3 replies to this topic

[roberts1614]

Hello all and thanks in advance for any advice given.

I am the HC for a county league Flag football program for 5-8 year olds. We play 8 players, the offense has to have 5 players on the line. There are no restrictions on what type of defense we can run. We get 12 plays of offense and 12 plays of defense per half, all of each side are consecutive of course.

I have 3 guys that are pretty fast, probably the 1 ,3,& 6 fastest in the league (8,8, & 6 yrs old, respectively). The problem is that my fastest kid likes to stutter step alot and turn back across the field once he is about to hit the sideline. The rest of the children are smaller and a little slower and will make up my line.

Since we only get 12 offensive plays per half, I need all of them to be "big-play" potential. I don't think that I can afford to try and run up the middle for short yardage gains for clock control (since there isn't a clock). What do you think my best plan of attack should be for the offense? I know at this age misdirection plays are probably my best bet. What do you guys think would be the best way to set up these types of plays???

For defense, I am problably going to run the 7-1 or 6-2 defense. What do you think?

thanks again guys for any advice that you might offer.

[SpartanHC]

Hey. I have been coaching flag for a couple years (7 man) so I will give my take.

Offensively, there are a ton of options that you can go with. I like to use rollouts and QB runs in flag, especially if you have the fastest kid in the league (which I had ). We let him play QB in a trips offense and basically everytime the defense dropped back to stop the pass, he ran it for a TD. If the defense tried to bring pressure, we always had an open WR.

On defense, what do you mean by a 7-1 or a 6-2? If you have some speedy guys, you might be better served by playing them at LB or safety where they have room to react and chase guys down. Last year we ran a 2-2-3 (2 down lineman, 2 LBs, 2 CBs and 1 Safety). The lineman protected the edge against the run, the LBs stepped in on sweeps or pitch plays, or played zone in a pass situation. The safety was our center field type guy, and he stepped in to pick up an extra WR in coverage, or to blitz. This defense averaged two-3 turnovers a game.

Since you play 8 man, I would probably try to add your eighth man to the line, so you could spread out wider to kill any outside runs. If you can show what offenses in your league typically look like, I might be able to offer some better advice. Like I said, I know this will work in 7 man, but 8 man is a bit different.

-Spartan

[roberts1614]

Hey. I have been coaching flag for a couple years (7 man) so I will give my take.

Offensively, there are a ton of options that you can go with. I like to use rollouts and QB runs in flag, especially if you have the fastest kid in the league (which I had ). We let him play QB in a trips offense and basically everytime the defense dropped back to stop the pass, he ran it for a TD. If the defense tried to bring pressure, we always had an open WR.

On defense, what do you mean by a 7-1 or a 6-2? If you have some speedy guys, you might be better served by playing them at LB or safety where they have room to react and chase guys down. Last year we ran a 2-2-3 (2 down lineman, 2 LBs, 2 CBs and 1 Safety). The lineman protected the edge against the run, the LBs stepped in on sweeps or pitch plays, or played zone in a pass situation. The safety was our center field type guy, and he stepped in to pick up an extra WR in coverage, or to blitz. This defense averaged two-3 turnovers a game.

Since you play 8 man, I would probably try to add your eighth man to the line, so you could spread out wider to kill any outside runs. If you can show what offenses in your league typically look like, I might be able to offer some better advice. Like I said, I know this will work in 7 man, but 8 man is a bit different.

-Spartan

HI and thanks for the advice. The offenses that we will face will generally be single back, I formation, and probably a pro set. We have four teams in our little league and we play each 3 times. As you can see, it is a smaller league with about 50 kids. (12 per team). No one really passes, of the 12 plays, maybe one pass will be thrown. Mostly sweeps and off tackle runs.

My QB and RB are pretty good and I have been practicing with them exclusively, working on pitching the ball and running the option. (Both of these plays they picked up and were running to perfection within about 30 mins of reps!!) My QB can throw and catch really well and my RB is really fast, but does not have that great of hands (although probably better than most in our league) I am going to keep practicing some roll out passes and some swing out passes with these two guys.

As for the defense that I was talking about, 7-1 and 6-2, what I meant are:

6-2
___________________________LB___________LB

_________X_________________X___X____X___X___________________X
__________________________O__O__O___O__O
_________________________________O

7-1

__________________________________LB/FS

_________X__________X__________X___X____X________X___________X
_____________________________O__O__O___O__O
____________________________________O

Let me know what you think.

Thanks again guys.

[synwave7]

Hello all and thanks in advance for any advice given.

I am the HC for a county league Flag football program for 5-8 year olds. We play 8 players, the offense has to have 5 players on the line. There are no restrictions on what type of defense we can run. We get 12 plays of offense and 12 plays of defense per half, all of each side are consecutive of course.

I have 3 guys that are pretty fast, probably the 1 ,3,& 6 fastest in the league (8,8, & 6 yrs old, respectively). The problem is that my fastest kid likes to stutter step alot and turn back across the field once he is about to hit the sideline. The rest of the children are smaller and a little slower and will make up my line.

Since we only get 12 offensive plays per half, I need all of them to be "big-play" potential. I don't think that I can afford to try and run up the middle for short yardage gains for clock control (since there isn't a clock). What do you think my best plan of attack should be for the offense? I know at this age misdirection plays are probably my best bet. What do you guys think would be the best way to set up these types of plays???

For defense, I am problably going to run the 7-1 or 6-2 defense. What do you think?

thanks again guys for any advice that you might offer.

Sounds like you have it right. Option left, option right, option left, option right, off tackle , off tackle. Keep it simple. Spend lot's of time doing your own homework to learn the game as best you can. Good luck this season.