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Post by ramsfootball on Jun 10, 2009 16:31:47 GMT -6
We are having our first round of tryouts this weekend. Now, unlike most of you coaches that keep your same team/players from season to season, Our league holds open draft. So Every coach has to evaluate each player and try to draft a team from scratch.
Good thing is we are having a third party group come in and conduct the evaluations, 40, shuttle, vertical, push ups, and some agility work, they provide a score for each kid.
My thing is and I hope I get to do this, is each coach is allowed to have some face time with each player, I hope. If we get the green light, what kind of drills should I use to eval potential Lineman, RB and QB's?? Based on last years tryout, I'm banking on 15-30min to see 60-70 kids!!!! (we'll expect another 60-70 at next tryouts)
Looking for quick drills (non contact) to be able to gage potential. I assuming that a dozen or so I'll be able to pass along as I coached them last season and few that I seen play.
Any ideas for Line, RB and QB's, We are only expected to have 15-20 player rosters. So we will playing iron man football.
Thanks
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Post by jhanawa on Jun 12, 2009 19:47:59 GMT -6
In our youth league we get what shows up, we've never had tryouts or cuts. Just my opinion but I'd look at work ethic, desire and intelligence first, then athleticism. I'll take coachable smart kids first, if they are athletic then its a bonus but not necessary to be successful.
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Post by los on Jun 12, 2009 21:50:46 GMT -6
Yeah, we did to JH.....we had tryouts for different positions but not for making the team....you come out and behave yourself = your on the team and "will play" somewhere....the only cutting was by their parents, if they made bad grades or did something else wrong, outside of football  .....I was a little different though.....I wanted to find the 5 fastest kids first....then, if they weren't real intelligent, we could always hire a tutor.....or just use a magic marker to write a big "R" and "L" on their hands..... ;D |
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Post by ramsfootball on Jun 15, 2009 9:32:00 GMT -6
To clarify we held evaluations aka tryouts. Every kid gets on a team, The data taken from the evals is to help coaches determine each kids ability level and potential draft day picks.
We had about 95 kids show up out of the 135 pre-registered. We had a third party of sports trainers, run all the kids through the 40, Pro Agility, push ups, and vertical. Then at the end of the session we had a chance to see the kids perform 4-5 diferent drills, from passing and catching, three way tug of war, and getting a few pops on the two man sled.
Now the quest is to build a team, What to do with my first round draft pick? Anyone with suggestions?
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Post by coachdoug on Jun 15, 2009 11:48:22 GMT -6
Like jhanawa, I've never had to deal with tryouts, evals, cuts, etc. However, here is how I think I would approach it - at least the early rounds of the draft. Start by establishing a minimum level of athleticism, below which it doesn't matter how smart or coachable they are. If a kid just can't walk and chew gum at the same time, he's not going to do much on the football field. From the group that has your minimum athletic abiltity, look for the smartest, most coachable kids with the highest sports IQ. You can determine this by watching how they listen to the coaches running the drills, how they follow direction, and how they respond to any instructions or corrections they receive - those things are more important than (or at least as important as) how well they do the drill. Also, if you have the opportunity, observe the kid playing other sports - from organized ball like Little League baseball to pickup games of basketball at the playground. You'll quickly see which kids just "get" sports - that's who you want.
After that, the most important physical characteristics are:
1. Speed - you can't coach it and whichever team has more has a distinct advantage.
2. Overall athleticism - this should probably go first, but the fastest kids are almost always strong overall athletes as well, and of the athletes, the ones you want first are the fastest ones. Look for agility, jumping ability, quickness, ability to change directions, and balance. Balance often gets overlooked, but it's one of the most important characteristics - I don't think I've ever seen a top-notch back that didn't have outstanding balance.
3. Strength. This is much more important than size. A kid can give up 20 pounds (which could easily be 20% of his body weight) to another kid and still manhandle him if he's stronger. This doesn't just mean upper body strength - core strength is more important. Dave Cisar's drill of running with stand-up blocking dummies is a good way to measure this. If you can't do that, at least look at the kids' ability to do situps, leg lifts, lunges, pushups, etc.
4. Size. This probably shouldn't even be on the list - it's almost a nonfactor. But, if you get through everything above and you still have two kids rated evenly, take the taller one. I wouldn't consider weight (unless the two kids are the same height ... LOL), but height has some advantages, especially at positions like TE, DE, WR, QB, and on both lines.
I hope that is helpful.
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Post by ramsfootball on Jun 16, 2009 7:15:55 GMT -6
I'm basically on the same page coachdoug. Once we get the test results back we will be able to see and compare the data of the evals. Each player is assigned a "rating" which is very helpful when putting the prospects into a potential draft order. Height and weight are not factored in the rating. So I took notes on the players overall size this time around. Once you get into the later rounds the talent seems to be even and the only thing separating them is their height, taller is a benefit it seems.
How do you determine your 1st rd 1st pick selection when you have nothing? Do you go with the top rated QB or RB, or grab a Stud Lineman while the picken's are good? Also factor in there are only 3-4 top rated players in each position for 8 teams. Not every team will get what they want or remotely be a balanced team.
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Post by coachdoug on Jun 16, 2009 7:55:55 GMT -6
I wouldn't worry too much about what position you think the kids are project to play - just focus on getting the smartest, most coachable players that also happen to be good athletes. Then from within that group, rank them athletically according to the characteristics we discussed above.
If you do that, you should end up with a smart, coachable group of relatively athletic (and hopefully fast) players. From that group you should have no trouble filling out all the positions. If you just focus on who you think is the top rated QB or RB, you could end up with selfish players with attitude problems.
Just focus on character first, then athleticism, and I think you'll find that you will have everything you need and you'll probably have a much better time coaching them. Good luck.
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.....I was a little different though.....I wanted to find the 5 fastest kids first....then, if they weren't real intelligent, we could always hire a tutor.....or just use a magic marker to write a big "R" and "L" on their hands..... ;D