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Old 08-23-2008, 04:01 AM   #1
BYU 14
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: The scorched Desert
A Knights tale - A RL HS Football diary Freshmen style

OK, Poli and Senator have inspired me to finally jump into a RL Football dynasty with the Freshman Team I coach at Westview HS here in Phoenix. This is my 21st year coaching, 12 in Pop Warner, 9 in High School. (I was also offered a Junior College job 3 years back but did not have the time to commit.)

In fact, time is why I asked to be moved back down to Freshman from Varsity 2 years ago. I don't teach, so it is hard being off Campus to give the full commitment required as a varsity coach and truth be known, I enjoy the Freshman level more anyway. I see it as a unique transition period, where the kids really still have a youthful exuberance for the game and are still generally quite raw skill wise, so the opportunity to teach and mentor is much greater. Plus I just have a soft spot for the "knucklehead" freshmen

Anyway, on to the team. We came to Westview as a staff 6 years ago and now have a pretty solid program in place. Last year we made the state 5A II finals for the first time in school history, falling to our Region rival Centennial 26-7 at Cardinal Stadium. A disappointment to be sure, but still something we are very proud of as a program. We run the Wing-T program wide and the defense varies a bit at each level. On the frosh we will run a base 4-4 cover 3.

We had 90 kids come out for the Frosh team this year and have only lost 4 after a week of conditioning and 2 weeks of practice. This past week was the first in full pads and really the beginning of the process of "filtering" the depth chart, as well as any final position moves. We have our traditional program scrimmage/barbeque tomorrow which will determine our initial depth chart as we prepare for our first opponent on September 3rd.

I coordinate the Offense and coach Quarterbacks and Linebackers as well. Our D-coordinator coaches the line on both sides of the ball, we also have a coach that handles the RB's, DB's and coordinates special teams, as well as a coach that handles receivers and helps me with the Linebackers and on special teams too. With a little background in place, let's look at the positions. Though we have nearly 90 kids, I will just go over the top three as they stand now at each position (this is always subject to change as we encourage competition and you need to work to hold your job) Also, as starting jobs have not yet been won for most positions, the order I list the players has no bearing at this point. We have a lot of talent again this year and in most cases I am comfortable with any of the three listed at a position seeing the field at this time.

Quarterbacks
Louis G
Jacob S
Zach R

A solid group that can all play if needed. Louis is the best athlete and also has the best mechanics, but Jacob may have the offense down better at this point, and can certainly move the team. Zach is a mix of both and very solid, just slightly behind the top two. The scrimmage tomorrow will go a long way in determining who starts, though all three could see action in the opener if things go well. I really want to get a look at all 3 in "battle" if you will and then define roles more from there.

Tailbacks
Shayne M
Tywon S
Guillermo N

Perfect Wing-T tailbacks here and all three have picked up the offense well. Shayne and Guillermo have blazing speed, but distinctly different styles. Shayne has superb agility and loses barely any speed on his cuts. Guillermo is more of a slasher and runs a bit high for my liking right now, but has great acceleration and turns it on when he finds the seam. Tywon has both qualities and though not quite as fast as the other two, still has plenty of speed and solid instincts. Shayne is the most complete, but we lose very little with the other two and all three can take it house at any time. I have the enviable dilemma here of having three solid options. We also have a couple of others who are better than average below these guys.

Fullbacks
Jamal D
Dylan U
Jesus G

There are actually 4 kids here who are serviceable, which is important as we rely heavily on this position in our offense. As those familiar with the Wing-T know the Fullback is a weapon, not just a blocker. Jamal is a manchild in the making, speed, power, but very raw. In our program kids learn a position on both sides of the ball, but I will limit most of his reps to offense to develop him faster. Dylan and Jesus are both hard runners with above average speed and are seasoned players. They are probably the two best inside linebackers as well at the moment, so reps here will be limited. We do play kids on both sides of the ball when needed, but with almost 90 players out we have more than enough talent to avoid starting anyone both ways.

Wingbacks
Jamal K
James O
Chuks A

Another spot where we really have 4 solid kids, but the 4th will likely play Free safety before getting meaningful reps here. This is a hybrid of the TB and FB positions. You need to be a solid blocker to make our strong side sweep effective as well as being able to chip in 5-8 carries a game to keep the defense honest to the weakside. All three guys can get the down block for us and are capable of running the ball, though they have all had some issues grasping the theory of the Wing-T sweep, which is a cutback sweep and not a beat everyone to the sideline type of play that they seem to think it is. This job is wide open between the top 4 right now, but I am more than confident that whoever emerges will give us exactly what we need from this position.

Offensive Line
Quick Tackle - Ryan F, Daniel A, Chris P
Quick Guard - Joseph O, Jonathon A, Matthew F
Center - Fredrick F, Josiah B, Quinten C
Strong Guard - Mario R, David D, Dayne G
Strong Tackle - Damien C, Cody R, Andrew C
Tight End - Jesse M, Antonio A, Malik T

I spend all of indivdual and group time with the skill kids and pretty much leave the O-Line Coach alone here in setting the depth chart initially. He has been with us the entire time at this school and does a great job with the line. I really only focus here during team offensive periods and will give him feedback based on things I see there. We have 30 linemen on this squad so it is tough to get maximum reps everyday and because of that we are a little behind where we usually are....but that is a GOOD thing in this case as it will give lots of kids a chance to develop. Right now my biggest here concern is with getting the guards quicker on their pulls, which is mostly because they are still thinking too much. We have some athletic kids at guard and they will be fine once it becomes instinctive. Thinking and not reacting costs you 1-2 steps on the football field and that is the difference between a big play and a 3 yard loss in a lot of cases, so as we pare the line down, the kids identified as being able to get into the game rotation will get most of the reps. (We rotate when talent permits to keep our linemen fresh)

Some kids that stand out here. Damien C is as intense as any kid I have seen on the frosh level and he will do a wonderful job crushing opposing D-linemen on the downblock this year. Jessie M is dinged up right now, but has amazing hands and moves real well for a bigger kid. We like to throw to the TE and he will be a load to bring down in space. Ryan is probably our most athletic down lineman and is a sharp kid as well and Mario is looking to be the closest to getting completely comfortable at guard. He pulls well, we just need to adjust his blocking paths a bit.

Split Ends
Robert M
Joseph M
Joseph K
Giovanni B
DeAndre S
Anthony R
D Jones

Sorry to all you fans of the spread offense, but we do not air it out. For a split end with us, a good year is 6-10 catches. That said we have some kids here we can throw to and a couple of legit deep threats, most notably DeAndre and Anthony. DeAndre came out late, but has speed and exceptional hands and once he catches up to the others will be good. Anthony was one of only 8 freshmen players invited to our out of state camp in July and broke his wrist there. He should be back for game 2 and will contribute immediately. The others on this list are solid possession receivers who can all help when called upon, which will be usually to block a CB or S, but we will still throw them a bone here and there.

I will post a preview of the Defense tomorrow before I leave for our program scrimmage. Our part in the scrimmage will be as follows. Our current 3's and 4's on Offense and Defense go against each other for 10 plays. Then our 2's do the same. Then our #1 Offense goes against the #2 JV Defense for 10 plays and finally the #1 JV Offense goes against our #1 Defense for 10 plays. As you can see with only 60 plays, it will be tough to get all 80+ eligible kids in, but we will do our best. We always scrimmage the JV's with our best kids (at this time) and always set the goal of being the first Freshmen team to beat the JV (We never have, but you need a goal) This year, as always will be a tall order as our Frosh went 8-1 last year and will be very formidible, despite a few of the key kids from that team now being up on Varsity. We do have a very talented group and if they stay focused and humble (our jobs as coaches to keep them that way) they could be the best frosh class in the 6 years we have been at this school. Tomorrow will be a good yardstick of where we are.


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Old 08-23-2008, 12:08 PM   #2
fantastic flying froggies
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excellent, another football program dynasty! I love this stuff!

I'll be following along.
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Old 08-23-2008, 05:28 PM   #3
Poli
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I think Steve's team, the Trojans, may end up using some Wing-T. I hope we have the horses to stop it in our scrimmage next week.
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Old 08-24-2008, 06:47 PM   #4
BYU 14
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: The scorched Desert
Quote:
Originally Posted by Poli View Post
I think Steve's team, the Trojans, may end up using some Wing-T. I hope we have the horses to stop it in our scrimmage next week.

At least running DW you will be familiar with the blocking schemes on the Wing-T staples, trap, sweep, boot, belly, etc. How are you having your Linebackers key it? I imagine it would be extremely hard to teach your inside backers to key guards at this age level. Your outside guys could probably learn the near back Wing-T keys though.

The program scrimmage went well last night, better than I had expected in fact. Our #1 Offense and #1 Defense went against the #2 JV Defense and #1 JV Offense and we tied them 7-7 (This is a first as the Frosh usually lose 14-0, 21-0 most years) Our 2's and 3's went against each other and did some good things. I have some other things to do, but I will finish the Defensive preview and touch more on the scrimmage tomorrow.

One other high note is we probably had close to 1000 people out for the scrimmage/barbeque and 170 kids suited up between all levels of the program. Really great to see program continuing to grow each year and the community support has been excellent!!!
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Old 08-25-2008, 12:24 PM   #5
BYU 14
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Join Date: Jun 2002
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Defensive Preview

Again a lot of talent, led by what can potentially be a very physical linebacking corps and some strong kids up front. Again we play a 4-4/cover 3 base and will be in this Defense over 90% of the time. In goal line situation we will run man and also drop our rover back and play a cover 4 in very long yardage of prevent situations.

Defensive Line
Defensive End - Cody R, Jessie M, Chris P
Defensive Tackle – Adam L, Marcus B, Matt, M
Nose Guard - Raoul H, Bobby C, Damian C
Stud End - Malik T, Justin T, Andrew C

A really big group inside who should control their gaps well against most anyone we face. Raoul in particular is quick off the ball and tough to move for a big man. He doesn’t play any Offense so we can get 35-40 plays a game from him hopefully. Our DE plays in a 7 technique (inside the TE) so he is to be good with is hands and strong to fight across down blocks and maintain the C gap. We feel we have 3 guys capable here. Stud End is our pass rush guy and also has weak side leverage responsibilities. Malik us tall, rangy and gets off of blocks well and we won’t lose much when Justin is in there either.

Linebackers
Sam – Antonio A, Chuks A, Joseph M
Mike – Dylan U, Francisco S, Joseph F
Will – Jesus G, Mario R, Joseph O
Rover – James O, Joshua K, Marcus R

We have done some moving around here after pads came on, but the two inside guys (Dylan and Jesus) have looked solid from the beginning. Both are big agile kids and will give us the physical presence we need inside. Right now they both need to get a little more reactive on their keys, but we open up with a team that runs mostly I, and their keys against this Offense are much easier than the Wing-T keys we had to work for our scrimmage. Antonio looks fairly entrenched at the outside, but Chuks can hit and will push him once he gets caught up (he came out a week late). Rover is up in the air and I am waiting for one of the top three to show me some physicality. James has it, he is struggling to trust his keys and playing slow because of it. Joshua and Marcus are both good with technique and will get early reps until someone separates themselves from the pack.

Secondary
Field Corner – Tywon S, Guillermo N, Jamal K
Boundary Corner – Robert M, Shayne M, Andrew J
Free Safety – Jacob S, John V, Anthony R

Tywon is a great cover guy and will line up to the TE side, which means he will need to be physical if there is not a flanker to his side. Guillermo is not afraid to stick it in there, but is not as good in coverage as Tywon, while Jamal K is an enigma. He plays twice as physical on the offensive side as he does on D and I am hoping it is just a comfort thing right now. The boundary corners will be our lockdown guys and all can cover well. In addition, Shayne is a tremendous hitter, but will not see the field much on D as right now he looks like a lock at #1 TB. Essentially this job is wide open for either Robert or Andrew to claim. Anthony is our best FS, but is out with a broken wrist. His cast comes off Friday, so he may be ready for game two, but will have to work his way back into the starting job. In the meantime both Jacob and John are fine and Louis G (Our leading QB candidate right now can play there as well.

Quote:
Originally Posted by fantastic flying froggies View Post
excellent, another football program dynasty! I love this stuff!

I'll be following along.

Welcome aboard, I can't tell you how glad I am to get into game prep routine finally...Fall camp can be like Cabin fever sometimes and the Kids are getting real antsy to hit someone in other colors.

Last edited by BYU 14 : 08-25-2008 at 12:26 PM.
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Old 08-25-2008, 03:37 PM   #6
BYU 14
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Scrimmage

We have a lot to tweak, mainly guards getting guicker in their pulls and our Centers going the right way on sweep and Bootleg pass. Also we could have done better with blocking downfield, but we work that more after we get the point of attack blocking a bit cleaner than it is now.

The scrimmage was set up so our Offense and Defense both had 30 plays. The first set of 10 was our #3/4 Offense vs our #3/4 Defense. Then 10 plays with our #2 Offense and Defense against each other. Then our #1 Offense for 10 plays against the JV #2 Defense and our #1 Defense against the JV #1 Offense (they subbed in 2's here and there as well)

All Offensive series start from the 40 and go back if you don't get a first down in 4 plays. Also any turnovers bring it back to the 40 as well. I won't use our terminiology in the breakdown (since it wouldn't really mean anything) but instead just give the generic description of the play.

First Set #3 Frosh O vs #3 Frosh D
1-Weakside Belly: 11 yds (QT and QG made a nice hole, as good as we ran it all night)
2-Buck Sweep Strong: -2 yds (Missed down block on DT and QB never got handoff away)
3-Bootleg Pass Strong: Sack -4 yds (Center went backside instead of playside)
4-Buck Sweep Weak: 14 yds (TB gave us a great edge and guards got upfield well)
5-Strongside Belly: 7 yds (Got the 1st down, this play needs work, it was all FB)
6-Buck Sweep Strong: 14 yds TD (TB could have been more patient, but result was good)
7-Bootleg Pass Weak: 9 yds (QB stumbled and kept the ball, good choice on his behalf as it was covered)
8-Trap Weak: 8 yds (Again mostly our FB, this is tight against our D alignment, but we got decent gains all night)
9-Buck Sweep Strong: 18 yds (Good patience by TB this time, set blocks nicely)
10-Trap Strong: 5 yds (missed a second TD by inches, looked fairly good)

Series Stats: Rushing: 10 - 80 yds 1 TD. Passing: 0 - 0 (1 Sack, 1 Scramble)


Second Set #2 Frosh O vs #2 Frosh D

1-Trap Strong: 7 yds (We double teamed the trap man = bad, but free NG just missed the tackle)
2-Buck Sweep Strong: 9 yds (Point of attack a bit congested, nice cutback by our TB)
3-Buck Sweep Weak: 8 yds (Again looked very good, defensed well, blocked better)
4-Buck Sweep Strong: 2 yds (WB missed his block on the Sam and backside guard tripped, not pretty)
5-Belly Waggle Pass: 8 yds (Great fake by QB, took what the coverage gave him)
6-Bootleg pass Strong: Incomplete (FB wide open for TD but dropped ball)
7-Strongside Belly: 6 yds TD (QB came too deep and FB not wide enough, but he runs hard, carried 3 into the endzone)
8-Weakside Belly: 8 yds (Again looked pretty good, our TB's all block well, which is huge for this play)
9-Trap Weak: 14 yards: (Not pretty, but the hole was enough and our FB moved the pile again)
10-Bootleg Pass Weak: 12 yds (real nice job on this play, best of the series, we end up on the 6 yard line)

Another pretty solid series as the skill level jumps up a bit

Series Stats: Rushing: 7 - 62 yds 1 TD. Passing: 2 - 3 20 yds

Third Set #1 Frosh O vs #2 JV D
1-Belly Waggle Pass: 11 yds (Fake could have better, but blocked well and our TB made 2 defenders miss)
2-Buck Sweep Strong: -3 (Center missed front side A gap, this worries me a bit as all 3 centers are having some trouble here. It will be fixed ASAP)
3-Buck Sweep Weak: 14 yds (This is usually just a keep the Defense honest play for me, but as well as it is working tonight I will run it a lot more in game one)
4-Bootleg Pass Strong: Incomplete (Executed fairly well, our FB dropped the ball)
5-Weakside Belly: 18yds TD (Blocked very well up front and our FB ran over a DB to take it home)
6-Buck Sweep Strong: 5 yds (WB missed his block, SG did good job picking up the leakage, but the CB was free to make the tackle)
7-Weakside Belly: 6 yds (This one got clogged up, FB bounced outside and did what he could)
8-Bootleg Pass Weak: Incomplete (Routes and protection were good, just good coverage by the Defense who knocked the pass down)
9-Buck Sweep Weak: 6 yds (Nice job by the WB to pick his way through a tight hole)
10-Strongside Belly: 2 yds (Hole was there inside, FB got inpatient and tired to stretch it)

Series Stats: Rushing: 7 - 48 yds 1 TD. Passing: 1 - 3 11 yds


Overall scrimmage Stats: Rushing: 24 - 190 yds 3 TDs. Passing 3 - 6 31 yds.

If this was a game I would definitely take it. I am very happy and after we fix the few issues we have, this group will definitely be potent offensively if we take care of the ball....This leads to most important stat of the scrimmage, zero turnovers!!! The kids really played hard and out Defense held the JV's to a single TD as well for the 7-7 tie, as mentioned before something never accomplished by a freshmen class before.

We gave up a TD pass on the JV's first play on a blown coverage, but hung in there getting a sack, a fumble recovery and a tackle for loss. They also had 3-4 fairly good runs, but we bent and did not break. The most impressive part of our Defensive series though was that our kids ran to the ball well and played very physical, never shying away contact against the JV's. This will serve us well as we have have a couple of physical teams on our schedule and I know our kids will get after it now!
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Old 08-25-2008, 10:53 PM   #7
BYU 14
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We watched film of the scrimmage then focused on installing Power to both sides. The first film session with Freshmen is always the same, they look at it more as entertainment then learning and today was no different

Unfortunately it carried over onto to the field and we got behind due to lack of focus and had to completely skip our special teams period which was punt return today. We then worked a very short Defensive period focusing on technique and tackling with DB's, Linemen and Backers all in different groups. I then ran through the I formation keys with the Backers focusing on outside flow tonight. We then ran gassers and discussed the reasons why we had a subpar practice, talking about how focus is habit forming, both when you have it and when you don't and the need to develop good work habits now that will carry over onto the game. Tomorrow will be heavy on Defense and we will run scout plays against the Defense from last years game with Maryvale as I don't think they will change a great deal. We will also put in coverage and front adjustments on the off chance they do show us some different looks.

Mondays are usually the most likely day to have and I hope this is it for the week as we 5 practices and a walk through left before we play, and everyone of them needs to be on crisp.
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Old 08-26-2008, 05:08 AM   #8
Poli
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I'll see some tape of what the "Tigers" did last year, as well as what their opponents did. I suspect what I'll see is a very simplified offense. I've already been told that this is the first time most of the boys have ever pulled on the line and that it's the first time any of them got a playbook.
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Old 08-26-2008, 05:13 AM   #9
Icy
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Awesome, i love real life dynasties (Senator's brother on is my all time fav one in FOFC).

Btw, question about HS football. Do you have different leagues by group ages? it's not like college football where freshmen play alongside with seniors?

I thought it was the same in HS football, with only one league for the whole HS level.
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Old 08-26-2008, 05:32 AM   #10
Poli
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Join Date: Apr 2002
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There are essentially three, maybe even more that I don't know about.

Freshmen typically have their own league. Sophomores and some juniors will typically fill out a junior varsity team if they're not receiving substantial playing time with the varsity as well (you can tack freshmen on as well). There is also, of course, the varsity.

It varies, though.

In Harrisburg, Arkansas (at least in 1992), freshmen played with the junior high team, and that's generally how it worked for the other schools in the area as well. Sophomores and up all played varsity. We technically had 5 "B" games scheduled for the backups, but they were never played. We really didn't have the depth to have a "B" squad, anyhow.
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Old 08-26-2008, 04:44 PM   #11
Poli
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BYU 14 View Post
At least running DW you will be familiar with the blocking schemes on the Wing-T staples, trap, sweep, boot, belly, etc. How are you having your Linebackers key it? I imagine it would be extremely hard to teach your inside backers to key guards at this age level. Your outside guys could probably learn the near back Wing-T keys though.
Actually, I just got off the phone with Steve. He's beginning to wonder if they made a mistake going with the Wing T. I don't know your offense like you do, but to me it's always seemed a bit complicated, but very effective. I couldn't imagine trying to teach the boys 'everything' I'd want to make that offense look great. It sounds like he's having a mess of trouble trying to get it down right.

I gave him as much unbiased advice as I could both offensively and defensively, where I don't think he's quite sure what he's doing there either.

I'll see soon enough how he's doing.
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Old 08-26-2008, 10:41 PM   #12
BYU 14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Icy View Post
Awesome, i love real life dynasties (Senator's brother on is my all time fav one in FOFC).

Btw, question about HS football. Do you have different leagues by group ages? it's not like college football where freshmen play alongside with seniors?

I thought it was the same in HS football, with only one league for the whole HS level.

Like Poli said it is broken down by grade level. In my time Coaching HS we have never had a freshman on the varsity. There have been a couple of kids that have come through that could have done it physically, but mentally they are nowhere near ready. Probably the best chance for a freshman to play varsity is at WR and since we don't throw a lot most of our best skill kids play in the backfield and/or secondary. So for the most part it is Seniors, Juniors and a few Sophmores on varsity. Most of the Sophmores and a a few Juniors who are small, or maybe not as talented on the JV and all the Freshmen play together. We also do not cut at our school, so anyone who comes out makes the team.

In addition to this, high schools are broken down into different divisions based on enrollment. In AZ there are seven classifications 5A-1 (The biggest) 5A-2 (Our division) 4A-1, 4A-2, 3A, 2A and 1A (they play 8 man Football in this classification)

Short note on tonights practice, offense was improved, but still a notch below Saturday, I basically challenged the kids to work on one aspect of their game here to improve each day. Before our opener I still want to get 2 pass plays in, unbalanced and trade (Where the Tight end will line up on one side, then shift to the other after the defense gets set) Trade is effect against teams that align their Defense to your strength (Our first game opponent doesn't) so no big deal if that is not in. Also I could make do without the passes, but unbalanced is a must as they played a 6-2 against us about half the game last year and unbalanced created havoc with it. There is just no way adjust a 6-2 to unbalanced without leaving something to exploit with the Wing-T.

I am really trying to stay positive about the offense, because in all honestly we are able to put a scout Defense on the field that is as good as some starting Defenses we will face this year, so it will only benefit us. Our NT Raoul H in particular is a thorn in the side. He is 3rd or 4th string center and starts at NT so he takes all the first D reps and all the scout reps too. He is going to create havoc if he is not double teamed this year. In addition our starting Stud End Malik is 3rd TE, so he gets a lot of scout reps as well and had a sack and a tackle for loss against the JV Saturday, so I am happy we are getting such a good look.

Our scout Offense also executed the plays we saw in last years opener against this team and the Defense got their keys down fairly well. My only concern here is getting our backside LB'ers to play the proper technique when flow goes away as they ran toss fake, naked boot on us several times last year. This will be a focus of group work th erest of the week.

Right now we are working 3 kids deep at a lot of positions still (4 at a few) but as we get closer to the opener, I will pare reps down on both sides of the ball to the 1's and 2's only (with a few select 3's here and there) During our last full pad practice Monday the 1's will take 65-70 percent of the reps, with the rest split amongst players that can help us in the first game.
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Old 08-26-2008, 10:52 PM   #13
BYU 14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Poli View Post
Actually, I just got off the phone with Steve. He's beginning to wonder if they made a mistake going with the Wing T. I don't know your offense like you do, but to me it's always seemed a bit complicated, but very effective. I couldn't imagine trying to teach the boys 'everything' I'd want to make that offense look great. It sounds like he's having a mess of trouble trying to get it down right.

I gave him as much unbiased advice as I could both offensively and defensively, where I don't think he's quite sure what he's doing there either.

I'll see soon enough how he's doing.

It does take a lot of reps and a lot of patience, we have less in now than we did in each of the last 2 years. If we don't have the plays we have in currently looking crisp by the end of practice Thursday I will scrap putting in the last 2 pass plays I want and go with what we have, which is Boot pass strong and weak, Belly pass strong and Belly waggle. I would will also trim the gameplan down if needed if anything does not look right. Currently I have no plans to run weakside trap as their 6-2 front things really tight to the weakside and we are just not quick enough up front yet to pull it off.

If I was Steve I would start with just 5 basic plays right now. The Buck series both ways, Sweep, Trap and Boot, actually instead of trap I would probably run wedge with this age group, since it doesn't alter the backfield action and is easier to teach. I would also put in belly both ways and Belly pass. That is a pretty good starting point for young kids. I wouldn't worry about power and counter until later, if at all, and would not even try to put in veer, scissors or reverse with this age. Of course you would tell him just the opposite
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Old 08-27-2008, 05:37 AM   #14
Poli
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Join Date: Apr 2002
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I actually feel pretty bad for the guy. I think he's in over his head. He didn't really have a plan offensively, defensively, or on special teams. As I recall, he was all for letting me do the double wing with him from day one. I had little doubt that we'd be running my defense shortly thereafter before I took over my own team.

For me, I had been getting ready, preparing for the opportunity if it came up. There wasn't a question of what I'd do, just how I'd do it.

Steve ended up drafting a few kids with dads that have coached in the past. He basically handed them the ball as far as offense and defense. I think he's regretting that now.
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Old 08-30-2008, 12:29 AM   #15
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The Buttons

As anyone who has ever coached knows, finding the right buttons to push with each group of kids to get them to a high level mentally, is just as important as X and O's. Along that vein, you sometimes need to know when you are pushing certain buttons too much and recognizing when it is you and not the kids that need to do something different.

After our solid showing in the scrimmage, three of the first four practices this week were mediocre at best. We really stressed staying humble and focused after a good showing against the JV and hammering into them that there is still a lot to do. There is nothing wrong with that approach, but I think we were getting too wrapped up in it.

After a poor practice Monday we were a little hard on the kids and stressed that they needed to remain focused to reach their potential, push themselves harder etc, etc. They do have the potential to be one of our best Freshmen classes ever and the initial mistake was probably telling them that. That mistake was probably compounded with repeating the message about focus, effort, potential, in various forms ad nauseum after lackluster practices Tuesday and Wednesday and a better, but still not consistent practice Thursday.

I thought about things a lot Thursday night and realized that we as coaches had gotten too wrapped up in how good this group can be and as a consequence had gotten feeling pressure they should not be feeling. We have bonded well with these kids, they still are trying hard and still have a great attitude......Despite all that, there were times they looked slow, confused and on a couple of occasions just plain flat. Sure it is hot (102 - 110 degrees during most of our practice) and there are lots of kids so the reps are not as frequent (Which helps keep tempo up) but those were not sole culprits.

I realized this because our scout teams were flying around just fine, making life miserable at times for our 1's and 2's on offense and occasionally busting a big play on our defense. We can put some pretty talented kids on scout due to our depth and that is part of it, but more than that our scout kids were just playing Football and having fun. They weren't feeling pressure to be precise, we merely lined them up in our first opponents schemes and turned them loose. I was a little upset with myself that after 20+ years of doing this, I hadn't realized sooner that we had needlessly burdened the kids with too many expectations. More than the heat, scout teams and boredom that sets in after 3 weeks of hitting each other, it was we as coaches that were making the kids slow and sloppy at times because they wre thinking too much and trying too hard to live up to expectations they should never have been aware of.

Over the years I have rarely talked about winning and records and all the end result stuff. I have always been heavy on effort, passion and love of the game. If you have talent, teach good technique and implement sound schemes the results take care of themselves. Why the hell would we change a good formula that has always worked well for us just because we have a special feeling about this group? Because sometimes as coaches we are stupid!

Today I talked to the kids before practice and told them to forget all about 9-0, about how good they could be and about potential. I explained Football is simple. You play with a fire, you run, block, tackle and most of all have fun. The only game that matters is the next one and when that game comes all that matters is that you play with paasion and leave it all on field.....for nobody but yourselves and your teammates. After meetings, instead of letting the kids walk to the field as they got ready in small clusters, we made them wait and took the field 2 by 2 as a team, the same way we do on game day.

Once practice started we were upbeat, energetic and made it a point to keep the kids loose. Big shocker that we had our best practice in over a week!! The line was quick off the ball, the backs decisive and the defense aggressive. Our scout team still busted their butts, but their big plays were few and far between as we consistently moved the ball well and were lights out on defense, especially during our goaline period.

The difference after practice was noticeable as well. Kids wanted to go more, they were more excited than they had been all week and all of them left the field with smiles.....the heat, pain and exhaustion suddenly didn't seem to matter at all.

We gave them the week end off and will have one full pads practice Monday, a light contact walkthrough Tuesday and then it is game time. I finally have complete confidence we will be ready to get after it and the Kids feel it too and it showed in their body language.

Sometimes the buttons you don't push make all the difference. I can't wait for Wednesday!
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Old 08-30-2008, 08:53 PM   #16
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Starters

OK, my backfield starters are set for the first game, though they are still some battles going on. We use a rotation system which covers 5 series on O and D. We usually get 5-7 possessions a half so we will go through the rotation and then back to the top. In instances where things are tight we will override that and send the first rotation (Starters) in as needed

Backfield Starters
QB - Louis G (Still close with Jacob S they will both play in rotation)
TB - Shayne M (He gets 4 of 5 rotations, he will not play Defense)
FB - Jamal D (Another close battle, he gets 3 rotations, Jesus G and Dylan U one each)
WB - Jamal K (He also gets 3 rotations, James O and Chuks A one each)

All these guys can play and we won't lose a whole lot with any of them in there. This gets them all experience early in a game we should win and will insure we are the fresher team in the second half when the heat really starts to take it's toll. The starters on the line will be as follows. We will decide what other players get into the rotation Monday.

Starting O-Line

TE - Jessie M
ST - Damian C
SG - Mario R
C - Frederick F
QG - Joseph O
QT - Ryan F

We will also decide on a 3 split end rotation Monday as well, there are 6 kids competing right now for those spots. Two will likely be DeAundre S and Robert M.

Defense

The Starting D-line will be.

DE - Cody R
DT - Chris P
NG - Raoul H (Teams that don't double him will be in trouble)
Stud - Malik T (Has been a solid force on the weakside)

There are likely 3-5 others that will see rotation time here during the first game.

Linebackers
I have my rotation set for Linebackers and the starters here will be

Sam - Antonio A (Also in rotation will be Chuks A)
Mike - Dylan U (Francisco S will see time at both Mike and Will)
Will - Jesus G (Neiko A may get some regular rotation time here as well)
Rover - James O (Curtis J has come on strong and will get in as well)

There are 3-5 others that may/will get in depending on how the game goes.

Secondary

Our DB coach won't decide until Monday, but frontrunners are Tywon. (He will start at one corner for sure) The other spot is up for grabs between Robert M, Guillermo N and Andrew J. Safety will be manned by Jacob S (Unless he eventually starts at QB) Louis G (Same) though the best may be Anthony R, out until at least game 2, probably 3. (He got his cast off Friday and needs 1-2 weeks of rehab.

I already have my gameplan done. I may change a couple of plays in my script (I script the first 10 plays to check alignments and adjustments to certain things) but we everything in that I wanted to get in for the first game, so we are ready to go for the most part.
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Old 08-30-2008, 10:08 PM   #17
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Old 09-02-2008, 11:59 PM   #18
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Walk through tonight in half pads, 3/4 speed, light contact.

Skill kids came out first and stretched and then went through the situational passing plays (3rd and 7+ and 3rd and 4-6) for the week in skellies vs scout D in a 4 under 3 deep coverage, which our opponent will play. While we did this lineman stayed an extra 15 minutes in the class room to go over offensive rules/adjustments and defensive front adjustments.

They then joined us for our team stretch, then we went through a few brisk reps on each special team against air. Special focus on punt return getting the return team on the field and the defense off.

Next up I went through the 10 play script with both the first and second huddles alternating plays so both huddles ran every play in the script once. We did this vs a full defense, 3/4 speed to thud, nobody taken to the ground. Next came the short yardage plays. I have three select plays this week for 3rd/4th down, 3 yards to go or less.

Finally we lined up first team Defense and talked through formation adjustment and responsibilities one last time.

Normally this practice should go 3:30 to 5:00, but as it was the first pregame walk through of the season we ran 35 minutes over...arrgh!! Most of that was due to special teams as we take this area real serious, so we took a couple of extra reps in each area and also talked through some of the more important coaching points.

Tomorrow is the big day.....I will not be able to focus at all at work tomorrow!! After going through the depth chart we will have 39 kids in rotation tomorrow, not including special teams, where another 7-8 not in regular rotation will play. That is an all time high and speaks very well of our depth. Hopefully they all respond well in their first time under the lights. We also have no player starting both ways for the first time ever at this school, which is very encouraging. The previous low was 2 two way starters last year. The only bad news is our starting FB Jamal D will miss the first quarter as he our pre practice meeting yesterday and 4 rotation players will also miss the first quarter for missing the same reason.

Opening day at last

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Old 09-03-2008, 07:27 AM   #19
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The only bad news is our starting FB Jamal D will miss the first quarter as he our pre practice meeting yesterday and 4 rotation players will also miss the first quarter for missing the same reason.

Opening day at last

I assume they were late? This perspetive is very neat. I can't wait to hear how your team does.
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Old 09-03-2008, 09:33 AM   #20
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Ideally, I could punish my guys for being late or absent. Realistically, though, I'd be sending out a guard, tight end, and a fullback for my first series on offense.
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Old 09-03-2008, 11:04 AM   #21
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Ideally, I could punish my guys for being late or absent. Realistically, though, I'd be sending out a guard, tight end, and a fullback for my first series on offense.
I've struggled with this, and I think I'm going to take a much harder line about it during practice this year. What the harder line is, is TBD, but previously I hadn't punished the kids for the parent's problem.
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Old 09-03-2008, 11:33 PM   #22
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It definitely is a lot easier to apply discipline when you have almost 80 kids as opposed to 17-20 for sure. It also makes starters sit up and take notice when the kid behind them performs well and shows he could do the job just as good, as we didn't miss a beat with those kids sitting the first quarter.

I am tired so I won't get into too much detail tonight, but we jumped out to a 41-0 haltime lead against Maryvale, played 3's and 4's the entire second half and ended up winning 47-0. Their kids played hard and didn't quit, but we just have a lot more talent and definitely more depth, as they only had around 30-35 kids on their team. It's a tough place to coach and their coaches are all nice guys, who care about the kids alot. It is just an uphill battle to consistently win there and I have a lot of respect for the guys that coach there. It is definitely a challenge.

Anyway, great start for the young Knights, we have some good teaching opportunities on the things that need fixing and some good things to build on as well. I will post a more detailed recap tomorrow.

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Old 09-04-2008, 08:04 AM   #23
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How exciting. Granted you are who you thought you are (to paraphrase Denny) but still exciting. Congrats.
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Old 09-05-2008, 12:01 AM   #24
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Game 1 recap

Ok, finished breaking down the film, so I will give a little more detail on our opening win last night.

We won the toss and deferred and Maryvale elected to receive.

Jacob S is our kicker and he kicked it over the heads of their return men into the end zone for a touch back.....This is a great weapon to have on a Freshman team

We held them 3 and out and Guillermo N took the punt 53 yards for the score. We missed the XP to lead 6-0.

Another 3 and out for Vale and after another great punt return from Guillermo we take over at their 36. First play I call sweep and Shayne M takes it 36 yards to the house, Jesus G (Starting at FB with Jamal D out until the 2nd quarter) then runs in the 2 pt conversion and we lead 14-0.

Another 3 and out and a shanked punt and we are in business at their 26. Jesus gets 5 on weakside belly. I then call our one and only pass play of the game and our TE Jessie M can't quite corral it in the end zone and it is 3rd and 5. I go back to sweep and Shayne takes it 21 yards for his second TD in as many carries and we lead 20-0.

We force another 3 and out after our second sack of the game and Guillermo again sets us up with a solid punt return to the Panther 31. This time we go with the weakside buck sweep and Jamal K takes it all the way for the score and a 27-0 lead.

We force another 3 and out and this time they snap over the punters head and we take over at their 8. We are definitely clicking but field position is playing a huge factor right now as we have started every drive inside their 40!! With a first and goal Jamal D in the game for the first time goes 6 yds on trap, then 2 yds on strong side belly and the XP boosts our lead to 34-0.

We then sub some kids in on defense and they are able to get a couple of first downs, but then fumble and we take over on their 44 yard line, our worst field position of the first half. Tywon S is now in at TB in place of Shayne and we run strong side sweep again, different player, same result as Tywon goes 44 yards for another score and we take a 41-0 lead into the locker room.

Our first half stats, only 9 offensive plays!!
0-1 passing
8 rushes for 148 yards and 5 scores
In addition Guillermo (our 3rd TB) has over 100 yds on punt returns and a score.

In the second half we played our 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings almost exclusively. A couple of starters got some action on defense early in the 3rd quarter, but after Maryvales first series they were done for the night. The backups played Maryvale tough, we had a decent little drive in the third that ate some clock, but no points. They were able to get inside our 10 yard line in the 4th quarter, but our defense held and kept them out of the end zone. Our last big moment of the night came after that stop, when Andrew J (Our 4th TB, yes we are deep here) took it 74 yards to the house for our final score. All in all a good opening win.

Final Score Westview 47 Maryvale 0

Our first O-line looked very good, though we need to shore up our strong side belly quite a bit, but apart from that they opened some nice holes. I would also like to see the trap develop a bit quicker, but it is always a little slow early on. Defense played very well and the only concerns there are that we lost leverage a couple of times against the toss play and also overpursued on a couple of plays, leaving cutback lanes open, that we were able to close pretty quickly with our speed.

Special teams was also a bit of a fire drill as we were short a couple of times on punt return and we worked all special teams a lot today in practice, mostly just getting on and off the field. Not all that abnormal for the first game, but still aggravating and it will be fixed by next week.

And finally my favorite stat of the game....we had 76 kids dressed out and every single one of them got into the game for at least a play or two. Nothing makes me happier than that!!!

Final game stats
Rushing 24 carries 263 yards 6 TD's
Passing 0-1 (Sorry all you run and shoot guys)
Plus a special teams score.

Leaders
Andrew J 1-74, 1 TD
Shayne M 2-57, 2 TD's
Tywon S 1-44, 1 TD
Jamal K 1-31, 1 TD

We had 12 different kids carry the ball overall and obviously our starters got a lot of rest tonight and we had no injuries of any consequence (Another of my favorite post game stats)

Tonights practice was light, focusing on special teams as mentioned and fixing some things on offense, as well as installing 2 new running plays for game two (Our entire base offensive package is now in) I will add a play here and there and we always have a trick play ready every week. We did not use the one I had for Maryvale, so that bullet will stay in the chamber for next week.

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Old 09-06-2008, 10:11 AM   #25
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Just a quick update on how the program did overall against Maryvale for the week.

Our game of course was 47-0
JV won Thursday 52-8
Varsity won last night 53-7 (Over 300 yards rushing and almost 200 passing)

A good week for the Knights, but it will get tougher this week. Off to practice now.
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Old 09-10-2008, 11:52 PM   #26
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Didn't get to post any practice notes as I had some work projects to do after practice, but it was a good week overall.

We played Pinnacle tonight and came away with the win 29-8 with the game being called at the end of the third quarter due to lightning. We had a first down inside their 20 when this happened, so we were in total control at the time of the stoppage.

Again I will post a more detailed report after I watch film, but we were off to a bad start before we even left the school. One of the buses they sent was out of gas, so we had to wait for a second bus. We loaded the starters and special teams players on the first bus and kept the rest of the kids waiting for the second one. Despite a 20 minute head start the first bus got there only 5 minutes before the second due to the slowest driver ever.....and we didn't get on the field to warm up until 5:30....A half hour late!!!

Not surprisingly we were out of sorts in the first quarter and it showed against the always aggressive Pinnacle Defense, who did a good job containng us. When we did execute we shot ourselves in the foot with four 1st quarter penalties, two of which took first downs away after 4th and short conversions. They didn't fair much better despite having great field position and it was 0-0 after one.

We finally settled down scoring 21 points in the second quarter to take a 21-0 lead into the half. The highlight was one of the most spectacular runs you will see at any level. I need to find a way to upload it. I called 50 Trap and they stuffed Jamal D at the point of attack, he tried to bounce outside and got drilled three times, but kept bouncing off tackles, finally just as they were about to whistle the play dead, he shook off the Pinnacle tacklers, reversed his field and then outran everyone 70 plus yards for the score. This came after we popped the trap clean on the drive before and he went 60 yards barely touched.

We traded TD's after half and then we were driving to score again after an interception when the game was called.

Will have stats and drive summaries tomorrow......A very bizarre 29-8 win and the Freshmen Knights are 2-0.
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Old 09-16-2008, 10:37 PM   #27
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Ok time to get up to date, first off to finish up on the Pinnacle game. After the scoreless first quarter, we drove to the pinnacle 46 and Jamal D popped an inside trap for the score from there. We kicked off and Pinnacle answered with a solid drive of their own getting inside our 20 before we stiffened and held on 4th down. This is were the aforementioned run by Jamal D took place.

We scored on the first trap from unbalanced as the Defense overplayed the unbalanced side, so we came out in it again. My first play was strong side power (66 gap in our terminology, which indicates the blocking adjustment as well) This went for 6, so I called 50 trap again on 2nd and 4 from our own 19. Jamal seriously broke 9 tackles as he got stuffed, reversed field and then sprinted to paydirt. (I promise I will get a video up)

We stuffed them and after a bad snap on a punt took over at their 21. On our second play Louis G found our TE Jesse M on strong boot from 16 yards out to give us a 21 - 0 Halftime lead.

In the third Pinnacle put a nice drive together converting 2 3rd and long situations and scored on one of our staples, weakside boot. This was particularly aggravating since we see it so much and they ran it three times on this drive and we could not cover it. On the play they scored on we even know it was coming and were telling the kids to watch for it. Everything bad becomes a good coaching opportunity though and we talked through it in films and got it fixed. They went for 2 to make it 21-8.

We got the ball and promptly took it right back down the field. They were really flowing hard to the ball now trying to create a turnover, so I called Counter for the first time. (I had just put it in the week of the game) It worked like a charm for 19 yards with Shayne M the ball carrier. 2 plays later it was Shayne again taking it home from 21 yards out on strongside sweep. The snap on the extra point was bad and Louis executed our "fire" play to perfection, hitting Jesse M for the 2 pt conversion. (Fire is our automatic on a bad snap) We then stopped Pinnacle on their next drive, when Jacon S picked off a 4th down desperation pass and went back to work. The highlight of the drive was another solid run (20 yds) by Shayne M on strongside counter. This was the last play of the game as they called with 1:03 left in the 3rd quarter due to lightning, giving us the 29 - 8 win.

Stats through 2 games

VS Maryvale
Rushing 24 - 263 yds, 6 TD
Passing 0 - 1

@ Pinnacle
Rushing 19 - 261 yds, 3 TD
Passing 4 - 6 for 28 yds, 1 TD

Leaders
Rushing
Jamal D: 12 - 174, 3 TD's
Shayne M: 11 - 150, 3 TD's
Andrew J: 1 - 74, 1 TD
Tywon S: 2 - 43 1 TD
Jamal K: 3 - 39 1 TD

Passing
Louis G: 4 - 7, 28 yds, 1 TD

Receiving
Jesse M: 2 - 19 yds, 1 TD
Shayne M: 2 - 9 yds
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Old 09-16-2008, 10:49 PM   #28
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Had our final walk through before our game at Deer Valley tomorrow and it was not as crisp as I like. This game will be a battle and will be won by the team that makes the fewest mistakes. This is the best freshman team they have had in probably 7-8 years and they will be looking for some payback after walloping we gave them last year. I finally got my hands on some film of them Sunday and they line up in a lot of different sets to try and take advantage of matchups or catch you lined up incorrectly. We stressed lining up against their different formations a lot yesterday and today, so hopefully being out of position won't be an issue.

They have a big line and some good athletes and their starters can definitely play with ours. We have more depth and my plan tomorrow will be to control the ball, wear them down and take control in the second half. Make no mistake though, this is worthy opponent and we will need to be at our best.

My biggest concern right now is pass coverage, they are a 50/50 run/pass team which is rare for freshmen and with one starting corner out injured and his backup missing practice today with an illness, we are not as solid as I would like. Offensively I think we got everything fixed we need, but they are very aggressive on defense (blitz 60-70% of the time) so we can not get rattled. We are stressing to the kids to just block your rules and everything else falls into place.

I have yet to use a trick play this year, so the one I had set for Maryvale is still in the chamber, I will run it tomorrow no matter what as I don't like hanging on to my "bullets" for so long
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Old 09-17-2008, 05:46 PM   #29
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I love this thread. Love to pick up tips from BYU 14.
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Old 09-17-2008, 10:14 PM   #30
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I agree with Senator.

This thread brings fantastic insight as to how a football team is actually built.
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Old 09-18-2008, 02:32 AM   #31
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Any chance you can post your season schedule? Ill might just have to try and suport the Phoenix FOFC contingent and see if i can check out a game
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Old 09-18-2008, 08:21 AM   #32
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Any chance you can post your season schedule? Ill might just have to try and suport the Phoenix FOFC contingent and see if i can check out a game

Thanks for the comments guys, glad you are enjoying it

Blade, our game next week is at Horizon which is in your neck of the woods, Wednesday at 6:00 PM. Plus our varsity plays on TV tonight gainst Deer Valley in the Cox game of the week on channel 7 if you have Cox cable.

I am leaving for work now, but my next post will be on the pride that comes before the fall......and the humility that will hopefully come after. Yes, we ran into a buzz saw last night and took a 44-20 beating. Yet despite the score the game was pretty much dead even statistically. The difference cam down to the two things that keep coaches up at night.

Special teams and turnovers. The lowlight in these areas. One kickoff return for a TD, a second return inside of our 20. Being stopped on downs after we had a first and goal inside the 5 and after driving the length of the field in under 30 seconds before halftime throwing a pick in the end zone they took back 102 yards for the score as time expired in the first half That pretty much turned what would have been a neck and neck shootout into a blowout. With the pick and the goaline stand it could have/should have been 21-21 at the half and instead was 28-6.

To keep it positive though, it presents a good teaching opportunity, not just on the physical aspects of the game we need to fix, but on mental approach as well, which was not what I wanted to see last night. It worried me from the Bus ride over and nothing during pre game warmups happened to change allay my fears.

You can speak to kids from experience about things like this, but unfortunately the best teacher is often experience itself. And class was in session last night. On a high note, out kids did not pack it in when they could of being down at the half and we finished hard. I think the lesson will be learned. I will post more on this as well as stats Friday, since I will be home late after the Varsity game tonight.
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Old 09-18-2008, 08:26 AM   #33
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Dola - I know I was focusing on our team, but I definitely don't want to take a thing away from Deer Valley. They played a mistake free game and are very explosive on offense. One of the best Freshmen teams I have coached against over the years and they have a special group this in their freshmen class. Hats off to their players and coaches for a well played game!
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Old 09-19-2008, 09:35 AM   #34
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We finally settled down scoring 21 points in the second quarter to take a 21-0 lead into the half. The highlight was one of the most spectacular runs you will see at any level. I need to find a way to upload it. I called 50 Trap and they stuffed Jamal D at the point of attack, he tried to bounce outside and got drilled three times, but kept bouncing off tackles, finally just as they were about to whistle the play dead, he shook off the Pinnacle tacklers, reversed his field and then outran everyone 70 plus yards for the score. This came after we popped the trap clean on the drive before and he went 60 yards barely touched.

Ok, I think we've waited long enough, no??

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Old 09-28-2008, 01:43 AM   #35
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Originally Posted by johnnyshaka View Post
Ok, I think we've waited long enough, no??

I gotta get them transferred to DVD and promise I will

Once I do I will post a few highlights of the Offense.
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Old 09-28-2008, 02:14 AM   #36
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I have some catching up to do.

First off, stats vs Deer Valley.

Rushing:
Shayne M: 9 - 101 yds, 1 TD
Jamal D: 7 - 52 yds
Tywon S: 3 - 44 yds, 1 TD

Passing:
Louis G: 5 - 8 for 109 yds, 1 TD 2 Int
Jacob S: 1 - 1 for 3 yds

Receiving:
Shayne M: 3 - 54 yds, 1 TD
Jesss M: 1 - 19 yds

Stats through 3 games

VS Maryvale: Win 47-0
Rushing 24 - 263 yds, 6 TD
Passing 0 - 1

@ Pinnacle: Win 29-8
Rushing 19 - 261 yds, 3 TD
Passing 4 - 6 for 28 yds, 1 TD

@ Deer Valley: Loss 20-44
Rushing 30 - 254 2 TD
Passing 6 - 10 for 112 yds, 1 TD 2 Int

Leaders Season to Date:
Rushing:
Shayne M: 20 - 251 yds, 12.6 YPC, 4 TD
Jamal D: 19 - 226 yds, 11.9 YPC, 3 TD
Tywon S: 5 - 87 yds, 2 TD 17.4 YPC, 2 TD

Passing:
Louis G: 9 - 15 for 137 yds, 2 TD, 2 Int

Receiving:
Shayne M: 5 - 63 yds, 1 TD
Jesse M: 3 - 38 yds, 1 TD

As you can see the Offense is performing as hoped for as we are averaging just under 260 yds per game on the ground and the passing game has been efficient when needed, though the 2 interceptions against Deer Valley were costly.

Shayne and Jamal D are turning out to be a nice 1-2 combo and in an effort to get another home run threat on the field I move Tywon from back Tailback to Wingback. This will prevent teams from keying on our sweep to the strong side. The question is, do we have someone who can pick up for Tywon in the secondary as he will not start at corner wnymore since he is starting on offense now.

Our game this past week answered that question and was the 3rd most exciting game I have coached in my 21 years in the sport. We traveled east to play Horizon, which had displayed a very good offense in their first 3 games and a fairly stout defense. For us I had no doubt we would be faster than them and could move the ball, but we had defensive questions of our own going in after the Deer Valley shellacking. I will report on that game tomorrow and will only say this. If you are a fan of the 1980's Don Coryell San Diego Charger style shootout, then this game is for you as the Offenses of both teams were on fire, though it would be a defensive play that would decide the outcome.

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Old 09-29-2008, 02:58 PM   #37
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Old 10-04-2008, 07:27 PM   #38
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The Copper state shoot out

SenatorAir Coryell! Joiner, Winslow and the gang!


More like ground chuck

As mentioned Horizon was a solid team from what I had heard (I couldn't get film on them) but knew they could score from talking to another coach. They also seemed to have a solid defense and ours was still shaky.

Speaking of our Defense, it is amazing how the same scheme, with the same types of athletes is so solid one year and then wildly inconsistent the next. Our problems this year stem largely from our linebackers not reacting to and trusting their keys consistently, as well as our secondary showing a propensity to get caught looking into the backfield and giving up the deep ball.

We worked extra special teams heading into this game and as we received the opening kickoff it was apparent it was still not enough. Horizon pooched the kickoff and recovered it. Not the way to start when you are looking to get well. They run a similar offense to ours (I call it a bastardized Wing-T) but with a different variety of plays. Still the basics are the trap, sweep and boot and we should have been able to stop them. Not so fast my friend. It looked like we had never seen those plays as they shred us jumping to a quick 7-0 lead. We storm right back with a 7 play 71 yard drive. The TD comes on a 24 yard waggle pass from Louis G to Shayne M covering 24 yards, that sees our split end (Robby M) come back and crush a pursuing linebacker, who never saw him coming. (I love these blocks) We miss the extra point and trail 7-6.

All hell then breaks loose as they score on their second drive, recover yet another onside kick when we can't field a bad bounce and before you can blink it is 21-6. They then try ANOTHER onside kick, we recover and complete a short drive, capped by a 25 yd run by Shayne M on strong sweep to make it 21-12 after 1 quarter.

The D then comes up with a big play as Willie LB Jesus G gets under a curl route and picks it off. A 60 yard drive is finished by yet another score from Shayne M, this time from 17 yards out on strong sweep and we pull to within 21-18 after missing the 2 pt conversion.

We then hold the Huskies on 4th down from just inside our territory. Shayne gains 5 on the sweep and I notice they have widened the DE in their 4-4 scheme to a 9 technique on the strong side and also have their Sam linebacker outside the TE as well. Perfect! I call strong Belly, the strong guard gets a beautiful kick on the DE and Jamal D goes 49 yards barely touched for the score. We again fail on the try fo 2, but now lead 24 - 21. Why I went for 2 here I don't know. We have a good kicker and they were not stopping us at all. One of those decisions I would second guess later. Things are not finished yet though as we then proceed to trade touchdowns with Horizon twice more before the half. Ours come on a 22 yard run by Jamal D and a 72 yd run by Shayne M and when the smoke clears it is 37-34 at halftime for the good guys.

Our D coordinator and theirs both adjust nicely at the half and the only scoring in the third is a Horizon safety, which comes after an 86 yard TD run by Shayne is called back for a block in the back......25 yards behind the play!! This is a 9 point swing and it will come back to haunt us.

Up 37-36 going into the 4th we get another stop on D, then put together a 5 play 69 drive in which we again begin to gash the the Huskies with sweep and belly to both sides. The score comes when Dylan U, in at fullback takes strong Belly 16 yards for the score. This kid would start for us any other year we did not have Jamal D. He runs hard, high knees, good balance and finishes. Jamal has anything but perfect technique, but he is fast, explosive and strong as hell and can go house at anytime. You will also never see him brought down by one tackler....ever.

Now up 44-36 we need one more stop. It appears we have it as they face a 4th and 9 at midfield and drop back to punt. Their QB is also the punter so we stay in normal defense. Everyone knows the fake is coming as their QB gets the snap, pulls up and throws a 40 yard strike down the sideline. Our corner is step for step with the Horizon receiver, who it appears pushes off and makes a very nice catch. The play happens on their sideline and is close, so I don't expect the call and don't get it. These are the breaks and I never blame a game on a call because it evens out over time and you never let a call decide a game. So, we need to deal with it and play D. Alas we don't, they score, go for 2, we have the QB sacked, he escapes and hits his receiver in the corner!!! 44-44 with just a little under 3 minutes left.....Perfect, just enough time to score. These are the moments I love.

Not so fast again my friend. We get a holding call and are stuck with 3rd and 12. I have one bullet left in the chamber. 209 sleeper is a variation of our weakside boot pass off of strong sweep action. Everything is the same, except here the Tailback (Shayne) instead of sitting down to block the edge on the strongside after the fake, keeps running on a wheel route. The QB starts to roll weak, pulls up and throws it back to the TB. It worked to perfection against Deer Valley and sure enough it is wide open as Louis G plants to throw back to Shayne......................................and slips!

The groan from the stands is audible. It was a sure first down and Shayne had to make only 1 player miss to score, not a difficult task for him. We are forced to punt and they quickly go to work, driving to our 16 yard line where it is 3rd down, with 16.7 seconds left. They throw a fade and Shayne M (Now in at corner with the game on the line) makes a great play to rip the ball loose. 4th down 11.2 seconds left. They try the same play to the other side and Tywon S knocks it down to give us one shot with 5.6 seconds remaining. I go with Flood pass at first, but they have their Linebackers 15 yards back and their secondary 30. We take a timeout and go with strong Belly. There is no way we will get a deep ball completed and I can't risk a pick 6 so this is the safe call. Plus if Jamal D gets into the open field anything can happen. Well he goes 41 yards, trys to split the last two Horizon defenders and they manage to trip him up...game over.. 44-44 tie! A great game, in which we did not play good Defense or special teams again, but that falls in us as coaches. We will do what it takes to fix it.

As tough a game as it was as a coach, I am sure it was a blast to watch. My first tie as a coach since 1996 (Yes I remember) It is an exhausting game and we start discussing everything that needs to be fixed that night. Our style of play is getting the lead, getting a few stops and then grinding you down with the run game. Shootouts will not get it done for us.

Game Stats

Rushing
Jamal D: 14 - 177 yds, 2 TD
Shayne M: 13 - 164 yds, 3 TD
Dylan U: 2 -24 yds, 1 TD

Passing
Louis G: 4 - 6 for 65 yds, 1 TD
Zach R: 1 - 1 for 26 yds. (This came on our version of flea flicker, sweet play)

Receiving
Dylan U: 2 -40 yds
Shayne M: 2 - 37 yds, 1 TD
Jamal D: 1 - 14 yds

All told we ran 36 times for 403 yards!!! Almost 500 yards of offense and we tied...again a fun game to watch I am sure.....But, I am also sure I have a new ulcer

Stats through 4 games
Season record: 2-1-1 overall, 0-0 in region

VS Maryvale: Win 47-0
Rushing 24 - 263 yds, 6 TD
Passing 0 - 1

@ Pinnacle: Win 29-8
Rushing 19 - 261 yds, 3 TD
Passing 4 - 6 for 28 yds, 1 TD

@ Deer Valley: Loss 20-44
Rushing 30 - 254 yds, 2 TD
Passing 6 - 10 for 112 yds, 1 TD 2 Int

@ Horizon: Tie 44-44
Rushing 36 - 403 yds, 6 TD
Passing 5 - 7 for 91 yds, 1 TD

Leaders Season to Date:
Rushing:
Shayne M: 33 - 415 yds, 12.6 YPC, 7 TD
Jamal D: 33 - 403 yds, 12.2 YPC, 5 TD
Tywon S: 8 - 102 yds, 2 TD 12.8 YPC, 2 TD
Team: 110 - 1181 yds, 10.7 YPC, 17 TD

Passing:
Louis G: 13 - 21 for 202 yds, 3 TD, 2 Int
Team: 15 - 24 for 231 yds, 3 TD, 2 Int

Receiving:
Shayne M: 7 - 100 yds, 14.3 YPC, 2 TD
Jesse M: 3 - 38 yds, 12.7 YPC, 1 TD
Dylan U: 2 - 40 yds, 20.0 YPC
Team: 15 - 231 yds, 15.4 YPC, 3 TD

Region opened this past Wednesday against our arch rival Tolleson. I will post that game after I finish stats and will also discuss our approach to shoring up defense and special teams......I will at least say this. I didn't hatch any new Ulcers this week





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Old 10-04-2008, 08:01 PM   #39
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"looking at only ten games, and oddly using a median only, leaves me unmoved generally" - Quiksand
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Old 10-05-2008, 03:06 PM   #40
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OK, as I strive to catch up, before I post last Wednesdays game recap between us and our arch rival Tolleson in "The war for the west side" I will go over some things we needed to get fixed before the game.

Special Teams - This is something we take seriously and our shortcomings here the past 2 games are baffling. Our normal routine is 10 minutes on kickoff and 10 minutes on kickoff return on Saturday. 10 minutes on punt and 10 minutes on punt return Monday. A 25 minute walk through on all special teams Tuesday. Film critique on Thursday after the game and installation/adjustments to any specific areas on Friday in preparation for our next game.

Punt (We have only had to punt 3 times all year) and punt return have been good. Kickoff return is what is killing us so we spent 20 full minutes on it last Saturday, including drilling numerous onside and pooch kicks at the return team, reiterating the proper technique for fielding bouncing kicks and also reminding players in the first or second line to fair catch pooch kicks. Our usual 10 minutes were spent on returns and then it was on to.....

Defense - 88 points in two games is unacceptable. Last year our Freshman gave only 87 points over the entire 9 game season enroute to an 8-1 record. First the areas that are hurting us by position.

D-Line: Trouble generating a pass rush with our front 4 (This is huge) and the inability to work off of blocks effectively to control our assigned gaps. We are also not getting enough upfield push to consistently disprupt running lanes. Our line seems content to stand at a stalement and hand fight with the other teams linemen. This is not what we want from the front so it will be a focus dusing individual Defense periods.

LBers: Our inside backers are not scraping effectively, particularly the Mike LB position, which opens up cutback lanes and creates seams. Our scheme is predicated on precise pursuit angles from our linebackers and it has to happen everytime. Some of it is caused by not reading their keys correctly, I.E staring into the backfield looking for the ball and not reacting to what their keys for the week are telling them. This is especially frustrating against teams that run the I formation as it is the easiest Offense in Football to key IMO. We also need to do a better job maintaining the edge.

Secondary: Short and sweet....we play a base cover 3.....Get your eyes out of the backfield, stay on top of the receiver(s) in your zone and understand we do not want you tackling running backs for no gain, we have 8 other players to do that and our DB's are responsible for secondary run support.

Changes: To improve the D-Line we move Jesse M from starting TE to starting DE. He gives us a big strong body with more athleticism here. This is really important in our scheme as the DE plays a 7 technique and has to able to get across the TE's face on outside runs. We move Cody R from DE to DT where he is better suited for playing the 3 technique. We elevate Jonathon A to starting NG and also start working our FB Jamal D there. At the moment he plays no Defense and the purpose of this is to use him in passing situations only to shoot the weakside A gap and hopefully create havoc for opposing QB's.

Chuks A moves to starting Sam with Antonio A taking over as the starting TE. We also bring Sonny G from the secondary to Rover (Our weakside LBer). He is undersized but brings it and has heart to spare. He was buried on the depth chart in the secondary and was playing scout team LBer the past 2 weeks and caught our attention with his tenacity. He is the epitome of the type of kid I really like. Size be damned he just keeps working, has a great attitude and found a niche on the scout team which forced us to take notice. Heading into the Tolleson game he is now our #2 Rover, which means he will see time on the field.

Tackling has been particularly appalling, even though we work the hell out of technique. So after we were done with special teams Saturday we spend 30 minutes on tackling stations, rotating groups of 3 every 10 minutes. I usually work cutback drills here, focusing on staying on the inside hip of the ball carrier and reacting when he selects one of three holes so the defender does not over run the tackle. This time however I go back to my youth Football days, grab hand shields and stepover bags and break out the splatter drill. I have never used this at the High School level, but we need to work technique and aggressiveness at game speed and this is the best way to do it without getting anyone banged up or having kids be tentative. The upside is the Kids loved the drill and we had a lot of fun with it, so I kept it in yesterdays practice as well.

We also spend 30 minutes each on individual Defense (Footwork, pursuit angles and keys) group Defense (7 on 7 and coverage adjustments for the LBers and Secondary while the D-line worked pass rush and containment) and 30 minutes on Team Defense, getting a lot of reps for our 1st and second string defense against our scout Offense running Tollesons plays.

This basically took up our entire 2 and 1/2 hour practice, no offense at all I am fine with this however as I recognize our Offense is not broken and we will be ready with our normal Monday routine and Tuesday walkthrough. On a down note however, our starting QB Louis G hurt his neck and it went right up to game time as to whether he would play against Tolleson. He was cleared but I still started Jacob S at QB and stuck with him for the first quarter since Louis had not practiced.

Next up "The war for the west side" VS Tolleson. They have their best Freshmen team in several years and it would be a grueling, physical game against our arch rivals......


Quote:
Originally Posted by Senator View Post
I want this on FILM!

I burned this film

I will definitely get some clips up when I get a moment

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Old 10-05-2008, 06:26 PM   #41
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War of the West

This will be the 6th year since the renewal of the Westview - Tolleson rivalry. They were both originally 4A schools, then Westview went to 5A and Tolleson joined us 6 years ago. Since the time of renewal we hold a 14-1 advantage between all three levels, though there have been a few close games, our current edge is fairly decisive. Still this is a neighborhood rivalry (The schools are 5-6 miles apart) and a lot of the kids know each other socially. At each level if we lose all but one game every year, this is the one we better win. Us and the JV play them this week, the varsity ends the regular Season against them.

This is their best incoming group in a few years. They have a stud back, who probably carried the rock nearly 30 times against us, as well as some big linemen. Our advantage is our depth and the fact that we have as good a 1-2 punch on offense in Shayne and Jamal D as you will find at the freshmen level. It will be a war of attrition with two attacks that are heavily biased towards the running game.

We prepared for their traditional I (Traditional, near and far) offense, but they had some surprises for us. They came out in their first series and mixed in some Single Wing, direct snapping to their stud TB as well as some unbalanced Wishbone. It caught us off guard and they moved inside our 40, where we stopped them on 4th and 1. A solid drive, but our Defense did not break and the kids were flying to the ball. Good start.

We take over and Jamal D goes for 18 on weakside Belly, Shayne M goes for 16 on strong sweep and then Tywon S fumbles on weakside sweep and they take over. They then mount a clock chewing drive that goes into the second quarter, scoring on power from the Bone, then picking up the 2 point conversion. We answer with our own clock chewing drive, that covers 88 yards on 12 plays and lasts over 7 minutes, perfect Football in my book Shayne M caps the drive going 6 yards on a strong side power, we miss the 2 pt conversion and trail 8-6. They run out the clock and it stands that way at the half....We have only 2 possesions the entire half!! Still I am happy as our D bends, but does not break and gives up no big plays. We need to make some adjustments to offset their Single Wing sweep as we are having a hard time maintaining leverage, but we are pretty solid elsewhere.

The kids implemented the adjustments perfectly and we had 4 possesions in the second half, scoring on three of them and taking a knee at their 12 on the 4th possession to end the game. Tolleson was stacking the strong side to take away our sweep and I only called it 5 times, but we still managed to gain 58 yards on it. The nice thing about this offense and having 2 solid weapons like we do is that I don't mind teams selling out to take a certain play away. In this case Tolleson gave us the weakside Belly by alignment and we ran it 10 times for 116 yards.

The defense did a much better job at leveraging the perimeter game and Chuks A in particular picked it up a great deal in the second half. Malik T also did a great job reading a screen play and disrupted enough to allow our secondary and linebackers led by James O to make the play for no gain. We also had another big 4th and 1 stop inside our 45, as Jesus G, Dylan U and Jonathon A converged on their Tailback to stop him inches short of the first down. Tywon S also had an interception in the second half that killed a Tolleson drive. We were up 26-8 in the 4th and started making some substitutions before Tolleson could move inside out 40 again.

They finally scored to make it 26-14 with just over 3 minutes left. We recovered the onside kick (YEA!!) and then ran out the clock for the win to move to 3-1-1 and more important BEAT TOLLESON. A great effort by our Defense and a fantastic job by the O-line (Ryan F, Joseph O, Josiah B, Mario R, Damien C and Antonio A) in dominating the trenches against a solid Tolleson Defense.

Game Stats

Rushing
Jamal D: 17 - 165 yds, 3 TD
Shayne M: 11 - 107 yds, 1 TD
Tywon S: 5 - 27 yds

Passing
Louis G: 2 - 3 for 44 yds

Receiving
Shayne M: 2 - 44 yds

Next up, Sunrise Mountain, who spoiled our Freshmens perfect season last year in a 9-6 upset thriller at our house. I would be lying if I didn't say I was spending a little extra time on this game.
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Old 10-05-2008, 06:36 PM   #42
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Year to date through 5 games

This brings the diary totally up to date

Stats through 5 games
Season record: 3-1-1 overall, 1-0 in region

VS Maryvale: Win 47-0
Rushing 24 - 263 yds, 6 TD
Passing 0 - 1

@ Pinnacle: Win 29-8
Rushing 19 - 261 yds, 3 TD
Passing 4 - 6 for 28 yds, 1 TD

@ Deer Valley: Loss 20-44
Rushing 30 - 254 yds, 2 TD
Passing 6 - 10 for 112 yds, 1 TD 2 Int

@ Horizon: Tie 44-44
Rushing 36 - 403 yds, 6 TD
Passing 5 - 7 for 91 yds, 1 TD

VS Tolleson: Win 26-14
Rushing 37 - 329 yds, 4 TD
Passing 2 - 3 for 44 yds

Per Game Averages
Rushing: 302.0
Passing: 55.0
Total Offense: 357.0

Leaders Season to Date:
Rushing:
Jamal D: 50 - 568 yds, 11.4 YPC, 8 TD
Shayne M: 44 - 522 yds, 11.9 YPC, 8 TD
Tywon S: 13 - 129 yds, 9.9 YPC, 2 TD
Team: 147 - 1510 yds, 10.3 YPC, 21 TD

Passing:
Louis G: 15 - 24 for 246 yds, 3 TD, 2 Int
Team: 17 - 27 for 275 yds, 3 TD, 2 Int

Receiving:
Shayne M: 9 - 144 yds, 16.0 YPC, 2 TD
Jesse M: 3 - 38 yds, 12.7 YPC, 1 TD
Dylan U: 2 - 40 yds, 20.0 YPC
Team: 17 - 275 yds, 16.2 YPC, 3 TD

With 4 games to go, it is conceivable that we could have two 1000 yard rushers on the freshmen team this year, which would be pretty neat and a first for me. So far we have been able to maintain a good balance between the two and I don't see that changing as you can't just go all out to take one of the big 2 away, cause the other one can make you pay for it.

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Old 10-05-2008, 07:17 PM   #43
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3-1-1, that sounds very familiar.
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Old 10-06-2008, 05:37 PM   #44
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I was fortunate enough to get out the Horizon game, and it was really exciting from a purely spectator standpoint. Both teams made their fair share of big plays, and mistakes, but for freshman they really gave it their all out there. BYU should be proud, they really worked hard for him.
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Old 10-06-2008, 09:52 PM   #45
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blade6119 View Post
I was fortunate enough to get out the Horizon game, and it was really exciting from a purely spectator standpoint. Both teams made their fair share of big plays, and mistakes, but for freshman they really gave it their all out there. BYU should be proud, they really worked hard for him.

You should have come down and said hi Blade, would have loved to BS with you a bit.

Today I received news that our game was moved to tomorrow!! As structured as I like the week to be that does not thrill me. We crammed part of Tuesdays routine (special teams walkthrough) into todays practice and also doubled up and did Team Offense and Team Defense together on adjoining practice fields. One nice thing about having a lot of kids out is we can do this. That said it was not a stellar practice, part of which I contribute to the kids being out on fall break this week. They were definitely not as focused as I would have liked being home and likely thinking about everything but Football all day.....Like I ever did that as a teenager

We also got final quarter grades Friday and after tomorrows game 8 players, including 3 starters (Both outside LBers and our QB) will be ineligible until they pull their grades up. If they are close to passing and diligent they may be able to get it done before next weeks game against LaJoya, if not they will miss 1 or more games until the grades are rectified. This really disappoints me as we collect grade checks and hold 2 study halls a week, as well as offering tudoring. Here is hoping it will be a lesson learned and they will all take care of business!

I had already decided to move Dylan U to Sam, which shores that position up and we also have Curtis J back at Rover after his Grandmother held him out for 10 days due to grades (Which I totally support) so the Linebacker situation will be OK. At QB it is a different story. I have 4 on the roster, in addition to Louis, one of the backups (Savon) is also ineligible and Jacob hurt his throwing shoulder (he plays a lot at safety) against Tolleson, which potentially leaves only Zach R after this game. I have faith in the kid as all the backups are close to each other and certainly capable of directing our ground and pound attack. I just hate the idea of being down to a single player here if Jacob can not throw and the other two don't get their academics in order. If it looks like we will be down to only one serviceable QB for the LaJoya game I will get Shayne some reps there and if we need to use him will move Tywon back to TB and put in some special plays for Shayne.....Lets just hope it doesn't come to this.
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Old 10-08-2008, 12:51 AM   #46
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Well the defensive changes worked well tonight and the kids ran to the ball extremely well. We were probably better prepared for this game than any thus far and with the kids off this week we brought them in early to watch film of Sunrise from earlier in the year one more time.

The good
  • Westview 31 Sunrise Mountain 0
  • Our kicker nailed a 34 yard FG (First I have ever even tried at the freshmen level)
  • Defense only gave up 4 first downs all night.
  • We did not punt for the second game in a row (still only 3 all year)
The bad
Not much at this point without watching film. All but I think 4 or 5 kids got into the game and it was a solid team effort.

The ugly
  • Two long touchdowns called back for blocks in the back (One was 25 yards behind the play )
  • 3 first half turnovers which is all that stopped our offense (two came inside their 20) as we lead 15 - 0 at the half.
The penalties really stick in my craw as we can't afford to do that on a weekly basis. Luckily the Defense was lights out tonight and they didn't come back to haunt us. Dylan U really took to the move to Sam, he looks so much more comfortable and aggressive playing in space. Also Joseph K had a very solid game after moving inside to Will. The secondary stayed on top of everything all night and were pretty much always in the right spot. I will post stats and any further thoughts after watching the film tomorrow as the Freshmen Knights move to 4-1-1.

Last edited by BYU 14 : 10-08-2008 at 10:58 AM.
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Old 10-08-2008, 10:20 PM   #47
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Location: The scorched Desert
Game Stats vs Sunrise Mountain

I was not expecting as many yards as we got, but in going over film they stuffed us a few times with there blitzes, but when we hit a crease we went for big yards. All told we set a new season high with 433 yards on the ground with 8 runs over 25 yards! (Our measuring stick for a "big play") Of course to offset this rushing outburst we passed for an eye popping 6 yards. Our total offense of 439 yards is our second highest of the season. Not all is rosy as turnovers plagued us, as we lost the ball on our final 3 possesions of the first half (2 fumbles and 1 Int) in this fashion. (2 of them came inside the Sunrise Mountain 20)

Defensively we were very stout focing 3 and outs on 5 of 8 Sunrise possesions, with Jesus G recording an interception and playing a very solid game at Mike Linebacker. The D coordinator is catching up on the defensive stats and I will post them once he gets them done, but I do know we had 3 sacks and at least 6 tackles for loss.

Individually Jamal D was a beast averaging 25.6 yards every time he touched the ball. As I have mentioned before, he is still very raw which is scary! He will be REAL good. Shayne M chipped in with his usual solid effort also topping the 100 mark, despite the fact that Sunrise commited an extra defender outside to stop sweep. They also brought heavy pressure through the A gaps most of the night and because of this I only called Trap one time. Of course this meant they gave us the Belly both strong and weak and we took advantage going for 118 yards on weakside Belly and 102 on the strong side Belly with our Fullbacks (Dylan U and Joseph F also got carries) chewing up 227 yards between them.

Game Stats

Rushing
Jamal D: 7 - 179 yds, 3 TD
Shayne M: 9 - 135 yds
Tywon S: 4 - 48 yds
Dylan U: 2 - 35 yds, 1 TD

Passing
Louis G: 1 - 4 for 3 yds, 1 Int
Jacob S: 1 - 1 for 3 yds

Receiving
Tywon S: 2 - 6 yds

We just did not have enough time to pass and I wasn't going to get to worried about it the way we were running the ball. I did put a hot read in at halftime to get either Shayne or Tywon the ball on a pop pass to exploit the rush, but we never needed to call it. The other highlight of course was Jacob S nailing a 35 yd field goal in the 4th. He is the best kicker we have had at the freshman level and it is a huge weapon having a kicker who can consistently put the ball inside the 10. (He also has 5 touchbacks on the year)

Season Stats through 6 games
Season record: 4-1-1 overall, 2-0 in region


VS Maryvale: Win 47-0
Rushing 24 - 263 yds, 6 TD
Passing 0 - 1

@ Pinnacle: Win 29-8
Rushing 19 - 261 yds, 3 TD
Passing 4 - 6 for 28 yds, 1 TD

@ Deer Valley: Loss 20-44
Rushing 30 - 254 yds, 2 TD
Passing 6 - 10 for 112 yds, 1 TD 2 Int

@ Horizon: Tie 44-44
Rushing 36 - 403 yds, 6 TD
Passing 5 - 7 for 91 yds, 1 TD

VS Tolleson: Win 26-14
Rushing 37 - 329 yds, 4 TD
Passing 2 - 3 for 44 yds

@ Sunrise Mountain: Win 31-0
Rushing 30 - 433 yds, 4 TD
Passing 2 - 6 for 6 yds, 1 Int

Per Game Averages
Rushing: 323.8
Passing: 46.8
Total Offense: 370.7

Leaders Season to Date:
Rushing:
Jamal D: 57 - 747 yds, 13.1 YPC, 11 TD
Shayne M: 53 - 657 yds, 12.4 YPC, 8 TD
Tywon S: 17 - 177 yds, 10.4 YPC, 2 TD
Team: 177 - 1943 yds, 11.0 YPC, 25 TD

Passing:
Louis G: 16 - 28 for 249 yds, 3 TD, 3 Int
Team: 19 - 33 for 281 yds, 3 TD, 3 Int

Receiving:
Shayne M: 9 - 144 yds, 16.0 YPC, 2 TD
Jesse M: 3 - 38 yds, 12.7 YPC, 1 TD
Dylan U: 2 - 40 yds, 20.0 YPC
Team: 19 - 281 yds, 14.8 YPC, 3 TD

And of course special recognition again to the guys up front that make it happen. As much talent as we have in the backfield, they could not put up anywhere near the ridiculous numbers they do without a solid performance from the line. So....Ryan F, Matthew F, Josiah B, Mario R, Damian C and Antonio A.......Great job Rhinos!!!!!

Next up LaJoya at our place and with our game being on Tuesday this week we get an extra day to prepare......They run a 3-5-3 Defense, occasionally going to a 3-4 in long yardage situations and they love to bring pressure, blitzing on nearly every play. The longer week is welcome, so we can get the line extra reps in to deal with their scheme.
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Old 10-09-2008, 06:09 AM   #48
Poli
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Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Wentzville, MO
I sure hope we manage to be 4-1-1 after Saturday.
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Old 10-12-2008, 05:19 PM   #49
BYU 14
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: The scorched Desert
We have gotten some good work done against the spread option this week. The Lobos line up exclusively in 4 wide, QB under center and a FB. They run both veer and dive option, as well as speed option with no motion from the slots. Their passing game seems to be basically limited to releasing 3-4 on vertical routes and trying to find seams. The will also throw the bubble screen to either the motion back or the FB.

Our main priority the last two practices defensively have been working on the option. Our DE's need to recognize veer quickly, squueze down and tackle the the FB when they run this scheme. We also have a LBer and secondary shift in to place ourselves in better position against both speed and dive. Speed option is easier, DE's to the QB right now, inside LBer's feather the QB to pitch and outside LB'er straight to pitch, with the safety rotating to cover playside seam for option pass. Jesse M has been nails from his DE position reading this and Malik has gotten better, though we need to work some more on his technique. I didn't like the pursuit angles from the backside LB'ers on some plays Saturday and we will look to tighten that up tomorrow.

With the pressure their defensive scheme beings we have line calls in to insure we give up as few run throughs as possible. They will be faster than Sunrise so we have get sweep cut up field quickly and look for the cutback as they tend to over pursue. Belly should again be good both ways and Power will be as will as long as we can make the right line calls against pressure. I added our first hot read on Offense and also put in a blitz beater pass for 3rd and mid range situations and both looked good. These are the first new plays I have installed since game 2 and it was painfully clear we needed them after we struggled picking up the blitz in passing situations last week.

Hopefully by some miracle our 3 starters can get their grades fixed, if not be this game then at least for the week after when we will definitely need them. In the meantime I have total confidence in Zach R making his first start at QB this week. He was really neck and neck with Jacob S for the #2 position and though he is not a playmaking type, he is very cool and can manage the game nicely, not trying to force anything. That's all we need.
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Old 10-13-2008, 11:09 PM   #50
BYU 14
Coordinator
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: The scorched Desert
Final full pad practice tonight before the Game Wednesday. We normally only go full pads twice a week, but the extra day gave us 3 this week and after some focue issues during individual periods and skellies the hitting really picked up during team offense as the scout defense brought it. I like to see this as it makes the Offense work a lot harder since we have the scout team get a little over excited when they make a play. We ended up with a nice 20 minute session and finished with a few reps of Goaline offense, debuting our Elephant package. (Basically just our 3 biggest backs in the backfield) We lose some speed here, but we will always be able to get a yard when needed with this group.

Finished with Defense and I did some triangle reads (Inside and Out) with the Linebackers on option responsibility, then Skellies and finally team Defense. I think we have their scheme dialed in pretty well, put with this past week being a holiday we have been missing key kids at various times. This is a minor concern as it can effect unit chemistry and in a couple of cases we will be starting 2nd and 3rd string guys due toi unexcused absences.

I am still not sure who I will start at QB, it is basically a coin flip right now if Louis doesn't get his academics squared away tomorrow.
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