am going to stay in the 'gun."

Allen's position is shared by many of his colleagues in Texas. Winning, after all, is the top priority.

"High school coaches are never going to be pressured by college coaches," said Denton Ryan assistant Matt Tittle, a former quarterback who played at Texas Tech.

Clarkson said he understands high school coaches' reluctance to change.

"You can't knock the system when it wins," Clarkson said of the spread. "But it is more schematically successful than it is for the quarterbacks."

However, the Red Raiders' system hasn't dissuaded Young from choosing Texas Tech, a school known for its assembly line of prolific passers who have never achieved the same level of success in the NFL. And Tittle maintained it shouldn't.

"Is he going to be a little bit behind?" he said. "Sure, he is. But I know how well he can adapt. And I know he can do it."