Coach ,

Ask any offensive coordinator who utilizes RPO how much repetition it takes to get the reads correct and footwork and ball-handling efficiently, and they will tell you that you have to work at it and dedicate time to it.  

The reality is that all team reps cannot be dedicated to RPO if you want to properly prepare everything in your game plan.

The good news is that can be done right now, even in the small spaces of a gym.

The three coordinators featured here know how to be efficient and effective in getting their quarterbacks as many reps as they can.

Getting warmed-up

Josh Lindke, head coach at Otsego HS (OH) feels strongly about preparing his quarterbacks to throw in awkward positions that they may end up in the RPO footwork, mesh and throw.  To do this he incorporates simple drills in the quarterback warm-up routine. He shows those in this video:

Video: Indy RPO Drills

Strip it down to the essentials

Kyle Ohradzansky, offensive coordinator and quarterback coach at the University of Findlay does this by stripping everything out of the play except for the QB/RB mesh and the Route. The coaches serve as the key defenders that must be controlled for the play to work. Ohradzansky explains the drill in this video:

Video: Drilling RPO

Work Multiple Components 

James Vint, former offensive coordinator at Escatado High School in Texas breaks down the components of every RPO from the pre-snap read and throw to either side as well as the QB/RB mesh and work up to 12 players into each rep. Using this set up the offense gets to see several looks from the defense. With this set-up he is able to get 50 reps of his pre-snap RPO’s, but this could also be implemented for post-snap RPO.

Video: RPO Drill

From simple warm-up drills to drills with every skill player involved, repping the RPO is essential if you want it to work consistently in beating the defense.

Always be growing!

Coach Grabowski