Coaching Scout Team

Great idea. Thanks!

I will be responsible for watching opposing team film in Hudl, scripting plays for the scout team to run against starters for the upcoming game.

Really the coordinator should be the one making the script, but if that assignment has been given to you then make sure you are working with him closely since he'll likely have a good idea of tendencies, frequency of each play, motions, formations, etc.

But like I originally said, in my opiniom the best way to do this is really for the coordinator to script your defense and the scout offense, and then have you run the huddle, make sure the scout kids understand things like stances, QB footwork, QB reads, etc.

The best way we've done it is where the DC makes a cutup of the script and I draw those plays in playmaker or if you have hudl or prefer ppt.

Every week I meet with our scout guys and we go over the key stuff like splits and techniques, then we look at any plays they run that are especially important or complicated, especially if it relates to motion. We talk through how we intend to block things versus different fronts, particularly if we can't find a clip of that play against a front that looks like ours.

When drawing the cards every skill position has a letter inside the circle, so even if where you line up might change you stay with your letter. I can show personnel this way as well and if the other team has a particular player that's either a matchup problem or a tendency key we mark his jersey number. When guys sub they sub in for a given position. Every huddle includes everyone we might need and they leave when they see the personnel, so the FB comes in but then of it's a one back formation he can leave the huddle.

Getting them to care helps a lot, selling them on "beating" the D and making it very competitive. It's up to you to make sure they don't accidentally give a bad picture trying to make a play but they generally understand how the game is played; they have to beat the defence straight up. We're not above a little gamesmanship. For example, if the script says speed option into the boundary, I'd have my centre sneak the ball over a yard or two off the hash to give us more space, but we stay within the "rules."

Get a tall coach to hold up the cards.

Get position coaches involved wherever possible. Out receiver coach uses scout O skelly as an extension of his Indy time and he's all over guys about proper releases and techniques and stuff.

Include a lot of notes on your cards. You won't necessarily remember that on a certain play the slot has a mandatory outside release so write it all down.

I put in a cheap little R4 progression to give the QB something to look at. Usually it's pretty obvious what the logical progression should be. It gives the scout QB the opportunity to get something out of the experience and drastically improves your chances of making a play.

I don't draw the D on the card, barring an incredibly complicated blocking scheme. I find the card gets too messy to show 24 guys, and my players tend to overthink it.

I draw up each play sheet directly off of Hudl, using a drawing program on 8-1/2" by 11" paper. Since I am a "dinosaur" I use Appleworks on an old computer-I had about 8,000 plays previously drawn up, so mostly I just reprint the same old ones . I do include our defense that I expect us to run so the kids can give a decent look on how the offense will attack us. These sheets are put in plastic sleeves and placed in a ring binder.

I arrange the sheets in priority order, best plays in front, seldom seen plays towards the back. We will spend most of our time trying to stop the offense's best 5-6 plays-make them go to "Plan B."

i separate out the passing plays and have them facing in the opposite direction-it makes it real easy to swap back and forth between passes on one side, and running plays facing the other. Just flip the book over.

If the team has a dominant player we give him a special color jersey to indicate him. Example: this year one of our opponents ran 90% of their plays to #80, so we made up a jersey with that number on it as a recognition key.

I give the scout book to the DC so he can make adjustments.

I color code each skill position a different color, including their paths.

It is so much easier to tell a kid: you're the Green guy, you're the Red guy, you're the Blue guy, etc. especially if you are dealing with a complicated offense like the Single Wing with Spinner plays. I used to take my scout team out for 15 minutes while the defense to looked at film to teach them this.

There have been times that I challenge the Scout team to score on the starters-bribe them with pizza if they score-kids will do darn near anything for free pizza.

How well does this work?
In 1997 we were playing a Wing T team for the State Championship.
In practice, the first time that the scout team ran the Counter Criss Cross, we scored on the starters. We spent a lot of time getting the kids to see the action and react. The result: the offense attempted to run this in a the game, it was a big play for them, and we held them to a 7 yard gain. They never ran it again.
We won the game 7-0.

If you're making the plays in PowerPoint: draw up the play, copy slide, paste onto new slide, select all command, group command, flip horizontal command. It takes about a minute or so to draw up the play going one way and about five seconds to draw it up to the left.

Try to relate the plays to your plays the best you can. Like I would teach bucksweep as a wider power pull for my wrapper as well as the psg being a pull similar to how we do on jet. Is it perfect no, but it's better than just giving them a drawing and saying have at it. Use it as time to get the young guys better at the fundamentals too. It's amazing how much better than can get over the year.

Reading the description from the OP leaves me scratching my head a bit. I am not familiar with and am pretty uncomfortable actually with the idea of having someone who is a first year coach creating the scout scripts. Now, I could be wrong, but I think the OP has his job duties a bit confused.

My guess would be that his job will be to draw up the scout cards after the coordinators have come up with the script, put the cards in the binder (or however else the team uses to display them) run the scout huddle, make sure the scouts are aligned properly pre snap, and be responsible for the hearding of cats that is scout team work.

As a DC I want the following out of scout:
-Run the play as it's drawn up. Block who you're supposed to block, run the route you're supposed to run, etc
-Make the defense work. No buddy system
-STICK TO THE SCRIPT!!!
-Get in and out of the huddle fast
-If there are snap issues, just have the QB hold the ball to start the play. One wasted play because of a bad snap and I'm gonna come unglued.
-Skill guys assigned a number or letter and don't switch. Get your assignment and line up.

If you get pre practice time, one day a week (Monday/Tuesday) pull those guys to the side and have them run the plays on air for 10 minutes. It'll help, I promise. Also, make a scout O depth chart. Don't post it, you keep it. Have the best avaliable bodies ready and able so you're not screaming for guys for 5 minutes (that irks me as an OC, waiting for 5 minutes to find guys to play scout.) Also, if you have a "depth chart" you wont have a Fresman WR playing Center.

I was going to say the same thing two days ago but hit refresh on accident. Scout team is incredibly hard.

General scout team guidelines:

1) Get the best players you can on scout team to ensure the best look possible.
2) Eliminate confusion. I use a three ring binder with transparent sleeves that I put my scout sheets in. Skill guys are numbered 1-5. #1 is the RB. #2 is a RB / WR. #3 is WR / RB. #4 is the LE. #5 is the RE. This puts each player in pretty much the same role every time. You don't have a guy who is TB one play and TE the next play.
3) Figure out a proper substitution method. Have players who are responsible for each position. Know whose *** you are going to chew out and punish after practice if you line up for a play and there isn't a RG out there.
4) I draw up each play against the exact defense they will face on that particular play. There's never any question who to block. This goes back to #2: eliminate confusion.
5) If there's anything in particular the players need to know beforehand, handle it before practice. In fact, that is one of my main things in general. If a point can be conveyed through conversation or on the board, do it there. Save the practice time for reps, not discussion. If you're playing a Wing-T team that plays their WB angled in a 3 pt. stance or square in a 2 pt. stance, that needs to be pointed out before their feet touch the grass outside.
6) Coach 'em up and love 'em. Scout team often sucks and it can be hard to make it fun, especially if your scout team is completely overmatched. But do what you can to build pride and morale among the scout team (maybe bring them doughnuts or something to school or practice every now and then) because it is a very important job and their effort and attention to detail matters a lot.

Very important....perspective

have high expectations, we try and get the best collection of players we can but understand sometimes you have the 3rd string guard who is really 5th string.

stay positive with them, make responsibilities as clear as possible to them, celebrate when they are doing a good job, scout team isn't always the easiest gig for players, make them appreciated

one other thing which wouldn't be under your control but I think it's vital, especially if there is a huge talent difference, to teach the ones how to practice against a scout team. You get nothing out of it if your Nose is launching the center in to the QB every play and busting the play before it gets started.

We spend a ton of time putting together our scout teams so that we can get the best look possible. We also award an offensive and defensive scout team player of the week every week. At the end of the season, we have a scout team player of the year award. It is not uncommon for our HC (who runs the scout offense) to say something about our scout teams when interviewed by reporters.