voslos
Sophomore Member
Posts: 100
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Post by voslos on Feb 19, 2006 23:53:50 GMT -6
how many of you high school coaches platoon in your system? we are a school of 500 kids that have about 60 kids out for our 9-12 program. we are thinking about platooning but needs some help.
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Post by lochness on Feb 20, 2006 5:23:33 GMT -6
We have 120 kids in a school of over 1700, and we have never full platooned. Nobody in our state full-platoons any more. I don't like the idea of having certain athletes who can help you in both offense and defense sitting the bench for 50% of that.
We try to "platoon" as much as possible, but we always have 3-4 kids going both ways. Our promise to the kids is that the best 11 will play on O and D.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2006 8:14:24 GMT -6
We have about 80-90 juniors and seniors out plus about 40 sophs. This past year we had 6 players who started both ways and all six were All-State.
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Post by tog on Feb 20, 2006 10:09:02 GMT -6
we don't have the athletes to allow us to go total 2 platoon
we have primary offense, and primary defense guys, with each knowing the basic stuff on the other side of the ball of their primary
just have to with a lack of athletes
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Post by coachdawhip on Feb 20, 2006 11:35:37 GMT -6
We take a list of our best 15 players.
Then we get these palyers on the field As much as possible, position changes to our spots, etc...
We are moving 2 of these guys from FB to Guards and they will more than likely start both ways.
You have got to get your best players on the field.
We are a school of 1000 with about 70 kids on Varsity and JV.
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Post by bigdaddyd on Feb 20, 2006 12:07:46 GMT -6
We are a school of 1500 plus students, we have a total of 70 players come out for JV and Varsity teams- platooning is not an option for us. Our best players are on the field all the time. We'll sub them in and out, with the backups, Usually giving those players a 2-3 play break, and then there back in.
Keep in mind our varsity team has a total of 35 kids, out of the 35 kids, we probably had 13 solid players. Fortunate for us, a lot of those 13 solid players, will be returning for the 06 season.
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Post by brophy on Feb 20, 2006 12:17:07 GMT -6
We are a school of 1200 and platoon.
We train kids both ways up until their Sophomore year.
In their Sophomore / Varisty years, they will predominately play one way. There, of course, are exceptions where 3 or 4 kids will play both ways. Very few play an ENTIRE game both ways.
Every off season, we look at kids and list the ENTIRE roster pool from incoming 9th - 12th graders.
We list their primary and secondary postions.
We rank the top 12 kids for offense and defense, irregardless of grade or if they were listed for the other side of the ball.
We are in love with the platoon system, as it allows us to teach MORE quality football and it makes adjustments considerably easier, allowing the coaches more control of what happens on the field (execution).
You have to have more confidence in the ability of the coaches to TEACH football than you do in kids to just slap stuff together on Friday nights to platoon, IMO.
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NCcoach
Sophomore Member
Posts: 112
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Post by NCcoach on Feb 20, 2006 15:05:51 GMT -6
Advantages of platooning:
1. More kids play, so more kids come out. When more kids come out, you have better athletes. (it is difficult to just pick a few great players, and expect them to play without their friends) A backup on a 2 platoon team may be a #3 or #4 on a team that does not platoon. Platooning is unbelievably important when coming into a situation where football has been terrible.
2. Strict platooning allows players to learn better technique. This extra time at one position should allow a kid that would have normally been a backup to now become competitive and contribute.
3. Platooning allows scheme to be more complicated or detailed. It also allows teams to have better adjustments from week to week.
4. Platooning allows a team to stay fresh. Many teams that 2 platoon do not condition as much because they know they don't need to be in as good of shape. Of course this helps with numbers and keeping kids out. (Be honest with yourself, did you like running when you played?)
5. Platooning helps keep more of the community happy. Although this is never the main concern, it sure can be important.
I do agree that some players need to be on the field as much as possible. If you have a skilled future college player on the team, he should be an exception to the rule. However, how many of these do you have every year? We don't have any. When the difference in ability between our players is not great, we feel we need to be platooning.
The way we platoon is the offense picks a QB, TB, FB, and WR first. The defense then gets their pick of the next 11. The next 7 fill in the rest of the offense. We start the process over for backups.
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voslos
Sophomore Member
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Post by voslos on Feb 21, 2006 1:27:34 GMT -6
Thanks for the feedback. This fall will be our 4th season with our school. The first year we platooned and had to teach kids the basics of football. We didn't make the playoffs. The next year we felt the benefits of platooning the year before and went on to win the state championship. Last year we rerturned a large majority of our state championship team. We got our of the platooning philosophy and started almost every kid both ways. We didn't make the playoffs with a team that I felt had the talent to return to a championship team. Our kids played better as juniors playing one way then they did as seniors playing both ways including our big guy who is the top prospect in the state. this year we plan on completely changing our offense and going to the triple option and back to platooning. Our Monday practice is limited since our JV plays. Tuesdays are a good practice. Wed. we can't keep them that late since some of the kids have bible classes that night. thursday is our walk thru practice. I have very limited time to prepare my kids to play a game. With platooning I don't have to share any kids unless it is a certain situation where we will put a kid in there. Just my two cents.
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Post by superpower on Feb 21, 2006 7:18:37 GMT -6
I have never been in a situation where I had enough players to use a platoon system, but I definetly believe that the platoon system can pay huge dividends. For the coaches who use the platoon system, are you also platooning at the jv level or are you playing kids on both sides of the ball at that level?
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Post by brophy on Feb 21, 2006 8:36:06 GMT -6
I have never been in a situation where I had enough players to use a platoon system, but I definetly believe that the platoon system can pay huge dividends. For the coaches who use the platoon system, are you also platooning at the jv level or are you playing kids on both sides of the ball at that level? Anyone can correct me if I'm wrong....but it's a chicken-before-the-egg argument You'll NEVER have the numbers to be a comfortable platoon system UNTIL you start platooning. But that's just my opinion. We try to have TWO teams whenever numerically feasible at the freshmen and MS levels. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2006 8:41:01 GMT -6
I hate to sound like good old wishy-washy Charlie Brown, but I think whether or not you platoon has to be based on whether you need to or not.
A school in our district was absolutely not going to play anybody both ways so they direct them to offense, the defense is left with what's left. They can't stop anybody but put up nice numbers on offense.
Another school in our district puts the top athletes (aside from a RB) on defense and builds the offense around it. They're usually pretty tough.
Still another plays about 14 different kids in a game. If you're with them in the 4th you can win.
Our philosophy is to have as many 1 way players as possible, but we will never sacrifice success for that. We owe it to the kids to put the best players on the field. For me I feel it makes me develop a strong core group of backups since they will be on the field at times.
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Post by coachdawhip on Feb 21, 2006 8:53:16 GMT -6
We have a 9th and JV. We platooned on Varsity and the best season was 5-5, we went with putting our best 15 on the field AMAP and have had winning seasons.
To each it's on.
We learned that system from the school that has won 5 championships in the past 12 years in our biggest classfication.
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Post by pegleg on Feb 21, 2006 9:03:12 GMT -6
I hate to sound like good old wishy-washy Charlie Brown, but I think whether or not you platoon has to be based on whether you need to or not. A school in our district was absolutely not going to play anybody both ways so they direct them to offense, the defense is left with what's left. They can't stop anybody but put up nice numbers on offense. Another school in our district puts the top athletes (aside from a RB) on defense and builds the offense around it. They're usually pretty tough. Still another plays about 14 different kids in a game. If you're with them in the 4th you can win. Our philosophy is to have as many 1 way players as possible, but we will never sacrifice success for that. We owe it to the kids to put the best players on the field. For me I feel it makes me develop a strong core group of backups since they will be on the field at times. i totally believe that platooning is the only way to go, for the reasons already metioned. i will say that i prefer to pick a qb then let the defense pick the next 11 and build the offense around that concept. this is kinda a fluid thing as some kids are better suited for one than the other but that is the starting point for me. those of you who know me know that i am an offense guy, but i think that if you can't play "d" you can't play dead. Holla |
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Post by coachpeterson on Feb 21, 2006 9:33:04 GMT -6
It is possible to platoon at a smaller school. I don't think it's a question of whether or not it can be done, it's a question of whether or not you want to. When I played in high school, we averaged about 40 juniors and seniors and platooned 100% and were very successful. I disagree with saying it can't be done with 70-80 juniors and seniors. It definitely can be, it's just a question of whether or not it fits your philosophy.
Personally, I believe in platooning. Being able to spend twice as much time working with the players is a huge benefit, especially if you run a more complex offense or defense. Average athletes can contribute given enough repetition. Being able to communicate with the players during the game is a whole lot easier without players playing both ways. Platooning allows you to use your best players on special teams. And lastly, a team that platoons should win the 4th quarter against a team with players playing both ways.
Voslos, I have a handout from Lancaster HS, a school of about 400 students here in Wisconsin that has won 4 state championships over the past 6 years and platoons. It describes how and why they platoon. You may find it beneficial. If you give me an e-mail address to send it to, I'd be happy to send you a copy.
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Post by coachdawhip on Feb 21, 2006 12:08:49 GMT -6
I agree we try to platoon as much as possible, while allowing our best to play.
It comes down what you want to do and if your number 2 fresh is just as good as your number 1 tired.
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Post by williamcrehan on Feb 21, 2006 15:34:18 GMT -6
When you platoon with 40 guys, are there 20 offense and 20 defense and each player only learns one position.
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Post by phantom on Feb 21, 2006 16:03:23 GMT -6
We don't platoon and it has nothing to do with numbers. If we have a stud player we don't believe in keeping him on the bench for half of the game.
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NCcoach
Sophomore Member
Posts: 112
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Post by NCcoach on Feb 21, 2006 16:54:50 GMT -6
I agree with you Phantom but your definition of stud might be different than mine. My definition of stud is a player that is much better than everyone else even when he is tired. We don't have any studs this year using this as the definition...and not many teams have more than 2 or 3 that fit that definition.
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jman
Sophomore Member
Posts: 200
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Post by jman on Feb 21, 2006 20:22:55 GMT -6
I have been in a platoon system for 8 years now and love it. At first, it always nagged at me that we didnt have our "best" on the field all the time, but I have since learned that the other advantages can be just as great. Just like others have stated:
1. It allows for a more detailed game plan.
2. We make adjustments during the game and do not have to wait until halftime to see all of our guys. We see them between series.
3. Even a below average player as a freshman can become a very good player by the time he is a senior if he spends ALL of his time on one side of the ball for 4 years. (you must have great technique coaches.)
4. Because of the platooning we get better numbers and end up with older, more mature varsities year in and year out.
5. If someone gets hurt, you only have to replace one position, not an offensive and defensive position.
I could go on but you should get the idea. There are tremendous advantages to platooning that in my mind overcome just having the "best 11" on the field.
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