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QB Drills – Footwork Progression – UCLA

QB Drills – Footwork Progression – UCLA

Posted by | Aug 11, 2014 | , , | 0 |

By Mike Kuchar

Lead Research Manager

X&O Labs

 

ucla1Introduction 

Coming off a 2013 ten-win campaign (tying the school record for wins in a season), where it set several offensive records, UCLA is preparing to make a run for the Pac-12 Championship this season.  Much of it will rely on quarterback play.  The Bruins offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone presents the every day drills- along with coaching points- he uses to train his quarterbacks in-season.

Editor’s Note:  Noel Mazzone and Taylor Mazzone contributed to XandOLabs.com research report on developing in and out-of pocket movement for QB’s which can be found here:  50 + Drills to Improve QB Pocket Presence The following information was provided by Championship Systems.  For more information, you can go here: http://www.championshipsystems.com/

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Essentials in the Trap Play

Essentials in the Trap Play

Posted by | Aug 3, 2014 | , , , , | 0 |

By Jeff Disandro

Offensive Line Coach / Special Teams Coordinator

Greenville College

 

 

Editor’s Note:  Jeff DiSandro returned to Greenville College in 2014 for a second time, having previously coached at the college from 2006 to 2009.  He served as the run game coordinator and eventually took over as the offensive coordinator in 2009. DiSandro will coach the offensive line and coordinate the special teams as well as assist Coach Schomaker with administrative assignments.

In DiSandro’s first year as an offensive coordinator, the 2009 Panther team won the UMAC Championship and advanced to the NCCAA Victory Bowl where they played Geneva College. That year, the Panthers recorded some of the biggest wins in school history, defeating LaGrange and Washington University for the first time.  The Panther offense produced All-American TE Zach Fredrich and UMAC co-conference player of the year RB Anthony Ambers.

DiSandro left Greenville for a position on Eric Hehman’s staff at NCAA Division II Malone University. While there, he served as the offensive coordinator in 2010 and 2011.  In his two year span at Malone, his offenses managed to move into the school record books in 18 separate categories including rush yards per game, scoring in a game, and total yards in a game.  In 2010, the Malone offense finished eighth nationally in rushing yards per game and were ranked 10th nationally in the running game.  He worked with the quarterbacks and offensive line while at Malone.

 

 

Introduction

greenvilleThe trap play is a staple for many offenses especially here at Greenville College.  We love the flexibility of the play against varied fronts as well as the great angles that it creates.  Running it effectively requires an extreme attention to detail and this article will take you into the essentials that we include for our linemen to make them into great trap blockers.

 

Offensive Line standards

  • Aggressive start
  • Aggressive finish
  • Use your technique

Standards are a big deal in coaching and when coaching a position.  As the coach and leader of our offensive line I have to decide what I want our standards to be.   Then as a teacher I have to find the best way to clearly and easily communicate those standards to our players.  The most important standard for us on the offensive line is effort.  We want our offensive line to play with, as we call it, extra – ordinary effort.  For us, that is more than “110%”.  After declaring that standard of effort we then want to quantify effort.  We want to make effort gradable.  Two of our core standards are aggressive start and aggressive finish.  These two phrases, and their definition, quantify effort for us up front.  I think most coaches know what it means to get off the ball and finish a block but I have found that most players don’t think like a coach and/or share similar insights. 

So, to clearly define our standards for our players we say this: aggressive start in the run game means how quickly do you close the cushion between you and the defender (from the snap).  And aggressive start in the pass game means how quickly did you get from your stance into your set, or how fast did your helmet move?  I am a big believer in watching wide (I also watch the tight!) as an offensive line coach.  I think I can get a great feel for how they are starting and finishing by watching the wide. 

Our second core standard is aggressive finish.  Again, I think all OL coaches know what this means.  We communicate this to our line by using the phrase “knockdowns.”  We teach the OL to play aggressive and nasty and we want this attitude from snap to whistle.  Anytime an offensive lineman puts a defender on the ground we call that a knockdown.  We tally these throughout the season and declare a winner at the end of the season.  This also serves as a tiebreaker for our tough man award; which is another competition amongst the lineman group.  Our tough man acknowledges practice consistency.  Consistency is a major factor in highly productive offensive lines and we try and find fun ways to create that culture. 

Our third core standard for the offensive line is use your technique.  Even though we want them to play full speed all the time we also want them to use good technique as well.  So much of good line play is using a run and pass demeanor and staying on your feet throughout much of the block (until a knockdown) and we don’t want to sacrifice those things.  

For the remainder of the article I want to discuss the trap play and talk heavily about the down block and its technique while also introducing some of our pulling technique for this play.  The trap play has been a series that compliments the tight zone triple option for us.  Before I jump right into the trap though, I’d like to start with the stance. 

The Stance

I believe all of the technical portions of line play start with a great stance.  We coach the stance from day one.  In my opinion, so many technical issues that come up with lineman can be traced back to the stance.  Some common examples in my mind are being short on aim points / landmarks and/or the lack of hips and inability to generate power with a block.  Being short on aim points can be traced back to footwork issues, which can be corrected with adjustments in the stance.  A lineman with enough athletic ability and strength may not be creating power because of an inefficient stance.  Power is the combination of strength and speed so the stance has to allow for the lineman to have speed to the aiming point and maximum use of his hips and core. 

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Meshing Trap and Counter KOR Concepts

Meshing Trap and Counter KOR Concepts

Posted by | Jul 26, 2014 | , | 0 |

By Brian Morgan – @coachbmorgan

RB Coach / Special Teams Coordinator

Lamar University

 

 

johntaEditor’s Note:  Brian Morgan was just hired on to the Lamar University coaching staff to serve as the RB coach and special teams coordinator, the same positions he resently held at Prairie View A&M University.  While at Prairie View A&M University, Morgan’s specialists also had career seasons as the trio of Chris Barrick, Spencer Nelson and Johnta’ Hebert reaped All-SWAC honors in 2012. As the team’s punt returner, Nelson led the SWAC and ranked fourth nationally in punt return average with 16.5 yards per return. Barrick capped off a career-best season at placekicker as he finished 9-of-11 in field goals and 38-of-40 in PATs. As a true freshman, Hebert ranked second in the SWAC with an 18.9-yard kickoff return average along with one touchdown via a kickoff return. Hebert also led the SWAC in all-purpose yardage with 121.7 yards per outing as he tallied 926 kick return yards, 196 receiving yards and 217 rushing yards on the ground.

Last year, Morgan’s unit rushed for nearly 1,500 yards with the sophomore tandem of Fred Anderson and Courtney Brown combining to rush for 1,105 yards and 11 touchdowns. Anderson ranked eighth amongst SWAC rushers with 52.5 yards per game while Brown finished tied for fourth in the SWAC with 10 (9 rushing) touchdowns. As a unit, the Panthers ranked third in rush offense as they netted 2,054 yards for an average of 186.7 yards per game. The unit surpassed the 200-yard mark five times last season while rushing for 150-plus yards three times.

 

 

Introduction

Throughout my years of coaching kickoff return units, I have noticed that the best units have minimal return concepts, but work really hard at perfecting their techniques. Many of the best return units I have coached stick to one main return scheme (trap/counter/middle), and have a solid counter off that return. My goal when putting together our kickoff return package is to never give up our return direction by our alignments, and also to have each return look as close to identical as possible to the kickoff coverage team as they are running down the field.

Personnel

We try to personnel our kickoff return team so that our boundary double team uses two bigger, physical guys. The field side of our front line consists of either big wide receivers or athletic defensive ends. On the second level our two fullbacks are usually true fullbacks or middle linebackers. Our boundary wing is usually an athletic linebacker, while our field wing is a big running back. We like a big running back here because we have found this to be the most common place to get pooch kicks. The blocking he must do is typically in space, and we have a chance for a decent return if the opponent does pooch kick. Our upback or off returner rarely fields the kickoff and must be a good blocker. Some years we are fortunate to have a dynamic upback as well. Our main return man is the most dynamic threat to score on our team. We want the ball in his hands as much as possible. Many teams that want to kick away from him will pooch kick to our field wing which almost guarantees us field position at the 35 yard line at a minimum.

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OL Drills – Zone Blocking – Michigan State Univeristy

OL Drills – Zone Blocking – Michigan State Univeristy

Posted by | Jul 21, 2014 | , , | 0 |

By Mike Kuchar – @MikeKKuchar

Senior Research Manager

X&O Labs

 

Editor’s Note:  The following report is builds on the content that MSU’s Offensive Line Coach Mark Staten shared with X&O Labs for our Middle and Outside report.  To view the entirety of that report, click here.  

 

Blocking Tight Techniques

slide2

 

Reach/Lateral Step Footwork

The reach step could be classified as a lateral step and not a bucket step.  The width of that step is predicated on two scenarios:

  1. The horizontal leverage (width) of the defensive lineman.
  2. Whether or not the covered lineman is involved in a double team.

Mark Staten at Michigan State University talks about varying that first step based on whether or not that player has help in a combination.  “With help, we talk about zone reach footwork and without help it’s tight reach footwork,” said Staten.  The specifics behind each technique is below:

  • Zone reach footwork- Lateral to lead position (no bucket).  Step progression- first step toes outside to his outside shoe, second step thru crotch of defender, third step up the field. We want to drive our inside hand thru his down hand into his chest.
  • Tight Reach footwork- Hand thru near breastplate, not sternum.  We know there is no help. 
  • Eyes on target: Aiming point is inside eye to the play side number of the down defender.
  • Steps: Play side shoe position lead outside the wide foot of the down defender; 2nd step through the crotch; 3rd step working to get up field; do not wheel or swing the hips; work through to try and get the shoulders square.
  • Hands: Backside hand just inside of the sternum; thumb up, strike with the heel of the hand through the arm of the down defender; play side hand captures and guides the outside half of the defender.
  • Pad level and position: Keep the backside shoulder down and under the shoulders of the defender to establish leverage
  • If defensive lineman stretches with you – stay on block and uncovered teammate works up to linebacker.
  • If defensive lineman anchors on you – stay on block with eyes on play side arm pit of defender.  
  • If defensive lineman slants inside – force him to flatten his slant by stiff-arming him inside.  Stay on block until you feel uncovered teammate & then come off aiming eyes to play side number of linebacker.

 

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Tight End Shovel Option

Tight End Shovel Option

Posted by | Jul 7, 2014 | , , | 0 |

By Ralph Isernia

Head Coach

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

 

rpifbEditor’s Note:  Ralph Isernia was named head coach at Rensselaer in March 2012. A veteran of more than 20 years in coaching, he has previous experience from Division III, Division II and the FCS. Coach Isernia came to Rensselaer from Ferrum College, where he was the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator for the Division III Panthers. In his two seasons he helped the team to a share of the 2012 USA South Conference championship and coached two different quarterbacks who both won league Offensive Player of the Year honors.


Isernia spent the six years prior at the University of Charleston, where he was an assistant head coach, the offensive coordinator and interim head coach. He was a regional finalist for the Division II Assistant Coach of the Year Award in 2008, 2009 and 2010.   His accomplishments with the Golden Eagles included directing an offense that set numerous school records while helping the team become a contender for the conference title each season. The offense was consistently ranked among the best in the league in points per game, rushing, pass efficiency and sacks allowed. Among the players on the team, which was nationally ranked in 2009 after a 9-2 finish, were two who signed NFL free agent contracts.

Isernia has also coached at Bucknell University (2004-05), Mansfield University (2001-04), Defiance College (2000-01), Methodist University (1994-00) and Western Connecticut State University (1991-94). He served as offensive line coach at Bucknell, helping the Bison to a 7-4 record – its best finish since 1999 – and a No. 30 national ranking. Offensively, the team was ranked ninth in rushing offense and 11th  in pass efficiency among NCAA Division I-AA schools.

 

INTRODUCTION

This was the first season for me here at RPI.  Just like any coach entering a new coaching situation, I wanted to evaluate the talent on the team and see what each player did best.  It quickly became apparent that although they had run some read option in the past, the best personnel did not exactly match a triple option system.  Our best personnel would best be described as 11 personnel – one back, one TE and two WR’s.  So we adapted the system to match the personnel. 

We believe in our system.  We believe in option football.   We believe it is the best offense for our football team.  With those tenants in place, we adapted our system to accommodate our best personnel.

The TE in the Pistol Triple Offense needs to be a versatile athlete.  He must transcend the normal/typical role that a TE takes in a traditional scheme.  We not only used him as an “End-of-the-LOS” guy, where he extends the defensive front or perhaps sets the defensive strength call.  The versatility allows us to align the TE in any spot in 2×2, 3×1 and unbalanced formations.  We also align him as an H back or large slot back.  Although he is limited athletically and may not have the speed or shake of a slot, he does give us a better presence in the running game.  He is a bigger and stronger blocker that the rest of our slots. 

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Blocking Twists in Man and Gap Protection

Blocking Twists in Man and Gap Protection

Posted by | Jun 27, 2014 | , , | 0 |

By Justin Iske – @justiniske

Offensive Line Coach

Fort Hays State University

 

 

Editor’s Notes: Justin Iske begins his fourth season on the coaching staff at Fort Hays State in 2014. Iske coaches the FHSU offensive line and serves as the team’s strength coach. In Iske’s first three seasons at FHSU, he has coached seven All-MIAA selections on the offensive line, led by two-time second team selection Hawk Rouse in 2011 and 2012 and second-team selection Mario Abundez in 2013. The Tiger offensive line helped produce an average of over 2,000 rushing and 2,000 passing yards per year in Iske’s three seasons. Iske came to FHSU after two seasons at Northwestern Oklahoma State University where he was the offensive coordinator, special teams coordinator and offensive line coach. His 2010 team won the conference championship and led the conference in rushing offense, sacks allowed and kickoff returns.

 

 

Introduction

 

The ability to keep your quarterback upright in the pocket and healthy is one of, if not the, most important jobs of your offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. Teaching proper pass sets, hand placement, aiming points, etc. is vital to getting this done. Being able to pick up defensive movement (slants/twists/blitzes/etc.) is just as important.

 

MAN PROTECTION SETS

We teach four types of pass sets with our man protection:

One Set (vs. Inside Shade):

Slide1

Post set. First step is six-inch step for width with inside foot. Second step is a drag with the outside foot that mirrors the first step. It is important that we maintain our stagger as we post set (inside foot up / outside foot back). Our aiming point is the midline of the defender (cover him up).

 

Two Set (vs. Head-Up Shade)

Slide2

Square set. First step is a pop-it step in place with the inside foot. Second step mirrors the first step. Since our aiming point is the midline, we are already there by alignment. We simply pop our feet, snap our head back and react to the defender’s movement.

 

Three Set (vs. Outside Shade):

Slide3

Kick set. First step is a six-inch step for width and depth with the outside foot. Second step is a drag with the inside foot that mirrors the first step. It is important that these two steps mirror each other to keep our shoulders square to the line of scrimmage. Aiming point is midline of the defender.

 

Four Set (vs. Wide Outside Shade):

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Quarters Safety Flat Foot Technique

Quarters Safety Flat Foot Technique

Posted by | Jun 22, 2014 | , , | 0 |

By Luke Tribble – @ltribb3

Defensive Backs Coach

Harding University

 

 

CurtisEditor’s Note:  Coach Tribble became Harding University’s  Secondary coach summer of 2012. This past season, the Harding secondary led Great American Conference in Total Defense, Scoring Defense, Rushing Defense, Sacks and Opponent Completion Pct (50%).  In addition, their  run defense ranked 2nd nationally.  In 2012, the Harding defense notably held their opponents to 6.1 yards per pass attempt and ranked first in Red Zone Defense.  

 

 

Introduction

Having played and coached the Safety position in the 4-2-5 defense, I’m a big believer in playing your safeties flat footed whenever possible.  Now we play a form of Cover 4 most of the time and this article is written from the perspective of a Quarters Defense. We may play it a little different to the boundary than we do to the field but it’s still Cover 4 by principle. More and more teams are playing their safeties flat footed or something close to that, but I believe there are still some people out there that back pedal their safeties because that’s what they’ve always done.  The only time our safeties back pedal is when they are responsible for the vertical route of more than one wide receiver, which we call that a divider technique. The times that our safeties use a Divider are basically any time we play Cover 2 vs. two or three wide receivers or when we play Cover 4 to a three receiver side.

Reasoning Behind a Flat-Footed Read

I believe there are many advantages to playing your safeties flat footed.  These are the reasons below:

  1. Gets your safeties involved in the run game quicker
  2. Puts safeties in better position to defend intermediate routes
  3. Takes advantage of our safeties strengths
    1. Safeties don’t have feet and hips of a Corner, but they can burst, they understand angles and leverage and recognize routes quickly
  4. Denies a 2 way go with vertical routes in the slot
  5. Makes it easier for safeties to have disciplined eyes

Pre-Snap Eyes

Here’s exactly what I mean when I say we play our Safeties flat footed. Our safeties are aligned 10-12 yards from the L.O.S. based on formation and personnel.  They are in an athletic stance with their feet square to the L.O.S.  They will be getting their run/pass key from a TE if there is one on their side. If there is no TE they will key the nearest uncovered OL. (We can change our reads from week to week if needed based on best read and/or packaged plays) When the ball is snapped our Safeties don’t move while getting their run/pass key. Some guys will bounce a little which is fine as long as they stay in place. The most common phrase you’ll hear from our Safeties Coach is “Don’t go til ya know” which as far as I know came from TCU. The worst thing our safeties can do is run themselves out of a play. We stress being patient and then trusting the read you get. If our safeties read run they are flying to their fit. If they read pass they hinge and shuffle.

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Implementing Nakeds From Zone Run Game

Implementing Nakeds From Zone Run Game

Posted by | Jun 15, 2014 | , , , , | 0 |

 

By Tyler Hughes

Former Head Coach

Snow Junior College

 

 

 

hughes snow collegeEditor’s Note:  Coach Hughes served as the former head coach at JUCO Powerhouse Snow College in Utah, leading his team to a 20-4 overall record, 2 bowl game championships and a top 5 national ranking in 2 seasons. Prior to being named the head coach, he served as the Offensive Coordinator leading Snow to a 70-13 overall record (.843 winning percentage) in 7 seasons as an assistant coach.  Coach Hughes is currently at football intern at The Ohio State University.

 

Background

At Snow College, we have been a 2-Back, Pro-Style Attack since the 2006 season.  During that time, our offense has finished in the NJCAA’s top 10 in total offense in five of seven seasons while averaging over 40 points per game.  Our run game has featured tight and wide zone concepts paired with toss and draw.  As a result, we have focused great attention in developing our nakeds off our zone run action in an effort to develop a comprehensive offensive system. 

 

Why Nakeds?

There are a number of reasons why we feel nakeds are an integral piece of our offensive attack.  First, they tie directly into our run game.  We ran tight zone 156 times in 2012 and need to have run-action looks that complement tight zone.  Our nakeds come off of tight zone fakes so it has been imperative that we spend an appropriate level on time in developing these plays.  Second, a solid naked game enhances our run game by delaying backside pursuit.  We’ve been fortunate to have a number of explosive plays where our running backs have cutback beyond our backside tackle as the opponent’s backside DE concerns himself with playing the boot action by our quarterback, thus taking him out his gap and giving us a huge running lane.  Third, our nakeds have proven to be highly successful in the red zone, particularly while on the goal line.  And fourth, the statistics generated from our nakeds reinforces the need to have them in our offense.  Over the past seven seasons, our nakeds have produced the following:

  • EXPLOSIVES: An explosive play 35% of the time a naked was called
  • EFFICIENCY: Have completed over 63% of pass attempts
  • TOUCHDOWNS: 1 in 5 TD passes over the past seven seasons have been off of our nakeds.  Generally, these passes have come in two forms: a deep ball from our split route or on the goal line.

Protection Schemes

Like any successful offensive play, everything begins with your blocking success up front.  Our protection scheme for our naked game is summed up by the following points:

  1. The OL is responsible for all front-side box defenders as well as the backside DT. 
  2. Our hold-off player (responsible for backside C gap in the run game) accounts for the backside DE and the Will LB.  In other words, the EMLOS (end man on line of scrimmage).  We want him to wash down the backside DE and the Will LB if they both come off of the edge while taking the most outside threat.  Our hold-off player should block the EMLOS on his outside shoulder, thus giving the QB his best chance to avoid pressure in his face while throwing the ball down the field.   
  3. Our H should make a great fake first followed by providing help inside-out in the event of any leakage.      

Slide1

Quarterback Play

The quarterback’s ball handling, footwork and mechanics are essential to having success on nakeds.  Let’s begin with the quarterback’s basic fundamentals: 

  1. The quarterback will front out at 5 or 7 o’clock depending on the play call.  He will follow that path for two steps before stepping at 6 o’clock.
  2. Between his second and third step, the quarterback will execute the play fake.  Assuming he has opened up to his right, he will extend his left arm towards the running back while placing the nose football just above belt high. 
  3. While fully extended, the quarterback will take small, choppy steps away from the line of scrimmage.  We refer to that rapid footwork as ‘buzz steps.’
  4. The quarterback should ‘follow’ the running backs path with his faking hand while keeping his eyes on his hand, thus making an excellent fake.
  5. At the conclusion of the fake, the quarterback will bring his faking hand back to the football giving us two hands on the ball.        
  6. The quarterback should work to a depth of 9 yards.  This is important for two reasons.  First, he generates plenty of clearance from the defense.  Secondly, he is in great position to come ‘downhill’ which will give him the best chance of making a great throw.  If he is too shallow, the quarterback will have difficulty getting his hips and chest pointed at his target. 
  7. A couple of other coaching points for the quarterback are as follows: The quarterback needs to be slow in his fake and fast out of it.  In other words, we want him to sell the run-action as long as possible.  We have found that the longer he holds the fake, the greater chance he will have to get out of the pocket cleanly.  Once his fake is completed, however, he needs to ‘put the gas pedal down’ to get out.  When the quarterback eases out of his fake he will find himself in a great deal of trouble.  Finally, we do not want the quarterback to set his feet when he clears the pocket.  The concern I have is that he will set his feet without having an understanding of his backside pursuit and get hit from his blindside. 
  8. After we discuss the route running associated with our nakeds we will visit the read executed by the quarterback.

Route Running

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HSU’s Nickel Pressure Package

HSU’s Nickel Pressure Package

Posted by | Jun 9, 2014 | , , | 0 |

By Carey Baker – @BakerCarey

Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line Coach

Henderson State University

 

hsudefenseEditor’s Note: Carey Baker has been the defensive coordinator at Henderson State University since 2010 where the Reddies have won three conference titles and made two Division II playoff appearances.  Baker previously served as defensive coordinator at the University of Charleston (WV) and Southern Arkansas University.  He was also a graduate assistant at Southern Miss and coached safeties for Georgia Southern on its  I-AA National Championship team in 1999.

 

Introduction

It has been an exciting last few years at Henderson State University.  We have won 26 consecutive regular season games against Division II opponents, won our conference title three of the last for years and made two appearances in the Division II national playoffs.  Defensively in 2013, we were 4th nationally in yards per play defense (4.37), 5th nationally in yards per pass defense (5.69), and 11th nationally in yards per rush defense (2.92).

Back in 2007, I began experimenting with an ultra-light personnel on defense for passing situations.  We were basing out of the 4-3 and running an extensive amount of 3-3 stack on third down.  What started out as some 3-4 blitzes evolved into a two down-linemen package we call Panther.  Panther is essentially a 2-5 with a 2-Shell behind it.

Personnel and Alignments

The personnel elements of Panther are two down linemen in head-up 2-techniques.  We call them Tackle and Nose.  We have two stand-up OLB’s that we call Sam and Will.  The Sam and Will are our best pass-rushing LB’s and are thinking rush first.  They will box (contain) any kind of run.  Several of our Wills have defensive end backgrounds from the 4-3 but have become Wills in our 3-4 and Panther groupings.   Our Mike linebacker is stacked over the center.  There are two hybrid LB/DB’s we call the Nickel and the Panther.  The rest of the defensive backfield is our normal two corners, strong and free safeties aligned in a 2/4 shell.

The base alignment for Panther is a 2-Man alignment.  The OLB are in two point stances as if they might rush or drop.  The Nickel and Panther cover up the #2 receivers as if in man coverage.  The sell the alignment, it is important to play 2-Man often (Diagram 1 – Base).  However, the true beauty of Panther has been the variety of pressures with the Nickel, Sam, Mike, Will, and Panther as potential rushers.

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Vertical Pass Concepts Off Run Action

Vertical Pass Concepts Off Run Action

Posted by | Jun 8, 2014 | , , , , | 0 |

 

By Ryan Anderson

Offensive Coordinator

Hamilton College

 

eck rolls outEditor’s Note:  Coach Anderson is entering his third year as the offensive coordinator for the Hamilton College football team. In 2012, the Continentals boasted their highest offensive output in 20 years with an average of more than 20 points per game. Two players made the NESCAC all-conference team on offense. James Stanell ’14 led the conference in all-purpose yards per game last year and his 1,560 all-purpose yards are the second-highest total in NESCAC history. Stanell finished second in rushing yards per game and Joe Jensen ’15 was third in receiving yards per game.  Anderson was the offensive coordinator at Western New England University in 2010 and 2011. He helped guide the Golden Bears to the best record in team history at 10-2 in 2011. WNEU captured its first New England Football Conference (NEFC) championship and the Golden Bears made their first NCAA Division III championship appearance.  The offense set numerous program records in Anderson’s two years at WNEU, including total offense in a game (688 yards), total offense in a season (4,105 yards), points in a game (66) and points in a season (341). In 2010, the Golden Bears ranked second in the 16-team NEFC and 15th in Division III with 246.9 rushing yards per game. Anderson coached a total of nine NEFC Boyd Division all-division players on offense, including the 2010 NEFC Boyd Division Offensive Player of the Year.

 

 

We are a zone read team that incorporates a pitch phase in a lot of our run game.  We feel that an effective play action pass game is important complement our base offense.  We want to run the football effectively enough to influence secondary run support. This will give us good matchups to throw the football. We use the TE Seam concept to complement our base runs. We have had a lot of success with this play over the years. We primarily work out of the gun and use a TE (11 Personnel), 50% of the time. We also feel this great way to highlight an athletic TE that can run and catch in space.  This route combination can be applied to other formations to match your base run formations for that week. Your offense won’t have to learn a new route combination.

Slide1

Protection

We use a gap scheme protection that utilizes a pulling guard. We feel like this scheme is the best way to emulate our base zone scheme up front.

Attack Side Tackle– He is responsible for the B gap. If there is a defensive lineman in the B gap he will block him.  If there is nobody in the B gap, step down hard and square up eying second level defenders. It is important the tackle can pick up a linebacker who is scraping over the top.

Attack Side Guard- He is responsible for the A gap. If there is a defensive lineman in the A gap he will block him.  If there is nobody in the A gap, step down hard and square up eying second level defenders.  It is important to be aware second level blitz.

Center- He is responsible for the back side A gap. If there is a defensive lineman in the A gap he will block him.  If there is nobody in the A gap, step down hard and square up eying second level defenders.  It is important to be aware second level blitz.

Back Side Guard- We want the guard to log the first defender outside the attack side tackle’s block. We coach him to log unless the defender is 2 yards up field or 2 yards outside the attack side tackle.

Back Side Tackle– He is responsible for the B gap. If there is a defensive lineman in the B gap he will block him.  If nobody is in the B gap he will block the first defender head up to outside.

Tailback- He will use the same technique as he does on our zone run play and then execute his protection.  If there is a defensive lineman in the B gap, he will block C to D gap after his fake. If there is no B gap defensive lineman, he will block B to D gap after his fake.

Quarterback- The quarterback must have a strong understanding of the protection. He must be aware of an unblocked blitz during his pre-snap routine.  If we have an unblocked blitz the quarterback will throw the ball away or throw it to the bubble. We cannot take a sack.

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Perfecting No Huddle Mechanics

Perfecting No Huddle Mechanics

Posted by | Jun 8, 2014 | , , | 0 |

By Matt Kerstetter – coachkert26

Wide Receiver Coach

Westfield High School (TX)

 

 

Editor’s Note: Coach Kerstetter was one of the first coaches to move to an exclusively No-Huddle system in Los Angeles, where he was the Head Coach at Taft High School in Woodland Hills, CA from 2007-2010. Utilizing the No-Huddle to Run and Pass effectively, “Coach K” accumulated a 35-15 record during his time there. Kerstetter guided offenses that put up as much as 6,300 yds in 13 games in 2010, adapting the same system to fit his talented players, which allowed for over 3,000 yds rushing in 2009 and a year later changed gears to break the 4,000 yard passing barrier in 2010. Kerstetter has a unique distinction of coaching in the “Big 3” football states, having coached for 10 years in Southern California, 2 in Florida, and is now heading into his 2nd year in Texas as the QB/WR coach for Westfield HS in Houston. Kerstetter has had numerous players go on to play at the collegiate and NFL levels.

 

Anyone can be a no huddle team.  All you have to do it remove the huddle and find a different way to communicate.  Running an efficient, up tempo, no huddle team is a different matter altogether.  These teams move at a frantic pace, forcing coaches to think quicker, and teams to practice quicker. It has to become a lifestyle or identity for the team.

A few years back, Gus Malzahn (HC at Auburn and HS and College No Huddle Guru) cautioned me about making the switch to no huddle saying that “you have to be “all in” and that if you do it halfway, you’ll never get the results you want.”  He explained that I needed to be prepared for bumps in the road, questioning from staff members, and even some own self-doubt. It is not an overnight process.

With that advice fresh in my mind, I started out on a no huddle journey that forced me to truly evaluate every part of my program to make sure that it was preparing them for the end goal.  I decided to break down every second of the play to play progression of the game in order to find potential efficiencies that our team could take advantage of.

The following is a breakdown from Start to Finish of calling one play to the next play, and how it all fits together.  It includes what we look for and what the players/coaches should be focused on during every second of the offensive possession.

Play to Play Timeline

  1. Previous Play Ends
  2. Next Formation / Tempo
  3. Next Play / Tag
  4. Assess the Defense
  5. Audibles, Motions, and Cadence
  6. Snap, Execute, and Repeat

Phase 1:  Previous Play Endswestfieldhs

As the play is winding down, we are already trying to find out exactly where the ball is going to be spotted, particularly yard line and hash, and most coaches will tell you that they are trying their best to think a few plays ahead. We need to be getting quality information from the coaches who are charting plays.  Particularly if we have the other team on their heels and can take advantage of that with a pre-determined “Fast Paced Series” set of plays.  We look for the following:

Players Are Focused On:

  1. Ballcarrier must hand the ball to the official.  The faster we get the ball handed to the official, the faster they can spot it and put it into play.
  2. All players need to Jog/Run, getting to the L.O.S to be ready to run the next play
  3. Have their eyes to the sideline for any special “Fast Paced Series” (like an automatic signal or call to run the same play out of same formation immediately, or a predetermined play that we have assigned signal/number code to.

Coaches Are Focused On:

  1. Assignment checks.  Execution of previous play, by position group.  These are not asked for, but matter of commenting.  Good and Bad things that occurred by someone or a group that made a play successful or a bust.
  2. Assessing defensive conditioning and matchups.  Is the defense winded/tired?  Do we need to run one of our “Fast Paced Series” and keep the tempo at an extreme level.  Are they trying to make any substitutions?
  3. Assessing offensive conditioning and matchups.  Are any of our WR’s exhausted and not running a route full speed (if so, we need to sub them).  Is there a personnel package or formation that gives us a mismatch to stick with or attack?
  4. Relaying information from Play Charts (discussed more later) .  Should be limited to small pieces of information that you have decided are crucial during the series.  We like to focus on if we are getting the looks we expected.  If so, we can stay on the game plan, if not we know we need to adjust.

Phase 2: Next Formation / Tempo

With everyone immediately engaging with the sidelines, the coaches are now able to send in the next formation and tempo.  We game plan the formation and tempo for each week considering things like formation strength and how we want to address the boundary and field (discussed in detail in the “Keys” portion of the article).  Our confidence in our scouting and belief in what the defense is going to do go a long way in determining the tempo at which we will operate.  Here is what we are looking for and expect to happen as the formation and tempo come in:

Key Points:

  1. If we didn’t go with a fast paced series, then we must signal the new formation + the tempo.
  2. Do they have any player on defense bending over with his hands on his knees?  Call something to put them in space and attack them.
  3. Formation that suits the situation, down/distance, and spot on field.
  4. Formation that puts defense in a look that gives us space to attack.

Coaches Are Focused On:

  1. Assessing the Play.  Is this a play we like (we think we know the exact look we are going to get from defense and we like our chances of executing), if so, then go on fastest tempo.
  2. Predicting the Defense.  Is there a chance they might be lined up to defend this look, stacking a side, or playing a coverage to take it away, then we might want to check out of the play.  We go at a slower tempo, giving the QB and the play caller a chance to “uncover the defense” and either stay with the play or get to a better one.
  3. Watching Their Sideline.  Is the defense trying to sub anyone out late in the process?  We must go on 1st sound and snap the ball immediately.

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Boundary Tags on Horn PAP Concept

Boundary Tags on Horn PAP Concept

Posted by | Jun 1, 2014 | , , | 0 |

By Mike Hallett – @coachhallett

Head Football Coach

Heidelberg University

 

heidelberg620Editor’s Note:  Coach Hallett currently is entering his 8th season as the head coach at Heidelberg University.  All told, he has over 20 years of coaching experience, including three (2004-06) as head coach at Thomas More College in Crestview Hills, Ky. Prior to taking the reins at Thomas More, Hallett served as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach for the Saints. His coaching career began as an assistant at his alma mater, Orrville High School. The 2012 season was one of the most memorable campaigns in the 100+ year history of Heidelberg football. Hallett’s squad finished the regular season with a 9-1 record and earned their first trip to the NCAA Division III Playoffs. Though the Student Princes dropped their first round game, the nation recognized his remarkable accomplishment — Hallett had taken a team riding a 36-game losing streak to the playoffs in six seasons. Hallett is a 1994 graduate of Mount Union and was a member of the Purple Raiders’ 1993 National Championship team. He was a two time All-American, and was named National Defensive Lineman of the Year. He is enshrined in the Mount Union Athletics Hall of Fame.

 

Introduction

It is an honor to present our Boot Series to X and O Labs.  At Heidelberg, we are committed to having a strong run game and we want to use our play-action passing game to complement our run game and keep the defense off balance.  This article will focus on our Boot action which complements our sweep play (pin and pull) run play, which has been very successful for us over the past three seasons. 

Editor’s Note:  Heidelberg’s Pin and Pull concept was detailed earlier in a clinic report.

With the advent of our sweep as our primary perimeter run game, we want to have action that works opposite the sweep action and our boot has been a very good match for us. Our sweep was called 80 times in 2013, gaining 668 yards, and 8.4 yards per carry.  Our boot was called 70 times, with 2 QB runs.  68 passes resulted in 736 yards, averaging 10.8 yards per call. 

 

Protection

We will have some base rules for our offensive line with regards to protection.  We also have some base adjustments to our rules to help handle problematic fronts, which we have encountered historically.  With our offensive line, we use the term “Elephants on Parade” (EOP) for the group.  The OL will turn and run to the sideline of the run action, blocking defenders they encounter on the way to the sideline of the run fake.  We feel the strong run look will affect the linebackers and force defenders, drawing away from our front side of the route distribution.  Our base rule will include a pull from our BS guard (FS to the Run Action), who will work to secure the edge for the QB (Diagram 1).  Our puller is instructed to kick out or cut a hard charging EMOL, and to log any read technique defender.  We want our puller to take the widest defender, if two show up on the edge.  We feel securing the widest allows our QB to get to the edge to have a run/pass option in the perimeter.  The innermost guy must run the hump.  The end should get sucked in with run action.

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4-2-5 Defense by the Experts

4-2-5 Defense by the Experts

Posted by | Jun 1, 2014 | , , | 0 |

By Mike Kuchar

Senior Research Manager

X&O Labs

 

 

When we first compiled our research on the 4-2-5 defense, you (our readers) had specific questions – so we provided specific answers by going right to the source- selecting three of the more prominent coaches that run the scheme (all of whom you asked us to contact).  Mike Kuchar (MK), our Senior Research Manager, spoke exclusively with each of them – asking them YOUR questions, and their responses are below.  Our goal was to get a FBS coach, an FCS coach and a smaller level coach. 

The Contributors

Bud Foster (BF)– Regarded as one of the top defensive minds in the game, Bud Foster enters his 26th season at Virginia Tech. The 2006 Broyles Award winner has helped mold nationally ranked defenses on a yearly basis during his 17 years as a coordinator.  Foster, who was a finalist three previous times (1999, 2001, 2005) for the award given to the nation’s top assistant football coach, has gained a well-deserved reputation as one of the nation’s most respected defensive coaches.

Mickey Matthews (MM)–During his 13 seasons, Mickey Matthews has firmly established James Madison University football among the nation’s leading Football Championship Subdivision programs. While becoming the winningest coach in JMU football history, he has led the Dukes to an NCAA championship (2004) and to five other playoff appearances (1999, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011).  Matthews three times has been National Coach of the Year (1999 Eddie Robinson Award by The Sports Network; American Football Coaches’ 2004 award; 2008 Robinson Award and an award by Liberty Mutual) and was Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year in 1999 and CAA Coach of the Year in 2008.  Matthews said he learned the scheme directly from Gary Patterson and his staff both when Patterson was at New Mexico State and TCU.

Chris Brown (CB)–  Chris Brown entered his third season as head coach of Fort Hays State in 2013. Brown came to Fort Hays State from Washburn University, where he served as the defensive coordinator and defensive secondary coach from 2002-2010 and assistant head coach in 2010.  Before coming to Hays, Brown helped Washburn compile a 62-41 record in his nine-year span with the program, which included two NCAA playoff appearances and two bowl wins. In his time at Washburn, Brown coached the 2009 and 2006 MIAA Most Valuable Defensive Players and guided two players selected in the NFL Draft (defensive tackle Trey Lewis-6th round 2007, and cornerback Cary Williams-7th round 2008). Brown also coached six All-Americans, 20 all-region and 41 All-MIAA selections at Washburn. His defense led the MIAA in turnovers gained in three of his final four seasons there, including a school record-tying 23 interceptions in 2007.Brown learned the scheme from sitting down with Jerry Kill, now the head coach at the University of Minnesota and with studying what Bud Foster was doing at Virginia Tech University.  Brown was actually a three-time All-American at Free Safety in the 4-2-5 defense as a collegian at Pittsburg State University.

 

 

MK:  What has changed most in the 4-2-5 defense today from when it was a 4-4 defense?  How has it progressed?

BF:  We’ve gone around and around with this.  The Whip position (Field Safety) for us has become more of a hybrid for us.  The Rover (Boundary Safety) and Free Safety haven’t changed a lot for us.  We’re playing more with a true safety type guy. We’d like him to be physical enough to force the end run, but with the way offenses are designed now, you can play some man coverage with him and not put up a “red flag” by changing personnel and brining it a Nickel package.  This way, you’re always playing with a Nickel package.  Offenses now just spread you around and match up.  Those outside backer/safety players are most important. 

MM:  We went from a 4-3 to a 4-2-5 because of all the one-back sets we’re encountering now.  It’s easier to adjust with a 4-2-5 than a 4-3.  If you’re in a 4-3, one of your outside backers must become an adjuster, so it ends up being a 4-2-5 anyway against spread sets. 

CB:  The game on offense has changed; it went from a ‘ground and pound’ philosophy to more of a pass happy game.  Now we have smaller, outside linebackers/safety types that play that position.  Years ago, those players were true rush linebackers with hardly no coverage responsibility.  Now these guys are safeties that can still play man to man coverage, play half field coverage and set the edge in the run game. 

 

MK:  Describe the personnel types of your three safeties.

BF:  When we recruit our Whip’s (Field Safety) those are a variety of skill sets.  We look for guys that can run and have some toughness because you want them to be able to blitz and force the run.  You’re looking for a big safety or a running back in high school because those are your better athletes.   We’d even look for QB’s because those are some of your smarter players and better athletes.  We’ve even had receivers in the past play that position for us.  We spill everything to them, so they need to be open-field players and have the ability to cover people in space.  Our Free Safety is a flat foot reader and alley player.  He must carry number two in the seam as well as play the Drag and Dig routes.  He needs to also be a factor in the run game.  We try to have one more defender than they have a blocker.  Our free hitter must be the Rover, Whip or Free Safety.

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Isolating the X in Trips

Isolating the X in Trips

Posted by | May 25, 2014 | , | 0 |

By Curt Fitzpatrick

Head Coach

Morrisville State

 

 

 

headshot 2 fitzpatrickEditor’s Note:  Coach Fitzpatrick is entering his 2nd season at the healm of Morrisville State.  Prior to that, Coach Fitzpatrick  served  as the Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach for the Utica College football program since 2007.  During that time, Fitzpatrick’s balanced, no-huddle offense has elevated the Pioneers to become one of the top offenses in the Empire 8 conference and propelled the Pioneers to shatter school records in various offensive categories year after year. The 2012 season proved to be the Pioneer offense’s most prolific to date as they led the Empire 8 conference in several offensive categories, including: Points per Game (34.2), Yards per Game (465.0), Passing Yards per Game (340.2), Completion Percentage (66.2%), First Downs per Game (24.3), and 3rd Down Conversion Percentage (50%).  All of those categories broke school records as well, in addition to breaking school records for Pass Completions (274), Passing TDs (33), Pass Efficiency Rating (156.2), and Total Offense per Play (6.3 yds/play).

 

Note:  The article below was written during Coach Fitzpatrick’s last year on staff at Utica College.  

 

 

On behalf of our Head Coach Blaise Faggiano and the rest of the staff here at Utica College, I’d like to thank X&O labs for giving me the opportunity to contribute this clinic report.  I read X&O labs on a regular basis, and look forward to getting the weekly emails outlining each week’s new topics.  For me, the information that is shared on X&O labs has helped me become a better coach and helped us become a better football program as a whole.  For this clinic report, I would like to share our pass game philosophy as it relates to 3×1 formations, specifically some ideas that we use to attack and utilize the single receiver side.

Before I get started, I think it is important to first understand what we believe in as our passing game philosophy.  Everything that we do, both run and pass, must fit into our offensive philosophies.  Here is what we believe in as it relates to our passing game: 

Utica Passing Game Philosophy:

  1. Be a high completion percentage team.  That’s where our philosophy starts.  I tell our quarterbacks on meeting number one of spring practice, and reiterate it at the start of training camp each year, that their number one role on our football team is to get completions.  Those completions can come many different ways, but the ball must get into the hands of our playmakers as much as possible. Our goal is for our completion percentage to be at 70%.  We track that number after every practice and every game to see where we’re at.  Last season we completed 66.2% of our passes.
  2. Attack multiple coverage looks with the same play.  When it comes to the passing game, I don’t want our QBs to have to check in and out of plays based on the coverage look.  We try to give them answers to all coverage looks within the same play.  This reduces pre-snap stress and lets the QB see and react, rather than overthink.
  3. Utilize the same route concepts out of multiple formations.  This is a common theme for many of coaches out there.  Utilizing the same concepts and just changing the formation (or the use of motion/shifts) allows the teaching to remain consistent.  Any time that you can run one concept that looks like two different plays to a defense, that’s a great thing.  Also, doing so helps the QB to develop consistency and confidence in making reads, eventually leading to him getting the ball out faster and more efficiently.
  4. Have balance.  For us, this means getting the ball to lots of different people.  The QB’s favorite receiver has to be the one that is open.  While we do find ways to get the ball to our studs every game, we won’t force the ball to our stud when the defense is intent on taking him away.  Passing the ball, especially out of a 3×1 formation, is a numbers game.  If they devote too many defenders to take away one player there are going to be big-time opportunities elsewhere on any given play.

For the first part of this report, I will refer to 3×1 formations with a single detached WR receiver on the backside (Trips Open).  Later on, I will discuss briefly 3×1 with a nub-side TE on the backside (Trips Closed).  In a Trips Open set, the first thing that we do is make sure that our best player, our show pony, is playing the single WR (X).  We want our best guy playing the X because it clears up the defense for the QB.  Putting your best guy all by himself on the backside forces the defense to tip their hand as to how they plan to defend him.  Are they going to leave him 1 on 1 with the CB?  Are they going to soften the CB and have an overhang LB/S in the flat underneath?  Are they going to play with a hard CB and give Safety help over the top?  Determining how many defenders they have designated to defend the X WR is where we start in most of our 3×1 progressions.  We call this “Free Access.”

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Training the 9-Technique vs. Pass

Training the 9-Technique vs. Pass

Posted by | May 17, 2014 | , , | 0 |

By Mike Kuchar

Senior Research Manager

X&O Labs

Researchers’ Note: You can access the raw data of this report – in the form of graphs – by clicking here to read: 9-Technique Statistical Analysis Report.

As a follow up to last week’s report on training your 9-techinque to play the run game (click here to read the report), this week’s research will center on how that 9-technique player could play the pass game.  Again, it’s important to clarify that a 9-technique is any player on the outside tip of the tight end, or third player in a three man surface.  For the purpose of this report, we’ll focus on the outside linebacker type in an even (Diagram 1) or odd (Diagram 2) front.

 

 

As we detailed in the last report, playing the 9-techinque position is so vital defensively because you must have the speed to rush the passer while having the strength to handle the D gap in the run game.  Combine this with the athleticism required to play zone coverage with the needed speed to play man coverage and you see how important it is to have a player with all these skills.  We wanted to know which kind of player coaches look for when evaluating the 9-techinque defender, so we asked.  We came up with the following results below.  In no particular order:

Qualities of a 9-Technique Defender (Based on Coaches’ Responses) 

 

 

  • “I used to be a believer in the bigger DL type body to play end, but over the past years, we have had more success with the faster OLB type.” – Kurt Gielink
  • “Our most successful 9-tech were 6-3 to 6-4 basketball swing player type bodies.” – Keith Albers
  • “Like any other defensive position the best eagle defenders we have understand how to read blocks. They have to either squeeze a down block, fight a reach block, or see high hat from tackle and get to the flats in our cover 3.” – Anonymous Feedback
  • “Fearlessness, usually your best athlete. Someone who is big enough to take on a tight end or even a tackle, but also someone who can drop in coverage, keep contain, and occasionally play man coverage.” – Gary Alleva
  • “Too strong for backs to block & too quick for OTs to block. Could out leverage TEs”- Tony Demeo
  • “We like for this player to be physical and quick. He should never get reached and must be able to react flat down the LOS on any down block from the TE. We like for him to be a great speed rusher because his distance from the OT makes that player’s pass protection difficult vs. speed.”- Rick Wimmer
  • “Relatively long and tall kids. Maybe a bit slow to play OLB consistently but better feet than typical defensive linemen.” – John Talley
  • “Our Sam LB is a player most often in a nine technique. We would prefer not to substitute personnel and our Sam also has to play an Apex technique when #2 is removed. Because of this our Sam is usually a bigger safety who has the ability to play in space. Since he is a bigger safety he usually is smaller than the TE and because of this we play him wider when he has to align in a nine technique. The best Sam that I have coached in my four years as a defensive coordinator was about 6’3 215 and former high school safety.” – Scott Sperone
  • “We would like a kid that is athletic and can run, but it’s also important that they can use their hands and understand leverage. We won’t sacrifice technique for athleticism though. At our level (high school) it’s more important to squeeze and wrong arm than it is to pass rush.” – Anonymous Feedback
  • “Our 9-tech player was more like our weak side LB. While most of the time he was a rush end, we did use him for Zone and even Man coverage’s (Man coverage on TE). We felt someone similar to that of the Will LB could handle any of the calls/coverage’s we would use from this technique and wouldn’t have to switch him out or be out of position if we had to change our call at the LOS.” – Daryl Taaffe

When we started our research, we were under the assumption that the 9-technique defender (if not a defensive lineman) was mainly a pass defender and not a rusher, particularly in odd front defenses.  So, we weren’t that surprised when we got the results of our tally below.

The results between pass defenders and rush defenders in the odd front were pretty much even, mainly because those defenders are usually linebackers in nature.  But when we polled our coaches that run the even defense we’ve found those 9-techique defenders in the Under defense are pass-rushers first, and coverage players second.

So, because our results were split between being pass defenders and pass rushers, in order to accommodate the needs of both defensive structures, we’ll explain both scenarios of the 9-technique being a coverage player as well as a rusher below.  Since the majority of 9-techniques are pass rushers, we’ll start there.

Case 1: Using the 9-Technique as a Rush/Contain Player

Through our research, we’ve found that the 9-technique outside linebacker is rarely a pass rusher unless in pressure situations.  In most of these situations, coaches will play some form or three deep pressure behind it by dropping a safety (Diagram 3). 

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