Your Opening Play This Season?

[Johnp2 21]

I see there are a lot of coaches on this forum whose teams about to play their first game. I'm curious as to if you know what your first play will be/was, and what your mindset was in calling that as the first play.

Last season we had three oddities that made for a special season:

1. We won every coin toss. I started making a big deal of this 3/4 through the season, and my our final few games, when we won the toss you could hear a loud cheer from the stands (which confused a lot of opposing fans, 'Why are they cheering so loud they won the coin toss?') :-)

2. We scored on our first play of the season (on a simply run up the middle).

3. We scored on our final play of the season (on a Shuffle pass).

Mind you, the TDs between 1 and 2 were quite hard to come by, which I guess made it more special in the end.

Again, I'm just curious as to how you opened/will open the season. I am still unsure (our season doesn't start for six weeks), but ever the mad scientist, I am already thinking about it. :-)

[rushbuster70 16]

I'm not sure yet...My plays depend on the kind of kids I have.I form my offense around the kids that are on the team.I have around 30-40 plays I've used throughout all my seasons fo coaching.

This season no more than 10 plays...I'm set on having all the kids being able to play multiple positions this season

[Orange 26]

The last 3 years we began every game with the exact same play, the end around. It's been my bread and butter run play similar to how many teams would run it straight up the middle (which was not one of our plays). Sometimes it hits and sometimes it doesn't but it sets up a lot of other plays in my playbook. This year I'm handing over the offensive playcalling to my assistant. I will have a big say in how things are run since ultimately I design the plays with his input but he will be in the huddle making the calls. So, this year we might run something else but rest assured that it will be a run play. I like the way our options and pitchouts are shaping up so maybe one of those.

[pointyfootball 0]

The last 3 years we began every game with the exact same play, the end around. It's been my bread and butter run play similar to how many teams would run it straight up the middle (which was not one of our plays). Sometimes it hits and sometimes it doesn't but it sets up a lot of other plays in my playbook. This year I'm handing over the offensive playcalling to my assistant. I will have a big say in how things are run since ultimately I design the plays with his input but he will be in the huddle making the calls. So, this year we might run something else but rest assured that it will be a run play. I like the way our options and pitchouts are shaping up so maybe one of those.

Since I boosted some of Orange's plays, AND we had a player that was money on end-arounds, I almost always opened up with an end-around as well. EXCEPT later in the season when I knew we would be playing teams whose coaches scouted us. They would see how well the end around worked and have their team prepped for it, so I would do an end-around pass, or similar derivation from the end-around. I also "scripted my first 5-10 plays, as we used the first drive to really watch what the other team was doing, because it didn't seem that teams made many adjustments throughout the course of the game, on defense. Scoring was important, but almost as important to me was to see how the other team played/reacted.

No matter what, I think the first play should be one the players are extremely comfortable with, and one that one come undone due to nerves/excitement. A positive few yards will help get the ball rolling, so to speak.

PF

[rushbuster70 16]

Mine always tends to be a play that we were able to do succesfully in practice...Usually something shortage 5-10 yards...Then my 2nd play we try a big hitter usually lol...

[Johnp2 21]

This year I'm handing over the offensive playcalling to my assistant. I will have a big say in how things are run since ultimately I design the plays with his input but he will be in the huddle making the calls. So, this year we might run something else but rest assured that it will be a run play.

Ha! C'mon, Orange. I have a feeling you will be doing a lot of "convincing" to your assistant when it comes to the first play. Also, what if he throws out the Center-Drag or End Arounds from your playbook? I've agreed to take on a Defensive Assistant this season, but (as I think you are like me), I won't give up the offensive chess match that goes on in games. :-)

No matter what, I think the first play should be one the players are extremely comfortable with, and one that one come undone due to nerves/excitement

This is good advice.

RushBuster----interesting comment about forming the offense around your players (of course it's the old chicken vs. egg), but something I am seriously considering for NEXT season, as I feel I need one more season under my belt scouting our talent very early on . . . however, it is an intriguing approach to have a slew of plays, and then work the applicable ones in based on talent.

[rushbuster70 16]

Johnp2

Well I haven't always been this way.I have a few set of plays that I do with all my teams.They are always bread and butter.They are usually just a few plays

BUT,

I always work my plays around my kids.Basically the first practice I work them out and get a feel for there talent and athletism during certain drills.Then we play some regular football.

I do because there's always 1 or 2 kids who don't have a whole lot of athletism but just flat out can play.

1 of my best players ever turned out to be like this...He was amazing

I highly suggest making plays work around your kids.Just think about college/pros.They get kids to fit there system of football.

So what I do is fit my plays/system to work around the kids.Get them to do what they do best.Put them in a position to do there best.If you know a kid can run a double move then let him run it and try it out...

I've learned a whole lot but most of all how to use kids and there talents and make plays around them.

[Orange 26]

Ha! C'mon, Orange. I have a feeling you will be doing a lot of "convincing" to your assistant when it comes to the first play. Also, what if he throws out the Center-Drag or End Arounds from your playbook? I've agreed to take on a Defensive Assistant this season, but (as I think you are like me), I won't give up the offensive chess match that goes on in games. :-)

Honestly I absolutely love defense, always have. I began coaching offense early on because I felt that my assistant wasn't doing it the way I wanted him to. He kept wanting to air it out and I wanted us to stick more to a short game. At that point our defense was pretty easy to coach so I switched with him. Now the kids are getting older and passing will be more a part of it than before. My assistant is good with the passing game. Plus on defense I feel like I can get creative since the boys are older. I'm going to have disguised coverage and kids moving around to fool the other teams. My assistant is only capable of a vanilla offense.

I'm designing the playbook and I'll suggest plays. I might even script the first 5 or so. But offense stresses me out man, really. And I've thought about doing both but I think I can be more effective delegating it. Plus I want him engaged because having an extra coach is valuable, especially in practice. You're right, I'm a control freak as a coach (kind of) but I do know how to delegate. And if he doesn't run the end arounds and center drag he's fired! Lol! Seriously I'll probably send in a play or two every once in a while.

[Tuna0626 0]

I ran a Naked bootleg Qb keeper worked to perfection.. for about 45 yards.

[Coach Rob 26]

I ran a Naked bootleg Qb keeper worked to perfection.. for about 45 yards.

Same here, bootleg QB keeper was a great play for me last yr. Used a variation on that one several times from reverses to making it looking like a QB keeper then having the QB pull up and pass. Works great out of a shotgun.

[Johnp2 21]

The Bootleg was our best downfield play this season. However, our QB cannot run. We made a simple fake hand-off on an end-around to get the defense moving one direction, while my QB rolled out to the other side. 9 times out of 10 my right receiver was wide open on a post. My QB is good at throwing on the run and after a few games he knew exactly where to look. Thus once he performed the fake and rolled to the other side, he'd sling the ball before anyone knew what was happening.

The key to this play, in my opinion is to really sell the fake. The player taking the fake end-around really has to keep that "ball holding" position and keep running, and the QB needs to hold the ball down while rolling out before pulling the trigger. Not sure about older kids, but it worked in our 6-8 year old league quite well.

[rushbuster70 16]

We ran a boot leg with a fake end around...We did a short quick out with our center and we could usually pick up some yardage...Anywhere from 10 - 15 yards.

[Vegas Coach 0]

Our first game of the season is this Saturday and I think our first offensive play from scrimmage will be a simple fake draw play to my RB then an end around hand off to my WR coming around. Looking to just gain some positive yards that first play and hopefully ease the kid’s nerves down from first game gitters.

I would love to run the QB bootleg; however our QB cannot run so I would first need to have two players lined up right next to each other in shotgun, then after snap, handoff immediately to my player to act as the QB and run a bootleg fake end around to one side.

[Orange 26]

First game for us is Sunday. I'm meeting with my offensive coach tomorrow and we'll decide. I'm going to give him the choice of end around or pitchout.