Change It Up - Three Ideas for Presenting the Defense Something Different
Aug 21, 2023 2:12 pm
Coach ,
As we head into the season, we will present you with a variety of adjustments and organizational thoughts based on a few sample themes throughout these next 15 weeks.
On Mondays, we will focus on the offensive side of the ball. Today we look at a few ideas to help change things up for your offense with changing little of what you have done to install in camp.
Change It Up
When coordinating an offense there are a variety of items to take into account. Wrapping your head around all the possibilities and ways that you can influence an opposing coordinator and team can be tricky. But, there are a few things to keep in mind and tempo, formational influence and the red zone are at the forefront of those.
Tempo directly impacts the functioning of the opposing team. Formations complicate both the week of practice and their alignment. The red zone is obviously important; if you do not score, you do not win.
Change Speeds
Realistically, the incorporation of a variety of tempos is easy and often not utilized by coaches. The comfort lies in one maybe two tempos max. But, you can slow the tempo down to a huddle as easy as telling your athletes to huddle up and burn the clock, not much practice and minimal organization.
Realistically almost every football player has done it in their life. The ultimate influence comes in the coordinators and coaching staff’s ability to teach the yellow and green light speeds. These aren’t the same speeds to everyone either but, they do have to vary for you. Find the advantages and disadvantages of adding this in Jason Mohns 1-hour course.
Arizona State TE Coach Jason Mohns explains how they utilized this at Saguaro HS where they won 7 state championships.
Mix Up the Looks
Formations are probably the “cheapest” addition to an offense. Most coordinators add these schemes on a multitude of occasions across the season. After all, you have to expand your menu or you become predictable.
Altering alignment and allowing yourself to take full advantage of the athletes you have especially as you progress through the year and reveal your team's identity can have a profound impact on your success. Coach Volarvich highlights formations such as unbalanced, stacks, quads and more in his systems and explains them here.
Video: Using Unusual Formations
Score!
In the area of the field where walking away with anything less than 7 points is disappointing you have to be crisp and disciplined.
In a lot of ways coaches restrict their playbook when they get here and oftentimes that means running the ball. Opening the offense up and putting a pass emphasis within practice and in the game can cause issues for opposing defenses and add to your success.
Coach Gerbino explains their philosophy on Red Zone here:
Here’s an example of utilizing the best player in a situation that can help turn the game around. In this one Utica uses their version of “Philly Special” to get a score to end the half with the ball coming back to them with the second half kick off.
Adjustments in season are best focused on building upon what you have and making changes to procedures, formations, or adding a wrinkle for special situations.
Good luck as you prepare for your next game.
Always be growing!
Coach Grabowski