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WACO, Texas (KWTX) - This week inside the Midway High School indoor football facility, young quarterbacks from Central Texas trained with coaches from the Quarterback Ranch, or QBR, to prepare for this upcoming season.

Nate Poppell, the CEO and owner of QBR, has been training young quarterbacks for over a decade. He started up QBR after a successful career at Texas A&M University-Kingsville and a stint in the European Football League. The former quarterback mostly trains kids in the DFW area, but “the ranch” has recently made its way down to Central Texas.

“We did a minicamp this spring at Robinson High School and had a great turnout,” said Poppell. “That was our first time doing anything in Waco. We really loved the energy that the kids brought, they were eager to get trained.”

Poppell and his coaches are currently on what they call “The Texas Tour” with the Quarterback Ranch. While places like DFW and Houston are major hot spots for year-round football training, it can often be challenging for players from other parts of the state to make it out to the bigger cities to get personal training. Poppell and QBR are thinking outside the box, bringing the training to the kids.

“That’s kind of what we imagined with the Texas Tour, to kind of hit the markets that don’t usually get it,” said Poppell. “A lot of them were saying they didn’t have this particularly in the past, so we kind of found a niche and saw that we can provide with what they’re looking for, and we were eager to come back.”

Many Central Texas QBs drive five-plus hours a week to train, including Midway quarterback Cash Pullin. This week with QBR, Pullin only had to travel a couple of miles.

“It was a really exciting opportunity, especially since it was here,” said Pullin. “Instead of traveling three to four hours, it was a really great opportunity to come and get better.”

Poppell says Central Texas has loads of future QB talent. He hopes the Quarterback Ranch can help develop young gunslingers from all parts of the Lone Star State.

“It’s really hard to predict who’s gonna be the next Mahomes and whatnot,” said Poppell. “But there’s definitely guys with the potential. It’s just a matter of falling into the right situation, continuing to develop, continuing to make those sacrifices, and doing it the best they can.”