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Post by kylem56 on Jan 7, 2023 17:22:49 GMT -6
Does anyone host a college recruiting information night at their school? If so, do you bring in a speaker, have your college advisors talk or? What sort of information do you share with the families?
Also on that note, does anyone have a Recruiting Coordinator position on their staff to deal with college coaches, help obtain transcripts, etc. ? I know the Head Coach does it at alot of schools but I also have heard of some places where maybe the Head Coach isn't in the building or they have an assistant that covers all the logistics of recruiting.
thanks in advance for your responses
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Post by kylem56 on Jan 5, 2023 22:39:48 GMT -6
Just filled out your survey,
there is some great gameplanning books out ther, just in general
Steve Axman- The Offensive Coordinators Football Handbook
Brian Billick- Developing an Offensive Game Plan
Bill Walsh- Finding the Winning Edge
Dennis Creehan- Strategic Program Planning
I have spent alout of time on this subject in my career. The best thing I ever did was reach out to coaches within 2-3 hour driving distance who ran the same offense or a similar one as us. I asked if I brought them breakfast if I could learn everything they did about gameplanning within their offense and ended up doing that over a dozen times. One of those coaches, a Hall of Famer, I ended up visiting with and learning from I bet over a dozen times in a year, to the point where I have a 2 inch binder full of notes of visiting with him. Way better than any clinic I could ever go to.
I hope this helps. Reach out to me on here or on twitter at @coachmcelvany if theres anymore help I can provide. Take care & God Bless
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Post by kylem56 on Jan 1, 2023 19:19:04 GMT -6
-How did you get into coaching and why? I got into coaching because of my high school football coach. He was a father figure to me and probaly saved my life. While I attended the private school in town, I grew up in a rough neighborhood and I could have easily gone another way but he held me to a higher standard. My dad was a football coach as well. I can't remember a free fall Friday night since I was around 8-9 years old (I am 36 now) and I didnt know any other way.
-What do you think is the most overlooked aspect of coaching? Relationship building. With the amount of video clinics, books, coaches clinics, etc. You can self study to be the best X and O's coach on your staff but it means nothing if you can't build relationships and most importantly, find multiple ways to teach what you are trying to communicate. Don't try to emulate anyone else. Learn to be comfortable teaching/coaching within your own personality but be confident in what you do.
-What is something you wished you knew before you started coaching / What is something you wish you could tell your younger self? It is better to learn from successful coaches for next to zero money then take a stipend at a school that may just win 1-2 games a year and have a rotating door of coaches.
Find mentors and beg to learn from them.
God Bless- Kyle @coachmcelvany on twitter
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Post by kylem56 on Dec 29, 2022 12:24:05 GMT -6
Mind of a Football Coach podcast by Zach Davis is pretty good, not overly long but good content
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Post by kylem56 on Dec 18, 2022 0:18:23 GMT -6
Coaches who play on their phones, BS with kids, or sit down on lawn chairs during special teams...
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Post by kylem56 on Dec 18, 2022 0:13:32 GMT -6
The Twin Thieves ... starts off as coach-led but turns into player-led
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Post by kylem56 on Dec 14, 2022 18:08:19 GMT -6
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Post by kylem56 on Dec 7, 2022 18:40:50 GMT -6
So I am going to respond to this from multiple angles: 1) Being a Head Coach in a small town with 3-4 big last names but I was not from that small town 2) Being a coach in a small town with some prominent last names but I am an alumni of the school who is pretty darn well taken care of
At the ned of the day, Coaches are going to play those who best help them win games and further the mission of the program. However, where that gets lost in translation is especially since covid, I have seen coaches not do pre-season parent meeting anymore, communicate via email or social media and I think its still important to communicate face to face so parents can put a face with the person their children will be spending most of their waking hours with. Some other bits of advice is to be yourself. Do not try to fit it with various "classes" of people within your school. I am from a working class-blue collar level of our community and while the dynamics of my/our school have changed, I am not going to change who I am. I am willing to accept that this is who I am, and if you don[t like it, I will go to somewhere else. My school has been 100% supportive of me because of my transparency from day 1 and I think they appreciate the fact I dont try to be someone I am not. If you are in a town where you arent a "hometown guy" I think it is critical to do what I did when I took over a program that was 0-18, had 24 kids in the program 9th-12th and had 4 Head Coaches in ONE SEASON before our staff arrived. That secret was doing 20-30 minute home visits with every single kid we could over Christmas break. I didnt have kids at the time which helped but I drove all over south east Michigan and talked to families like I was recruiting for a college even though their son was already enrolled at the school I was hired at. I told them about myself, my vision for the program, and let them ask as many questions as they wanted on "their turf". If theres anything I can do to help or answer questions, feel free to message me. I'm rooting for you!
God Bless- Kyle
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Post by kylem56 on Dec 5, 2022 20:02:40 GMT -6
Not sure if this is what you are looking for but something we did at my last stop as a HC was we started every practice with a 10-12 minute "correction period". This was either off of our coaches notes we made during practice or if we filmed practice that day. We would go through a quick warm up (5-7 minutes) then right into correction period then special teams.
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Post by kylem56 on Dec 3, 2022 23:33:30 GMT -6
So to give some background. I have coached the Michigan Power-T or the Wing-T most years of my career. I have been really lucky to coach 2 "All Americans" but one was a Punter/Kicker and one was a Center. Watching the Michigan-Purdue game tonight and having seen many of these kids in high school when they played (not against me directly but just through film etc.), my question for you coaches is, if you ran a "unique" offense like the Power-T, Wing-T, Flexbone, Wishbone, Single Wing etc., how would you adapt your system to a special player who could play on this level? With our first All American (kicker/punter) who went on to start at Michigan State for 4 years, we didnt change anything. For our 2nd All American who played center, we still ran the Wing-T but tried to see what he could do in regards to pulling and one-on-one blocks. any smart@$$ answers please send to my messages with a * so I know not to read them , thanks for reading and look forward to reading responses from those who have had a similar experience.
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Post by kylem56 on Nov 25, 2022 18:42:29 GMT -6
great website with a ton of resources, hope you bring it back!
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Post by kylem56 on Nov 16, 2022 17:49:29 GMT -6
Clinics are alright. In the age of DVDs/VHS tapes, those were good too but the best I ever did was reach out to legend, Hall of Fame coaches and say hey, can I visit with you for 2 hours every "Tuesday" night for the next month. I would bring pizza and beer and sit and learn from them. I have binders full of notes from those times.
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Post by kylem56 on Oct 1, 2022 17:22:00 GMT -6
Coaches I have a possible random question for the high school level, but I will try to give you some background on my question to why I ask what I am. I have heard of major Power 5 colleges doing this, but thats a way different animal..
My question is: When a kid is CLEARED from injury, do you have a checklist of return-to-play questions before you insert Johnny Smith who just came back from a shoulder separation or Joe Jones from a pulled groin etc. ? Like ok they need to be able to J block on power, carry the ball with 2 hands on Power, execute a 3 step drop efficiently, etc. etc. Obviously these questions would vary by position group. I also know some schools have small enough rosters that this isn't feasible like "when hes cleared, hes playing" or your best player is cleared, hes playing no questions asked.
NOW THE REASON I ASK I do alot of charting on Saturday after our games have been played Friday night to look for correlations. One of them has been injured players returning to play. For example, two of our halfbacks who returned to play for us after an injury (one being a pulled hamstring, one being a high ankle sprain), both of them had fumbles in their first game back. We had a senior guard who jumped offsides and was the worst overall graded lineman in his first 2 games back. We film practice, we give notes, and have a pre-practice correction period. I also believe that when a kid makes the same mistake twice, its you as a coach as you need to find another way to communicate the issue. But I look at these mistakes and how they influenced the flow of the game and wonder, what if we could find a way to prevent these disruptive errors from happening? What if we had a checklist of things that needed to be accomplished before they played? Maybe its too far fetched in high school football. I would be curious to hear others answers, just please include your roster size if you reply so I can get an idea if that influences the decision making.
Hope you all are having a great season, God Bless- Kyle
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Post by kylem56 on Sept 28, 2022 20:00:02 GMT -6
We live in a instant gratification society. Anything someone wants can usually be located or found via a smart phone. With that said, unfortunately, the more success success you have over a consistent period of time, the less patience people have when you have "one of those years". The program I am apart is only the 8th program in our state's history to achieve over 500 wins as a program and our program was started in 1944. We are the smallest school in our conference (a school of just under 350 students in a conference that plays schools with 500-900 students). However we are the lone private school so we are ok with playing public schools with open enrollment. Regardless, my point being that we have had 2 "losing seasons (4-5 records, one of those in 2002, one in 20110 and right now we are sitting at 1-4 with 4 games left, all 4 are winnable. We have the 2nd strongest strength of schedule for our division in our state. Still we have a small but LOUD group that says "time to clean house!" because of our record and quote "you are costing my son a scholarship and NIL deal" or another great quote, yelling to us amongst a group of parents and school personnel " thats it! I am coming down there to give you the beating that our kids are getting" lol. Our kids are likeable group, many of them volunteer to work with my special education students during their study hall hour, and we really don't have any kids that give us a headache because of their character or in school behavior.
To give you some background on our staff; I have the least amount of experience on our varsity staff even though this is my 18th season of varsity football and I have been a varsity head coach before. We have a quality staff full of former head coaches and coordinators with state titles. It has just been one of those years that statistically happens 2 out of every 10 years. This year: between returning starters (3 on each side) and injuries/illnesses, which we we had more shoulder issues or groin/hip flexor issues then I have ever experienced before, we are usually in the top 3 of our conference (7 of our 9 games) and a tough non-conference schedule that almost always has consisted of a state runner up and then another playoff team. I am not sharing these stats to brag, but to support your point that regardless of what a program/staff does, there will always be b@tsh!t crazy people who watch just enough College Game Day and own the DVD set of Friday Night Lights to believe they know what needs to be done to "win states!" every season.
We have run the same offense since 2002 and even though we have two state titles in 8 years, a handful of state runner ups and semi final appearances, and other nice accolades that no one on here really cares to hear because this site is full of coaches who are d@mn good, we still hear it every year. I know this is easier said than done but whenever I think of situations like this, I think of the quote "do not care about the opinions of those that you would not seek advice from to begin with"
Sometimes you just get a group of fans/parents etc. that would rather be entertained than win. The best you can do is build relationships from day 1, focus on the relationship you have built with your student-athletes, and keep doing the right thing by them and your coaching staff. I have coached in Ohio and Michigan. In my experience, Ohio is more football crazy than Michigan although I coach at my alma mater now, at a very successful program in Michigan. People are CLUELESS in regards to how coaching contracts work, and how even successful programs are built. I am not sure on other states, but Michigan is on an extreme teacher shortage, with some districts offering $5000 signing bonuses for teachers in the areas of science and special education. If that teacher can also coach and make a positive impact on young people, most school's admin are not going to let that teacher/coach go because once fall sports are over, that same group of parents are going to b!tch about the basketball or wrestling coach!
To answer your question simply, coaching where I am, and having friends that coach in Ohio and Michigan, sadly it is normal. Its up to the next generation of school administrators to put an end to the BS craziness we read about out there.
Hang in there and wish the best for any staff out there struggling this year, stay the course and continue to make an impact on your community- God Bless
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Post by kylem56 on Sept 21, 2022 18:42:05 GMT -6
I will give you a little bit of background at each stop because while I personally don't think its appropriate, at some places it is...
Stop #1 (rural small public high school)- no way, @ss, d@mn, sh!t , yes but our Head Coach was a Hall of Famer who ran a tight ship
Stop #2 (rural small public high school)- more lower income, swearing more tolerable, heard it all, coincided with our discipline and win-loss record which was not good
Stop #3 (rural, large public high school of middle-upper class)- d@mn or @ss acceptable but anything else no. 125 kids out for football every year and demanded discipline. Another Hall of Famer at the helm who demanded us talk to them like our own
Stop #4 (rural, small public high school of all ranges- Head Coach)- first Head Coach job, I told our staff they were not allowed to swear. I understood some things slipped out of emotion but I wanted to focuso n discipline because we were taking over a program that was 0-11 with 4 head coaches in 1 year the season prior. My big thing as a head coach was, I cannot defend anything you say that couldn't be said in a classroom (I know the context is different but thats the world we live in)
Stop #5 (suburban/urban- small private school- alma mater)- No swearing allowed. D@mn slips out but generally cussing is not allowed. Most coaches are good about it. Those ones who can't control themselves don't last long. We are the smallest school in conference by at least 250 kids with some schools we play having over 1000 more kids. We are demanding discipline on a daily basis.
In short, I think it depends on what you are demanding and the culture you are coaching in. As a young coach (I started coaching varsity football at 19 years old), I am sure I used it in position meetings but I never wanted to put my head coach or myself in a spot that could be questioned. I am sure there are some places where cussing and the kids chewing after practice is acceptable as long as they work hard and get there chores done. Other places, not so much.
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Post by kylem56 on Sept 11, 2022 14:32:15 GMT -6
Been doing this for 10 years. I love every minute of it. But I became a dad in the last year and I have found that I am spending way more time raising other people’s kids than my own. The time commitment and the year round schedule is becoming a strain on my marriage. I think it’s time to walk away. I honestly am not interested in staying in the classroom if I’m not coaching. I have never done anything else and have no clue what to do, how to even look for a 9-5, or how my skills as a coach can find me employment elsewhere. Anyone else been through this? I could definitely use some advice. Well kudos to you for recognizing exactly what is happening. Alot of people keep trying for years and makes everything worse. You never know, you may find after your kids are old enough to go to school that you may want to coach again, but congratulations to you for realizing family is more important now. I unfortunately learned this lesson the hard way. My soon-to-be-ex and I dated for a couple years before we married and I always coached then. However, she came from a family where none of her siblings played sports, they were all homeschooled and didnt realize that sometimes as a teacher/admin/coach, you are at shcool outside of the 8am-2:30pm window. And ultimately our conflicts were affecting our son. My soon-to-be-ex wife was homeschooled our son and we have baby in the next 10-20 days so I get the strain it can cause but you may have to stay with teaching until the semester break unless you have something lined up. What is your degree in? That would be step 1. I know you said you dont want to teach if youre not coaching but until you find something sustainable, I woud look into online schools, state virtual academies, something like that. I know of coaches who live in the same town as me who coach for school A (in southeast Michigan) but teach virtually for Ohio or Indiana Virtual Academy. Real 9-5 jobs that allow you to coach. Real estate seems to be awful popular these days. My head coach when I played (graduated in 2005) did real estate and still coaches to this day as an assistant and does real estate. Our Head Coach where I teach/coach now is a teacher but he the ability to walk away and will likely do real estate full time. Insurance adjusters is another gig. Law enforcement, or working as a guard as the jail or local juvenile facility are other gigs I know some coaches do. i hope this helps. Congratulations on the young family, always put them first, & God Bless!
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Hudl
Sept 7, 2022 17:39:56 GMT -6
Post by kylem56 on Sept 7, 2022 17:39:56 GMT -6
still having issues after 4 weeks
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Post by kylem56 on Aug 22, 2022 19:54:42 GMT -6
I'm 36, entering my 18th year of coaching high school football. I got at least another 25-28 left in a classroom, and I would like to keep coaching after that. However, like the saying goes, if you want to make God laugh, just tell him your plans! We will see what the future holds, right now I am just grateful I have been blessed with one more year in more ways than one.
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Post by kylem56 on Aug 11, 2022 19:29:08 GMT -6
Butterfly restrictor might be the item you are looking for. thank you, that looks like the closest thing out there, appreciate it
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Post by kylem56 on Aug 10, 2022 21:40:46 GMT -6
Coaches This is a random question, but we have a young man who has overcome alot in his younger life including a neck surgery. Today he suffered a whiplash that gave him a brief scare. He is fine but he is the kind of kid who only has two speeds: stop and go. He is a physical tough kid, great kid, that can't slow it down for drills. Talking to our team doctor, he brought up a neck pad that former NFL linebacker Brian Cox wore like this:
I don't even know what its called. I know what a cowboy collar is and neck roll but this is a little different. Could anyone out there point me in the right direction in terms of where we could order one or at least know the name of what this pad is called?
BTW, our team doctor is a volunteer. On call as needed. We do not have an athletic trainer either. We just want to provide the young man with something that will keep him comfortable and safe. He has overcome ALOT in his life, and with this being his senior year, he wants to not be held back for once.
Take care and God Bless-
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Post by kylem56 on Aug 7, 2022 19:42:43 GMT -6
This year we will be putting them on the Monday before the first game. In the past, at other school, we invited dads to help us but it sounds like it will just be us this year. I am thinking bringing the dads in to help. Was it more of a pain or worth it? The dads who showed up were helpful. It did make it go by faster.
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Post by kylem56 on Aug 6, 2022 21:25:59 GMT -6
This year we will be putting them on the Monday before the first game. In the past, at other school, we invited dads to help us but it sounds like it will just be us this year.
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Post by kylem56 on Aug 4, 2022 21:40:58 GMT -6
Personally I hate them. We have gold helmets with green facemasks, and as a traditionalist, I like the plain helmet. If I had to pick a decal, I would go old school Alabama with the numbers on the side.
However, we use our "athletic logo" which is close to the Atlanta Falcons logo on the side of our helmets now. What a pain because it becomes a distraction that every kid HAS TO HAVE! Myself along with 1-2 other coaches will apply them the day before our first scrimmage after we name our season captains.
At other schools when I was the head coach, we did it the Monday of our first game week. We also invited dads to come and "get involved" if they wish. We would order in pizza or pasta and make it a sort of coaches-dads bonding event.
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Post by kylem56 on Jul 29, 2022 18:57:57 GMT -6
School 1 (school of 500 or so in Ohio)- a couple shirts, polo and jacket
School 2 (school of 500 or so in Ohio)- polo, t-shirt
School 3 (D1 school in Ohio, highly competitive)- Polo, jacket, nike shoes, 3-4 t shirts a year, 1 pair of shorts winter hat, baseball hat, it was awesome. Our Head Coach was big on taking care of us because he knew he couldnt give us the size stipend we deserved
School 4 (school of 500 in Michigan, 1st time as Head Coach)- everyone got a polo, short sleeve windbreaker, 3 t-shirts, 1 pair of shorts, baseball hat, winter hat (I learned from the previous HC I worked for that theres other ways to show your appreciation besides the stipend)
School 5 (school of 340 in Michigan)- polo some years, 1-2 shirts, then I got hand me downs from former coaches.
Not complaining just answering the question.
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Post by kylem56 on Jul 29, 2022 1:29:52 GMT -6
I like BSN's line of shorts and shirts, very comfortable at a pretty low price compared to UA and Nike. Yes but depending on where you are at, make sure your rep is going to be around. We went through 2 reps in 1 year last year, our kids didnt receive their spirit gear packs until February (After the season) and us coaches never received our polos or shorts.
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Post by kylem56 on Jul 29, 2022 1:28:09 GMT -6
Its beginning to be that time of year again, coaches what are your recommendations for shoes you can wear to practice/games that give some decent support and won't break my wallet? take care brooks beast I told my equipment guy to not even buy me whatever they were going to get I have honestly never heard of this brand until this thread, I am going to have to check them out
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Post by kylem56 on Jul 23, 2022 19:49:30 GMT -6
Its beginning to be that time of year again, coaches what are your recommendations for shoes you can wear to practice/games that give some decent support and won't break my wallet?
take care
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Post by kylem56 on Jul 19, 2022 23:43:06 GMT -6
I get it, sometimes you are stuck in a place where you are handcuffed to certain times because they work on the farm but why not 7pm, 8pm, 9pm at night? At least you aren't risking a kid falling asleep at the wheel and getting in a fatal car crash (which happened in my time). I get having to take attendance but I would re-think those times... God Bless ya coach!
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Post by kylem56 on Jul 17, 2022 18:26:22 GMT -6
Coaches, a discussion I had with a respected colleague of mine the other day led to the discussion, are 7-on-7's necessary for contrarian offenses such as the Power-T, Wing-T, Flexbone, Single Wing etc. ESPECIALLY if you are the only one in your conference running such offense? After coaching 18 seasons at the varsity level, I have started towards leaning towards NO they are not. A few years ago, a local team in our area who also ran the Power-T participated in 6 or 7 , 7-on-7 events over the course of 2 weeks, the result, 4 soft tissue injuries that would leave them without their starters for the first couple of games to start the season, and 1 kid with a broken collar bone. In my experience running the Power-T, or the Wing-T over the last 18 years, we will still see 3-4 Cover 2 and ends up being 2 deep 5 under. We have yet to see anyone play 5 under, even in an obvious passing situation because we will run Trap if teams are cheating their linebackers and safeties back. I suppose you could argue, you have to get your defenses work against other varsity offenses, in a full speed format. Regardless, I am just curious to hear your experiences and opinions. I don't think theres a right or wrong answer, I just would like to hear other opinions. thanks in advance, Kyle You sure about the Cover 2? Just about every time i see Cover 2 get mentioned on here or anywhere else on the interweb, people say they don't see it anymore 😄 I could clarify myself and say it looks like Cover 2 with corners playing 2 yards outside, 5 yards deep of the tight ends but they do not drop to a deep 1/4 , they immediately run to the flat
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Post by kylem56 on Jul 17, 2022 18:17:25 GMT -6
Coaches, a discussion I had with a respected colleague of mine the other day led to the discussion, are 7-on-7's necessary for contrarian offenses such as the Power-T, Wing-T, Flexbone, Single Wing etc. ESPECIALLY if you are the only one in your conference running such offense?
After coaching 18 seasons at the varsity level, I have started towards leaning towards NO they are not. A few years ago, a local team in our area who also ran the Power-T participated in 6 or 7 , 7-on-7 events over the course of 2 weeks, the result, 4 soft tissue injuries that would leave them without their starters for the first couple of games to start the season, and 1 kid with a broken collar bone.
In my experience running the Power-T, or the Wing-T over the last 18 years, we will still see 3-4 Cover 2 and ends up being 2 deep 5 under. We have yet to see anyone play 5 under, even in an obvious passing situation because we will run Trap if teams are cheating their linebackers and safeties back. I suppose you could argue, you have to get your defenses work against other varsity offenses, in a full speed format. Regardless, I am just curious to hear your experiences and opinions. I don't think theres a right or wrong answer, I just would like to hear other opinions.
thanks in advance, Kyle
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