Who's Started Practice And What Offense Are You Running

[jqmoney 3]

Hi coaches well our first practice was on Saturday and i'm trying something new we are running the wildcat offense and i have to say we are looking pritty good we have we do most of our running out of this formation we have 2 pass plays from this formation 3 normal passing plays our goal line passing play and 1 trick play i think we have 8 to 10 plays total so we will see how it works im interested to see what you guys are running this year

[KWILSON512 1]

We play 6 on 6 flag and have to have 4 guys on the line of scrimmage, QB is not allowed to run in my league and the defense cannot rush.

I basically run a singleback formation with the hb lined up behind the QB, It's a simple formation but I spread the 4 on the line of scrimmage out to open up the field. We do not block, I designed my plays so that my wr's are basically setting picks and impeeding the defensive flow toward the ball carrier. We have 8-10 running plays and another 8-10 passing plays....ages 5-7.

[Johnp2 21]

We have not practiced yet--that will be late Sept/early Oct, but I anticipate having 100% returning players so that helps in designing my playbook (knowing my personnel). Coaching 9-10 year olds in a 10-12 league (it will be a lot of fun).

I'll probably deprecate 4-6 plays and replace them with new ones. We run out of seven different formations--it sounds like a lot but Trips Left and Trips Right are two different formations. I've not counted, but believe we'll have anywhere from 15 running plays and 15 passing plays. We execute a LOT of fakes and try various things to get the defense to commit to where the ball is not going. We have always won with "smart" football, and moving up to an older division, I'm eagerly anxious to see how far a our disciplined play can take us.

[yurirdgz 1]

We started practice last Saturday and have our second practice in couple of hours, seasons starts first weekend of October. We play 5vs 5 and I also run a singleback formation Rb directly behind Qb 4 yds out, Qb under center. We use one spread out receiver either side and one tight receiver either side depending of the play call. I use this formation mainly for three purposes:

• Really fast direct hand offs to the Rb exploiting center field, mid field (off tackle) and sidelines.

• I run the same fast handoff plays to the Rb but then I add play action faking and go into passing.

• I use a really fast end around combinations with the tight receiver, this guy is clue to my offense since defense has to be guessing if he is going to be a runner, a receiver, distraction with fake runs or I even use him to overload one side of the field and run to the counter sideline with my Rb.

I also run some shotguns for pure passing plays.

[jqmoney 3]

it Was a good practice for us i decided to keep the wildcat plays for my 1st thru 3rd team we got alot of work done last night and it was suprisly cool in Arizona tried a whole bunch of misdirection run and passes looks like they will work for us. My 5' 8 reciever finally is jumping for the ball and he's the tallest one in the league so im really excited

[AsianChexMix 0]

it Was a good practice for us i decided to keep the wildcat plays for my 1st thru 3rd team we got alot of work done last night and it was suprisly cool in Arizona tried a whole bunch of misdirection run and passes looks like they will work for us. My 5' 8 reciever finally is jumping for the ball and he's the tallest one in the league so im really excited

I was actually up for coaching again this year with my girls and I was thinking of running solely on wildcat. We have 7v7 and 4 have to be on the line. I was thinking of lining up in a spread offense with 2 WRs left and 1 WR right and having QB/RB in backfield. I was wondering what is the key for running the wildcat type offense. I was thinking it's all about blocking and making sure everyone understands their assignments. I was thinking of having the slot receiver go in motion before the snap and then hike it while still in motion and as defense tries to figure out, our WR/OL is out blocking which gives time for the play to develop. On passing, it would work as they are running routes as it appears to be a run. Just wondering of how this would work out and any tips in running wildcat offense.

Player wise, must they all have breakaway speed? I'm assuming they have to be one of the fastest but I was hoping the misdirection will make up in the lack of speed we have. Last year our tournament had like 30-40 mphs winds which made the GUYS have issues throwing the ball so I wanted to have a repeat where even if it doesn't work out, we have three solid plays we can do for runs.

[Orange 26]

My son is now playing lacrosse and soccer. No flag football for us right now!

I will live vicariously through you guys though. Let me know how I can help!

[GeorgeC 1]

6/6 third-graders, 1 rusher 8 yards out. Second year with the kids, plus 2 new kids. Nothing of value left over from last year (the kids just didn't learn much), so starting fresh. Copying Orange's 6/6 playbook and tweaking to the speed of the kids.

Toughest part is a rule with no substitutions 1 and 3 quarters. The 6 that start in 1st Quarter must play in 3rd quarter. We have 11 on our team (most have 8-9 kids), so that dictates the other 5 play in 2nd and 4th quarters, and you get one slot for subbing in 2 and 4. So we can't use the discipline that "if you ask for the ball, you sit".

[Johnp2 21]

Toughest part is a rule with no substitutions 1 and 3 quarters. The 6 that start in 1st Quarter must play in 3rd quarter. We have 11 on our team (most have 8-9 kids), so that dictates the other 5 play in 2nd and 4th quarters, and you get one slot for subbing in 2 and 4. So we can't use the discipline that "if you ask for the ball, you sit".

That is very odd they won't let you sub when you want. Not being able to sit a player out for talking in the huddle or asking for the ball (which I agree is important to nip) is a bit of a drawback. I wonder what the reasoning is for disallowing you to sub. I'll assume it is to ensure each player plays 1/2 the game--and if this is the case, there are better ways (in my opinion) to enforce this.

[GeorgeC 1]

They just changed the subbing rule after I made that post. Originally, it was intended to enforce everyone getting equal playing time. The changed it so that coaches can substitute at will, but there are still certain rules, like everyone has to play at least half of the game, they must play both offense and defense, and onerous penalties for the coach if they don't play by the intent of the rules.

[djb1219 0]

We started practice last Monday. 1st/2nd graders 8v8 i was thinking a while ago that i wanted a pretty unique offensive formation after looking over it. I figured the flexbone offense would be pretty fun an really unpredictable. 3 down linemen 1 qb under center all the time 2 split backs and then 2 wide receivers outside. There is a ton of easy plays to make out of this formation i think and its pretty easy for the kids to learn.

Defense is another story i cant figure out of to get a good formation on D without the easy chance to give up huge plays.

[Johnp2 21]

Thanks for keeping us posted on your progress! I'm confident you'll find in your first game that in 8v8, defense is not a problem. Just take the sides of the field away, keeping the ball-carrier in the box, and you should do fine. Offensively, build on the plays that worked well, and scrap the ones that didn't. Regarding the players not listening, just be patient and do your best. As we all know too well, 7-8 year old boys are not the smartest creatures on earth. Ha! ;-)

[tom48160 0]

We've had our first practice last night. 7-8 year olds, most players have zero experience in flag or in team sports of any kind. 5v5, unlimited defensive rushers if they start past 7 yds out, QB cannot run unless rushed. 3 plays to get to midfield, 3 plays once past midfield to hit paydirt. These rules reward the home run play and last year most teams ran an all-sweep all-the-time offense and hoped they broke the D's outside contain. Once in a great while, a very athletic player would get the D to overcommit one way and go back against the grain for a one-man reverse.

We're not running any offensive sets/plays yet (working on handoffs, snaps, sharks/minnows, and gauntlet thus far), but planning on running a 2 RB split backfield (pro set?), 1 WR set. Last year, with a 5-6 year old team, I tried running a one back, 2 WR set with a receiver split out to each side. Huge early problems with players not knowing their right from their left, so I had to tweak into a twins right set so that if we called twins right handoff right, everyone would know which way was right based on where we set the receivers.

This year, with the 2 RB 1 WR set, we can run quick hitters up the middle (especially vs. a 2-3 D), running plays with a lead blocker, and end arounds with either a fake to an RB or with both RBs shooting out to block the two safeties (because these are the designated rushers, these players tend to be among the older and more athletic. The WR will still likely have to make a move to shake a defender depending on who we have the center go after).

Our passing plans are still a work in progress, but are necessary due to no run zones at midfield and just before the end zone. Plans will likely involve either a quick pass/screen to a receiver, a shovel pass to a receiver cutting across, or the center drag. Defenses tend to stay in zone throughout, so we may introduce a trips formation, load one side, and try a quick curl/bubble screen type of play, along with a naked center drag the other way if defenses switch to man.

Still verrrrry early in the season, so who knows what these guys will be able to do. Two more practices this week, two more next week with a scrimmage, then our first game on 9/19. I'll come back and write about what works, what doesn't, and what we've dreamed up after this.

Good luck, everyone!

-Coach Tom

[Johnp2 21]

Plans will likely involve either a quick pass/screen to a receiver, a shovel pass to a receiver cutting across...

Ah, the ol' shovel/shuffle pass. ;-) This was actually a staple in my first few seasons, and we had some really good success with it. Funny thing though--about my third or fourth season--it simply stopped working. Not sure if the kids just got older or what, but defenses starting sitting on it, thus I ditched it.

I might actually bring it back this season (a newer/more exciting version) just for old times sake!

In fact---I took a stab at drawing it up. The QB fakes to an RB rolling out and quicklyshuffles it to the Center.

Take a look as I would like feedback and any ideas on how to perhaps tweak this. Thanks!

Shuff_2010.doc

[tom48160 0]

OK, week 1 of practice is in the books. Most of that week was spent playing Sharks & Minnows (which the players love) and then using that experience and terminology to introduce football concepts

• Sharks = Defense
  
• Minnows = Offense
  
• only the minnow with the ball matters to the defense
  
• plays are a plan to get the minnows' ball to the end zone
  
• minnows without the ball can get in the way of sharks to keep them away from the minnow with the ball
  
• minnows can fake out sharks to make them think the wrong minnow has the ball
  

...and so on. Along the way, we've tried to drop the sharks/minnows terms and sub in football terms--with some success. That said, for new and confusing concepts we can usually get everyone on board once we give an explanation using the world of sharks & minnows.

After drilling snaps and handoffs (not nearly for the last time), I introduced our first play, Handoff 2 Right. This is a power running play that loads up one side and depends on our center, receiver, and fullback (RB1) to block/obstruct defenders. The two main keys to our philosophy on offense is that 1) Every player is vital to the success of every play, and 2) We want to attack the defense left, right, and middle using all our offensive players.

Handoff 2 Right-Power Run Play.pdf

This week, I will be (trying to) introduce 3 related plays that involve more players on offense and attack the D at different areas. We want the defense to either flow in the wrong direction or remain flat-footed for too long while diagnosing the play.

Coach Tom Sample Offensive Plays.pdf

I've attached the Handoff 2 Right play and the trio of plays we'll be working in this week. Sorry for the clunky play names. If I give the plays short snappy names, my players (age 6-7) have no idea what I want them to do, so my play names reflect a formation and a description of the action (eg. split backs handoff 2 right = a handoff to the RB2 to the right side from the split back formation). Feedback is welcome. Good luck, everyone!

-Coach Tom

[Johnp2 21]

Sorry for the clunky play names. If I give the plays short snappy names, my players (age 6-7) have no idea what I want them to do, so my play names reflect a formation and a description of the action (eg. split backs handoff 2 right = a handoff to the RB2 to the right side from the split back formation).

I think you are right on target with that. The majority of our plays use a similar syntax. %Position.Action.Formation%. e.g. "MR End Around--Fake, Spread". This is just an end-around to our MR who fakes the reverse, out of the spread formation.

Last season, just for grins, I started calling some plays at the LOS. Even though I was basically stating in english what the play is, the defense nor the defensive coach never picked up on it.

I think as long as you use a consistent syntax with key words like that, the players should pick it up no problem.