Use of personnel

If the kid really doesn't want to play on the interior o-line, he probably won't do much good or may just move to another school? Really have to talk to the kid first and find out if he came to play QB or just play wherever he was needed to get lots of playing time? I know lots of HS players from around here that went on to college's big and small, had to learn to play different positions and adapted ok. A couple actually went on to the NFL in their "new" position! So, after talking to the player, if he decides he wants to play QB for me(knowing it may mean riding the bench the rest of his career there), I'm gonna do what the guy wants, which in your case should benefit your freshman team! This is just me talking here, but sooner or later in life we have to make decisions for ourselves and live with the consequences, without blaming others later if it doesn't work out! This sounds like one of these times? los

wow, tough spot...true story, a few years ago, i had a beastly kid that i put at fullback. I got a ton of flack for it, fans, refs, coaches at our varsity all looked at the kids body type and immediately thought "put him on the line!"...he was a big boy, about 285 lbs(ran a 5.2 and no one could tackle him)...well, i kept him at fb, he ran for 900 yards and 14 tds as a freshman, he also blocked for a tb that had 1100 yards in 9 games. when he got to varsity, he played 3 years as a starting fullback and dline and got scholarship offers from big schools.

there was a time when some said "youre hurting this kid" by putting him in the backfield...um, no, since I GOT THE KID TO PLAY FOOTBALL, GOT THE KID TO LIFT WEIGHTS, DEVELOPED THE KIDS CONFIDENCE AND SELF ESTEEM,TAUGHT THE KID TO BE A LEADER AND TEAM CAPTAIN, HELPED THE KID MAKE NEW FRIENDS, GAVE HIM CONFIDENCE TO GET A GIRLFRIEND, HELPED HIM BECOME POPULAR WITH HIS TEAMMATES AND PEERS, BECOME PART OF THE FIRST WINNING TEAM AT THE SCHOOL IN LIKE 20 YEARS....hows that hurting the kid? Coach, youre the coach of YOUR TEAM. My suggestion is to put kids in the best spot NOW. no one knows what the needs will be for the varsity NEXT YEAR or FOR THE NEXT THREE YEARS. If hes the best quarterback on your team, thats where he plays. Interestingly enough, our frosh(not my team) has a big guard type kid playing qb now as he has the best arm on the team.

its not a tough spot.

if you have the forum to discuss it, then express you concerns. if not, do what your told. if you can't get on the same page with the HC, find a new job in the spring. i've quit jobs in the winter because the hc and i didn't agree, but its his program and he amkes the call, end of story.

"taking care of the freshmen team" is never the right answer. discuss your concerns and try to get everyone on the same page, but at the end of the day your name's not in the paper and no one ever got fired for freshmen wins and losses.

Yes, at the high school level it is about the kids, but First - It's about The Team, The Team , The TEAM! The Team comes first! Not everyone will get to throw, carry, or catch the ball. It's not about one kid - it's about the Team!

Pegleg is also correct, the Varsity comes first, end of story.

Now having said that, obviously you should talk with the kid and see what he thinks about the switch. Even if he agrees to go to the OL and play with the varsity this year, he can still go to QB camp in the summer and show the coaches that he is more valuable to the team at that position.

Our team's story is similar to some of the others. We had a kid start at DL when he was a frosh, then start at QB as a sophomore, and now is our starting MLB as a junior with a few carries at FB. Next year, who knows? We put the kids where they can help the team now! We also let them know before hand when we are considering a switch. And, sometimes, we have to tell a kid that "Yes, you might be a good Fullback, but the TEAM needs you to play Guard this year." As far a playing college, if they are good enough to play, the colleges will find them.

I hear ya phantom...but sometimes it makes sense for the kids future...some of them need us more than we need them. as i said, for the sake of argument. also sometimes you give a little to get alot. often ill have a boy that wants to be say 3rd team fullback instead of guard...but hes a quality nose guard for me on defense. these things are trade offs you sometimes have to make when you coach small rosters and dont have alot of talent or depth. every situation is different. btw, my wanna be qb, fourth team fb...he scored a touchdown today! he also had a sack from nose guard. hes now pretty happy.

almost every year we have to make this move (or a similar one). last year same deal, kids was a qb in junior high and now he plays tackle. this year several wanna be recievers are o linemen. when kids get to HS they are not more imprtant than the team, regardless of what daddy thinks. kids don't get to make decisions about playing time or postition. if they can't handle it, then they should go to PE. high school athletics is not the same as pop warner or even junior high.

i love the kids that play for me and would do damn near anything for them (and they know it). that being said the coaches know more than they do and will put them in a spot to make them better and the team better. i tell them all the time its business not personal. if they can't handle the reality of HS football then get the hell outta the way, i got no time for prima donnas.

Would think that most varsity coaches would entertain the idea that what kids learn at the lower levels would have to do with more than just specializing at a particular position. I'm sure there is a broad range of opinion on this, but if we are geared too much into specialization at the sub-varsity levels, we can take one important motivating element out of the game - fun. I'm not suggesting that feeder systems shouldn't be designed to prepare kids for future varsity competition - they should. But I can't see snuffing out a kids interest in that before he even gets started. My own view of personnel is that kids should get a taste of various aspects of the game, within reasonable limits, and this helps enhance their interst in it. I do not make personnel decisions on how our JV coach plays kids (other than varsity backups who will need a certain number of reps in JV games), and he does a nice job of finding that balance of "what I want" vs. "what coach and team needs". If Jacksonville can take Matt Jones and make a receiver out of him, then I certainly would think that a HS coaching staff could make an O lineman out of a kid who played QB in middle school.