Some Help On 8 On 8

[the.snowman 0]

Ok i know its short notice but like i had stated in a few of my other posts, the commisioner of our league said something to the head coach about spending too much time in the huddle because he didnt have any plays. Well luckily sunday i am heading practise by myself with help from a friend. I am hoping to work on grabbing the flag, some defensive sets. But what i need to work on as well are offensive plays. This is pretty short notice for the kids since they have not ran any "plays" at all so far. I would like to work on at least 4 plays sunday, it will be 8 on 8 quarter back cant rush and no one can rush the quarterback. I have some of the plays that were posted by some other people but they are geared towards 5 on 5. Also i dont know if it is enough time to work on plays like end arounds or anything tricky. We have a very speedy runner/receiver i think our 2 quarterbacks have alot of potential. And a couple other kids with previous experience. If anyone has any ideas for some plays that would possibly be successful i would deffinitely appreciate it. Oh btw the team we play will play man to man defense. I am pretty sure they will key on our fastest player because he scored 3 touchdowns against them our first game.

I know i posted this in the wrong place so not sure if someone can actually move it to the correct spot or not.

[Texas_D_Coach 14]

Man to man should be easy to beat, especially if they don't have anyone who can match up against your best player.

Make sure to use lots of crossing routes to isolate players from coverage.

JohnP is the man for the larger 7 on 7 or 8 on 8 teams.

I would definitely implement an end around play. Reverses would take longer, but a fake reverse could work well.

[Johnp2 21]

I coached 8 vs 8 many seasons. Not to be sarcastic, but do many teams in your league not have plays? I guess I'm surprised as to how a team can even function without having plays. Are they made up no the fly during the game? Again, please don't take this wrong, I just am curious as to how it works.

With that, I've attached a few sample plays from my 8 vs 8 playbook. There are four running plays and two passing plays. This was from when I was coaching 5-6 year olds and the kids picked these plays (and many more up) very easily.

One thing about 8 on 8, can you block? If not, I would suggest teaching the kids to "get in the way" of the defenders, as it instead turns into 8 defenders on one ball-carrier, which is tough to beat.

I hope this helps.

Sample Plays for 8 on 8.doc

[the.snowman 0]

I coached 8 vs 8 many seasons. Not to be sarcastic, but do many teams in your league not have plays? I guess I'm surprised as to how a team can even function without having plays. Are they made up no the fly during the game? Again, please don't take this wrong, I just am curious as to how it works.

With that, I've attached a few sample plays from my 8 vs 8 playbook. There are four running plays and two passing plays. This was from when I was coaching 5-6 year olds and the kids picked these plays (and many more up) very easily.

One thing about 8 on 8, can you block? If not, I would suggest teaching the kids to "get in the way" of the defenders, as it instead turns into 8 defenders on one ball-carrier, which is tough to beat.

I hope this helps.

Well like i said on a previous post, my problem i am having is as a assistant i am kind of stuck with my hands tied. Our head coach does not run plays and does not practise defense at all. He just wings it during games, believe me i do not agree with this philosophy at all. We actually had the head of the league talk to us about how long it is taking us in the huddles pre snap. I am going to be heading practise sunday because he will not be there. I hope to make it as productive as possible in a short period of time without overwhelming them. We are part of one of the youth leagues of one of the biggest high schools in the state. Trust me they take football extremely serious.

Also the strange thing about our league is they basically ask the coaches how many people u are going to run with. So there isnt even a set amount of players. The flag program imo is very frustrating. It just is not organized like i feel it should be.

Anyway i deffinitely appreciate the plays, if you can think of any tips at all i would deffinitely love to hear them...

Oh and yes you can screen block, but you have to give the defender a yard, it is very similar to setting a pick in basketball. Or how you would block in basketball if that makes any since.

[Johnp2 21]

Got it (did not realize you were an assistant). I can imagine how frustrating it might be--I've seen a few head coaches like that before.

We had one in our league a few years ago. I remember we had close to a month of practices before the first game (when we played them). Before the game, their coach told me, "We've only had one practice." Then when I asked his team's name he said, "Oh yea. I guess we need a team name kids. I dunno, how about Vikings?" The kids didn't even know their positions and before the coin toss they were arguing with each other about the positions they wanted to play. It was a mess, and by mid-season they could not even field a team as parents just gave up. He was actually a very nice guy, but I often wondered why he even volunteered.

With 8v8, the defense certainly has the advantage, IMO. It took me a full season to figure out how to really move the ball against eight defenders. The key is to try and isolate the ball-carrier by executing fakes and mis-directions. Two other good plays that work well are reverse and fake reverse. Try a two-back formation. QB pitches to RB who then runs and reverses it to the other RB. Run this a few times, and then have the RB who gets the pitch fake the reverse. Have him really sell it by holding he ball out the entire time and then tuck and run at the last minute.

Also, ensure the rest of the players who don't get the ball aren't just running around. Give them a purpose (either dummy routes or setting picks). If you don't have enough time teach them how to set picks--just encourage them to "get in the way" of the defenders.

Finally, regarding the huddle---does your league have a play clock? If so, I'd assume your team is getting penalized because you said it was taking so long in the huddle. Perhaps this would be a good opportunity to approach the coach and tell him you have an idea how to reduce the delay of game penalties, which is having pre-set plays.

[the.snowman 0]

Got it (did not realize you were an assistant). I can imagine how frustrating it might be--I've seen a few head coaches like that before.

We had one in our league a few years ago. I remember we had close to a month of practices before the first game (when we played them). Before the game, their coach told me, "We've only had one practice." Then when I asked his team's name he said, "Oh yea. I guess we need a team name kids. I dunno, how about Vikings?" The kids didn't even know their positions and before the coin toss they were arguing with each other about the positions they wanted to play. It was a mess, and by mid-season they could not even field a team as parents just gave up. He was actually a very nice guy, but I often wondered why he even volunteered.

With 8v8, the defense certainly has the advantage, IMO. It took me a full season to figure out how to really move the ball against eight defenders. The key is to try and isolate the ball-carrier by executing fakes and mis-directions. Two other good plays that work well are reverse and fake reverse. Try a two-back formation. QB pitches to RB who then runs and reverses it to the other RB. Run this a few times, and then have the RB who gets the pitch fake the reverse. Have him really sell it by holding he ball out the entire time and then tuck and run at the last minute.

Also, ensure the rest of the players who don't get the ball aren't just running around. Give them a purpose (either dummy routes or setting picks). If you don't have enough time teach them how to set picks--just encourage them to "get in the way" of the defenders.

Finally, regarding the huddle---does your league have a play clock? If so, I'd assume your team is getting penalized because you said it was taking so long in the huddle. Perhaps this would be a good opportunity to approach the coach and tell him you have an idea how to reduce the delay of game penalties, which is having pre-set plays.

Well first of all it is deffinitely frustrating, I should be head coaching tackle for the kids during the fall. So I am trying to make the best out of what i got just for a couple more weeks. And yes he is very similar to the coach you mentioned he has the kids just line up, and then he tells them to run a hitch, run a post, run a fade etc..etc.. in the huddle. Most of the time i think what takes so long is because of how he runs his practises they dont really understand what he is telling them to do. The bad thing is he was the all star team coach, and the travel team coach as well. From what the head of the league told me is he is use to coaching more experienced players who he really can just let them go at it. Without even coaching them. (Which explains why i guess they only won like 1 game last year.)

Also like i said Sunday was the first time i ran a practise, i did manage to get in some plays, and actually ran some drills. I felt things went very well and the kids actualy seemed to have fun. But when he comes back Wednedsday for the game i would be surprised if once again he even uses plays for the game. I have asked him several times if he would like plays, or would like to use my white board in the huddles, and his reply is there is no need for that. And no we dont have a play clock, but we do have a game clock so what happens is when he takes 3 minutes in the huddle it cuts down actual game time for the kids to even play, and i think everyone is complaining. Like i said our game is wednedsday, and i will see how things go then and btw thank you very much for the plays i tried to incorporate a few of them into practise, and i felt like the kids picked it up pretty well.

[the.snowman 0]

Well this is sort of a update to how our season is going. We do not look good at all. We have just tied one game, and i understand that is isnt about winning. But our "head coach" makes it completely about winning. He yells at the kids, we have fewer and fewer people show up every practice/game. Our quarterback today was so upset he was actually crying. He got yelled at by his dad, and by the coach. Then the head coach said he just isnt good enough to be a quarterback. But what is frustrating to me is once again he refuses to run plays, we have no defensive sets. We play backyard football and its apparent the other team is actually practicing. I suppose i have to look forward to fall football, and tackle. And now i know how NOT to coach a football team. My thing now is what can i do to keep the kids attitudes positive.

[Johnp2 21]

And now i know how NOT to coach a football team.

I'm sorry to hear about how rough things are. You make a good point on now you know how NOT to coach---in fact that is why I started coaching. My son's first coach was just awful, and I figured I could do better, so I got involved.

Just keep doing the right thing, the parents and kids will all notice and remember. In fact that first season, although the head coach was horrible--his assistant was great. My son was maybe 4 at the time---but still he remembers that assistant coach fondly.