Recap: Spring Practice Report

Apr 24, 2012 | Practice Organization, Program Development

 

The 10 Things I Learned This Spring


 

By Mike Kuchar

Senior Research Manager

X&O Labs

First and foremost, I would like to extend an official thank you to all of the schools that permitted me complete access into their programs.  At X&O Labs, it’s our goal to develop relationships with people that want to share and give back to the coaching community.  That’s not always the case at every program.

So, now that the suitcases are unloaded and the notes sifted through, I wanted to take this opportunity to present these random streams of consciousness on some important items I noticed at all these practices. It’s what I usually do after my on-site football trips or conventions and I’m sure you’re no different.  So, in no particular order, below are some common denominators I’ve found in each of the places I’ve visited:

Simplified Use of No-Huddle Offenses: In all of the places I’ve visited, only two programs huddled after each play.  This number probably would have been about half only three years ago.  When I asked coaches like Kevin Callahan and his staff at Monmouth, why he is moving to the no-huddle this spring, their answer was simple- it’s efficient.  Not only can you control the tempo of the game, which is why most offenses run it, it helps your players think fast and play fast which is essentially what we’re all trying to do.  Although it would be negligent of me to discuss these teams terminologies, I also felt the terminology of their calls were getting extremely precise.  Teams have found a way to associated names with play concepts and families of play concepts.  I saw some great stuff on this.