Here is a quick reference for the upcoming weeks. After you have taken care of your educational duties. Google Classroom Tutorials When I get past all of the YOU TUBE content...
That’s right the A stands for agility. Playing Wide Receiver
and then becoming a Wide Receiver coach; coaching Wide Receivers is home. It’s
where I found a lot of peace. As I grew in this profession, I became a QB guy
and while I love it there nothing is like coaching the DirtyBoyz as we called
them. I want to talk about three things I focus on
teaching the Wide Receivers on a weekly basis and drill during the season, in the next few posts. The
ABC’s of WR play and yes, the A stands for Agility!
One of the Best Wide Receiver coaches in the game is Keith Williams, former Nebraska WR coach and he says “Don't master the
route, master the break. The routes change, but the breaks stay the same.” So
when it comes to agility work, everything is focused on mastering the breaks
and getting off the ball.
Agility work starts with the foot
cadence. Getting the wide receivers to activate or warm-up their feet is
important before we get to the drill of drills red light / green light.
Route Geometry as Williams calls it must be mastered during
our red light / green light drill. You know the math teacher in me loves the
name as well, LOL. All the breaks on the Route tree are 45, 90 or you run 180 degrees.
Master them.
The first clip shows how to coach and work a lot of wideouts
on this concept at the same time. Clip
taken from Coach Joe Price III, who is now the Director of Player Personnel for
UTSA.
This clip shows what the drill looks like in an in-season
practice. This clip is brought to us by Coach Pat McCann, wideout coach at Eastern
Washington University
The last thing we work on when it comes to agility is
releases including Diamond and Foot Fire. Clip here shows Coach Donte Ellington
of ACU in Texas walking through his wideouts on release.
A few years ago, I had the opportunity to see Coach Liotta speak at a Glazier Clinic in Indianapolis. His "No Huddle No Mercy" offense was the heading to all of his clinic talks that weekend. He puts in work. I think he had seven sessions! What struck me was his innovation taken from different teams he coached from Indoor League arenas to the High School field. He and I have kept in touch ever since. So this off season I was excited to see Shawn put all his thoughts into a book. I was able to quickly secure a copy and have started to fully immerse myself. My only negative is my old eyes have trouble with the small font. BUT it is chuck full of content! Plus, that's why they make "readers" for us old guys... just don't call me (ok) Boomer.
One hundred and twenty six pages of pictures, charts and diagrams. This book has it all! The foreword by John Jenkins is priceless! The "No Huddle No Mercy" book has ten chapters ranging from Philosophy, Playing Fast, Off Season Implementation, and Troubleshooting issues. I will post a full review soon! Just give my old eyes some more time! Here are a few sneak peeks!
An excellent resource when you can make the trip to a live clinic. Coachtube has a plethora of content that has a variety of content. Here are my current favorites. Gotta Start with Coach Banks...
I was able to see Coach Rhett Peltier in a clinic a few years ago when I was an Nzone member. Wow! Luck that he put his contact info during his clinic, he responded almost instantly. We have stayed in touch ever since.
Watching a Nike COY clinic video on Dana Holgerson and he said the following.
If you are fast all the time defense loves it.
If you are slow all the time defense loves it.
If you vary it, then defense not so happy......
When I was a young play caller, I had the attitude of tempo meant everything! I wanted to go fast! I wanted to run as man plays as I could, I thought it didn't really mater what I called on 1st and 2nd down, the only down where slowing it down could matter was 3rd down. As I have progressed I can tell you that is not the same philosophy I have today! Varying tempo and knowing when to use it is important as ever.
A few years ago, I heard Neal Brown at a clinic talk about his Blur package a collection of plays that he would run to use tempo anywhere on the field. Basically, the were base plays packaged and ready to go on a moments notice.
Here is a sample of the Blur package we used in the past as HC.
Blur 1
Blur 2
Blur 3
Blur 4
One thing I wanted to do was combine Tempo with the ability to run downhill. Coach Steve Addazio said it best.
So what did we evolve to you ask?
This is a question I have answered in my new CoachTube class, named Tempo Plays and One Word Calls in Your Offense.
The ability to use one word plays to control tempo. We have about 7 or 8. We call them when most convenient for us. If you have followed this blog, you know I am a huge fan of zone-stick. In this class I show how it became a one word play for us, where we would rotate the formation to best fit us weekly.
To find out more about our one word plays and how we use them to control the tempo in our power spread offense click here.
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This is my impression after reading "Find A Way" by Kenny Simpson. He cares about all facets of coaching. Not just the winning, but building relationships with the community, parents and staff. The book is great blueprint for successful program. "Find A Way" contains ten informative chapters.
Introduction
Getting the Job
I got the job... Now What
Sharing the Vision
Grow your Program
Decide, Delegate, Depart
There is no Off-Season
Building a Staff
X's and O's or Jack's or Joe's
Mistakes I made
Conclusion
The book begins by Coach Simpson giving a short family history. He was part of a military family which means moving a lot. I'm sure he learned to be flexible! Coach Simpson wrote about his strong connections. A highlight of the book was the Father-Son Retreat that was started by former Coach Ronnie Peacock.
I will highlight my favorite nugget from each chapter.
Chapter 1: Getting the Job
Coach Simpson is very detailed about the key tips before the interview. Biggest takeaways are be prepared... not to talk about your playbook and be articulate when talking to the interview panel which often consists of people that don't have a large football IQ.
Chapter 2: I Got the Job... Now What?
Real easy... Sell Your Program! Through Social Media and special nights that involve the parents.
Chapter 3: Sharing the Vision
Creating a mission statement can help set the tone. Make sure it is broad and all-encompassing.
Chapter 4: Grow your Program
This chapter provides some helpful tips on youth football, which can be challenging!
Chapter 5: Decide, Delegate and Depart
One of my favorite chapters! It outlines the need to find support for a successful program. The head coach can't do it all!
Chapter 6: There is no Off-season
Coach Simpson breaks down weight training into basic information. But I think it was more that basic! He breaks it down into five parts: Mental Toughness, Injury Prevention, Discipline, Winning Attitude, and Consistent Participation.
Chapter 7: Building a Staff
A tough assignment! Coach Simpson is able to rank the importance of individual positions.
Most important aspects are
Assistants that are LOYAL!
Assistants that know THEIR "why"
Assistants that know YOUR "why"
Chapter 8: X's and O's or Jack's or Joe's
Every part the game is highlighted from PAT to how to watch opponent's film.
Make sure to highlight the 5 points on page 60!
Chapter 9: Mistakes I made
It takes a brave man to admit his mistakes... It takes a courageous man to write them in a book! Kudos to Coach Simpson!
Chapter 10 summaries the book. A few quotes...
"Be aware that your words you carry a lot of weight, and you are being watched by lots of eyes. I've had players come back and share stories of some of the things I've said that they still remember, and I didn't even realize at the time what I was saying or doing even really mattered to them."
So true!
This book is a great addition to any and all coaches! Find A Way to buy it soon!
Coach Simpson has started a YouTube channel with some great content.
3 Ways Using The Tight End can improve your Passing Game & RPO Clinic Tape
******** IF You are reading this BLOG Post between 11/26/2019 and 12/4/2019, all of my coachtube classes are 65% off for Black Friday and Cyber Monday --> CLICK HERE ***********
3 Ways we have used the TE to enhance our offense are as follows.
1. Flood is a great concept, very rarely do I run Sprint Out, however this was our most effective Flood Pass, great explosive and great on third and 7+
2. Depending on how much of a weapon your TE is, Trips usually pulls the coverage towards it and that leaves a chance to run weak flood, if teams run what is known as "Steal" coverage.
Combining Smash with Drive, gives us a great weak flood concept...
3. Throwing Verticals has a lot to do with spacing, one of the best ways to formation a defense is using Empty with one or multiple tight ends. Depending on how teams rotate you can get a vertical shot called combined with seam read and shallow allowing for shallow dig as a response or a quick seam shot.
Here is film on all 3 concepts.
RPO Clinic
Here is film on Study Tape for RPO's.. I have been holding on to this one for a LONG TIME. I think you will find something useful or it will reinforce something that you do!
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