famar
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Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
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Post by famar on Dec 25, 2020 22:48:26 GMT -6
In New Jersey, the state association sets the classifications (5 public school groups and 3 private school groups) and each of the leagues makes their divisions and schedules. Most of the non-divisional games in New Jersey are crossover games with teams in other divisions within your league, most of them are predetermined by your league. The notable exceptions are the big private schools in North Jersey (St. Peter's Prep, Don Bosco, St. Joseph Regional, Bergen Catholic, Paramus Catholic, DePaul) that play games against high-profile out of state opponents.
Scheduling of games has been a point of contention for 20+ years in New Jersey, such that the big private schools in North Jersey play very few if any public schools in New Jersey, and the presence of prominent private school programs in South Jersey delayed one league's entrance into a super conference for 5 years. Now the biggest issue is equity in scheduling.
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Dec 24, 2020 17:43:45 GMT -6
I coach for a women's team, so a lot of male name terms we often hear associated with certain calls or terms are feminine names. Our spread 2x2 instead of calling dubs, or doubles, is "Deb." A couple ideas I've had on late nights, a few drinks in... * Do your no huddle or card communication in a foreign language: Teach the kids a language while they play football. I'm also a Star Wars geek, and have wanted to write plays on cards using Aurebesh (the standard language/alphabet used in the Star Wars universe). I figure someone from the other team will know it, but not to the extent that they could translate and communicate it to the other team in time. * Use more academic topics to communicate play names to help kids learn other things in practice. Like, if you wanted to get really anal, teach Geography by having European nations be certain plays, while African nations are another series of plays. * Some programs already do this I'm sure, but eliminate all stretching/warm-ups, and instead use individual sessions as warm-ups. WR's warm up by doing stance and starts, catching/hand exercises, then work other calisthenics into the drills. Centers and QB's do snaps then do initial steps of core plays, etc. Stretching/warm-up is necessary, but I hate it to a point where I'd rather just find ways to have players use play/skill reps as their warm-ups if I can do it. One of my biggest coaching pet peeves is when you have limited practice time, and as a result, coaches cut out the basic fundamentals simply because players should already know them. I'd rather work on the "day 1" fundamentals every day than do warm-ups. * When I was in high school, and I'm sure we weren't the only ones, we would practice/prep for Wing-T and Double Wing teams by the scout offense playing without a football. The ball carrier would carry a coin, and the defense had to use their keys to find the ball carrier. Then the ball carrier would reveal the coin after the play was done. I think it was a brilliant tactic, and it was also a lot of fun; made it like a game within a game. When I was in college we used the buildings on campus to call our plays at the line. Dorms were runs (we live in our dorms, we live by the run), academic buildings were passes (it was over our heads), the performing arts center for screens (it had a big screen), off campus dorm was our reverse (most of the people living there led alternative lifestyles so it was the "reverse" of everybody else). It really helped the freshmen learn which buildings were which and since nobody transferred from our school to any conference schools the code was pretty unbreakable.
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Sept 25, 2020 20:26:35 GMT -6
I have never had a Navy Seal threaten to kill me, but I had a drunk guy at rodeo utter the same words when his wife was rubbing up against me after she had too many. He probably wouldn't have been as mad had I not been smiling so big. I worked in North Carolina close to Fort Bragg and had a kid who played baseball for me. Not a great player, but a great kid. His dad was a sniper in the army and would be gone for random spurts for 2-3 weeks at a time. I guess he would have to go on "missions." When he did the kid would be pretty guarded, but still a great kid. Anyway, he was a lefty and played first base. His dad stops me after a practice one day and just asked what the kid could work on to get better and if there was any help he could provide for the kid to get better. Great dad and great kid. I decided to start the kid next game, it was JV baseball so what a better life lesson for the bunch than if a kid is trying to improve himself he might get an opportunity. We get to the game and we go to take In/Out and the kid looks at me like he saw a ghost. "Coach I forgot my glove." He was the only lefty so he was screwed. After the game his dad looked me dead in the eye and said "Coach I appreciate you giving him a chance, but never play his butt again." One time in my playing days did I forget equipment. Sophomore year playing JV ball somehow I forgot my knee pads. The JV coach was not well prepared- we didn't even have a back up equipment bag for things like that or for equipment malfunctions. So I realize what happened, go to the coach to apologize for my mistake explain why I cant play. Coach says to me I'm still playing (I was starting OLB). He turned to a back up kid and told him, 'you ain't playing anyways' and made him give me his knee pads. I felt AWFUL! I also couldnt believe the coach did that, complete wrong move. I made sure after that to always double check my gear I had two teammates in high school, end of the bench types who rarely got in. Anyway, I can remember most games in high school they would be in the locker room fully equipped but by the opening kickoff they had been stripped of one or more items for a starter who had forgotten or "lost" something.
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Aug 21, 2020 17:22:38 GMT -6
The NJSIAA allowed Phase 1 workouts to begin July 13. A few schools started that day and have been working out ever since. Others started a week or two after that. At the school I'm at, we were barred from any in person contact with our players until September 14. Compounding that is the fact that we're a new staff so the first practice on September 14 will be the first time we see our kids in person, and we have a scrimmage September 25 and then a game October 2. Dang! Thats tough man. We've been conditioning since early July with 7 on 7 and linemen work taking place. First game September 25th. How are you planning to install with such little time? Thats hard. We've been doing Zoom Install meetings and sending out clips on Hudl since May, it obviously isn't ideal but it's the only choice we have. About 8 or 9 of our players have been going to the feeder program's practices and working together for the past 3 weeks. As far as install goes, we don't plan on having a ton in for week 1, and in reality with a shortened season, we might get 60% of our offense effectively installed this year.
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Aug 19, 2020 18:26:13 GMT -6
We are exactly the same up in New Hampshire. The NJSIAA allowed Phase 1 workouts to begin July 13. A few schools started that day and have been working out ever since. Others started a week or two after that. At the school I'm at, we were barred from any in person contact with our players until September 14. Compounding that is the fact that we're a new staff so the first practice on September 14 will be the first time we see our kids in person, and we have a scrimmage September 25 and then a game October 2.
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Aug 18, 2020 19:46:12 GMT -6
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Aug 15, 2020 20:45:00 GMT -6
My state is planning on having a truncated fall season (for now), but the question for the states that are moving football to the spring is, after you get done, are they then expecting you to play again in the fall of 2021? That's not much of an off-season and a lot of football games crammed into a 9 or 10 month window.
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Aug 12, 2020 14:51:13 GMT -6
So I've coached varsity for several years now. However, everywhere that I have coached has been a two platoon program and I have coached on the defensive side of the ball. I would like to learn more about the offensive side of the ball. I was wondering what books some of you may suggest. Ideally, an offensive book for a first year coach. As always, thanks for any help! Why not start with your own coaching staff? I'm sure they would be willing to teach you their system.
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Aug 10, 2020 14:24:43 GMT -6
I saw a post on a Facebook coaching group about "virtual coaches". It would be coaches from states who've had their seasons moved hooking up with a staff in another state to help them with data input and Hudl breakdowns, or just being able to watch film to learn from different staffs. Have any of you guys considered doing this? And if you're a head coach, would you be open to allowing somebody to join your staff virtually?
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Aug 1, 2020 20:27:40 GMT -6
In New Jersey, we are having a 6 game season beginning October 2. There will be some kind of two week mini-playoffs, what shape that takes we don't yet know. Most conferences rolled out schedules some time in the past week. Some have announced there will be no divisions and no all-league selections.
The NJSIAA allowed teams to begin Phase 1 workouts on July 13; some schools did, others waited a week or two, then there's mine which isn't allowing us any in-person contact with our players until September 14.
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Apr 4, 2019 21:09:40 GMT -6
Wanted to give everyone an update. We fell short of a state championship, but this season was definitely the most exciting one of my career. We won a division title, but lost in the state semi-finals 22-21 to the eventual state champs. We finished out our season beating our Thanksgiving Day rival 61-0. I know this is way late, but you can you kinda explain the whole Thanksgiving Day game tradition up north? I had never really heard of the high school Thanksgiving Day game tradition until we had a guy move down here to TX from PA to work for us. It seemed really cool. I played HS football and coach in New Jersey where we still have some Thanksgiving Day games left, but as traditional conferences have been replaced by super conferences, and with the state adding another layer of playoffs this past season (we don't have "state championships", instead as of last year we are one round short of it), Thanksgiving Day games are becoming more scarce. For the schools that still do play them, it's usually the biggest home attendance game of the year. The school that I will be coaching at in the fall plays on Thanksgiving against a team that it first began playing in 1917 and have played every year since except for 1990-1995. There are a couple of these games in South Jersey that are older, like Millville/Vineland which began in 1893, Salem/Woodstown which began in 1911, and Palmyra/Burlington City began in 1908.
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on May 28, 2018 20:27:58 GMT -6
Has anyone ever watched film, seen poor effort or players doing things contrary to coaching and made an announcement that all starting spots were back up for grabs that week - and then made those changes? This could be heat of the moment or pre-determined. I think it's one of those things that sounds great in theory (the motivational aspect) but isn't always great when applied. As others have alluded to, in programs that don't have much depth, or as is the case with a lot of high schools where the drop off in quality from starter to backup is significant, it probably amounts to an empty threat. And while we all at times bemoan the stupidity of teenagers, they are quick to pick up on those empty threats. I've been on staffs where this tactic has been tried, and the end result was either no changes or one or two kids who were marginal starters at best ended up getting replaced. As a sophomore in high school, after our team lost a sloppy effort to fall to 2-3, we had one of those "all starting spots are being reevaluated" speeches and the result was that I was inserted in to the starting lineup. I remember my coach saying "We're going to try famar at wideout, he can't possibly be any worse than the other two guys who are playing there."
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on May 17, 2018 20:57:55 GMT -6
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Apr 8, 2018 14:41:57 GMT -6
Rumble...Lightning. Once I coached at a Catholic school. They used Sinistro and Dextro...Latin words for right and left. Shortened them to the letters "S" and "D". Yeah, I know...kind of pompous. Acually that's not a bad idea. Unless you're playing against kids who have taken and remember it, how many high school kids are going to know Latin?
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Apr 3, 2018 20:25:27 GMT -6
One the we used was Mom (Right) and Dad (Left), because Mom is always right.
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Apr 3, 2018 19:39:08 GMT -6
everybody just post a picture of your wang next to a standard ozarka water bottle for scale...then we can get that part out of the way and move on Then that would start an argument about whether somebody used photoshop.
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Mar 21, 2018 10:39:13 GMT -6
This season we open against a new non-conference opponent and I would like to get some of their film, but I honestly don't know how to go about it. Do I ask them directly for film from last season? Do I ask one of their opponents from last year? Should I even bother with getting film for week one? I feel like this is a silly question, but I don't want to ruffle feathers and want to make sure I use proper etiquette. The team I coach is in this boat this year, and we were in this boat 4 years ago as well. In both cases, we reached out to other coaches that we knew had played them the year before and got film. You do run the risk, as others have mentioned, of the team changing schemes and having any work you've done being rendered moot, but at least as far as we are concerned, my head coach would rather have something than nothing. And if they don't change schemes, then you at least know the basic structure of their offense and defense by the time you exchange scrimmage film later this year.
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Mar 19, 2018 19:53:43 GMT -6
I recently took over as the head coach at a private school in my town. The town has two high schools one public and one private. The Public school has about 1200 kids, has been down record wise for the last couple of years, the private school has about 130 kids and has been to the quarterfinals in there division the last two years. We have 3 private middle schools in town one is a direct feed to the private high school and the other two, most of those kids go public. I want to try to get most of those kids from the two privates to choose the school I am at. What are some ideas people have for building a kind of pipeline. In all honesty if I can get 10 more kids a class that would be more than enough. Just looking for ideas to get kids interested specifically 8th graders that will be freshman. When it comes to private school education, in order to get people to come to you that otherwise might not give you a second thought or might be on the fence, you have to convince them that what their child will be getting is demonstrably better than the public school alternative, so much so that they will be willing to pay for it. As much as you or may not be thinking about this in terms of football, most parents are going to be looking at it from the education point of view. My opinion, you have to sell the academics before you can sell the football. Football is going to last 4 years, maybe 5-8 if they play in college, the academics are going to carry them through life.
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Mar 12, 2018 12:34:13 GMT -6
Naval Academy
Friday, April 6 and Saturday, April 8
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Jan 30, 2018 21:22:24 GMT -6
Anybody? Marlin Briscoe
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Jan 26, 2018 20:47:13 GMT -6
can of dip, maybe something to spit into, snickers wrapper so you can leave it under your seat, cell phone ringer turned to 11 This is key, the little cups they provide in the back of the room with the water coolers aren't adequate.
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Jan 24, 2018 21:22:20 GMT -6
Does anyone have a good system for handing it helmet reward decals? Like how many tackles, catches, etc? Or how to get the offensive line more love?? D line? Any feedback is appreciated. Also the best place to get them custom made. Email me at sdhayden51@gmail.com if you would rather Thanks If a kid that rushes for over 100 yds gets a sticker, or gets a sticker for a rushing TD, the o-line should get a sticker as well.
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Jan 22, 2018 21:26:20 GMT -6
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Jan 22, 2018 21:21:59 GMT -6
Do any of you tell players to avoid certain sports programs because bad culture in those programs. Example spring sports that accept poor work ethic, kids being selfish, accept loosing etc... We want multi sport athletes, but at some point are you better off telling them to avoid bad programs? Dear God, NO. Like many of the other respondents have said, if your program is strong and has instilled a culture of hard work, the kids in your program that have bought in aren't going to automatically deprogram after the final whistle of football season and beome turds because (whatever other sport) isn't up to snuff in that regard. And as others have alluded to, this could turn back on you. Imagine that one of these other sports that you describe as having a bad culture strings together a couple of deep playoff runs while the football programs is mediocre for a few years, do you want that coach trying to convince your kids to give up football to concentrate on their sport year round? And do you want to face the prospect of when you inevitably have to move on, that your chances of getting a gig somewhere else are derailed by the whispers that you're a "program killer" for the other sports in the school?
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Jan 10, 2018 13:14:26 GMT -6
We did something similar to a lot of what the previous posters said, seniors pick the teacher that has inspired them the most, is asked to write a short blurb about them, and the teacher's that have been chosen serve as our honorary captains for that particular game. In between quarters, the PA announcer reads the blurbs and I remember at some point the player presenting their teacher with a t shirt.
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Nov 28, 2017 19:50:16 GMT -6
Had a kid skip practice to try out for the surfing team.
A buddy of mine is a head coach of a team in our league. He told me he had 3 kids blow off practice to be cheerleaders for a powder puff football game.
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Nov 27, 2017 20:09:57 GMT -6
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Nov 24, 2017 22:46:55 GMT -6
I was just curious to see how many states still have Thanksgiving games. We do in New Jersey, although it's not as big a deal as it used to be 25-30 years ago. Living in Louisiana, I had never heard of these things until this board. For us, Thanksgiving week is almost always the quaterfinals week of the playoffs (up until the split playoff system, now it is the quarters for some, semis for others) I found it incredible that teams in other places would interrupt the playoffs to have a thanksgiving day gameThat's New Jersey, and in some parts of Pennsylvania as well. I can't speak totally for Pennsylvania as I have never coached there, but in New Jersey, we start our season a bit later than most as the season opener for most teams is the weekend after Labor Day (some open Labor Day weekend), and we don't have state championships. We've had two weeks of playoffs, Thanksgiving for those teams that still have Thanksgiving games, and the sectional finals are next weekend.
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Nov 24, 2017 22:00:39 GMT -6
I was just curious to see how many states still have Thanksgiving games. We do in New Jersey, although it's not as big a deal as it used to be 25-30 years ago.
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famar
Sophomore Member
Looking to learn as much as I can from this site and all of the coaches here.
Posts: 208
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Post by famar on Nov 15, 2017 22:56:46 GMT -6
I'm not a head coach or coordinator, I just break down film of the opposing team's offense for the defensive staff, so you can take what I say with a grain of salt.
Even though we run the HUDL reports as several previous posters mentioned, I look at the following stuff, in no particular order:
1) Field/Boundary Tendencies- do they FIB, or are they primarily a FIF? 2) Offensive Linemen "tipping"- from my perspective, it's amazing the number of teams whose linemen set back a lot further off the ball when they pull. If I can see it, you would think they see it and would correct it. 3) Alignment of backs- for Spread teams, is there a rhyme or reason to where the running back lines up? For Wing T teams,does the halfback cheat up/fullback a bit deeper when they run Belly? 4) Wide Receiver and Slot splits- we play a team that a few times a game will go with super wide splits (think Baylor under Art Briles) and every time is a run.The average HS QB isn't throwing to a kid lined up 2 yds from the sideline from the opposite hash. 5) Moving a Wide Receiver to Slot and vice versa 6) Personnel Packages- what do they do with certain kids on the field 7) Motion and Shifting 8) Strange or new formations and trick plays
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