When it's borderline unsafe for a kid to participate...

Meet with the kid and be honest. Tell him he can't do any live until he can meet certain standards. Those standards can be whatever you determine (Weight room, speed, size, properly tackle a dummy, etc).

But then give him a road map on how to attain the standards. Also tell him there are other ways to help the team until he meets those standards. Dummy holder, manager, water boy, clip board holder, scout team organizer, technology, etc.

We had a similar kid that would hold cards for a position group. He was almost like a mini-coach. Had another kid cut-up film. Had another help make sure the dummies and cones were in the right place.

All were members of the team and treated as such. None ended up helping on the field. Ha. But it was a positive experience for the kid and the team.

This thread alone makes me rage on kids getting physicals…how does a kid like this pass a physical?

What’s been said is a good approach. Most of the time the kids know. If it got too much, involve the parents and get their doctor to do a thorough physical…most of the time if you take this approach it takes care of itself.

I once had a kid bring me a bottle of pills and say “Coach my doctor told me that if pass out to just put one of these under my tongue and I’ll come back”…

Me: ‘Billy’ it’s time for you and I to have a talk.

^That happened to me in 2018.

One's blood pressure, heart rate and not having a hernia have nothing whatsoever to do with protecting themselves on a football field.

They can do non contact individual drills, try to keep them out of contact drills and live periods.

Make sure to bring in parents for the talk. Some parents don't get it. I've said this before. I had a 300 pound kid that had down syndrome and seizures. He would have seizures right on sideline. Parents would always get pissed at me for not playing him much.If we had more kids he wouldn't have played at all but we only had 11 kids.

I've done the man to man, and said when your folks get here, tell them I'd like to chat.

Just explain I don't feel it's safe for X to participate at this time. But I would offer the manager role while still being allowed to do our S&C program.

Had a little slappy under 5'4 grow to be a HUGE slappy over 6'3 in a year. You never know who hits puberty and when.

If I go way back to when I was as OL coach I hated lines so instead I always had them work in pairs or four man blocks. I used the following language: "Stud on Stud, Pud on Pud". Somehow no one ever asked where they belonged or had to be told to move.

Not exactly what the OP is addressing, but the idea is that you can't play until you can prove you can play.

We had a female try out for our team several years ago.
She was a well knit, solid 140 pounds, with some athleticism. She was a junior, had never played, and lacked any sort of aggressiveness.

After getting her fitted with an appropriate pair of shoulder pads (I had our female trainer present when I fitted her), I explained to her that she would have to develop her football skills. She was agreeable to this. The other coaches essentially ignored her, hoping she would quit.

Towards the end of the early fall inter team scrimmage, we got her in as a defensive back, and as expected she got hammered (basically, just run over).

As the season progressed, she participated in drills (we were careful about mismatches) and we would use her in practice as a scout team defensive back, figuring that she could stand out in coverage and fill a position.

I would occasionally have to remind her to: "Earn her scholarship" when she hung back as a scout team player. This always got a smile from her.

She also got to carry the ball in scout team vs. the defense. She took some hits, but started to catch on.

At the end of the season, we were blowing out another team, we put her in as a running back in a goal line situation. Her first two attempts saw her miss the POA, but on the third try, the second team offense blocked well enough that she was able to score a TD.

The kids carried her off of the field!

She wisely decided not to play her senior year, but I was glad that she was able to have a positive experience.

Agreed. I think involving the parents is the best recourse. IME, most parents would be understanding in this situation, given that you're looking at it from a safety standpoint. And, it's best if you can come up with a solution that everyone agrees on.

Most, but not all.

One school I was HC at in my first year had parents that threatened to sue if their Special Needs son was not allowed to be on the team (previous coach made him a manager).

The kid (who was borderline morbidly obese) could not make it through a Warm-Up or Drill of any kind much less protect himself.

But we had to put him on the team, let him practice (after a fashion) and dress for first game.

After the latter his parents came in and confronted me about why we had not gotten him into the contest.

I told them he was fourth string at his position and we had three other kids to get PT before we could consider putting him in.

I don't know if that placated them but never heard from them again.

All of the above. Most importantly include the parent(s) in the discussion. Bottom line is how important it is to set standards for ALL prospects. Too often I see and hear coaches talk their "dudes" up. When I was coaching I made it clear to my staff that EVERY kid intending to play was considered a "prospect" first. Every kid had to meet the expectations and standards regardless if they were returning varsity starters, or sub-varsity kids. Of course we KNEW who the "dudes" were or even would be, but we made sure that our message getting out was that EVERY kid was a prospect first, and required to meet varsity expectations and standards in order to become members of the varsity team. I believed that a varsity prospect had to prove they possessed the physical, mental, and emotional maturity to make the team. If not they were placed on a sub-varsity team. In small schools with small numbers we did the same but had to limit varsity playing time for those who didn't meet all the criteria. Yes, there were times we played seniors who were lacking experience, size, speed, etc. in a sub-varsity game in agreement with the opposing coaches. Parents loved us because those boys got the chance to play. Toward the end of the season some actually saw more varsity playing time when we could get them in because they gradually improved enough to warrant it.