Re: How fast does a football spin when a quarterback throws it?

Hi,

The spin of a football when thrown will vary tremendously on the type of 
throw.  The range of reasonable rotation rates is 0.5 to around 5 
rotations per second.  This is the reasonable range of "wobbling dead 
duck" to a "bullet" spiral.  The upper limit is determined a lot by 
technique and arm strength, but I could not find any sources that actually 
published measured results.  

I got my values from my own experience.   Fortunately with a football one 
can observe the laces rolling over as it spins.  I have thrown and been 
the receiver on a five yard pass that was gunned.  A strong armed 
quarterback can throw a 10 yard out that will get to the receiver in about 
less than 2 seconds (this is covering like 20 yards which is about 40 
miles per hour if two seconds).  The ball will rotate about 5 to 15 times 
in this period.

Sincerely,

Tom "5 Yard Out" Cull