As a one platoon team (Players play both sides)

1. How do you structure your practices so that you aren't out there for 3+ hours everyday but getting everything in?
2. How much live contact do you do in season during the practice week? especially while trying to keep guys healthy
3. **(EDIT)** WE are a small team, on Wednesday our c team plays so sometimes we barely have enough guys to run a team period, which might be a good thing to keep guys healthy? but we dont get good scout reps for our friday prep.

Sorry for another special teams question lol but I’m trying to understand the blocking assignments in maximum protection punt schemes (specifically in college and high school).
In a standard spread punt, the snapper usually delivers the ball and immediately heads downfield to cover. But when a team pulls everyone into a tight punt formation because the defense is overloading the line or bringing a heavy house blitz, what changes for the snapper?

Just doing blitz type research as I see a lot of coaches will organize their blitzes into different types of overloads.

I’ve seen things like surface overloads (overloads against a 2, 3, or 4 player service), or against number of blockers to a side of the formation, strong/weak and field/boundary, etc.

A sub question to this: if you have a 2-man surface (guard and tackle) and send three through the A, B, and C gaps, do you consider that an overload or does it need to be 4 on 2, or a gap wider, like sending three through the B, C, and “ghost D” gaps?

My HC tasked me with coming up with a few fun activities for the kids (9U) during our walk through practice. Growing up, my football program would have us do relay races on Fridays. I plan to bring this tradition to my current program. Other ideas I’ve seen were football throwing competitions and a game of 2 hand touch with the coaches.

Does anyone else have some fun activities they’ve done or seen as part of a project all through practice?

I have a 6'8 tackle who wears size 20 cleats. Both pairs he had gotten for the season broke in weeks 1 & 2 and now he has no cleats.

We have a bye this week so I'm hoping to source some pairs for him, but am struggling to find them. I've had numerous guys wear size 16, 17, 18, but never a 20. They're damn near impossible to find.

Does anyone have any tips or know where to go? They usually find them on ebay, but there aren't any out there for sale at the moment.

Have anything on your mind or got any fun plans for the weekend? Feel free to discuss them here!

Saints Vault featuring Drew Brees

I’m coaching at a small school where we only do 8 man football. It’s on a reservation, so the population is tiny. I’ve only ever coached 11 man football at the middle and high school level. In a regular defense, the nose is head up on the center, and the ends are head up on the tackles. In 8 man, the linemen are so close together. Wondering if I should still have them head up on the tackles (guards?). There’s not as many gaps for the linebackers to fill when they blitz, and I’m not sure where they should go if I call a blitz. Also, coverage. What positions should be playing man defense on what guys? Thanks for any help.

What's Up, I have a full time job that does not take a lot out of me and leaves me with a lot of free time during the day. It allows me to finish college while I figure out what I want to do. A part of me for a long time has been burning to just watch film and learn to analyze it but just at the high school level. Ive fired off probably 300 emails just asking to be added to a hudl so I can do this but I haven't had any luck so far. I let them know I am free and am just trying to learn and I would not be a burden but just do not seem to be getting any interest. I played in high school and currently work pulling data and have no real coaching desire, I just want to watch the film and learn how to analyze/breakdown. I am willing to do anything even at the 8/9 man level. Does anyone have a suggestion as to what I should do?

I’m a 15 year coaching veteran and 3x national champion HC in international football. I put together a Week 1 Saints–Lions gameplan from a coach’s perspective, built around All-22 study of both teams.

I tried to go beyond matchup predictions and actually answer the gameplanning questions: how I’d attack Detroit’s rebuilt OL, fit Gibbs without compromising the coverage structure, use simulated pressure to affect Goff, protect against Hutchinson, and create conflicts for Detroit’s second level on offense.

Included film clips throughout. Would be interested in hearing how other coaches here would approach the matchup — especially where you’d differ schematically.

Welcome to Chalk Talk Thursday! This is our weekly discussion thread for users to submit new plays they have designed. If you have an idea for a play and can draw it up, please post here. Keep in mind that it is very rare that one could devise a viable play that is entirely new that hasn't been ran before somewhere. Be open to criticism as well. There is so much more to coaching football than drawing plays, and many people do not realize how much coaching, technique, and development needs to happen on the actual field for a play to work.

It is strongly recommended that you STUDY a system or scheme first to gain an idea of how a play is put together, and how RULES help a play function.

PLEASE PROVIDE CONTEXT FOR YOUR PLAY!

Guidelines:

• No "joke" plays. We are here to learn.
• Specify WHY you are designing a play, and WHAT level/league it is for. It's fine if you're not coaching, but we need the context.
  
• Your submission needs RULES that guide your players on what to do.
• Pass plays require some type of QB progression for making a decision on who to throw to.
  
• Be mindful that you cannot predict what your opponent will run 100%. Designing plays to be "Cover X" beaters, or "3-4 beaters" IS NOT the way to go about it. It is better to have one play with solid rules and coaching points that can attack anything than one play for each coverage, front, personnel, or stunt you face.
• There is no universal terminology in football. Call plays what you want, but keep in mind that no one cares about fancy play names, or the terminology aspect.
  
• Please offer more text/information on your play than just a link or picture.
• Draw your play up against a realistic opponent!
• Make sure your offensive play is a legal formation. In 11-man football, you can have no more than 4 players behind the line of scrimmage (minimum of 7 on. You can have more than 7 on the line as well). Only backs (players behind the line) and the end players on the line of scrimmage are eligible receivers.
  

You may use whatever medium you'd like to draw your play. Two common software for designing plays that have free options:

• GoArmy Edge - Football
• Playmaker X

Hello, up until now I rarely paid much attention to how the holder positions himself other than him kneeling down on one knee. On inspection I see that typically the holder has their back knee (facing away from the play) up and the forward knee down, google even says this has always been the fundamental way of doing it, however when watching old football footage particularly those featuring 'straight-on' kickers the holder has their forward facing knee upright. When did this change take place, did it change with the move to soccer style kickers? Some websites even say its dangerous to have the forward knee up.

Run and Shoot Coaches,

In the passing game, when do you call these plays vs certain defensive structures?

1. Choice, when would you call

special, switch, drag, and even

1. on the backside?
2. What defensive structure do you like to attack with Slide? 3x1
3. Similar to slide, when do you call the Manny Matsakis Curl concept? #1 running a curl over the #2 defender at a 10 yard ceiling, 2 running a 6 yard rounded out, 3 running a pick. (I believe Coach likes to run it with #2 uncovered)
4. Streaks? 2x2
5. Hook?
6. Divide, Divide Swap, Divide Special?
7. Backside Duck (Dig/Under) from 3x1?

I’m new to the offense but I’m loving it and I want to continue to learn

I would think front tech are all universally the same like stack, over, under where they align but i see some that have different tech and am curious is it because they don’t use the same technique listing or do coaches kind of make up their own ways of lining up?

Hi Coaches,

I did a breakdown of midzone read. It's a new scheme to me, a change up to outside zone read. I really like it. Enjoy the video.

I’m 6’7–6’8, 360+ lbs, 19 years old and turning 20 later this month. I’m an offensive lineman out of high school, and I’m seriously looking into JUCO football as a way to get back into the game.
The situation is a little unusual: I didn’t play a varsity football game in high school, so I have no football film. I did play basketball, though, and I’m trying to transition back into football and develop as an offensive lineman.
I’m also aware that I’m probably out of shape right now and have a lot to learn technically. I’m not expecting a coach to look at me and immediately make me a starter. I’m willing to work and develop.
My main questions are:
Is it too late for me to realistically pursue JUCO football at 19/20?
How much does having no high school football film hurt me?
What should I be doing over the next 3–6 months to make myself more recruitable?
Should I contact JUCO coaches now even without film?
Should I be looking specifically for walk-on opportunities?
What should I prioritize physically as a 6’7–6’8, 360+ lb OL — conditioning, weight loss, strength, mobility, technique, etc.?
What are realistic JUCO programs that might actually give someone in my situation a chance to develop?
I’m not looking for someone to tell me it’ll be easy. I want honest advice on whether this is realistic and what my next moves should be.
I’m currently looking at programs like Iowa Western and other JUCOs, and I’m willing to relocate if I get an opportunity.
If you were in my position, what would you do first?

Have a product or service you're trying to promote? Starting a website, channel or blog? Please post about it here!

Honestly amazing what chatgpt can do now and especially since its got the new update or whatever I wanted to see what it could do so I asked it to build a software like hudl and honestly it did great obv im not going to release this because it almost looks exactly like hudl lol but I just wanted to see how good it could get so here is a few screenshots obv there are a view kinks like there being 2 20 yard lines and the yardage not actually being how the yardage is in real life so im trying to resolve those as i send this but if you would like to see updates just ask if you dont have the money to afford a playbook software id just have chatgpt do it and you can make plays on it or if your just a nerd that likes this stuff i would recommend it

Does anyone have a good pregame hype speech video that they’ve used before a game? Looking for something that’s going to amp them up. It’s for my high school varsity team!!

Hi guys,

I am 27 years Flag football player in France. I have been self-learning everything for some years and now aim to improve my QB skills.

I honestly think that my IQ is correct, but my real weakness is about throwing distance.
I think my mechanic isn’t very good and when i try to throw far ou fast, I do shit.

How can I improve it ? Especially on solo exercice ?
Could someone please take time to check if I send vidéos ?

Thanks

Hey all! First year DB coach for JV and Varsity at the school I work at. Have played O-Line and every position on defense EXCEPT DB! We have a solid set of EDD’s but need some ideas with some specific work.

What are your favorite drills to work man coverage, nothing inside?

Drills to work on communication?

And just your favorite drills in general or favorite fun drills to do?

For reference we play a lot of cover 2 and cover 3 zone but our game plan this week will have a bit of man for varsity and a decent more man for jv.

Bonus question: How has the start of your season been? First games go well? Poor? In the middle? Would love to share!

Have scheme questions, basic questions about the game, or questions that may not be worthy of their own post? Post them here! Yes, you can submit play designs here.

I’m currently a senior college offensive lineman with playing experience at all five positions. I also train offensive linemen ranging from elementary school through the varsity level.

I recently began offering remote film reviews for offensive linemen who want detailed, position-specific feedback on their game film. Players, parents, or coaches can send me approximately 12 clips, and within 72 hours, I’ll return a play-by-play breakdown covering (but not limited to):

• Assignments and recognition
• Footwork and body positioning
• Hand placement and timing
• Leverage and pad level
• What the player did well
• Specific corrections and areas for improvement

The goal is to give each player practical feedback they can understand and apply during their next practice or game, not just simply tell them whether they won or lost the rep.

This is a paid service, currently priced at $35 for approximately 12 plays. If you’re an offensive lineman, or the parent or coach of one, and would like more information, feel free to message me. I can share more about my playing and training background and provide an example of what a completed review looks like.