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tkerch

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Everything posted by tkerch

  1. man coverage can become a challenge ILB's, especially if the tight end flys. Also, if the wide out, cuts inside, wouldn't that put your corner right in the mix with the LBs? i think that could spell disaster, especially if the opposing OC sees you are in man. consider zone coverage. i personally think that is easier to teach to kids and they know were they are suppose to be. with 3 Dbacks, each has deep thirds. OLB's have flats and ILB's have curls or ins. For LB's, if someone passes through your zone, stay with them, until they leave your zone, then let the DB take them. The only time this needs adjustments, is if you face a spread offence, with 5 wide recievers and a QB with a cannon for an arm.
  2. In almost every 2 hour practice, we work on drills, positions, technique and execution. We spend about 30 minutes on scrimmage, against ourselves. We have NEVER scrimmaged another team. NEVER. I think that a coach should be able to put together two even teams of some starters and some backup players. I am not suggesting that the starting offence never practices together, but that time should be limited. then, put some starting o across from starting d. Use starting line, in front of backup linebackers. Once the teams have gotten used to contact, i think 30 minutes is too long. We have our offence run "skeletons" which entails running the play, against noone, but where all coaches are watching a particular position or players, so they can be assured that everyone understands and executes their responsibility. Making sure the lineman stay low and fire out. Down blocks are executed. Pulling guards actually pull, stay low and explode through the would be blocker. Make sure that every snap is clean, that hand offs are secure and the backs know their holes and practice staying low. is this boring? not really, because we stop and correct and explain and re-due and add plays or fakes or check footwork and generally speaking the kids enjoy it, learn from it, but don't get beat up. Another thought on this. If you are trying to install a new play, and the defense keeps blowing it up, is anyone learning.
  3. Sorry, i missed that part of the question. 4 guys on the 49, one,in the middle at the 44, two at the hash on the 38, 2 outside the hash at about the 32, then two deep men at the 25. this is four 8th graders.
  4. I teach my returners to reach for the ball, over their heads, and bring the ball into a basket of their arms and body. I stress to not let the ball fall directly into the basket, but to bring it in. By doing this, they can more visually see the ball coming into their hands, instread of just watching come past their head. seem to have good success, or just talented kids.
  5. Towards the end of our football season, we have the wrestling coach and the basketball coach stop in for a few minutes to talk about their programs and to encourage participation in one of those sports. They talk about the conditioning and strengthening programs that they do and how it will help them in football, if that is their main interest. They talk about the success that the youth wrestling federation has had and how it has helped our hs wrestling program. Coach also points out that our hs starting defense only has two non-wresters and one of them used to wrestle. We also encourage that the kids find the weight room and get serious about it. We point out that the HS varsity is all started by kids who are ripped, becasue they spend the time to get strong. None of them are naturally as strong as they are now. The kids who don't start, don't lift. It's a tough situation. Once they walk off my football practice field, they are on their own to make their own decesions.
  6. Soonerhawk, we had a similar problem with the OC trying to remember the plays and the formation, so pretty soon he goes to the player that is to run in the play, " I right, no, wing right, 34 dive no, 24 lead, on 1". Now, the kids gives him the look like"what the f-ck are you talking about", runs to the huddle and they end up runnig something, or just wasting a timeout. We have since got the coach to use wrist coach, so all he has to do is say 22 or what ever play number he wants. Because of the wrist coach, he HAS to have the plays on paper, in front of him at all times. We have had almost no delay of games, because of him, since we went to wrist coach. Back to your original question.. yes, plays should compliment each other and set up the next play. lets face it, from one formation, you should be able to run 5 or6 differents plays and yet run the same play from several different formations. The whole concept of carrying out your fakes is so the defense looks at you, instead of the ball carrier and then starts to ignore you when you do get the ball. Our feeling is the whole team revolves around the o-line. If they ain't firing on all cylinders, it doesn't matter who is carrying the ball. We spend many hours each week working on blocking rules, drive blocking, reach blocking, down blocking, pass blocking, pulling, etc. Someone once said, the team is only as good as your O-line coach.
  7. As we all know, many youth coaches are dads who want to do a good job. Unfortunatly, many don't learn enough, before they get the job. It sounds as though you have put in the time and have a good handle on whats going on. Dont be too hard on the guy who tryed to step up. Most of us started as helper, assistants and didn't have a clue, but were willing to learn, if there was someplace to get the chance. he must have thought he had the chance to go a step further than he had the ability. I know that this is against most of our nature, but try to get him more involved, so he does learn the plays, the formations and each guys responsibilitys, so the next time you have to miss a practice or two, someone can step up. Make him YOUR assistant. I was DC for 3 years, special team coach for 5 years, and still cannot get a copy of our offensive play book. yet, they sometimes want my help with O-line. Hmmmm, how do you learn blocking rules when you barely know the offence? Granted, I absorb alot just by being there, but I sure would like a playbook. Consider giving him a chance. Granted, he may be a bonehead, so use your good judgement.
  8. Pats coach, you bring up a good point. every kid processes the information differently, no matter if it is prizes, praise, an ass chewing, instruction or what ever. I think that we all have to do what works for us and if we feel that $50 is well spent then by all means spend it. I agree that $50 bucks is not a bad price to pay for bunch of boys playing even just a little bit better, for their chance to get more stickers on their helmets. What ever it takes to get the most out of them, i am all for it.
  9. One thing that we like to do is script a few, maybe 4 plays, that we run, no huddle to start a possesion. If nothing else, we usually find them off guard to the point of making a first down or two. At best, we see what the d-ends are doing, the corners and safety and to try to get a read on the ilb to see who they are keying. We like this early, hurry-up offense, and practice it through out the week, so we can run it later in the game, if needed.
  10. I guess that was my point that i am not sure how to deal with little guys. I have 12-14 year old jr high kids, and yes, they still like praise and get praise as appropriate, but i dont feel that a physical prize is needed. Maybe the younger kids get jacked up about a sticker. heck, we all see the helmet stickers that the college teams wear, so maybe we should still be using them. part of it is the cost. Small town, small team equals small budget. Most of you can relate. personally, i like cookies!! LOL.
  11. We use to give players stickers for their helmets for tackles, fumble recovers, forced fumbles, etc and for yards gained, excellent blocks or blocking, etc. By the 2nd or 3rd week, you could see who had really stepped up to play ball. The only problem was, somebody had to keep track of these stats, besides the regular team stats and some of the items (great block for example) is subject to bias. We quit the helmet stickers and tell them good game, or we need to work on this or that and go on. We do give awards at the end of the season, for mvp offense and defense, most improved (coachs choice), utility player (one who plays multiply spots) and everyone gets a participation award. I am dealing with jr high, not 8- 10 year olds. I don't know if it that needed at that level, but we eliminated it until the end of the season. Oh, one more thing. since we are a small community, we have excellent coverage in a local paper. No pictures, but the editor contacts the coach after the game and those who played well get mentioned for yards gained, TD's and tackles. Also mention the o-line for good blocking. The kids really like to see their name in the paper, as do the parents.
  12. In our 5-3, the d-ends have outside contain responsibility. We have them squeeze down on the o-end and read the play. If they penatrate, they are very susseptable to traps and lead blocks. the d-tackles and nose are run support with gap responsibility. they typically do not spend much time reading, just raizing havock. I wouldn't spend much time watching NFL and expecting to bring it to the youth level. Most of it just does not relate to what we are trying to do. Watch it because you like football, not to learn how to coach.
  13. We have had various levels of success with several different defenses. In all honesty, it depends on your kids. We run a 5-3 and have two real good d-ends. they have learned to fight the pressure of a lead blocker to string out a play, where the olb and corner can help make the tackle. This should work for 4-4 or 6-3 or 4-5. The main thing is having a disaplined end that pursues, and reads, can fight pressure and shed a block. the LB does the rest.
  14. I don't want to add fuel to the fire, but Dave 72 reminded me of another point. If you are a run oriented team, but you are up by a lot, is this not a good time to work on your passing game? What about if you are a passing team, is this not a good time to work on your running game? What about the team i described that scored twice in a game, never running outside of the tackles? Should we NOT run sweeps? While agree with the discussion of subbing and conservative play calling, I am just wondering what you all consider conservative plays?
  15. Flips, I agree wholeheartily.
  16. A few years back, I had a group of kids who ran EVERYTHING well. It didn't matter if it was pass, sweep, counters, leads or dives, they gained yards. A wonderful problem to have. Even our 2nd and 3rd string players did a decent job. We won many games by 40 or even 50 points. We gave up only one touchdown in two season! We got accused of running up scores, however, we put lineman at qb, safeties at RB, tackles at o-end and still ran the middle for gains. Even broken plays gained yards, out of shear athletisism. We even scored two touchdowns and never ran outside the tackles or passed. I am not bragging (okay, maybe i am, LOL), but we had a hard time pulling these guys in. Our ILB, didn't blitz, but still made tackles behind the line of scrimmage, because he was so insightful, could read plays and was VERY aggressive. Now, just so you know, the next two years, we had a big red target placed on our heads by every team that we played, because of the lopsided scores. We had to deal with it, since we sort of asked for it. I think the longer you coach, the more of this happens and you realize that some games, you just don't match up and are going to give up yards and points, no matter who they put in the game, and that, hopefully will happen on your team too. Just play honest and sub approprietly and don't lower yourself to their level.
  17. I have been involved with this discussion SOOOO many times over the years, and it always comes to the same resolution. If my team is getting pounded, they are running up the score, but if my team is winning, we were just having fun. I have a rather crass attitude toward this. My job, as a coach, is to teach my boys to block, run plays, tackle and stop plays. That is YOUR job, too. If I do better job than you, or if I have better horses, I win the game. If we get up by several points, or if the game is well in hand, I will sub every player that I can. I will run a more conservative offence. I will "pull in the reigns" to a point. My defense will be manned by subs also. However, we still play ball. We still hit hard and we still try to run the plays right. I would only call a time out at the end of the game to get a player in the game, not in the end zone. I our league, we have boys for one or two years. Ihave been coaching for 10 years. I know that you may get your head handed to you one year and really give it to them the next. Part of that is coaching, most of it is the talent of the boys. As long as the kids are not physically injured, the big lopsided score doesn't hurt any thing, except your pride. And as another reply mentioned, the parents are more worried about it than the kids. Coach up your kids, get them to play to the best of their abiliity and get ready to accept the score as the game shakes out. Remember 40-0 is just one loss. And is it really harder to swallow than 8-6??
  18. We often have the center snap the ball to the QB during running back drills. We also have the QB and center take at least 20-35 snaps, before practice even starts. We had one boy, who we wanted as center, just stand up and walk away, when the QB put his hands to his rear end. he said something to the effect of "we aint doing that" He is a good guard,though. I have made the center and QB switch places, so they each know what is expected of the other. Only a few snaps, but it shows what is going on at the other end. i also make the qb, hand the ball to the center, in a reverse snap, so the center knows how the qb wants the ball delivered. there again, not many times, just enough to communicate the desired result.
  19. Patscoach, Do you have your pass defenders play man, or zone?
  20. I guess what i am thinking is a relatively low kick, with potential for roll. A line drive would be a bit lower, in my opinion, and has more potential for a block, or just get to the returner that much sooner, and could set up a for a better return. Our hope of the pooch, is that our flyers are either at the reciever when he catches it,or very very close. Really, with youth ball, either one is okay. Either one is likely, and you may ask for one technique, but get another.
  21. I just noticed that on my reply, the o-line looks normal. Actually, the way i saw it on tv, the guards are about 3 yards from the center, on both sides. i agree that the desicion to run or punt is tough enough for a high school punter, much less for the little guys. it probably should be called in the huddle. Just another thought.... if you have trouble wtih the long snap, put a player under center, then have him turn and make a toss sweep type of throw to the punter. Never seen it, or tried it, just bouncing off you all for comment.
  22. We typically run the 4-5 at a team that seldom passes. Since we are a jr high team, that is most of them. We can blitz any of the linebackers to one of their gaps, but we dont send them to any other gap. In other words, the ilb have a and b gaps in the 4-4, so they blitz to one of those gaps. I dont' confuse them, by sending them somewhere else. Our blitz calls are really simple and each call tells the lineman which side he picks and the same for the LB's. For example, we may call 4-4, shade in, 1 fire. this is obviously a 4-4 devense, with all of the dlineman shaded to the inside shoulder of the offense. The right, inside linebacker is to blitz to the B gap. I will occaisionally send both inside lb, but i am not a huge fan of OLB blitz because i am not that confident in the d end and corner containing on a sweep. What you described on the 5-3 is similar to ours. Basically, everyone has to know who is blitzing when, so that they can adjust pass coverage to where the blitzing LB should have been for pass. We tell them that if a blitz is called, but they see pass, keep going, you wont get back for pass coverage, so get the passer. Also, if the blitzer doesn't get through the LOS, dont blitz, because all you did was get out of position. Hope this helps.
  23. I think what roy was describiing is sort of like a rubgy punt. On hte run, sideways and send it down field. One thought on this is that if there is no coverage, he may be able to keep and get you a first down. I saw this done in a college game a few weeks ago. it is interesting, but i dont know if 8 year olds can pull it off. xxx 0 xxx x x x x Long snap to punter, 3 up man sweep right (or left,depending on kicker) and then lead block for a run, or provide protection for punt. Sort of a neat look, may work, may make opponent use time out. May be inappropriate for youth ball, ball worked very nice for college team.
  24. Just my 2 cents. we run the 5-3, 4-4 and 4-5. all can be effective and by switching often, can really confuse o-lineman. Although the 4-4 is usually run as a stack, ie lb behind dt or de, we run various slants, so noone has more than one gap responsiblity. the pinch, puts all lineman to the inside gap, lb outside, slam is the opposite. Slant right, the lineman all go right, lb opposite. Slant left, the opposite. Slam,pinch, the dt goes out,the de goes in the olb has outside and the ilb had a gap In the 4-5, we bring up the safety, to a linebacker position, go cover 2 with the corners. All linebackers shift out one spacing. I personally really like the 4-4. it compliments the other formations and is really easy to add, assuming you have mastered the 5-3. Linebackers have to be smart (tough don't hurt either) and everyone has to know THEIR responsibility and trust that their team mate will do his job. As soon as someone jumps out of their spot to help the next guy, a reverse or counter makes him look bad. Of course, that is true with any defense.
  25. Wow, shotgun in 2nd grade. That blows me away. we don't even shotgun in 8th grade. Neither does our HS. I really think that i would have talk with my o-line coach and see if he cant fix the real problem. If your team cant block, you will have a long season. work on getting off the ball, knowing blocking assignments, sustaining blocks, driving d out of hole, etc. Without that, I really don't think the snap matters. However, if the center ALWAYS snaps to one side, move the qb or adjust the centers feet so he gets it to where it needs to go. We only long snap for punts, so i am not your best bet for shotgun snap technique, but i personnally would work on my line to get them blocking decent. good luck
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