Journal / Explainers

What is the white substance on quarterbacks’ hands?

By Belay Brummel · September 8, 2026

It is liquid chalk. Sort of. Quarterbacks apply it to the throwing hand before a game or a throwing session to dry the skin. It goes on wet, dries in a few seconds, and leaves a thin matte layer that raises the friction between the hand and the football. What you are seeing on the broadcast is that layer.

Sort of, because the liquid chalk sold for gyms and climbing walls is the wrong formula for a football. That part takes some explaining.

Liquid chalk visible on a college quarterback's hands on the sideline during a night game

Liquid chalk on a quarterback's hands, mid-game

Why do quarterbacks use liquid chalk?

Grip is determined by friction. There are only two ways to get more of it. Your hand and the ball can hold onto each other better, or you can squeeze harder.

Until now, quarterbacks have only ever had the second one. And squeezing harder works against you, because it eliminates your ability to get extension. What you get instead is arm pain, lost spin rate, and lost accuracy.

Think about Steph Curry shooting a basketball. He is relaxed, and he gets full extension through his arm, his wrist, and his fingers. Nothing in that motion is fighting anything else. The same should be true of your hand on the football.

A better grip is what lets you stop forcing it. You hold the ball loose, you stay relaxed, and the ball comes out with more spin.

A tight spiral cuts through the air. A wobbly one fights it, dies early, and arrives low. Everyone watching thinks you missed the throw. The problem may have started in your hand.

Can you use regular liquid chalk for football?

Liquid chalk was built for climbing and lifting.

A climber needs a hand that can hold onto rock for the length of a route. A lifter needs a hand that can hold onto steel under load. Both have the same goal: get the hand as dry as possible.

But a football is different.

Rock does not move. Steel does not move. A football leaves your hand at sixty miles an hour.

A climber is holding on. A quarterback is letting go.

To get the best grip, you actually want some moisture. That is why you lick your finger before turning a page. A little moisture can help your finger grip the paper.

That means the goal is not maximum dryness. It is the right amount of dryness.

That is where traditional liquid chalk misses. It is designed to make your hands as dry as possible, which is exactly what a climber or lifter needs. But for a quarterback, going bone dry can take you past your best grip.

Grip Formula was built for that narrow band.

Not the driest hand possible. The hand that grips.

Grip Formula, 4 oz and 8 oz. Free shipping.

See Grip Formula →

How we built one for the football

Grip Formula liquid chalk bottle on the field

Grip Formula, 4 oz and 8 oz

Grip Formula was built by a quarterback. Belay Brummel played the position at Cal for three years and coaches quarterbacks, and he used liquid chalk because it was the closest thing available. Every option on the shelf had been formulated for a climbing wall or a barbell. Nobody had gone back and asked what a throwing hand actually needs.

So The Standard built one. The formulation was worked through with a scientist at Berkeley and tested the only way that matters, by throwing with every version until the behavior was right on leather instead of right on rock.

The first run sold out in three weeks. The second is on the shop page.

Liquid chalk vs stickum: what is the difference?

This is the part most people get wrong when they see it on a broadcast, and it is worth being precise about, because the two things work in opposite directions.

A tacky substance adds a layer between the hand and the ball and holds them together by adhesion. Stickum, the aerosol tack that receivers used before it was banned from the NFL in 1981, worked that way. The ball stuck because something sticky was in between.

Liquid chalk does the opposite. It removes moisture from the surface of the hand so that skin and leather can make direct contact. Nothing is added between the hand and the ball. The grip improves because the interference, which is sweat, is gone.

That difference is mechanical, not cosmetic. Stickum worked by adding something. Liquid chalk works by taking something away.

Is liquid chalk legal in college football?

Yes, because it is not an adhesive.

“No player shall wear equipment or substances that in the opinion of the umpire are dangerous or confusing. This includes adhesive material, paint, grease or any other slippery substance on equipment, a player’s person, clothing or attachment.”

NCAA Football Rules, Rule 1-4-6, illegal equipment

Liquid chalk was made for climbers. Grip Formula was made for quarterbacks.

The 8 oz is on preorder.

Launch 1 sold out in three weeks. Join the list and you will get first word when the 8 oz is back in stock.