Unorthodox practice idea...low numbers

We had 21 last year (probably won't be much better this season) and ended with 19 (less at times with a couple of injuries) and it is a big challenge. Would love some new ideas, as well.

We tried:
- Half-line - We're single wing... didn't work well.
- Strategically remove defensive positions (depending on what we're working on). Inside stuff, we'd not have corners out there, or backside players on sweep, etc. Really the only way we got much meaningful work done.
- Sometimes coaches may just have to grab a shield and step in (not ideal, but sometimes you have to do what you've got to do to get a look).

I thought about garbage cans, and I think they could be really helpful for us in OL group time, but I worry about putting them out there in team time. We're going to really work on our pullers tracking LBers, and static cans don't flow very well.

Get "the work" done in individuals and group work (inside run should be your best friend).

Work Team versus cones or air.

100% correct.  

Stress fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals, and fundamentals again.  

You can try going half line but in my experience that has never adequately worked.  Working on cones can work but you lose the aggressiveness.  In my opinion you should get at least the inside 8 guys and not worry about WR's and Secondary since primarily run the ball. 

Work with the jv. We have set up varsity huddle on 1 hash jv huddle on the other, all remaing varsity and jv players make up the scout team. Total of 33 players needed.

Thanks for the input guys. We have basically been doing team in our summer work outs with just 7/8 on D and no secondary line an inside run I guess. Indy has been fine as well still doing all the drills we normally do to work on our blocking. 

I guess my real problem besides having only 21 guys is that we just don't have the physical size for a scout team. We may have 1-2 guys who can be on the line in scout and after that it's all skinny skill guys who I am afraid will not give us a look or get killed in the process.

That's why I was thinking of the cans out there but I worry about having static objects in the middle of team offense.

For us the following has been helpful:

Half Line O/D

Team: Run plays only v. front 7/8 (IMO this toughens up the 1st group as does half line b/c they know it's a run so your scout guys play a little tougher)

Team Pass v. front 7/8 and 1 DB (We work v. heavy blitz in this and have the 1 DB alternate between covering the primary or secondary receiver, may not be a full defense but at least we can see if our QB is making the correct reads).

Tons of Indy time and group time. This is what has helped us when numbers were an issue.

Amen. Tons of fundamental work in Indy. Break up into sections as much as possible to retain numbers. Inside Run vs the Box. Perimeter Run vs DT, DE, LB, S, CB. Passing Concepts done against CB, S, LB if you mirror your routes. Team on air at the end of practice as conditioning. Start 50 yards out and have them finish each play with a score. Perfect play moves forward 5. Blown assignment and no progress. I went through some REALLY lean years (16 kids two years in a row). Make sure the kids you have get all the coaching you can possibly give and ensure they have an amazing experience. Or you better get used to the lean years. Good luck Coach.

Last year we had 17 boys on our Varsity team, this year we currently have 21 planning to play and that attended camp this week. I actually love this number of kids, I feel we can coach them all and can find a role for all of them. We do have 6 Varsity coaches (mostly volunteers) so we end up having 1 on 3-4 instruction which is great. Here is what we feel is key.

Don't waste time in Practice, since every kid is getting nearly every rep at practice by having a quick tempo your team will be conditioned. We do a ton of film work in an effort to prevent too much banging we want the mental reps to occur through film we spend an hour everyday reviewing film. We currently have 8 lineman 5 ends, 6 RB, two QBs we run double wing so the pulling we do a lot of.

Offensively we start with plays on air to look at spacing
After Indy drills we start adding parts
We will work pulls without the frontside down blocks so we will work our pullers and backfield together
We work Trapping with G, C, G, T, E and a FB the other guys are typically working on pass game
We will do half line and work on Belly, Rocket and Trap
When we go team we will go Full offense 1/2 a defense all plays in what direction for a period and the second period all plays go to the otherside as we switch the defense.
When we do pass game we do a session with no defensive backs and focus on our protections.
We focus on a skill at a time or a couple conflicting plays at a time and each period we are very specific to what we want to focus on and defenders are placed in those spots.

Defensively we start with tackling each day
after indy we do an edge drill with two G an EMOLOS and backfied we play our DE/OLB/ILB and a secondary support then give different keys for the boys to react to. We do all allignment and blitz work vs trash cans.
We use our offensive half line drill as our defensive half line drill
We always play a coach at QB in order to get a better look as well as gives another body
We use trash cans when working on fill drills
We will do an inside run drill with LB/DT
We run 7 on 7 everyday that includes run plays so that we have to take good read steps. The most exciting thing this year is we have 14 guys to do 7 on 7 last year we had to do 3 on 4 on just half the field.

Most special teams stuff we do with our JV team

Enjoy it, you will know your kids well and you will have ample time to instruct them at the key pieces of the game.

why cant half line be guard, center, guard? and qb?
why not just reinvent 7 on 7 for team.
And work the different combinations.