Buy a Copy of my Books today at scribd.com
I recently was given a football book as a birthday present. The book was/is called Blocking the edges .... for the wing-t and beyond by Wes Elrod. I think it is a pretty good book and has a lot of formations and different plays that pertain to running the wing-t from the double wing.
When I first looked at the book I was intrigued but I was a little confused. I really liked all of the formations in the book and it gave me some good ideas. What I was mostly confused, well thought would hard to understand for players was the play calling.
I understand what he is trying to do but he also call the play by telling the back to the ball and which blocker is blocking the edge or the man.
Don't get me wrong it is a great book and I would recommend it to other coaches in a heart beat, however I believe that things can be simplified and that is what I try to do with my 600 series. I have tried to simplify the formations and the blocking, and the calls to make the jet and rocket series fairly simple to install into an offense.
I will be starting to explain my 600 series over the next several weeks. It has taken me a while because I had the addition to the family, and was trying to get our football team up and running and to be ready for our first game.
Good News we beat/outscored a team that was a class larger than us 38-8 for our first win of the season. They kids played really good with some minor mistakes.
Well keep your eyes pealed for the 600 series, which I will be starting next week.
I have been blessed with the arrival of a new baby girl. She was born yesterday at 3:59pm. This is my second child.
I will be adding more about the 600 series when I get her home and settled in and I have been back to school to deal with the havoc of having a sub take over for me.
Over the last couple of years I have been reading about and watching a lot of video on the Jet and rocket sweeps. I think this is a very good addition to running the wing-t.
The only problem that I have with the jet is that it is a lot more effective running the play out of the red or blue formations. It is hard to run the jet effectively our of right or left or even pro right or pro left. If there is someone who can enlighten me about this I would be glad to discuss it with them.
As an introduction to the jet and rocket I will show a couple of basic jet and rocket sweep video clips. Like I said before they both are highly effective additions to the wing-t. (If you would like to find more information other than I have here check out www.jetsweep.com )
When I discuss the rocket and jet in the future I will try to simplify things for the reader because the things that I have read and discussed with others seams very wordy and a little confusing.
I again have tried to put the rocket and jet into my own terms and language to help my coaches and players understand the plays easier. Ignore the wording at the begining of some of the clips.
I hope you enjoy the clips of the jet sweep and the rocket sweep. I downloaded them from others. They are not from my teams. I will add my own highlights later.
---Coach D
Jet sweep
Rocket sweep
Rocket out of wing-t (to the R back)
I recently attended the Iowa Football Coaches Association annual coaches clinic this past weekend. There were many great speakers at this clinic. They talked about position drills, different offenses and defensive schemes. The spread offense was a hot topic.
The sessions that I went to dealt with Ideas to turn a program around. What I got out of the five sessions was that their key to success was building team unity. Each of these programs developed a mentor program for their players.
The most informative session was done by Jerry Shafrath, the head coach at Hampton-Dumont. He runs a program there called the sideline program. Here he had adult males mentoring the football players. They ate Thursday night meals with the team, and mentored the players through out the year. I was most touched when Jerry talked about a former player who was killed in Iraq. The entire town showed up for the wake( In the high school gym). The mentor for the boy who gave his life for his country came back to give the eulogy. He has developed a wonderful program and I plan to create something like this when I become a head coach again.
I was also approached by several of my colleagues asking me when I was going to apply to become a head coach again. I gave the typical answer. My wife is due in three weeks and after this football season I plan to start applying to become a head coach again. One athletic director even asked me if I would consider applying for a position at his school because his head coach will probably not be back after this next season.
I would love to be a head coach again. I am just hoping that I will be given a chance at a school that is close to where I am living now.
When the clinic was about to end, Kirk Ferenz, the head coach at the University of Iowa, spoke to all of the coaches. He is a great speaker and does alot to promote football and coaching in the state of Iowa. He gave a great speech.
As I was preparing to walk out of the clinic, the director of the clinic approached me about talking at the clinic for next year. He would like me to talk about my approach to the wing-t. Now I just need to come up with a jazzy name for my clinic speech. Do I called it the simplified wing-t?
If anyone has any suggestions I would be glad to listen.
Coach D
The road to Easy Street goes through the sewer. - John Madden
I believe that organization is very important for any football coach. Especially if you are the head football coach.
A coach should have a playbook to give to his assistant coaches and players. He needs to coordinate with the lower levels what he would like them to run and how he would like them to run the plays. A coach should be in regular contact with his assistants, especially with his varsity staff.
A coach should make sure that his assistants are always striving for knowledge and to make sure that he and his assistants continue to be students of the game. I feel that this can be done by attending coaching clinics and reading up on coaching magazines.
A coach should also be organized when it comes to his players. He needs to be in regular contact with them. He should send out letters when events will take place and he should also give each player a player handbook. This covers expectations, discipline etc.
I know of a coach who is not very organized and is not a very good communicator. He tells his staff about meeting two or three days in advanced. He drops a bomb on his middle school staff that there will be a middle school clinic for players to help them learn the offense. He bothers to tell his coaches about it five days before it is to take place. He expects all of his coaches to be in attendance. No excuses excepted.
This same coach is unorganized when it comes to the season. He will change up his entire game plan from week to week. He will totally scrap his offense from one week to another. One week he will run everything out of a double tight, ace backfield. The next week he will run everything out of the I formation, The next week he will run things out of a double wing and run rocket sweeps. Talk about confusing for his coaches and players.
This same coach will not listen to any advice from his assistants. They will suggest something and he will dismiss it out of hand. No second thoughts.
Now this coach is the head coach and it is his program and he can run it the way he wants. His assistants are part of the program and should not second guess the head coach and should not talk about him behind his back.
I just hate to see what he is doing to this wonderful school and a once wonderful football program. The kids are confused, the coaches are made scape goats for not having success. Kids are even starting to refuse to play for him. Boosters are frustrated. The school board is even starting to get complaints from alumni, boosters and parents. The AD is real good buddies with this coach and I think that this is why he is still coaching there.
The present head coach has only had one winning season since taking over the helm.
The only reason why I bring this up is because it is my almamature. I hate to see it going in the direction that it is going. I started my coaching career there also under the former head coach who retired ten years ago. The present head coach use to be a friend of mine when we were on the staff together under the old head coach.
Do I over step the bounds of friendship? Do I even get involved?
I hope this rambling could possibly give someone second thoughts and incite on what it takes to try and be a successful head coach. I'm not saying I have all of the answers but I do have several pieces of the puzzle.
what do you do?
I don't know how many other coaches and their teams attend padded team camps during the summer, but I for one have been going with my present team to the University of South Dakota padded team camp.
This is a great opportunity for a team to go to. The kids go to clinics all day long to teach them to block and tackle and other position specific drills. This is not centered around any particular type of offensive or defensive scheme but are things to be able to help each player as an individual.
This is also a great opportunity for a team because you are able to work on your offense and defense during this camp. There is team competitions, such as king of the field, king of the dome, passing competition, lineman competitions, etc. It is a great way to measure the progress of your team against other teams from around the Midwest and even through out the country.
There are teams there from Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota,and Wisconsin. Plus it gives the coaches a chance to talk shop and to see who there hitters are going to be the next season.
What a better way to jump start your season.
How many other team camps are out there? Are they worth going to?
I can't wait for the season to start!!!!
Coach D
So Far we have covered the 200 series(buscksweep), 300 series(max protect of Buck sweep), 400 series(The Option) and now we will cover the 500 series(The Lead Iso).
The 500 series can be run out of serveral differnt formations. The only limitation is that you need to make sure you have two backs in the backfield. If you start out a single back all you have to do is make sure you motion into the backfield. I call this Fip(F in position) or Rip(R in position).
The line blocking is fairly simple also. It is baseblocking that sort of looks like zone blocking. However, if there is a man in the gap and it become difficult to block that man, than the lineman will make an "X" call or switch or what ever you want them to say. I shall demonstrate this in later diagrams.
When I discuss the 500 series I shall discuss it from a right or a Pro right position and I shall draw it up against different defenses.
Posts
