2013 INDY GLAZIER CLINIC NUGGETS

Joe Medina Cascia Hall Prep School (OK)

"Use Play Action Pass early in the game, it takes advantage of the defense when they are aggressive"

"We like 3rd and MAKEABLE"

Rich Hargitt Nation Ford High School (SC)

"Use a Crazy formation on 4th down instead of trying to use a base formation and long/hard count"

"If a play doesn't work, tweak it first before getting rid of it"

Kevin Kelley Pulaski Academy (AR)

"When you give players more ownership, they tend to remember it BETTER."

"A High School coach can affect more lives in a year than most people in a lifetime"

Lee Owens Ashland College (OH)

"Use SCAN Tempo on ALL 4th downs"

Steve Specht St.Xavier High School (OH)

"We run the Coast to Coast Offense...we take ideas from coast to coast."

"Scheme so the the Offensive Linemen can stay aggressive and PLAY FAST."

101 Pistol Option Plays review and other Pistol thoughts

I’m always looking to expand my library with worthwhile resources. One key for me is that I can reference the material more than once. I have experience running the Gun Option Run game for the last 10 years. I have seen it evolve a lot over this period of time. Zone Read, Veer Option, Midline Option, and now Dash Option. My favorite is the Veer Option, well actually it is Midline but it always seems to get my QB beat up too much…


 My first exposure to the Gun Offense taught me that the tailback’s alignment in the Gun Offense started at even depth with the Quarterback.

 

Next. the tailback moved back so to provide a better mesh. The problem is that it is a presnap key for the Defense. If the defender is aligned away from the RB, they would key the RB running ZONE. If the defender is aligned TO the RB, they would key the QB running ZONE READ or SPEED OPTION. So put the RB behind the QB and NO PRESNAP KEY! 

I had thought of this idea about six years and then discovered it was Nevada’s base offense. I referred to it as Power I Gun (PIG for short). Here are some old school clips from that “Era” (Coaching sophomore football…Forgive me for the crude film job).

POWER I GUN

from John Maurek on Vimeo.

I decided to buy the eBook version and am glad I did! I am able to read it on my Laptop and my iPhone (The iPad mini is a near future purchase). For the teams I have coached, the Pistol formation has provided us with a more downhill path for our tailback. When we are in a one back set, it doesn’t give a presnap key to the Defense.

 

Coach Vint’s book is well laid out and easy to read.

The book contains sections on:

• MIDLINE CONCEPTS
• MIDLINE COMPLEMENTS
• VEER CONCEPTS
• LOAD and LEAD OPTIONS
• ZONE READ GAME
• TRAP READ CONCEPTS\
• COUNTER READ CONCEPTS\
• SHOVEL OPTION CONCEPTS
• FRONTSIDE READ CONCEPTS

At first glance I thought I found a grammatical error, complement. But I learned something new from our friends at Google. Complement

I am verbiage junkie. I love to see how other teams call their formations and plays. Coach Vint uses a number to set his Fullback. It is easy to learn and flexible. I may look into incorporating this into our offense next year. Plus the tags are great too! (Boss,Cobra,Cowboy, and Hoss)

Coach Vint uses a phonetic system for his motions. I have always been torn how to name motions.

Only one name for the motion and tag the player.

Examples: H Zip, X Zip, S Zip

Motions that are specific to players.

Examples: GLIDE is only used by the HB, JET is only used by the SLOT

Use a Phonetic system.

Zip = Z into formation

Fip = F into formation

Yip = Y into the formation

Tip = T into formation

This is still been a challenge for me. Could the players confuse ZIP,FIP,YIP and TIP?

Coach Vint answered
"Never had an issue with it. We rarely have two guys go in motion, and they did a good job of remembering what the ips,aps, and ops meant."
He continued
"I built the system to be simple. The goal was for our athletes to be able to play fast. Our verbage was simple and allowed them to play fast without thinking."

I would have like to see Coach Vint go into more detail about QB and RB steps for the base plays. However, I did understand all the plays and know that when you are in the gun, you can over-coach the footwork. For a more detailed look, check out an old article.

 VEER and MIDLINE form the GUN

We are a big two back team, the problem was the backfield set would give a presnap key. So we decided to try putting both back behind the QB. I only have one clip…hopefully I will get myself into gear and breakdown our whole season.

Here are my some of my favorites from the book, for the rest... you gotta buy the book!

I would highly recommend buying this book. Coach Vint did an excellent job and he is very accessible…

Twitter account @coachvint

GREAT JOB Coach Vint! I’m jealous!

BAMA SMASH and BEATDOWN

As Alabama was scoring again...I wondered how did they get sooo wide open. As a Notre Dame fan,  it was difficult for me to watch the first time, but for the sake of learning (and writing a long overdue blog article) I RE recorded the game. I hate to admit, but I deleted the game as soon as the 4th quarter was finished... Not to confuse this with when the game was over, which could have been end of the FIRST quarter!

Most of the deep routes were a pretty typical CORNER route, but could it be the traditional SMASH CONCEPT that beats Cover Two? 

SIDE NOTE: I have always loved the SMASH CONCEPT and it had been a staple part of our offense. The problem we had was the Cornerback's drop. Some of the cornerbacks we faced were able to squat on the HITCH then rally to the CORNER or cloud the read of the QB just enough to frustrate us… Luckily we discover the SNAG or SCAT CONCEPT.

Okay, back to the game, or beat down… Alabama was creative in how they kept the coverage of the corner back low. Not a traditional HITCH route which is normally paired with the CORNER. They used a delay arrow (or flats) route and a pivot route.

The Tide also used three other components

• PLAY ACTION: It seemed like almost every pass was PLAY ACTION. It helps to have an impressive run game. But they also utilized it on FIRST DOWN!
• COMPRESSED FORMATIONS: Basic tight BUNCH set or 2x2 formation.
• MOTION: They would motion from Bunch or TE Trips to a 2x2 formation. 

 So with pencil and paper ready, I was able to review the pass plays. Then I took some extra time to put them all in a short PowerPoint.

Some of the plays I was able to get the down and distance. I had planned to get some screen shots ala SMART FOOTBALL, but I am still a rookie when it comes to that technological savvy. 

One of the final pass plays wasn't the SMASH concept, but it looked like the backside WR ran a " Y CROSS " type route.

 

COMBO PLAYS...some video

Thanks again for Coach Banks for a great article

COMBO PLAYS ARTICLE

Here are some clips of his team running F QUICK combo play.



 

STICK DRAW

 

Kevin Kelley Not Punting DVD

I just finished Coach Kelley's DVD from American Football Monthly and here are some notes I took while watching the DVD.

By not punting you are increasing your opportunity for a first down.
The amount of yardage you need on each play changes when you adopt this philosophy
3.3 yards for 3 downs
2.5 yards for 4 downs

Punting-Teams spend an inordinate amount of time not turning the ball over.  Then why would you just give the other team the ball.

How you acquire the ball changes your percentage of scoring. 
Via Kick off on own 20/30 yard line teams score about 17% of time
Via fumble/interception teams score 34% of time from same spot on field


If you have ball on your own five and choose to punt.
The average net punt is 32 yards
Therefore, you are still giving your opponent a 77% chance of scoring
If you go for it turn the ball over on downs you are giving the opponent a 92% chance of scoring
His contention is that a decrease of 15% is not worth punting the ball
Additionally, they have found out that when they go for it on 4th down and convert their team scores on 76% of the drives.

Not making first downs is an offensive failure

Benefits
Play calling changes-You can run the ball on 3rd and 8 to put the offense in a favorable 4th down position.
Defense has to change the way they call the game
More practice time for other things
Offense is on field longer therefore fatiguing the defense

Additional Lnks

http://www.bloggersodear.com/2012/11/1/3582320/its-4th-down-what-should-we-do-now

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/sports/football/calculating-footballs-risk-of-not-punting-on-fourth-down.html

New Forum for Football Coaches

DaCoachMo and I have started a new forum devoted simply to spread football topics, ideas, and concepts.  This board is designed by coaches for coaches who want to specifically speak about the technical aspects of the spread offense.  Joining the forum is free and all are welcome to discuss their favorite components of the offense.

Follow the link below to join.


http://nohuddlespread.proboards.com/index.cgi?

New for 2013

I'm trying to get some topics ready...sorry for the delay! Both of us enjoyed successful seasons which means more film to watch.

Feel free to email me or write a comment for ideas OR problem solving.

We finished our first full season with Hudl! Some more film clips will be coming. Both Varsity and JV.

Check out our popular post section and new poll about portable technology!

HUDL HELP FORUM

Hudl's support has been awesome but I would love a place to look up answers!

Let's make this happen!!

http://feedback.hudl.com/forums/31683-hudl/suggestions/719194-create-a-hudl-coaches-forum

GAME PLAN nuggets

Here are a few things I have on my game plan to remind me. (and yes it is  multicolored and laminated)

• Too much information, KILLS the INFORMATION
• Run what WE KNOW, What we do best!
• THINK PLAYERS, NOT PLAYS
• When a play isn't run properly, fix it FIRST, then run it LATER

FIRST DOWN : WIN IT (+4)

SECOND DOWN: GET HALF

THIRD DOWN: BE PERFECT

FOURTH DOWN: BEAST (run) or BEAUTY (pass)

What is on your GAME PLAN??

LOOK and LISTEN

I have always struggled with how to practice No-huddle...Use signals or Codes that the defense starts to learn and cheat (bad defense,bad!). Last week I started to channel my inner ADD. What if I called a code and some signals at the same time? So I would sugar huddle the Offense and tell them "DOUBLES...Listen to me" BREAK.  I would yell our code for ALL HITCH and signal ALL GO. Then WRs run ALL GO...perfect.
"DOUBLES...Look at me" BREAK. I would yell our code for Y Stick and signal Y Cross.
Then the WRs run Y Cross...bingo.

The WRs have picked it up and now the defense can't cheat!

I helped out our young WR group for TRIPS formation...the question always being what does #3 do now, coach?
"TRIPS...ONE and TWO listen to ME, THREE Look at me"
I yell the concept for #1 and #2 WRs and signal #3.

I have started to expand it a bit today and had another assistant stand next to me. We would sugar huddle and I would make the call
"Listen to Me"
"Look at Me"
"Listen to Coach"
"Look at Coach"

Now the next challenge, how to indicate who/what is live and what is dummy during a game!