What Do You Do With Rudy?

Tough call and like you said, as a coach you hate to not reward the player for his hard work. However, my old high school coach once told me when I had outworked another kid for the starting QB job but ended up as a backup because he was just a better athlete than me at the time, "unfortunately, genetics play a role in high school football."

We say we're about teaching life lessons in this deal, right? Unfortunately, working your dick off doesn't guarantee you're going to be the best and win a spot/get a job, etc.

I would have him on every special team, and have him learn a few different spots. If there is an injury, you have someone you trust to get lined up right, etc. I believe with all my heart that good things happen to kids that work very hard, and he'll find a nice niche on your team.

Like I said, it sucks balls to have to look the kid in the eye and tell him he's just not good enough. Good luck with that, but if it's the right thing for your team then you have to do it.

Are there any other positions where he might be better suited to play?

He's a safety for us. He doesn't have the attributes to play inside the box. He picks up a fair amount of tackles because the front funnels things his way. They were open field tackles; he's very coachable and knows the fundamentals in that situation. But, he does so only after the runner picks up 10 yards; he's friggin slow. We were terrible on defense and that's a long story; check out the General Defensive board for the details. These guys that are coming back would be stopping the runner at 5 yards..

It just sucks because he's kind of become the "beckon of hope" in terms of the school's attitude towards football. The general thought is that if we can coach this kid up and have him perform as well as he did that the coaching is good and the program is on the right track. Now, I'm not thumping my chest on that one or being arrogant. Those are the sentiments coming out of the student body and the administration.

The kid really is our Rudy; he's a source of pride and inspiration for the program and that is what is killing me.

Just my opinion, but you clearly are indicating that "Rudy" is a kid you can count on. Our program slogan is "Count On Me" and in my short coaching career (8 years now) I've concluded that this is the most important factor at the high school level. There has to be some way you can give him a legitimate shot.

How small is he and how does his size compare with your competition? All of my 8 years have come at two class C size schools (300 kids & 400 kids) and I have seen some very undersized kids contribute in the defensive front just because they were tough, learned quick and understood their role/assignment.

Are the other kids that will likely play in front of him seniors or fellow juniors? I would think this type of kid would understand this for a season and keep working.

Just give him the chance to contribute somewhere...there has to be some drills that can let you match up "Rudy" vs. your the guys with better measurables. I'm not saying that he automatically gets the chance to be on the playing field, but explain to him that he will get his chance on the practice field and in drills. Best of luck! I don't envy your decision coach.

Don't decide right now. Injuries happen, spots open up. Can he play an outside backer? Our weak side backer was always our kid who was too slow to get reversed, too smart to get screened and didn't have to take on huge tightends and fullbacks all day. Granted I live in Wisconsin where the fullback hasn't gone the way of the dinosaur yet.

Sounds like a special teams captain to me.

Put him on special teams. Make him a safety on special teams. You can structure your kicking units for him to be the safety or contain player. On return units, all he has to do is block. Give him a few snaps here and there on D, but at the end of the day the best must play.

Football is an amazing game. You can find a role for most kids. It may not be the same role he had last season. If you are preaching hard work pays off then find a place for him to contribute to the team. It may not be his starting safety spot, oh well. Best kids play, but if you change personnel on goalline or short yardage and you want to roll a safety up, or special teams captain as mentioned before. There are places to put these kids.

Ok, I must be missing something here. Rudy is a sophomore, rising junior, who started at FS due to lack of numbers. In 1 game he made 17 tackles, being small, slow & weak. This season your numbers are up & have several athletes. So you are worried Rudy won't play. Simple answer is players play. Rudy sounds like a player, he will develop over the next 6 month's. Don't think he will be the same boy he was. Granted he won't grow 6" & put on 50lbs of muscle, but he will definitely grow & change.

I think you have more holes to fill on D then just worrying about Rudy. Unless you were in Robber coverage all game, the FS making 17 tackles is a little scary. If Rudy works as hard as you say I'm sure he can find a spot to play.

If it becomes bad, you can always play him on every special team. Put him in the spot to be successful. If he's a Rudy, he's probably high motor. Put him in a spot to be successful where his leadership can still be highlighted (maybe trying to block punts, a wing back on field goal, the personal protector on punt, ect). And everytime he makes a big play, point it out. That way, the kids will understand he is a major player, and he will be getting the respect he deserves.

If he's lifting and everything, hopefully by his senior year he'll be quick enough to play somewhere consistently.

Maybe you can use him as a wide receiver in blocking situations? Highlight his blocks, ect. Throw him a quick pass every once in a blue moon to keep the defense honest.

That kept jumping out at me as I read this thread. In mean, is he somehow less likely to get you scorched in the kicking game?? I would evaluate it just like any other position battle. If another player is far and away better, he plays. If the two were very close, I would probably go with Rudy.

Completely agree, but if the kid is good enough to make open field tackles, which is hard for most kids to do anyway, I think there is a place on special teams for him. However, if he is hurting you, then you have to do what is best for the team. Do what you have to do to win. I think you give the kid every chance to play just as you would with anyone.

1. He had a large number of tackles because we were playing the 8-man version of Robber out of a 3-2-3. It was the safest position and coverage for him because he wasn't automatically locked up in coverage. I'm not going to get into the intricacies of 8-man football as it's a little different ball game.

2. Of course we have holes to fill on defense, we have holes to fill everywhere. BUT, when you have 8 guys healthy for two games because over half of the squad was either hurt or ineligible (and one got booted) you don't have much of a choice but to work with what you've got.

3. Special teams aren't an option, especially in 8 man. It doesn't take much for big plays to occur in the kicking game because there's a lot of open space to cover.

4. We are going with a 3-3-2 with a 2-shell concepts this year (C2/C4). He's not going to be able to hand the safety spot in either coverage.

I agree with the guy who said don't worry about it quite yet.

But - make more of an effort to have "Rudy" mentor and be a leader in the weight room. He should be LEADING your team in many other ways for 9 months. Don't waste it!

Give him more responsibility, more opportunities to lead this whole off-season. It sounds like this kid will rise to any occasion. in this way he will be building up all your players, you will be building him up.

Get him opportunities to speak to all your youth football players, parents, boosters,etc. He can be an ambassador for your program, leading and "starting" for 9 months before you even play a game. Put all your energy and creativity into channeling his great work ethic and leadership into all these other roles. You never know - he might bring in 4 amazing athletes by his testimonies, etc.

Have him lead an off season service project.

Sometimes we make the mistake of focusing leadership solely on the field and during the season.

One year a team I work with had lost their starting running back, a senior, to injury and the second string junior to injury as well. So for this game, starting at running back was a Sophomore.

The team had instituted what we call "Senior Mentoring" where Seniors mentor a few Sophomores on the team.

They had an excellent and long drive at one point in the game, most of the yards coming on runs by this "3rd string" RB. He wasn't a big guy, maybe 5'8 175 more or less, but he had an enormous heart.

They were hard-earned runs ... gains of 4 here, 3 there ... and on every run this "little" RB was breaking at least 1 tackle.

I'm standing on the sidelines just outside of the box watching the game and watching the 2 RB's who were hurt ... watching the game. It was truly moving.

These 2 upperclassmen were not sulking about injury or playing time - they were going crazy routing for this Sophomore whom they had come to love by mentoring him.

Then came one of the most amazing runs I've ever seen. Power toss coming right at me, RB breaks at least 4 tackles and carries 3 guys with him about 10 yards till they finally drag him out of bounds and still they didn't bring him down. He gets up and immediately points to the 2 upperclassmen RBs, tears are absolutely gushing ... the 2 upperclassmen, drenched in tears as well, are physically being held back by other teammates so they wouldn't run out of the box or on to the field ...

It was an absolute confirmation of what TEAM is about: LOVE. These kids loved one another and they were playing their hearts out for one another, leaving nothing on the field - whether they were injured or whether they were in the spotlight ... it was not about them individually. It was all about the relationships they had built up with one another.

If we as coaches can have this same passion, this same love at building relationships with our fellow coaches and our players by mentoring ... great things happen. Maybe you don't win State but you'll win something much much greater than that - a memory like this!

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