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Post by spartancoach on Aug 22, 2007 4:14:24 GMT -6
What do you do with the kid that is at the absolute bottom of the depth chart. Not a bad kid, but one that was just not born with (and has not worked for) the body, mind or heart of a football player, but shows up, stays out of trouble and gives a somewhat marginal effort in drills. I am talking about the kid that is 4th on the depth chart at X, but if 3 Xs got hurt, you'd be pulling kids from other positions before putting this kid in a close game. Can't even give the D a decent look on scout.
In our team period (and in our scrimmages), some coaches believe in "coach everybody" and some believe coach everybody that might actually get on the field on Friday night.
Question is are we wasting reps by putting this kid in 7 on 7 and team periods?
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Post by xxlbulldog on Aug 22, 2007 4:45:07 GMT -6
In individual, everybody gets reps. Everybody on your team deserves to get coached. But, then in group and team, you give the reps to the ones that play.
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Post by coachjd on Aug 22, 2007 5:06:50 GMT -6
I'm with bulldog. Coach them all up in indy time, but when it comes to install, 7 on 7, hull or team get the kids reps who you will be playing with under the lights. There is much for the sub sub par kids to learn, just by being on the team and being apart of something.
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Post by gacoach on Aug 22, 2007 5:47:34 GMT -6
I agree with the above posts. He sounds like one of those kids who needs you more than you need him.
If nothing else, kids down the depth chart keep your coaching skills sharp. It's easy to coach talent.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2007 6:27:47 GMT -6
I've been thinking about this a lot lately as we post depth charts. A lot of us look at things in terms of wanting to be on the field. What really is going on may be totally different.
We had a kid quit yesterday. He was a projected possible starter but as practice went on we could see he couldn't be the guy. He quit yesterday morning and said, "it's got nothing to do with playing time or starting. In fact I didn't expect to start. I'm just figuring out that football really isn't for me."
No idea what's going on in their heads sometimes, so give em the reps you can, play the best when it matters.
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Post by phantom on Aug 22, 2007 7:05:59 GMT -6
What do you do with the kid that is at the absolute bottom of the depth chart. Not a bad kid, but one that was just not born with (and has not worked for) the body, mind or heart of a football player, but shows up, stays out of trouble and gives a somewhat marginal effort in drills. I am talking about the kid that is 4th on the depth chart at X, but if 3 Xs got hurt, you'd be pulling kids from other positions before putting this kid in a close game. Can't even give the D a decent look on scout. In our team period (and in our scrimmages), some coaches believe in "coach everybody" and some believe coach everybody that might actually get on the field on Friday night. Question is are we wasting reps by putting this kid in 7 on 7 and team periods? Short answer: yes. |
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Post by lochness on Aug 22, 2007 8:12:46 GMT -6
I agree with what everyone else has said.
One thing a great coach got me to understand is that "sometimes those kids need us more than we need them." As long as they work hard and are not disobeying rules or skipping practices, coach em up but give your team reps to the guys that will play.
Someday, they may come around and contribute. Make sure they're having fun and know that you care about their development because they are part of the team.
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Post by dubber on Aug 22, 2007 10:19:20 GMT -6
As everyone else has said...coach them all during 2-a-days, everyone gets reps in Indy so long as we have time. Players play in inside run and scrimmage. Those kids are always great to have around, you need program kids like that, and you never know when one of them will hit a growth spurt. 8 years ago we had this tall skinny lanky barely bench the bar freshman come in. Lifted but didn't gain much going into his sophomore year. Was still one of these kids at the end of his sophomore year. Got maybe 20 snaps total with the JV squad at the end of games. Between his sophomore season and Junior season his body started to fill out, he went from 6'0" around 130 to 6'2" 200 as a junior. and started at OLB. Don't abandon them, don't run them off, do your best to keep them feeling apart of the program. Definitely.......keep them into it-----I gained 50 lbs. from 8th grade to freshmen year------never know when it'll happen to kid before his senior year Even if they never get above a "program guy" level, you still want them around as long as they want to be around. We got a couple seniors like that..........also, you just never know where they can help you. One of those seniors is a good pitcher, and so we tried him at long snapping......he'd be all-state at that if they had the category! (which is good, cause he sucks at anything else we tried him at) |
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Post by olinecoach61 on Aug 22, 2007 10:58:27 GMT -6
I'll coach up anyone who shows up everyday and wants to play. That being said, the players need to know that once we get into the season the focus is on the varsity 2 deep.
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coachf
Freshmen Member
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Post by coachf on Aug 22, 2007 11:32:57 GMT -6
We set a depth chart 3 deep for the players to see, so they know where they are. Those are the guys that get reps throughout the week.
However, we make sure that every junior or senior that is on the Varsity team that came over the summer, worked hard and practices hard, gets to start somewhere on Friday. Now remember we are only dressing 36 for Varsity games. But, even then you have some pretty poor players. Our worst right now plays on our KO return. He is one of the front 5 linemen. We run a wall return and we put him in the spot where he will be the last man in the wall. That way it rarely comes down to him having to make a key block. He still gets to start, but not in a place that will hurt us on a Friday.
As for lower levels, they all need to get reps and playing time.
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Post by fbdoc on Aug 22, 2007 12:14:35 GMT -6
Yes, Yes, Yes! I agree with the sentiment (and practice) voiced above. Now - this happened yesterday... We have 26 on our varsity and 37 on our JV (9th & 8th). Called out our KO team. Had 9 guys line up. Called out Tommy to fill in for one spot and then called out to Shawn (a soph. who is one of the those sub-sub-sub players. Shawn says. "Coach, you fired me last week." I said, "You're right Shawn, but that was last week and I need you on KO team today." Shawn runs out and takes his spot and we proceed to run KO about 8 times, coaching everyone on assignment and location, A great drill. We take a 2 minute water break and then with everyone lined up on the sideline, I call out "Kick Off Team!" and everyone runs out to their spot...except Shawn! We finally figure out who is missing and I go "Shawn! Why aren't your out there!" Shawn replies, "Coach, last week you fired me...." THIS IS AFTER 8 FULL REPS ON THE TEAM JUST 2 MINUTES AGO! Same day, end of practice. Now we're doing punt return. This time Shawn is our DE. We talk & walk through our Punt Rush - run a few reps (everything fine so far) and then do the same with our Wall Right and Wall Left. I've got 4 coaches working with this unit - and everyone is coaching their a$$ off! Now it's time to run Wall Right (Shawn is going to be the "follow" end") and we've walked through this 3 times with everything perfect. I call out Punt Return! WALL RIGHT!!! WALL RIGHT!!! On the snap, everyone runs Wall Right... except Shawn who is rushing like crazy to block the punt!  Yes I exploded, but after practice I took young Shawn aside and told him that I did appreciate his hard work and enthusiasm, but that his mental mistakes were getting in the way of his playing time. I also stressed that his team-mates NEEDED him as special teams is a place where we try to give our 2 way players a break! I know every small school has their "Shawns" to deal with but I gotta tell you, this guy is making me work overtime! |
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Post by dubber on Aug 22, 2007 12:22:00 GMT -6
Yes, Yes, Yes! I agree with the sentiment (and practice) voiced above. Now - this happened yesterday... We have 26 on our varsity and 37 on our JV (9th & 8th). Called out our KO team. Had 9 guys line up. Called out Tommy to fill in for one spot and then called out to Shawn (a soph. who is one of the those sub-sub-sub players. Shawn says. "Coach, you fired me last week." I said, "You're right Shawn, but that was last week and I need you on KO team today." Shawn runs out and takes his spot and we proceed to run KO about 8 times, coaching everyone on assignment and location, A great drill. We take a 2 minute water break and then with everyone lined up on the sideline, I call out "Kick Off Team!" and everyone runs out to their spot...except Shawn! We finally figure out who is missing and I go "Shawn! Why aren't your out there!" Shawn replies, "Coach, last week you fired me...." THIS IS AFTER 8 FULL REPS ON THE TEAM JUST 2 MINUTES AGO! Same day, end of practice. Now we're doing punt return. This time Shawn is our DE. We talk & walk through our Punt Rush - run a few reps (everything fine so far) and then do the same with our Wall Right and Wall Left. I've got 4 coaches working with this unit - and everyone is coaching their a$$ off! Now it's time to run Wall Right (Shawn is going to be the "follow" end") and we've walked through this 3 times with everything perfect. I call out Punt Return! WALL RIGHT!!! WALL RIGHT!!! On the snap, everyone runs Wall Right... except Shawn who is rushing like crazy to block the punt! Yes I exploded, but after practice I took young Shawn aside and told him that I did appreciate his hard work and enthusiasm, but that his mental mistakes were getting in the way of his playing time. I also stressed that his team-mates NEEDED him as special teams is a place where we try to give our 2 way players a break! I know every small school has their "Shawns" to deal with but I gotta tell you, this guy is making me work overtime! My "shawn" makes me laugh. We where practicing punt return, and he goes to set up our wall, gets confused, and tries to tackle our returner! Yesterday, he's rolling to middle third of the field and absolutley plants our 280 lbs. D-line coach (who was looking the other way) God that kid cracks me up! |
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Post by realdawg on Aug 23, 2007 8:37:47 GMT -6
This is some off topic but gives us a bunch of good laughs. We got one of "those" type of kids on our JV team.-Good kid, overprotected, wears glasses underneath his helmet and scared to death. First day of contact he comes up to me and says-"Coach-I dont think I can hit today." Why not I ask-Because he says "my daddy just started a new job, and his insurance doesnt start to September First."
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