Coaching offensive line is a privilege for any coach. There is no other position like offensive line. In my career I was blessed to have an opportunity to coach every position on the field, and I can tell you that there was no experience that comes close to what it was like to coach the offensive line. It also helped me early in my career as an offensive coordinator. It is vital that an offensive coordinator not only understand the blocking schemes they install, but it is very important they understand the techniques involved in making the blocking schemes work.
This summer I had an opportunity to work with some offensive line coaches in preparation for the upcoming season. We were able to spend some time talking about what it takes to build a successful offensive line. One thing you have to understand is that the level of talent you have does not have any impact on your coaching. There are going to be seasons where you have better talent than other seasons. That should have no impact on your intensity as a coach. On Friday night and Saturday afternoons there are no excuses. Everything you have done to prepare your offensive line will be on full display.
If you are a new offensive line coach or you are a veteran, having a successful offensive line comes down to three things. But before I get into the three keys, I want to talk about leverage. Leverage is a huge part of success in football. We define leverage as an advantage. If you have leverage, you want to keep it. If you don't have leverage you need to go get it. We want to have leverage at the point of attack. Sometimes we are blocking a player who has us leveraged. What does that mean? It means he has the advantage. We need to move our feet to work to get our hat to a leveraged position. Sometimes we are blocking a guy where we have leverage. What do we want to do? We want to keep leverage.
With that said, here are the three keys to building a dominating offensive line.
First, you have to build unity within your group. This might be the most important factor to having success on your offensive line. You have five guys on the field at a time. If you also coach the tight ends, you might have 7 on the field for some plays. No other position has the same number of players on the field. There must be complete unity among the offensive line. They are a team within a team, and they must function as one.
There are many ways to build unity, but I have found there is no substitute for spending time together outside of the locker room and field. Have your offensive line guys to the house for dinner. Spend time with them talking about goals as a group. Each year I had the offensive line over before the season and we talked about our unit goals. We spent time talking about what we needed to do to be the best we could be. I took every opportunity I could find to help them to bond as a group.
When they trust and care about each other, they will work better together. They will communicate in the meeting room and pre-snap. They will be more vocal with their line calls, and they will gain more confidence in the ability of the guy next to them. They will not have to rely on their own strength, but they will draw strength from the group.
Whether you are a seasoned offensive coordinator, or it is your first year leading the offense, there is something important you can and should do every single week when you are game planning. We found this one thing was really good against everyone we played, but especially when we played someone who was very talented.
When you build your game plan you are are always going to look for leverage, numbers, and green grass. You are going to find the formations you think will give you a numerical advantage. You are looking for great angles for your offensive line. You want to find green grass for your skill guys, because green grass gives you explosive opportunities. You are always going to look at personnel, and today we are going to drill down to one thing within personnel that can give you an advantage.
One thing that is often overlooked is finding their 11th guy. Every single team has an 11th guy. That is their 11th best guy. Everyone, no matter how good they are, has an 11th best guy. Even teams you play that are loaded with 4 and 5 star recruits have an 11th best.
Most teams you play have at least one guy they are hiding. They have one guy they are protecting because he isn't as talented as their other players. Some teams might have two or three of these guys. When you play someone who is really good, or even someone who isn't as talented, spend time looking for the 11th best guy.
If the 11th best guy is a defensive end, figure out how you can attack him with your identity concept. If their 11th guy is a corner, find ways to match your best receiver up with that guy. If he is a safety and your best skill guy is an outside receiver, how can you adjust a formation to match up your receiver with that safety? Just because a guy plays outside receiver doesn't mean you can't move him around to match him up on a linebacker or a safety.
One example of this was when we were playing a top ranked team who was very, very good. They ran the 4-3 and played 2 high. They played base most snaps because they could. They had a dominant defensive line and their secondary and outside backers were really good. The Mike was really good, but he was their slowest defender. He was a guy who was very physical, but he didn't run well. We wanted to get him in coverage situations.
People ask me at clinics how we were able to snap the ball over 30 times in a quarter. A few years back we had several games of over 100 snaps and averaged 92 snaps a game for the season. How is it that we are able to get the ball snapped so quickly? What are we doing that is allowing us to play so fast? The answer lies in three keys.
1. A Repeatable Process of going from one play to the next. What I mean is, we have to have a system for them to go from the end of one play to the beginning of the next that never changes. We don't always play fast, but our process never changes.
The Process:
When the play ends, our players are hustling to the ball while looking at the sideline. A coach is communicating the tempo. If he is communicating that we are going Nascar tempo, the players are also getting a play call. When we play at Nascar tempo we are going to use a one signal call. In this one signal call the players are getting the formation and the play. Our signal can be anything we want. The key is that it must be one hand motion that can be communicated quickly. When our players see the nascar tempo and hand signal, they sprint to the line. Once everyone is set the quarterback calls for the snap. Our goal is to snap the ball 12 seconds following the end of the previous play.
If the signaler is giving them our signal for normal tempo, the players are getting a formation and play signal. Once coach signals play and another signals formation. The players are moving quickly to get lined up and run the play. The extra signal adds 4 seconds to the process. Our goal in our normal mode is to snap the ball 16 seconds after the previous play ends.
2. Simplicity- You have to have a simple way to call your plays. We use one word/one signal calls for our fastest tempo. We don't have play calls that have more than two hand motions in our normal mode. The shorter the signal, the faster the process. It also allows your players to process information quickly and not get jumbled down.
Our signals are essentially stimulus response. Coach signals this, I do that. It is a way of simple memorization that allows our kids to be able to process quickly. We can build tempo calls into each game and change them week to week if we wish.
3. Organized Call Sheet- This is vital to being able to make quick decisions during games. There is no perfect call sheet, but you want your call sheet to be organized in such a way that you can quickly find what you are looking for. Our call sheet is divided into sections, with each section serving a purpose. We build scripts for each down and distance situation that might come up. These scripts are based on our scouting report. If an opponent brings a 5 man pressure 42% of the time on 2nd and 6 to 10, we are going to have a screen scripted for the at situation. If our opponent drops 8 on 2nd and long, we are going to script a draw. Our call sheet is easy to follow and gives us a chance to quickly call plays. We have additional sections as well to meet our most important needs on offense. Below is a screen shot of the section of our call sheet covering down and distance scripts.
We script everything in practice as well. This allows us to make sure we get everything covered. Our scripts in practice our taken from our game call sheet. These are put together on Saturday and Sunday as we prepare for our opponent. We are highly organized in our approach, which helps us to practice faster during the week, and play faster on Friday Night. Our call sheet was a nightmare to create. It took several hours to build onto an excel document. Ty Palmer, who I worked with at Seminole High School, helped me to improve the formatting to what you see today. He helped me convert it from Microsoft Publisher to Excel.
Tempo Is A Weapon
What I mean is, playing fast is good. Having the ability to snap the ball in 6 seconds is really tough to stop. But if you don't get first downs, it can be really hard on your defense. And if all you do is play really fast, defenses can catch up. Mixing up your tempo is really, really good!
Final Thoughts:
Just because you can play fast doesn't mean you should. Playing fast is in vogue right now, but it is not the best thing for everyone. If your defense can't stop anyone, then you might use tempo to score a lot of points. If you have a really good defense, the goal on offense should be to put them in a good position. Use tempo as a weapon and change speeds, and do what is best for your team.
Using AI to Supercharge Your Offensive Game Plan! AI is not coming, AI is here!
AI can help you be more explosive on defense by supercharging your game planning! Imagine how much better of a play caller you will be if you know what the defense is going to do! If you know they are playing zone coverage, you can make a call to beat zone. If you know that they are going to play cover 3, you can call a cover 3 beater. Instead of guessing, you are going be able to call more touchdown plays! Using AI to Supercharge Your Offensive Game Plan will completely revolutionize your game planning! It will save you several hours each week! Instead of pouring over reports that aren't helpful to offensive coordinators, you can use AI to get your data, your way!
This is available at a special price. That price will be increasing, so don't wait. This will give you everything you need to use AI. Whether you are a beginner to technology, or you are a technological guru, this will give you a huge advantage over your opponents. Instead of spending hours combing through reports, you can have all of your information in one place, allowing you to quickly make decisions and build your game plan. Use the code AI at checkout to save $15 for a limited time!
Here is a video showing the power of AI!
You don't need to spend countless hours to figure out how to use AI. Use Using AI to Supercharge Your Offensive Game Plan and I will give you everything you need to start using AI right now! This is not a piece of software you have to renew each month or year. This is a resource that you will be able to use from day one. It includes access to the custom AI analysts I built! Remember to use the code AI at checkout! AI will help you get your time back on the weekends, while making you more prepared than ever!
Building The Call Sheet
If you want to save several hours building your own call sheet, I have made available and offensive game planning packet. It includes 9 editable and customizable documents, including my two-sided color call sheet! This call sheet will help you be more organized and will help you score more points!
The packet includes everything from install scheduled to weekly and daily practice plans. It will help you to prepare for the upcoming season, and to prepare for each game you play. You can order this packet by clicking here: Game and Practice Planning Packet.
I also wrote a book on Tempo that might give you some great insight into running a multiple tempo system. The book I wrote will take you through a detailed, systematic process of building tempo into your existing offense. Here is a picture of what coaches are saying:
The iBook version for the iPad, iPhone, and Mac contains over an hour of embedded video! I give you a systematic process to build tempo into your offense. I show you multiple ways to communicate your concepts, including sign boards! Here is a link to the iBooks version: Coach Vint's iBook on Tempo
Additionally, I wrote a book on RPO's. In my RPO book I describe in detail a systematic process to install RPO's. I go over first level, second level, third level, and multi-level reads. I show you how to scaffold the install and build a system that will fit what you are already doing.
Here is a picture of the cover with some quotes from other coaches on the book:
If you have an iPad or iPhone, buy the ibooks version! If you have an android or PC based device, I have a Kindle version for sale on Amazon. Here is a link to that version: Kindle Version of Coach Vint's RPO Book on Amazon. The kindle version has everything but the video.
I hope you found this information valuable!
Last year I got hooked up with CoachTube, and put together three courses for offensive football coaches. I put together two courses on RPO's, and a course on Building An Elite System of Communication. All of these courses will help you to score more points!
All three of these courses are detailed, with everything you need to be more explosive and to score more points.
The course on communication gives you a detailed approach to your gameday communication. I give you a system and a process to improve the quality of conversations, leading to improved play calling on game day. This course has received outstanding reviews from coaches at all level of football. A coach with multiple state titles told me this course helped them to be much more efficient and explosive this season.
My two RPO courses take you through a systematic process of installing RPO's into your offensive system. RPO's put the defense in conflict, forcing them to defend all 53 yards of width and all 6 skill players every single play. I not only give you a system, but I teach you the methods to develop your own RPO concepts.
Every team wants to build a program that consistently dominates opponents each week. I believe there are four elements to building a dominating program.
1. Talented Players
2. Mental and Physical Toughness
3. Disciplined Approach
4. Elite Preparation
All four of these are necessary if you want to build a program that consistently competes for championships. Today's focus will be on the fourth element, "Elite Preparation."
Have you ever walked out of the locker room and gotten into your car after game and said, "why didn't we call XYZ?" Or, "why didn't we get Johnnie more touches? Have you ever faced a situation in a game and your kids didn't know what to do? These are just a few of the many questions coaches at all level pose to themselves after a game. And each of them can be answered through preparation.
When I first became a coordinator I liked to call things from the hip. Our practices and game plan didn't match up. Because of this, our practices were often inefficient with a lot of wasted time. It didn't look like we were wasting time because each period was planned out and we followed a schedule. We hustled between our segments and our transitions were efficient. If we had such a fast-paced practice, how did we waste time?
It started with the lack of a game plan. We used to say, "we do what we do." There was no need to plan because we were going to run our offense. I had to learn the hard way that a lack of detailed preparation will lose games. We practiced a lot of things we never ran. In fact, we spent more time practicing plays we weren't going to run than plays we were going to run. We wasted a lot of reps. I thought we were doing a good job. I was wrong.
The reason I didn't prepare is that I didn't have a system of preparation. I visited several college and NFL programs and investigated how they prepared. What did they do to make sure every base was covered. We began to take a all of the information and put it together.
The first thing we did was put a game plan in writing. It wasn't merely a list of our plays. We looked at every single aspect of our opponents and came up with our favorite calls for each week. A call means formation, motion, and play. We decided to script our openers, and build down and distance scripts for each game. We came up these while we game planned on Saturday and Sunday.
Once we had our game plan in place, we built our scripts for practice. We scripted every period based on our game plan. We felt we need to practice every call a minimum of 6 times. Our ultimate goal was 12 reps for each call. By scripting our practice segments we made sure every single element was covered.
We then made a list of all the situations we wanted to cover. We came up with a system to teach each situation and incorporate into our practice each week. Below is our weekly list.
These are the most important situations that we practice week. We work our take a safety as well, which is not on this list. It is vital you teach them why you are taking a safety as well. You don't need to spend a lot of time on each of these. We work our two minute drill for 5 minutes a week. We work our 4th down go for it play 3 times each week. Our players know what we will call before we call it. Below is our overview showing when we work each situation.
Every single thing we did in practice had a purpose. We never had a situation that we didn't cover, and our players were able to adapt quicker during games. When our defense got the ball back, our players knew what we were going to call before we called it. They knew we were going to take a shot, and they knew what play we would call.
Two of the questions above that we often asked were "why didn't we call XYZ?" And, why didn't we get Johnnie the ball more? We solved these by adding a section called GAB or Get Athletes the Ball. I had a couple of calls set up for each of our best players. I knew when we were struggling to "think players, not plays." By having a section on my play calling sheet that targeted our best players, I made sure to make calls to get them touches.
I also made sure I had some shot calls on my sheet. I wanted to make sure we called enough big plays that we could score fast. These were momentum calls that could change a game.
When we adjusted our game planning it didn't take more time. We still watched a lot of film and talked as a staff about what we saw. What changed, however, were the difficult conversations with the head coach about why I didn't get XYZ the ball. We scored more points and became more dominating.
Take the list above and build these into your practice plan. Script them into your regular practice plans and make sure you get them covered. Having a simple system of preparation will help you be more dominating in all phases of the game.
One of the keys to our preparation was our outstanding group of documents we used for all three phases. If you are looking for fully editable and customizable documents that you can tailor to your program, I have made mine available.
It includes everything from a scouting report template, to practice plans, to a two-sided color call sheet, and more! Each of the nine documents are fully editable and customizable! Order today for under $15 and download them tonight!
Here is a link to the defensive game planning documents. It includes 12 fully editable and customizable documents. https://sellfy.com/p/AY1u/
And finally, I put together a special teams resource. This has everything you need, included drill tape, practice tape, and game footage. It includes teaching presentations and scouting forms just for special teams! https://sellfy.com/p/tJwz/
I hope you found something in this post you can use with your program! Good luck this season!
When I first became an offensive coordinator I was reluctant to use scripts. I felt like it would lock me into being rigid and inflexible. The head coach I worked for suggested I read Bill Walsh's book, Finding the Winning Edge. The book opened my eyes to the value of preparation and scripting.
When I speak at clinics I get asked about how we script our openers each game. Many coaches already script their openers, but there are a large contingent of coaches who do not. Many of these coaches do a great job. It took me a few years to come around to the value of scripting our opening plays. A few of the reasons were:
1. What do we do if have a run scripted and it's 3rd and 8?
2. What if we get off script?
3. Will the script keep me from making calls based on the flow of the game?
4. Why would I build a script if I am going to be off script before getting through it?
Finally I decided I was going to go all-in on scripting. We decided on a 10 play script. The first play we called was going to be toss sweep from I Right. The 2nd play would be Iso weak in an I Right set. The third play would be play action off our power play, this time in I left. The fourth play would be iso from a 20 personnel look, and the 5th play would be a reverse off toss from I left. We continued our script for 10 plays. We stayed on script and scored 2 touchdowns in the first 6 plays, and our 3rd touchdown on play 10. I was sold. We could use more plays if we wanted as well.
The question is, why did we have success? How did scripting help us?
1. We were thinking clearly on Sunday afternoon when we built our script
It is a lot easier to call plays when your head is clear and you aren't distracted by emotions. By Sunday afternoon we have watched enough of our opponent to have a good idea what we like and don't like. This allows us to build an opening script for the game, as well as develop a call sheet that will help us be more efficient on game day.
2. We were able to have a specific system for setting up plays
We scripted plays that helped to set up explosive opportunities. We might script 3 downhill runs in our first 5 plays, and then on play 6 we would script play action off downhill pass and take a shot downfield. We might run toss sweep a couple of times and then script in a reverse. We were able to set our opponent up for big plays.
3. We made sure we ran a reverse or trick play before our opponent
This is something that is very important. Running your reverse or trick play first doubles your chance that it will be an explosive play. We wanted to make sure we had at least one trick play in our first 12 calls. We also wanted to make sure we actually ran a trick play. How many times have you practiced a trick play and then never ran it in a game? I got tired of having a 5 minute period designed to work our trick plays, only to not run them in the game. Scripting them helped us actually call them during the game.
4. Our kids knew what we were running because we practiced our script each day
We opened our team period running our script on air. This helped our players to know what was coming and in what order. This helped us to play with confidence and develop a rhythm to open the game.
5. We planned what we wanted to see from our opponents
We would script with some variety to see how our opponents would line up to certain formations and personnel groups. This helped us to be more efficient calling plays later in the game. We scripted 3 or 4 different formations in our first 12 plays.
What we found was that the longer we stayed on script, the better we were in the game. The earlier we left the script, the less effective we were. This isn't to say that we wouldn't take advantage of a misalignment or something unexpected from the defense. But the script was well thought out and made sense, giving us a high percentage opportunity to be effective early in the game.
Here are a couple of thoughts on scripting that can help you be more effective:
1. Script inside runs into the boundary and wide runs to the field.
For the most part you know where each play will end. You have an idea what hash you will be on. We wanted to make sure we used the field in the most efficient manner possible. This was a rule of thumb that helped us to be more effective early in the game.
2. Get your playmakers early touches
We scripted our best players go get touches early. We wanted to make sure we got them involved in the first two series. One season we had a great tight end. We made sure we threw at least one ball at him in our first 8 plays.
3. Don't worry if it's 3rd and 2 and you have a pass scripted
Some of our biggest plays came when we threw on run downs and ran on pass downs. It also helps you break tendencies.
4. Script your tempo
This is something we love to do. We will script in a couple of early nascar concepts. We also would script our freeze tempo to get our opponent to jump offsides early in the game. By scripting tempo we were able to use it in advantageous situations.
5. Call the Touchdown Play
If there was a money play, we called it early. If we had a huge matchup advantage somewhere, we exploited it early and often. We built that into our script.
Our script was located at the top of the front of our call sheet. We also had scripts for end of half and end of game situations. We worked these through the week which helped us to be much better prepared on game day.
Our scripts helped us to be more targeted in our practices, and we improved our explosiveness on offense. It was tough to stay on script at times. When things don't go well and you punt twice in your first six plays, it is easy to abandon the plan. We had to remember that sometimes we were not going to have things go our way early. But if you built your script well, you were setting up a big play.
A lot of coaches ask me about my call sheet and how we prepared. We have a very systematic approach that we have developed over a 20 year period. Last summer I made our offensive game planning documents available for coaches to purchase for a nominal fee. The response was outstanding. Coaches from all levels of football in the US and internationally began using this resource. The head coach from one of the top 5A programs in Texas said these documents helped them to be much more prepared.
If you are interested in this resource, click here: Offensive Game and Practice Planning Resource. Every document in this resource is completely editable and customizable to your program. Everything you need is in this resource. You order it today and you will be able to immediately begin downloading the documents and using them to be better prepared. This even includes our 2-sided color calls sheet! It prints on to 11x14 paper. I also include our weekly and daily practice plans, wrist bands, scouting forms, and much, much more! For just a few dollars you will score more points and win more games with this resource! It is on sale right now, so don't delay!
I also have a defensive game and practice planning resource that can be ordered here: Defensive Game and Practice Planning Resource. It has everything you defensive staff would need to dominate!
I also have a special teams resource available here: Special Teams Resource It is awesome because it includes teaching presentations and video for every phase of special teams!
Last year I got hooked up with CoachTube, and put together three courses for offensive football coaches. I put together two courses on RPO's, and a course on Building An Elite System of Communication. All of these courses will help you to score more points!
All three of these courses are detailed, with everything you need to be more explosive and to score more points.
The course on communication gives you a detailed approach to your gameday communication. I give you a system and a process to improve the quality of conversations, leading to improved play calling on game day. This course has received outstanding reviews from coaches at all level of football. A coach with multiple state titles told me this course helped them to be much more efficient and explosive this season.
My two RPO courses take you through a systematic process of installing RPO's into your offensive system. RPO's put the defense in conflict, forcing them to defend all 53 yards of width and all 6 skill players every single play. I not only give you a system, but I teach you the methods to develop your own RPO concepts.
Over the last several years we have gone all-in on RPO concepts. RPO's are simply Run-Pass-Options, where you essentially call two plays in one. The play might be a run, or it might be a pass. You don't know until the ball is snapped. The offensive line and backfield will execute the run, while the receivers run a pass concept. The goal is to make the defense wrong no matter what they do.
Over the last 15 years I have had the opportunity to speak at clinics all over the country about offensive concepts. In the last 5 years coaches have wanted to learn about RPO concepts, and how you can adapt them to your offensive system. One of the questions I get asked is how did we get to this point?
Our evolution of RPO's began with trusting our quarterback to be able to make choices. This started with a system we learned from Jerry Campbell in the 90's called "option on me." Jerry came up and helped us install the option game from the ground up, and taught me how the quarterback can call best option at the line. We would simply call a formation and point to our quarterback. That meant the play was on him. He could call midline, load, or veer option based on defensive alignment. Our offense exploded after installing this in the late 90's.
The next step in our journey took us into the realm of packaged plays. With a packaged play you called a run and a pass, and the QB would look at the defense and determine based on alignment whether to execute the run or pass. If he chose to execute the run, he would communicate this with the offense. Typically he would verbalize the call to the line and signal the receivers. Everyone would execute the call.
One of our favorite calls when we were under center was a sprint out concept strong paired with inside zone. In the diagram below, the defense aligns in a Middle Open shell showing cover 2. This means we have numbers in the box. The quarterback would signal to the receivers and verbalize to the line that we are going to run the called run play. As you can see in the diagram, we have numbers for the run game. The Z and H will block the most dangerous secondary force support player.
We have 8 on 6 in the box. Because the defense is playing 5 over 3 with our splits, we are able to run the football in the box.
If we had the same packaged concepts called and the defense adjusted to bring a 7th man in the box, we could execute the sprint out concept. This is illustrated below.
When the defense brought the strong safety in the box, we knew we had to leave someone unblocked. Typically this would mean pushing our zone once gap to the frontside, leaving the backside end unlocked. With a packaged play, the quarterback would simply check to the pass called and the offense would execute the play. Below is a video clip of the sprint out strong.
As you can see in the video, we were able to put the strong safety in conflict. He was in the box to play the run, but he also had to be a man defender on a pass play. We were able to take advantage with our tight end. The safety in the middle of the field cannot get over the top fast enough, and we were able to score. The quarterback looked at the defense and communicated with the offense that we would be running the sprint out pass.
Our First RPO
One of the first true under center RPO's we installed was what we called BOZO. We ran it off inside zone. The #1 WR ran a 3 yard stop route while #2 ran a 1 yard stop route. The offensive line blocked inside zone. The QB would determine based on presnap alignment whether to throw or execute the run. If the defense left the inside backer inside the box, the QB would read inside to outside. If he linebacker was outside the box, the QB would give the ball. The offensive line is blocking inside zone. Below is a clip of this concept.
Trips Check
The next step was having a three play package. We did this from trips, and we called it Trips Check. We would align in a trips formation and have 3 plays called. We would call Inside Zone Read with a hitch to the single and a bubble to the trips. We wanted the quarterback to open to the trips to mesh with the back.
The QB would first look at the single WR side and find the 2nd defender. We count 2nd level players within 7 yards of the LOS. If the corner is more than 7 yards off, we don't count him. In the diagram above, the corner is #1 and the LB in blue is #2. If the LB was in the box, the QB could throw the hitch route. If the LB was outside the box, the quarterback would go to his next presnap read to the trips side. The QB would find the 3rd defender to the trips side. If he is outside the box, run the ball. if he is inside the box, throw the bubble. In the diagram above, the quarterback sees the #2 linebacker to the single is outside the box. He doesn't want to throw the hitch based on presnap alignment.
To the trips side he sees the #3 defender inside the box, so the QB knows he can throw the bubble. We have numbers with 3 on 2. If the quarterback were to execute the run we still have a body for a body, but throwing the bubble gives us the best chance to be explosive. Initially we had the QB tell the OL when he was throwing with a one word code. We decided this was unnecessary.
With Trips Check, we felt like we had numbers regardless of how the defense lined up. If they bumped a linebacker out of the box to the trips side, we had numbers in the box.
If they aligned in an odd front and stayed in their 3-4 look, we had numbers in the box.
If they wanted to play us in a bear front and load the box, we had numbers on the perimeter.
We felt like we always had an answer. The offensive line would block inside zone read, and the skill players would execute the hitch to the single and the bubble to the trips. The quarterback would make a simple read and be able to take advantage of the defense. We could run any of our inside run concepts from this formation.
What this concept did was took a packaged play concept a step further. Instead of calling two plays and having the QB check to the right play, we built both plays into one call. This cut down on verbiage and helped us to play faster.
Building A Pass Into Every Run
Our next evolution was simple. We would call our runs and build in passes. We did this through a simple set of rules. By building in a simple set of rules that were consistent every single run play, our players were able to play very fast without thinking. On our inside runs we would no longer have our receivers block for the run. Instead we would run a quick pass concept.
Have you ever called a run, and come to the line of scrimmage to have the defense loading the box and leaving a receiver uncovered? Or, they have the corner playing 10 yards off your best receiver? Or, have you ever called a quick game concept like bubble, only to have the defense playing man press?
What I am about to discuss gave us built in answers. We didn't ever want to have to run into a loaded box again. We wanted to be able to protect our run game. We also wanted to be able to have a built in way to throw the ball to our most explosive athletes in space if the defense was giving that to us. We wanted to do these things without adding new verbiage and without having to check a play at the line.
We came up with a simple set of rules. On an inside run the offensive line would block the called run. The receivers would execute their quick game rules. The rules were very simple.
1. If there is one of you, run a stop route at 5 yards.
2. If there are 2 of you, run "quick."
3. If there are 3 of you, run bubble.
That was it. Any inside run we called from any personnel group used those rules. We didn't need any tags to incorporate these rules. It was built into the call.
In addition to protecting our runs, this gave our skill players more touches in space. Even if we had a quarterback who struggled throwing the ball, we could complete high percentage passes. The first year we built this in we nearly doubled our passing yards with a running quarterback. Not only that, our running game improved because we were able to force defenses to unload the box.
When we get into a 2x2 set and run inside zone read, we get the quick concept on both sides. The defense must align to stop the quick game or the quarterback will catch and throw. If the defense aligns to take away the quick game concept, we have numbers in the box. Below is an example of our inside zone read RPO from a 2x2 set.
The defense essentially has to decide what they want to take away. If they take away our quick game, we should have numbers in the box. Below I talk you through this simple concept and talk you through three clips that will give you some insight into presnap RPO's.
As you can see in the third clip, the quick game action holds the safety and slows him down in run support. We actually were running a quick game variation to the field where we tag a "sucker route" or quick and go. This helps to hold the safeties, allowing the back to gain extra yards. To the boundary side we are running a scissors concept reading the outside linebacker.
I hope this gives you something you can use with your program. I love being able to build quick game passes into our run game concepts. Since we began doing this we have greatly increased our number of explosive plays. This helps your offense add some balance without an expensive investment. I have helped many schools install these simple RPO concepts, and they have found them to be very beneficial.
This barely scratches the surface with what we have done as far as RPO's. We now run them in multiple ways reading literally any 2nd and 3rd level defender!
Last year I got hooked up with CoachTube, and put together three courses for offensive football coaches. I put together two courses on RPO's, and a course on Building An Elite System of Communication. All of these courses will help you to score more points!
All three of these courses are detailed, with everything you need to be more explosive and to score more points.
The course on communication gives you a detailed approach to your gameday communication. I give you a system and a process to improve the quality of conversations, leading to improved play calling on game day. This course has received outstanding reviews from coaches at all level of football. A coach with multiple state titles told me this course helped them to be much more efficient and explosive this season.
My two RPO courses take you through a systematic process of installing RPO's into your offensive system. RPO's put the defense in conflict, forcing them to defend all 53 yards of width and all 6 skill players every single play. I not only give you a system, but I teach you the methods to develop your own RPO concepts.
If you want to learn more about installing RPO's, I wrote a book called Installing Explosive RPO Concepts Into Any Offense. I wrote it for iBooks, which includes cut-ups to reinforce the application of these concepts. In the book I give you a systematic process for installing 2nd and 3rd level RPO's. Coaches at all level of football tell me this is a game changer! The book can be found for iBooks here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1078061959
The iBooks version can be viewed on any iPhone, Mac, or iPad. It is a game changer in book technology! This book will give you everything you need to build RPO's into your offense!
A few years ago I was speaking at a clinic about our game planning and an FBS coordinator asked me after the talk to go through what we do. I shared with him our offensive game planning resource and he used it through the spring. He emailed me back that it was a game changer. It was an honor to have him use these documents. After speaking at clinics and hearing that more coaches didn't know where to start, I decided to make these available.
It includes everything from a scouting report template, to practice plans, to a two-sided color call sheet, and more! Each of the nine documents are fully editable and customizable! Order today and start preparing for your first game right now! At one time this was $99, but it is available right now for less than $13!
Here are a couple of screen shots to show you what our call sheet looks like:
This shows you a small portion of it. It is a fully editable, customizable two sided call sheet. It gives you the ability to better organize and be prepared on game day. It helped us to be better play callers on game day. There are eight other fully customizable documents! Some of the top high school programs in the country use this, as do several college programs!
When I was a defensive coordinator we adapted this to our defensive preparation!
Here is a link to the defensive game planning documents. It includes 12 fully editable and customizable documents. https://sellfy.com/p/AY1u/ These are what we used to post 6 shutouts when I was a defensive coordinator. Defensive coordinators at all levels of football are using this. Again, it is less than $13 right now!
And finally, I put together a special teams resource. This has everything you need, included drill tape, practice tape, and game footage. It includes teaching presentations and scouting forms just for special teams! https://sellfy.com/p/tJwz/ This helped us to build dominating special teams!
I wanted these to be available at a very reasonable cost. These can help you to be more successful on the field and more efficient in the office!
Over the last several months, I have stepped out of my comfort zone and wrote a new book about faith and purpose. The book is available as a paperback on Amazon, and as an eBook for the Kindle App. The cool thing about the Kindle app is that you can read the book on any device. I invite you to read it, and discover the power you receive when you make a decision to walk with the Lord. Here is a link to the book: Finding Faith
Since publishing the book, I have received numerous texts, calls, and emails, from people who are going through similar trials and tribulations. They were feeling many of the same things I was feeling. The found comfort in the book. They also found they had a desire to change and to live better. They wanted more joy.
I would invite you to read the book and discover the possibilities that God has planned for your life.
One of the most important aspects of being explosive on offense is detailed preparation. And one of the best ways to be explosive is to get your best athletes opportunities to touch the football. We have all had games where our best athlete was limited in touches. I learned this lesson early in my career when we had a tremendous athlete who was not getting touches. Kindu Brown was his name, and he was a receiver. We knew he was explosive and could change games, but we weren't getting him enough touches. We had a very good stable of running backs, and Kindu was a receiver for us on offense. We were running the ball 85% of the time, which limited touches for our receivers.
One lesson I learned early on is that players win games, not plays. You can have the best play in the world drawn up, but if the best player isn't touching the ball, the play may not work. Average players can screw up well blocked concepts. Conversely, great athletes can turn a poorly blocked play into a touchdown. When our best players aren't getting touches, we are not going to be as explosive as we can be on offense.
"GREAT PLAYERS WIN GAMES, NOT GREAT PLAYS"
We knew if we could get Kindu 8 touches on offense, that he would find a way to turn 4 of those touches into explosive plays. The problem was, we were not getting him those touches. He was getting more touches on defense through interceptions than he was on offense. As a young offensive coordinator I was doing a bad job of getting him the ball.
After three games we were undefeated, but we hadn't gotten Kindu enough touches. We were missing some big play opportunities. As our schedule got more difficult, we knew we had to get him the ball. The answer we came up with was very simple. We added a section to our offensive call sheet we simply titled, "Get Athletes Ball," or GAB.
This addition of GAB was the most important part of our call sheet. If we have one great athlete, we have selected plays for this athlete. We typically will have 3 to 4 plays that we feel give this athlete a great chance to score a touchdown. If we have 2 athletes we want to get touches, we will list 3 or 4 plays for that athlete. Below is an example of our get athlete the ball column of my call sheet.
In the box I am going to list the plays we like best for the athlete. For example, if left side inside receiver is our best athlete, we might put bubble as a concept to get him the ball. The second play might be a jet sweep to that player. The third concept might be a reverse where he is going to get the football. Whatever concepts you run that ensure that athlete will touch the ball is what you list. Maybe you have 2 plays that guarantee he will touch the ball. Then you put those two plays.
Typically are GAB concepts are pretty consistent week to week. However, if we see something we can exploit against a particular opponent, we will adjust that call. As the game goes on, I will put a check each time we call these plays. Next to the check I write the result in pencil real small. I want to know who many times we got our best athlete the ball and how many yards we gained.
The result of adding this section to our call sheet was that our best athletes got more touches, and we scored more points. We were much more explosive. I remember we had a concept we called to Kindu that the defense had taken away by alignment. In my head I knew we should call a timeout. As the ball was snapped I said, "this ain't good." Then Kindu got the football. He made the first two defenders miss, broke a tackle, and turned a 1 yard loss into a 60 yard touchdown. Great athletes make great plays, and players win games, not plays.
I know this seems simple. But in the heat of a game cooler heads often don't prevail. We want to be able to be methodical in our play calling without regard to emotion. By adding a section where you have plays ready to get your athletes the ball, you will get them more touches and you will score more points.
To help coaches in preparation, I have created an Offensive Game and Practice Planning Resource Packet. This packet consists of 9 downloadable documents that are already formatted, saving you hundred of hours recreating the wheel. These are the documents I used at the high school and college level to prepare our offenses. Included in this packet is our offensive call sheet in excel format. It is a two sided color document formatted for legal sized paper. It is a very detailed call sheet that will help you be a better play caller on gameday! This resource packet is available for instant download! Click here to order yours today: Offensive Game and Practice Planning Documents These documents will help you SCORE MORE POINTS!
Additionally, I have a defensive packet available for defensive coordinators. These are highly coordinated with the offensive packet, helping your program as a whole to be on the same page. Click here for the Defensive Game and Practice Planning Packet: Defensive Game and Practice Planning Documents
Using AI to Supercharge Your Offensive Game Plan!
AI can help you be more explosive on defense by supercharging your game planning! Imagine how much better of a play caller you will be if you know what the defense is going to do! If you know they are playing zone coverage, you can make a call to beat zone. If you know that they are going to play cover 3, you can call a cover 3 beater. Instead of guessing, you are going be able to call more touchdown plays! Using AI to Supercharge Your Offensive Game Plan will completely revolutionize your game planning! It will save you several hours each week!
This is available at a special price. That price will be increasing, so don't wait. This will give you everything you need to use AI. Whether you are a beginner to technology, or you are a technological guru, this will give you a huge advantage over your opponents. Instead of spending hours combing through reports, you can have all of your information in one place, allowing you to quickly make decisions and build your game plan. Use the code AI at checkout to save $15 for a limited time!
A few months back I published a couple of iBooks that can help your program with X's and O's. The first is on Installing RPO's into any offense. Here is a link to the iBooks version: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1078061959. The ibooks version includes explanations, diagrams, and video clips on multiple RPO Concepts. It will give you a simple process for implementing them into your offense.
I also wrote a book on Tempo. It will greatly help you build a multiple tempo system with simple communication that will allow your kids to play with confidence. It also had over an hour of video clips! You can order the ibooks version here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1075902270.
Perhaps the most important aspect of being successful on offense is organization. The more organized you are, the more efficient you can be. What does your organization consist of? I think there are four important elements. Those four are:
1. Personnel
2. Game Plan
3. Practice Plan
4. Call Sheet
Personnel is vital because you must make sure your best athletes are on the field where they can help your team the most. Many years ago we had a kid we were using at running back, but he just wasn't playing well. He was big, fast, and physical. He sometimes ran routes out of the backfield at half speed because he didn't know what to do. He also didn't have great vision. When we moved him to tight end he became an all-state player. Our offense improved, and he played a more vital role. He wasn't a great athlete at running back, but at tight end he flourished.
Our game plan is based on our scouting report. We want to find advantages over the defense and exploit those on game day. The purpose of our game plan is to give us a systematic approach to calling plays. We don't want to shoot from the hip. We want everything we do to have a purpose. We have a menu each week of 24 to 36 calls we think we will be able to do successfully against the defense. We star the 8 things we think we will be best at during that week. When we put our game plan together, we want to feature those 8 things we think are going to create opportunities to score more points. Like all of you, the goal is to call the touchdown play!
With our game plan we have to be adaptable. When the game starts, we often find something that we can use to consistently gain yards. As we prepare for each game there are certain things we expect the defense to do. They often will do something different, and sometimes that something different gives us a chance at big plays. We must recognize this during the game and during preparation. What do you do if the defense suddenly calls strength to the boundary? Or, what if a 3-4 team suddenly gets in a 4-3 front? Do you have a plan? Have you practiced contingencies? Are you adaptable enough to shift on the fly?
Using AI to Supercharge Your Offensive Game Plan! AI is not coming, AI is here!
AI can help you be more explosive on defense by supercharging your game planning! Imagine how much better of a play caller you will be if you know what the defense is going to do! If you know they are playing zone coverage, you can make a call to beat zone. If you know that they are going to play cover 3, you can call a cover 3 beater. Instead of guessing, you are going be able to call more touchdown plays! Using AI to Supercharge Your Offensive Game Plan will completely revolutionize your game planning! It will save you several hours each week! Instead of pouring over reports that aren't helpful to offensive coordinators, you can use AI to get your data, your way!
This is available at a special price. That price will be increasing, so don't wait. This will give you everything you need to use AI. Whether you are a beginner to technology, or you are a technological guru, this will give you a huge advantage over your opponents. Instead of spending hours combing through reports, you can have all of your information in one place, allowing you to quickly make decisions and build your game plan. Use the code AI at checkout to save $15 for a limited time!
Here is a video showing the power of AI!
You don't need to spend countless hours to figure out how to use AI. Use Using AI to Supercharge Your Offensive Game Plan and I will give you everything you need to start using AI right now! This is not a piece of software you have to renew each month or year. This is a resource that you will be able to use from day one. It includes access to the custom AI analysts I built! Remember to use the code AI at checkout! AI will help you get your time back on the weekends, while making you more prepared than ever!
Practice Planning is vital to your preparation each week. As we prepare our practices we make sure we have enough individual time, group time, and team time to prepare for our game. We script everything to make sure we get enough reps of the 24 calls we think we will run. We make sure we get extra reps of the 8 things we might major in. When I talk about 24 things, I am not talking about 24 plays. I am talking about 24 calls. If we run Even 42 Read, that is one thing. If we run Early 42 Read, that is a second thing. If we run Late 18 Option, that is a 3rd thing. Even QB Iso is a 4th thing. Even 92 Y Corner is a 5th thing. Early 92 Y Corner is the 6th thing.
We used to have our entire playbook available each week. We had all of our formations, motions, and concepts available. The problem was, there were over 1,000 combinations, and there is no way to practice them each week. We decided be very specific about what we were going to implement into our game plan each week. Scripting our practices makes sure each of those 24 things gets at least 16 reps during practice. Each of our 8 majors will get at least 32 reps each during a practice week.
Our call sheet is what allows us to play very fast regardless of circumstance. We use our call sheet to create mini scripts of each down and distance situation based on defensive tendencies. We also include a section on specific concepts to get our best athletes the football. We want to make sure your 20 touch guys get 20 touches. There is nothing worse than finishing a game and realizing your best athlete had only 3 touches. We want to make sure our athletes touch the ball a certain number of times each game.
The hardest part about organizing yourself on offense is creating the sheets to do it. I spent years visiting schools and learning how they organized the practice and game plans. I have now come up with a packet of sheets that will help you immensely to be more organized on offense. You can order this packet for under $15! These documents are all editable and can be customized to fit your program. For less than the cost of lunch you can have everything you need to improve your offensive organization. This packet contains nine documents that will help you to be more successful and organized. The nine documents are:
1. Two Sided Color Call Sheet Legal Sized (Excel) 2. Scouting Report Template (ppt) 3. Wrist Band Template (Excel) 4. Install Schedule Template (Excel) 5. Game Planning Worksheet (Word) 6. Daily and Weekly Practice Plan with Scripts (Excel) 7. Blank Defensive Personnel Template For Scouting Reports (Excel) 8. Offensive Depth Chart Template (Excel) 9: Offensive Staff Workflow (Word)
You can order this packet by clicking here: Offensive Game Planning Resources Many coaches have told me this is the best purchase they have made this summer! Coaches told me this will save them hours! It is available as an instant download. You can begin preparing right now. Everything is completely formatted, saving you hours, as well as being fully editable and customizable.
This packet will change your entire approach to organization on offense. No longer will you feel like you are grasping for the right play to call. You will know what to call and when before the situation arises! Coaches at all levels of football tell me this packet helped them immensely on offense!
When I was a defensive coordinator we adapted this to our defensive preparation!
Here is a link to the defensive game planning documents. It includes 12 fully editable and customizable documents. Defensive Game Planning Resource These are what we used to post 6 shutouts when I was a defensive coordinator. Defensive coordinators at all levels of football are using this.
And finally, I put together a special teams resource. This has everything you need, included drill tape, practice tape, and game footage. It includes teaching presentations and scouting forms just for special teams! Special Teams Resource This helped us to build dominating special teams!
I wanted these to be available at a very reasonable cost. These can help you to be more successful on the field and more efficient in the office!
A while back I got hooked up with CoachTube and put together three courses for offensive football coaches. I put together two courses on RPO's, and a course on Building An Elite System of Communication. All of these courses will help you to score more points!
All three of these courses are detailed, with everything you need to be more explosive and to score more points.
The course on communication gives you a detailed approach to your gameday communication. I give you a system and a process to improve the quality of conversations, leading to improved play calling on game day. This course has received outstanding reviews from coaches at all level of football. A coach with multiple state titles told me this course helped them to be much more efficient and explosive this season.
My two RPO courses take you through a systematic process of installing RPO's into your offensive system. RPO's put the defense in conflict, forcing them to defend all 53 yards of width and all 6 skill players every single play. I not only give you a system, but I teach you the methods to develop your own RPO concepts.
A few months back I published a couple of iBooks that can help your program with X's and O's. The first is on Installing RPO's into any offense. Here is a link to the iBooks version: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1078061959. The ibooks version includes explanations, diagrams, and video clips on multiple RPO Concepts. It will give you a simple process for implementing them into your offense.
I also wrote a book on Tempo. It will greatly help you build a multiple tempo system with simple communication that will allow your kids to play with confidence. It also had over an hour of video clips! You can order the ibooks version here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1075902270.
Over the last several months, I have stepped out of my comfort zone and wrote a new book about faith and purpose. The book is available as a paperback on Amazon, and as an eBook for the Kindle App. The cool thing about the Kindle app is that you can read the book on any device. I invite you to read it, and discover the power you receive when you make a decision to walk with the Lord. Here is a link to the book: Finding Faith
Since publishing the book, I have received numerous texts, calls, and emails, from people who are going through similar trials and tribulations. They were feeling many of the same things I was feeling. The found comfort in the book. They also found they had a desire to change and to live better. They wanted more joy.
I would invite you to read the book and discover the possibilities that God has planned for your life.
