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Corch Fan's Corching Career

Soonerfan09

Well-Known Member
50 years before the LEGENDARY Moscow Mules coach captured a WBL shamship, Corch Sooner Fan began his coaching career in a suburban Oklahoma town south of Oklahoma City. Coach Fan had always loved FOOTBAW and after completing his certifications and attending multiple coaching clinics, he was ready to help a team at the highest level offered by the Indian Nations Football Conference in his area - 6th grade.

During the first week of allowed practices, Coach Fan finally got the phone call that would pair him with a lucky team. To Coach Fan's surprise, that lucky team would be playing 8 man football and would be made up of 2nd graders.
 

Travis7401

Douglass Tagg
Community Liaison
2nd grade tackle footbaw? Add everyone involved to the list!
 
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Soonerfan09

Well-Known Member
After getting in contact with the head coach, Coach Fan was brought in to run the offense. He made his first appearance with his new team the following day, the team's second practice, a helmet and shoulder pads only practice, much like the first. During this practice, Coach Fan was asked to create a playbook that would be used in the intra-squad scrimmage the head coach had scheduled for Saturday, the teams first full pads practice. :facepalm:

Coach Fan immediately consulted the INFC Rulebook to establish what kind of offense he would run. He was limited to four formations. Basic I-Formation, Pistol-I, Split, or Shotgun Split. Coach Fan developed a playbook of mostly I-Formation with a few plays in Split. The head coach said he wanted the play names to use Red and Blue to indicate right and left. Coach Fan figured just saying right and left would be simpler, but he incorporated Red and Blue into his play terminology. He came up with the following plays: Red/Blue A/B/C 1/2/3 (Red/Blue denoting right and left; A/B/C denoting the gap - this was to help the boys learn gaps; and 1/2/3 indicating which back would carry the ball 1=HB, 2=FB, 3=QB). *Coach Fan has many more plays, but these (all out of I-Form, along with Pass Right-fake to FB, swing pass right) are all that has been called so far. Coach Fan has attempted to add the Split formation to the mix, but it just hasn't worked yet. Today at practice Coach Fan introduced the Bootleg concept which can be added to every play.

During the scrimmage, Coach Fan was to coach offense while head coach was to coach defense. Since the team only had 12 players and it would be a six-on-six scrimmage, Coach Fan suggested that the teams should only go right or left (take away left guard and tackle, left CB and left DE/DT and run plays to that side so that the kids could at least begin to grasp their positions and the plays). Head coach thought that would be a great idea, but within two plays, he moved a DE to the left (offenses left) where we had no line, and made him crash down, blowing up every play). Annoyed, Coach Fan moved his right tackle to left guard and finished off the scrimmage with a two guard set up.

Coach Fan learned a few things that day: Neither of the other coaches know much about football or about how to teach (much less children), and that since it's very clear that Coach Fan could do both, he would be awarded almost complete control of the team, including practice plans, player positioning, sub patterns, etc.
 

Travis7401

Douglass Tagg
Community Liaison
My unsolicited advice for the age group. First of all, look up Dave Cisar and then simplify his stuff for both 8 man and for

OFFENSE:
1. Run a short (3 yard distance max) direct snap offense. These short "shotgun" snaps at ground level are much easier to teach than a traditional Center/QB exchange and if/when it goes wrong you'll be less likely to turn it over. Snapping the ball directly to ur primary ball carrier also reduces problems with handoffs. Dave Cisar has great vidyas on teaching this snap. You can basically have the kid roll the ball on the ground (better than snapping too high).

2. Start with 1 direct snap formation and 3 plays. Primary Off tackle play, Counter off that play, and WEDGE.

3. Run foot to foot splits with simple DOWN blocking scheme for the offensive line with no pulling (too young). Play-side linemen block the first guy on or inside of them (will result in lots of double teams). Backside linemen CRAB BLOCK (turn sideways and crawl on all 4s) to limit penetration. Put your best linemen on the STRONG SIDE and ur Dummies on the WEAK side to hid them, crab blocking is easy. The entire point of your offensive line scheme is to limit penetration, which is the one thing that fucks up youth offenses the most.

Your REAL blocker is a "blocking" back who will be lined up one half yard behind the line and you will bring him to the point of attack on every play, whether he's running the ball or blocking. On off tackle play he does a kickout block on the strong side. On the counter play he does a kickout block on the weakside. On the wedge play he runs the ball (30% of the plays). He's basically your most badass kid, If he's athletic it is a plus, but you can get by with a kid who isn't all that fast here as long as he runs and blocks hard. The "Tailback" is your best runner/athlete, he runs the ball on the off tackle (50% of ur plays) and hands the ball off to the wingback on the counter. The wingback is your 2nd best runner/athlete, he'll be a key block at the point of attack on your off tackle play and the runner on your counter play (20% of ur plays). If you want diagrams of these plays I can send them. Once you have these 3 plays DOWN, we've got 2 variations on the off tackle to add and one variation on the wedge for a total of 6 plays.

DEFENSE On defense teach a 3-4-1 Gap-Mirror formation that can adjust to any offensive formation with an ULTRA DEEP free safety (15-20 yards back). The theory is simply to limit big plays by lining him up infinitely deep. Youth footbaw is all big plays, if you make them actually grind out first downs they'll eventually fumble a snap.

NT. He's your scrappiest/quickest of the unathletic players. He might be slow as shit, but he's a try hard! Think RUDY type, he's too dumb to know how bad he is. The best NT I corched was actually a handicapped kid who had partially disabled legs and walked with crutches. He was a good wrestler with great upper body strength from crutching around all day and he was actually really quick. At the snap he'd dive one way or the other (it's fun to let them pick) and basically rip the dick off anyone he could get ahold of. He cause so many fumbled snaps just because he freaked the center out with the combination of being handi-capable and so intensely mad about it.

DTs align on the ends against a 5 man line ur just outside the G/T of a 3 man line. The DL are your least athletic players and they are soft too! You have to hide players in youth football and we're hiding them here. Because of their alignment at the end of the line, Opposing corches might think they are DEs and they will waste their best blockers on these turds. Their only job is to bear crawl into the offensive linemen and try to get in the way and make a pile at the line. This can be surprisingly effective! No GLORY BOYS HERE, they need to buy in completely to the BEAR CRAWL. The one thing that will kill you is if they get blocked into ur LBs.

OLBs - the actual contain men. They need to be smart, athletic, and at least decent at tackling. You can actually get away with a kid who isn't super aggressive here. I've had a lot of kids who were athletic and a little afraid of contact, but would actually make a tackle when pressed. THAT makes for the best DE because they won't over pursue and get trapped out of position. Basically these are your 2nd and 3rd best athletes on the team. Against a 5 man line they will be positioned like OLBs 2 yards outside the last man and 2 yards off the line so that they don't look like "defensive ends." Against split ends they will line up halfway between the split end and the last lineman, 2 yards off the line. At the snap they charge upfield to the line and play from outside in to force the play inside. The real reason to make them look like "Linebackers" is to confuse offensive blocking schemes that focus on the "defensive end."

MLBs - These kids need to be VERY AGGRESSIVE and MAD. They can be stupid or slow, but preferably not both, but they need to love tackling. You have them mirror the offensive backs. Against an I-formation or anything they don't understand, just have them default stack behind the DTs. Basically the DTs doing their BEAR CRAWL are their sheild. Feel free to blitz them a lot through the gap between the NT and DT. Blitzing is fun and helps keep kids aggressive.

FS - Your best all around athlete and tackler who has an IQ higher than the average okie (If he's too stupid make him a MLB). You teach this kid to wait "2 Oklahoma" after the snap to make sure he's absolutely sure where the ball is going, then he takes a nice safe approach to the ball, never letting a ball carrier get past him. Since he's a good athlete and he's got a 15 yard cushion, he should be able to clean up anything that gets past your LBs. He's responsible for every single pass play, which is why you lined him up so deep. I've never seen a 2nd grader throw the ball more than 10 yards so this should work.
 

Soonerfan09

Well-Known Member
My unsolicited advice for the age group. First of all, look up Dave Cisar and then simplify his stuff for both 8 man and for

OFFENSE:
1. Run a short (3 yard distance max) direct snap offense. These short "shotgun" snaps at ground level are much easier to teach than a traditional Center/QB exchange and if/when it goes wrong you'll be less likely to turn it over. Snapping the ball directly to ur primary ball carrier also reduces problems with handoffs. Dave Cisar has great vidyas on teaching this snap. You can basically have the kid roll the ball on the ground (better than snapping too high).

2. Start with 1 direct snap formation and 3 plays. Primary Off tackle play, Counter off that play, and WEDGE.

3. Run foot to foot splits with simple DOWN blocking scheme for the offensive line with no pulling (too young). Play-side linemen block the first guy on or inside of them (will result in lots of double teams). Backside linemen CRAB BLOCK (turn sideways and crawl on all 4s) to limit penetration. Put your best linemen on the STRONG SIDE and ur Dummies on the WEAK side to hid them, crab blocking is easy. The entire point of your offensive line scheme is to limit penetration, which is the one thing that fucks up youth offenses the most.

Your REAL blocker is a "blocking" back who will be lined up one half yard behind the line and you will bring him to the point of attack on every play, whether he's running the ball or blocking. On off tackle play he does a kickout block on the strong side. On the counter play he does a kickout block on the weakside. On the wedge play he runs the ball (30% of the plays). He's basically your most badass kid, If he's athletic it is a plus, but you can get by with a kid who isn't all that fast here as long as he runs and blocks hard. The "Tailback" is your best runner/athlete, he runs the ball on the off tackle (50% of ur plays) and hands the ball off to the wingback on the counter. The wingback is your 2nd best runner/athlete, he'll be a key block at the point of attack on your off tackle play and the runner on your counter play (20% of ur plays). If you want diagrams of these plays I can send them. Once you have these 3 plays DOWN, we've got 2 variations on the off tackle to add and one variation on the wedge for a total of 6 plays.

DEFENSE On defense teach a 3-4-1 Gap-Mirror formation that can adjust to any offensive formation with an ULTRA DEEP free safety (15-20 yards back). The theory is simply to limit big plays by lining him up infinitely deep. Youth footbaw is all big plays, if you make them actually grind out first downs they'll eventually fumble a snap.

NT. He's your scrappiest/quickest of the unathletic players. He might be slow as shit, but he's a try hard! Think RUDY type, he's too dumb to know how bad he is. The best NT I corched was actually a handicapped kid who had partially disabled legs and walked with crutches. He was a good wrestler with great upper body strength from crutching around all day and he was actually really quick. At the snap he'd dive one way or the other (it's fun to let them pick) and basically rip the dick off anyone he could get ahold of. He cause so many fumbled snaps just because he freaked the center out with the combination of being handi-capable and so intensely mad about it.

DTs align on the ends against a 5 man line ur just outside the G/T of a 3 man line. The DL are your least athletic players and they are soft too! You have to hide players in youth football and we're hiding them here. Because of their alignment at the end of the line, Opposing corches might think they are DEs and they will waste their best blockers on these turds. Their only job is to bear crawl into the offensive linemen and try to get in the way and make a pile at the line. This can be surprisingly effective! No GLORY BOYS HERE, they need to buy in completely to the BEAR CRAWL. The one thing that will kill you is if they get blocked into ur LBs.

OLBs - the actual contain men. They need to be smart, athletic, and at least decent at tackling. You can actually get away with a kid who isn't super aggressive here. I've had a lot of kids who were athletic and a little afraid of contact, but would actually make a tackle when pressed. THAT makes for the best DE because they won't over pursue and get trapped out of position. Basically these are your 2nd and 3rd best athletes on the team. Against a 5 man line they will be positioned like OLBs 2 yards outside the last man and 2 yards off the line so that they don't look like "defensive ends." Against split ends they will line up halfway between the split end and the last lineman, 2 yards off the line. At the snap they charge upfield to the line and play from outside in to force the play inside. The real reason to make them look like "Linebackers" is to confuse offensive blocking schemes that focus on the "defensive end."

MLBs - These kids need to be VERY AGGRESSIVE and MAD. They can be stupid or slow, but preferably not both, but they need to love tackling. You have them mirror the offensive backs. Against an I-formation or anything they don't understand, just have them default stack behind the DTs. Basically the DTs doing their BEAR CRAWL are their sheild. Feel free to blitz them a lot through the gap between the NT and DT. Blitzing is fun and helps keep kids aggressive.

FS - Your best all around athlete and tackler who has an IQ higher than the average okie (If he's too stupid make him a MLB). You teach this kid to wait "2 Oklahoma" after the snap to make sure he's absolutely sure where the ball is going, then he takes a nice safe approach to the ball, never letting a ball carrier get past him. Since he's a good athlete and he's got a 15 yard cushion, he should be able to clean up anything that gets past your LBs. He's responsible for every single pass play, which is why you lined him up so deep. I've never seen a 2nd grader throw the ball more than 10 yards so this should work.
While I appreciate the advice and the time it took you to write that up, ur gonna need to review pages 33-43 of the INFC Rulebook, paying special attention to sections 6 and 7. I’ll do a write up of the RULES and my roster as I get you’ll caught up to where we are in the season.
 

Orlando

Well-Known Member
Utopia Moderator
If Coach Fan really knew anything about football and teaching kids, he’d teach them not to play.
 

Soonerfan09

Well-Known Member
If Orlando knew anything about people, he would know that they (and their parents) will do what they want, and it’s better to have someone that actually knows what they are doing as aposed to someone who doesn’t.
 

Travis7401

Douglass Tagg
Community Liaison
Soonerfan would have my forever respect if he ran completely no contact practices. I really think it can be done! But I fear "know what I'm doing" means running OKLAHOMA DRILLS!
 
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Soonerfan09

Well-Known Member
Soonerfan would have my forever respect if he ran completely no contact practices. I really think it can be done! But I fear "know what I'm doing" means running OKLAHOMA DRILLS!
At my first practice, head coach had two kids lie on their back, feet facing each other. He dropped a footbaw onto the chest of one kid who was deemed the ball carrier. Both kids had to scramble to get up and the kid without the ball was aposed (my Oklahoma really came out last night) to tackle the kid with the ball. Earlier I said it was a helmet and shoulder pads practice, but looking back, I think it was just shoulder pads. Shortly after I told head coach that the drill he was running probably wasn't a good idea and we haven't ran it since.
* Funny story - One kid, we'll call him Hogan, felt like he got tackled too hard during this drill, so he called over the kid that tackled him "Hey! Come here, I wanna show you something." The kid who did the tackling, we'll call him Brent, walks over. Hogan slams a football into his face as soon as he get close enough.

I prefer to have all of my practices be non-contact. The most contact I want is during oline/dline drills, but I usually use dummies for that. I might have online and dline go against each other tomorrow since our next game isn't until the 8th, but the contact will be light. We do a few tackling drills, but always use dummies.
 

Soonerfan09

Well-Known Member
Rules:
Second Grade
A. Maximum playing weight is 115.00 pounds.
B. Maximum playing weight for advancing the ball is 70.00 pounds.
C. Striper weight limits as follows:
1. One striper: 70.01 to 90.00 pounds.
2. Two striper: 90.01 to a maximum of 115.00 pounds
Both First & Second Grades
A. One Striper: A striper is not allowed to be in the offensive backfield. On Offense a striper may advance the ball only after the recovery of a DEFENSIVELY CAUSED fumble. On defense a one striper can play all positions.
B. Two Stripers: A two striper must be a lineman in a down position three or four point stance; offense or defense. On Offense a striper may advance the ball only after the recovery of a DEFENSIVELY CAUSED fumble. On defense a one or two-stripped player will be allowed to return an interception or fumble.
C. Players weighting within the specified weight ranges of striped players must have their helmets marked within INFC guidelines. Guidelines are as follows: * One Striper – One neon green stripe shall be placed at the rear of the helmet, be centered so it is visible behind the helmet and run vertical up the helmet. * Two Striper – One neon green “X” shall be placed at the rear of the helmet and be centered so it is visible behind the helmet.

Each player must play 2 quarters of uninterrupted play, playing at least 1 quarter in each half, both offense and defense. This must be shown on the roster and given to the opposing coach at weigh-in. There will be no substitutions within a quarter other than for injury. Once injured player recovers, player must immediately re-enter the game to fulfill the quarter started. If player is late for weigh-in then that player will not play until second half and only be required to play one quarter.

Article 1: Oklahoma High School Rules will be utilized in this league with the
exception of the INFC Rules contained within.
A. Field Size – The field width will be reduced to no less than 35 yards,
no more than 40 yards.. Example: fields will be set up from one
sideline to the far hash marks.
B. Game Time – 8 minute quarters will be utilized for all Mighty Mite
League play.
1. This is a continuous running clock, stopping only for
Touchdowns, Time Outs, Injury, and Extra Points.
2. A team is allowed 35 seconds between each play. Time starts
at the placement of the ball by the official.
3. Two minute warning will be given at the end of the 4th quarter
and regular regulation play will be in effect during this time (no
running clock).
4. Each team is allowed two time outs per half.

C. Punts - the 20/20 rule
The Punting team must notify the official that they are punting. The
official will at that time place the ball 20 yards downfield. However,
the ball shall not be placed inside the receiving team’s 20 yard line.
D. Fumbles – A fumble can be recovered and advanced, utilizing the
ball advancement rules
E. Ball Placement – The ball is to be placed on the 40-yard line.
1. At the start of the game.
2. After each touchdown, extra point.
3. At the beginning of the second half.
F. Scoring – The score will be kept on the board to ensure the
mercy rule is obeyed.
Points –
A. Six points for a touchdown.
B. One point for an extra point by running.
C. Two points for an extra point by kicking.
D. Three points for a field goal.
G. MERCY RULE – At the time a team reaches a 28 point spread, the
score will freeze and INFC mercy rule procedures apply.
H. Tournaments – INFC will determine preseason and/or post
season activities and tournaments. INFC will determine the format for
these activities. In the event that INFC chooses a post-season tournament,
tournament seeding will be determined by draw.
I. Overtime – During regular season no overtime will be played.

Section 7
DEFENSE
All teams must run the same defense as designed by diagram above until the
snap of the ball.
1. The Safety must line up no closer than 5 yards from the line of
scrimmage and can move laterally.
2. Cornerbacks must be no closer than 3 yards from an Offensive
End and must be set and positioned 3 yards back from the line of
scrimmage.
3. Must have 3 or 4 Defensive lineman.
A. Defensive Guards must line head up with the Offensive Guard,
not in the gaps ,and must begin play in a down position.
B. Defensive Ends must line head up or on the outside shoulder of
the Offensive End.
C. A two striper must play on the line in a down position.
4. All linemen must line up in a down position.
5. May have one or two Linebackers that must line up 3 yards back
from the line of scrimmage, can move laterally between the center
and the end. If there are two linebackers they must line up on
opposite sides of the ball.
6. No more than (2) two stripers are allowed on the field from each team
at one time.
7. The Offensive Center is protected; a defensive player must go to the
left or right of the Center.
8. The defense is frozen and no adjustments are allowed once the
offensive line is set.
9. Inside the 5 yard line the defense is allowed to move the Linebacker(s)
and Corner Backs to within one yard from the line of scrimmage. The
middle linebacker can line up over the Center but is not allowed head
on contact with the Center. The Safety can move to within 3 yards
from the line of scrimmage.
10. The Center is always protected.

Section 8
Offense
All teams must run the same offense as designed by the diagrams above
until the snap of the ball. NO EXCEPTIONS.
1. Must have five players on the line of scrimmage, all in the down
position.
2. End position can be two stripers as long as they are in a down
position.
3. Ends cannot split out, but they can go out for a pass after the snap,
following the ball advancement rules. i.e. No Stripers.
4. Maximum splits on the line are fingertip to fingertip of the lineman.
5. Quarterback can start in the shotgun formation directly behind the
center no farther than two yards back from the ball.
6. Must have two backs in the backfield that line up at least two yards
deep from the line of scrimmage. (Not counting the quarterback).
7. Backs must line up behind the guards in the split formation.
8. Backs must line up behind the center in the I formation, no offset I
formations.
9. No players shall be in motion before the snap of the ball.
10. Unless approved by the Commissioner and only for reasons of
team size and player participation; no more than (2) two stripe
players are allowed on the field from each team at one time. When
approved and only when facing a team granted approval by the
commissioner, team A can match the total number of two stripe
players on the field as team B.
11. A team is allowed a maximum of 35 seconds from the time the ball
is spotted by the Official until the snap.

 

Soonerfan09

Well-Known Member
During the intra-squad scrimmage, I learned who would be my QBs and ball carriers. We have a fairly athletic team, led by two brothers (they were both adopted, they aren't twins - we will call them Joe and Teddy). Between them, they carry the ball probably 75-80% of the time. The other two ball carriers are a short, stocky FB/HB (we'll call him Dave), and a FB, the smallest kid on the team, but one of the fastest. We'll call him Kevin. I wanted to play Kevin at HB, but he has a really hard time paying attention (I think he has fairly severe ADHD), and he just wasn't learning what I wanted him to know. He picked up FB a lot easier and he's pretty aggressive/doesn't mind hitting, so it has been a successful placement so far.

A week after our intra-squad scrimmage, we had a scrimmage against our rivals, the Tigers. We started out on offense and drove the ball pretty well. We probably ran 10 or so plays, but we didn't score. We weren't really keeping track of downs or anything, just running plays. We played pretty well defensively, but gave up three TDs over the course of the scrimmage (I think each team had three offensive series), while scoring only one. The Tigers have about 14-15 players on their roster, 9 of which are in their second year of footbaw. At the time, we had 11 players, and only two have played footbaw before. I was pleased with the effort, but there was a lot that needed to be worked on.

During this scrimmage, I found my center. We'll call him Jimmy. Jimmy is probably the smartest kid on the team and one of the most athletic. I wanted to play him some at HB, but he has been fantastic at C. He's not real big, but he knows what to do and he makes sure everyone else on the line gets lined up right. My QBs, mainly Joe, who is definitely the best player on the team (Teddy is close and getting better though), usually makes sure the backfield is lined up properly.

Defensively, we run a 3-2. We've been running two tackles and one end, but we're starting to mix it up a bit and go with two ends more often. It all depends on who is in the game though. Putting kids in the right position is pretty essential, especially since you can't make subs during a quarter (kids have to play both ways for a full quarter, and can only be subbed for injury). Joe and Dave are normally my linebackers. Teddy is my FS. Kevin and Jimmy play CB, but if Trey is in, he plays CB and I'll move Jimmy to LB, FS, or DE depending on who else is in. Trey isn't very aggressive at all and doesn't like contact, although he has gotten better. I usually play him at one of the tackle spots on the oline.

The rest of my oline consists of Hogan, Turner, Brent, and Juan. Hogan is short and stocky, and usually plays guard. He's short and stocky, but usually doesn't want to play. I doubt he will play after this season. Turner is the other assistant coach's kid (we'll call that coach Charlie) and one of the kids that played the year before (Dave is the other). He's pretty smart and our only striper (I think he's about 72lbs), but he doesn't pay a lot of attention and should be a lot better than what he is. I'll keep working with him though.
Brent is one of our better linemen. He looks pretty big, but only weighs about 60lbs. He likes to talk a lot, especially in the huddle.
Juan missed about the first two weeks of practice, but made it to every scrimmage. He was apparently one of the fastest kids at the combine, but since he missed so much practice, I had to put him on the line. He's made it to every practice lately and is coming into his own at tackle. He could end up being our best lineman after Jimmy. He's very obedient and always gives a full effort. His dad is pretty hard on him though.
 

ZackMills

Have mercy
Section 9: Due to the realization that CTE exists and young brains are particularly vulnerable, we must play the following vidya before corching or parenting that day:



I've caught myself several times now in forced social interactions with ma'son's friend's parents in regard to why in the hell they let their 2nd graders play tackle footbaw. I'll probably be sleeping on the couch when I finally slip and thank them for allowing ma'son to have an easier street to a higher class ranking when he graduates from high school due to their poor parenting decisions!
 

Soonerfan09

Well-Known Member
The Thursday following our first scrimmage, we had a joint practice/scrimmage scheduled with the Tigers. Head coach was away on business, so it was just Charlie and I. Charlie doesn't know much about football...at all. At Tuesday's practice, I was teaching my oline the names of their positions (LT, LG, etc.). Charlie's son caught on quickly and was able to name every position. Charlie noted with a laugh that his son knows more than he does. So instead of doing any coaching or teaching, Charlie just yells. On defense, he loves to yell "BALL! BALL! GET THAT BALL!" while on offense, he prefers "HOLD THE LINE! HOLD THE LINE!" He and his wife also cuss quite a bit in the presence of the kids, parents, and anyone they come into contact with. I constantly remind him that we probably shouldn't be using that language around kids, especially not other peoples' kids.

Anyway, Charlie's wife (she will be Kim), who takes it upon herself to post all the schedules/practice times/important info/etc. to our Band page (organization app), posted the wrong location of the scrimmage. My entire team showed up at a middle school field that had four other teams practicing. After finally getting into contact with a coach on the other team, we found the right location and arrived 30 minutes after we wanted to be there. The other team spent this time practicing while we just showed up, warmed up, and rolled into the scrimmage.
We looked BAD. The scrimmage was set up where each team would run 10 minutes of offense and switch. We both ran offense twice before we decided to call it. They scored 4 or 5 times, and we didn't score at all. It was just rough all around. After the scrimmage, Charlie wanted to make the boys practice, but I told him that wasn't a good idea, huddled the kids up and preached about TEAMWORK and becoming a team, and sent them home.

Saturday we had an actual scrimmage with three other teams. One team would run defense for 5 plays and then they would switch with the other "defensive team." There would be two "offensive team" who would take turns running plays until each team ran 5 offensive plays, then the teams would rotate to the right. We started off as the second defensive team meaning after the rotation, we would play defense again. The first defense ran five plays, then it was our turn. The Tigers and a Choctaw team were on offense. Defense played lights out, barely giving up a yard. After five plays had passed, I tried yelling at the other defense to come back on, but the coach wasn't paying attention, so we ran about 10 more defensive plays and looked great the whole time. We finally rotated, had another good defensive series (only five plays this time), then went to offense. On offense, we only got to run about 4 plays before they called the scrimmage, but our last run was about 35 yards on a QB sweep, although my QB fumbled at the end of the play. The scrimmage went great and everyone was a lot more excited than they were a few days before.

During the scrimmage, the biggest kid on our team, Jack, said his back was hurting. I took him out and told him to let me know when he was ready to play again (I don't mess around with kids being hurt. Any time a kid says they are hurt, I take them out and won't play them until they say they are ready.) He didn't go back in the game. Two days later, his mom sends us a message saying that he wasn't going to be able to play footbaw anymore. Apparently he had SCOLIOSIS, but his specialist cleared him to play football. This injury would have kept him out for about 3 weeks, but they decided to not let him play anymore (they only let him play in the first place because he begged them to play, but he never should have been playing). I wasn't a part of the team when physicals, the draft, and everything else was being done, so I don't know what information was disclosed and if the other coaches knew about it or not, but they said they didn't. Had to talk with the parents at the next practice asking them to please let me know if their child has ANY medical condition at all.

After this, we were left with 10 players.
 

Soonerfan09

Well-Known Member
We practice every Tuesday and Thursday with games on Saturday mornings. The Tuesday practice after our scrimmage was a bit rough (as all Tuesday practices are) with the boys playing around too much and simply not listening. After practice, Korean Topanga and I went to BJ's for food and drinks. After we had finished eating, the manager comes out and says "Thanks for taking care of Brent. The food is on me." I said thanks and tried to figure out who tf Brent was. Maybe our server's name is Brent and he wants me to tip him well? Finally I realize who he is (Brent's step-dad), and talk to him for a minute before we leave (I had only seen him at the scrimmages, never practice, so I didn't recognize him) and he says he will be at the game on Saturday.

Thursday practice comes and it ends up being one of the best practices we've had all season. Coincidentally, Charlie and head coach were both about 30 minutes late, so I was running practice by myself (I always do, but they are usually there physically.)

On Friday night I make our roster for our first game the next morning. The game is two hours away and we have to be there an hour early for weigh-ins, so I wanted everything to be done the night before. Saturday morning I wake up to find out that Brent will not be at the game, his step-dad had a stroke and was in the hospital. Damn. He's probably in his mid-40s at the very oldest.

I also found out that we were supposed to bring all of our players' physicals to the game, but head coach never went to pick them up. Charlie and Kim volunteer to go pick them up on their way. The guy they were supposed to meet ended up being an hour or so late and they only ended up with half the physicals. They also had the gate/sideline passes for head coach and myself, so I couldn't get in until they got there. Luckily they got there about 5 minutes before weigh-in and it turns out we didn't need the physicals for that game (I kept all that were brought and I plan on getting the rest plus the gate passes so I don't have to depend on anyone else.)

The weigh-in goes fine with the exception of Joe, my starting QB. Joe weighs-in at 72 lbs. We weighed the whole team on Thursday at practice and he was right around 67 lbs. If a player is 70.01 lbs and above, they can't carry the football or line up in the backfield. They can play anywhere on defense, though, unless they are over 90 lbs. A player is allowed a second weigh in if he's over 70 lbs on his first, but it has to be within 5 minutes. We strip Joe down to his boxers and a t-shirt (he was wearing his game pants w/pads and game jersey), and he weighs in at 69.5 lbs, making him eligible to play in the backfield. Our heaviest player, Turner - Charlie's son - was about 72 lbs. The team we were playing (Glenpool White) had one kid that was 108 lbs and another that was ~92 lbs.

We started the game on defense (only one coach can be on the field at a time, head coach does defense, I do offense) and force a 3 & out after Glenpool loses about 10 yards on three plays (they ran shotgun-split the whole game and fumbled a snap), putting them at the 30 for 4th down (teams start at the 40 after "kickoffs"). They elect to punt (ref walks off 20 yards on punts) and we take over at the 50, great field position. On our first drive we have a few big runs, but back-to-back holding calls on Turner and a block in the back on Kevin stalled out our drive. We punted and they took over again around their 40 at the start of the 2nd quarter. Our defense forces another 3 & out and our offense finally gets going. I use Teddy as my QB in the 2nd quarter and he houses a QB Sweep to the left with his brother, Joe, lead blocking from the HB position. We try to run in the conversion (2 points for kicked FGs, 1 for a normal 2 point conversion), but get stuffed. 6-0 us.
Glenpool tries opening up the playbook on their next drive, throwing one deep, but Teddy picks it off and returns it 15-20 yards. We're driving, but it's getting late in the quarter. I call a timeout with 50ish seconds left, then call another QB Sweep left for Teddy. He houses it again and this time we get the extra point, making it 13-0 at the half.

We get the ball to start the 3rd. I call Red A 2 (FB through right A Gap), and Kevin immediately sprints outside, outrunning everyone for our 3rd TD. I decide to work on our pass play for the conversion, but Turner misses a block up front and their monster DT (the 92 lb kid was really good, probably 5' tall and dominated our line; the 108 lb kid wasn't very good and ended up on the ground the whole game. In the 4th quarter he removed himself from the game and refused to go back in. Glenpool finished the game with 7 players) blows through the line and nearly kills Joe.

We recover a fumble on their next drive before Teddy houses another long run, this time from the HB position. I try our pass play again with nearly the same result. This time, the kid is just holding Joe's legs, but can't get him down. Teddy comes back to him, Joe kinda tosses it to him, and Teddy runs it in. 26-0.

They controlled the ball for the entire 4th quarter, picking up their first first downs of the game. They even completed a 15 or so yard pass towards the end. We stopped them around our 10 on the last play of the game to preserve our shutout.
 

Soonerfan09

Well-Known Member
Played one of the Bixby teams (Tulsa area) and lost 13-0. This was a second year team that was YUGE up front. We didn't stand a chance. They had one kid around 110 lbs, another just over 100, and one more just under 90. Our heaviest kid is 75 lbs and I start multiple kids under 60 lbs on the Oline. They played all three kids at the same time for a quarter and a half before I realized it and told the ref (you're only allowed to have two stripers in the game at a time, anything over 70 lbs is a striper). We didn't pick up a first down until the 3rd quarter where we went on a quarter long drive that eventually stalled out around their 20. They put their two big boys at DT (head up with the guards) and crashed inside. My QB was getting smoked as soon as we snapped the ball. We didn't fare any better defensively. The LOS moved about 5 yards down the field on every play and they scored on their only two real possession.

A week or so ago, Dave's dad finished his certification and became part of the coaching staff. I was worried about how this would turn out, but the first practice (last Tuesday) went pretty well and there was finally someone else there that coached instead of standing there watching me do it. We mostly ran team offense during that practice and a little team D, mostly pursuit angles. I rarely do any type of practice other than team because I can't trust the other coaches. Thursday, Joe and Teddy (my two QBs) were about 30 minutes late, so I decided it was the perfect time to get Jimmy some snaps at QB in case Joe was overweight. I took Jimmy, Kevin, Dave, and Juan (who I was trying as backup C) with me to go over snaps and mesh points on handoffs, while the other three coaches were supposed to be working on blocking assignments and techniques with the rest of the players. After a while, I look down the field to see that the coaches and pretty much all the dads at practice have made a semi-circle where two kids would lie on their backs, heads facing each other (feet out), and Charlie would drop the ball on one of their stomach. Then they would both get up and one would try to tackle the other. It had been rainy the whole week, so the field was muddy and everyone was getting into. FML.

I finished what I was doing and sent my kids to get water. I walk down to where everyone else is and ask if they think it's a good idea to be doing this drill two days before a game, especially when we only have 9 players (we actually had 10 there, but I wasn't about to let FACTS get in the way). Head coach says we'll just let everyone that hasn't gone through it finish up and we'll move on to something else. I walk off to go get water. When I get back, I start coaching the drill (it's getting ran no matter what). Sure enough, on the last rep, Turner takes Joe's facemask to the rib cage and starts bellowing. Head coach decides it's time to do conditioning and end practice. I talk to him later about calling him out and why I did it, why that drill is pointless, etc. and he agrees that we should only use dummies for tackling drills from now on.

Of course after the game on Saturday, Dave's dad (we'll call him Tony) takes on the motivational speaker role and tells the kids how they're about to learn to be PHYSICAL. After he finishes and the team goes their way, I let him know that while I'm against using our players as tackling dummies, we do need to spend more time learning to block.

Anyone have any good blocking drills for 2nd graders? As it is, I expect to report at least three casualties in my next update. I'm pretty much all alone here, even all the parents want to see some HITTIN' and TOUGHNESS in practice, save for maybe Trey's and Jimmy's parents, who appear to be civilized human beings.

Also, I swear I will choke Charlie out if I hear him scream "BALL! BALL! GET ME THAT BALL!" one more mf'ing time.
 

Skeeter

Uber felon
What kind of offense do you run?

At that age I would consider either SAB. (severe angle blockong) which is super easy to learn and gives your small guys an advantage as they aren't being asked to out muscle anyone.

I run GOD blocking technique with my 5th graders. We run the single wing and this blocking assignment requires a little thought. Knowing where the play goes and then realizing where the defense is.

Assignment is backside GAP. Then a player directly OVER, if neither apply then you block DOWN for the double team. It's been very effective
 

Skeeter

Uber felon
On defense I would consider running the gap air mirror and having your undersized d linemen bear crawl through the line shutting down the a and b gaps by just turning the line into a mess. I'm betting they aren't making any tackles as is.
 

Skeeter

Uber felon
For your blood thirsters a good one on one drill that is pretty much risk free is to set two dummies on the ground and line the kids up straddling them facing each other. On hut they try to drive each other backwards using proper blocking technique. It teaches proper stance and hand placement and helps remind kids to keep churning their legs. It looks violent but it's really just 2 kids pushing each other. As long as you match up by size it's virtually risk free.
 

Soonerfan09

Well-Known Member
What kind of offense do you run?

At that age I would consider either SAB. (severe angle blockong) which is super easy to learn and gives your small guys an advantage as they aren't being asked to out muscle anyone.

I run GOD blocking technique with my 5th graders. We run the single wing and this blocking assignment requires a little thought. Knowing where the play goes and then realizing where the defense is.

Assignment is backside GAP. Then a player directly OVER, if neither apply then you block DOWN for the double team. It's been very effective
We run a basic I form. We’ll run TB through A, B, and C gaps and FB usually just through A, but sometimes B (it really doesn’t matter what I call, he takes the handoff and immediately sprints outside - the one time it worked last game it actually ended up being our biggest play, going for about 15 yards. He scored from about 35 yards out on it in our first game. He’s also way too small to go up the middle), and QB sweeps, sneaks, and bootlegs. We’ve also been practicing an end around, but haven’t run it in a game yet.
It’s 8 man football and we can only run I or spilt, but I’m reading up on SAB and I’m probably going to try to implement it today. I might tinker with it a bit and leave the play side DE unblocked and try to run some form of option (or at least called give/keep plays) if we get it down.

Defensively, I think we will definitely have the DTs bear crawl through and muck up the line. It’s definitely not one of our strongest positions, but LB is, so that should help in freeing them up some.

Thanks for all the advice, keep it coming if you have anymore.
 

Skeeter

Uber felon
We run a basic I form. We’ll run TB through A, B, and C gaps and FB usually just through A, but sometimes B (it really doesn’t matter what I call, he takes the handoff and immediately sprints outside - the one time it worked last game it actually ended up being our biggest play, going for about 15 yards. He scored from about 35 yards out on it in our first game. He’s also way too small to go up the middle), and QB sweeps, sneaks, and bootlegs. We’ve also been practicing an end around, but haven’t run it in a game yet.
It’s 8 man football and we can only run I or spilt, but I’m reading up on SAB and I’m probably going to try to implement it today. I might tinker with it a bit and leave the play side DE unblocked and try to run some form of option (or at least called give/keep plays) if we get it down.

Defensively, I think we will definitely have the DTs bear crawl through and muck up the line. It’s definitely not one of our strongest positions, but LB is, so that should help in freeing them up some.

Thanks for all the advice, keep it coming if you have anymore.
I've been coaching kids for 6 years now so I have some ideas. I'm probably better with here is my problem what are some ideas on how to fix it.

Definitely teach the wedge on offense . It looks rediculous but works great unless you're playing a team with absolute monster dts. But you aren't running at them anyway.
 

Soonerfan09

Well-Known Member
We just worked on stances, first step, and second step on air to start, then we went to put them against each other, making them get in their stance, take first step, and going at it on the second step, and finally just letting them go at it on the snap. These were all things that head coach and Charlie should have been doing when I was trying to teach my QBs and RBs the playbook before the season started. It was about all we could do since 4 of our 10 kids were over 30 minutes late to practice anyway.
I would like to introduce wedge blocking on Thursday, but I might just wait until next Tuesday since I probably won’t feel confident enough to try it in the game Saturday anyway.

I did work on some shotgun snaps with my C (both QBs were over an hour late), and he did pretty good. Still thinking about trying to go shotgun split and just running midline/read option against teams that are too big to block, but I don’t know if I’ll ever get to try it.
 

Skeeter

Uber felon
There's never enough practice time. I feel ya.

When teaching sag I found the tip of painting lines in the grass for them to follow was a huge benefit. Still took a few weeks to learn at 8. Lol.
 

Soonerfan09

Well-Known Member
Won 26-19 today. Offensive line looked a lot better, but now I have to teach the RBs to turn it up field instead of just sprinting outside. Defense looked bad. Got a lot of work to do on that side.
 

Soonerfan09

Well-Known Member
Since we couldn't tackle on Saturday, head coach insisted we run this drill during practice on Tuesday.


It went about as expected - by the end of the drill we still couldn't tackle...thankfully no one got hurt.

Scrimmage today against the Tigers again. They are 0-3 so far.
 

Soonerfan09

Well-Known Member
Lost 27-0 this past weekend. Played a team that had 5 two-stripers (90+ lbs), including a kid who "is in kindergarten and just turned 6" and weighed 123 lbs. We didn't pick up a single first down and we fumbled about 5 times, including one that was taken out of Joe's hands and returned for a TD. I didn't find out that the other team had so many massive children until halftime when I told the ref that they were playing with 3 two-stripers on every play (only two allowed on the field at a time) and he informed me that head coach was aware and agreed to it. A lot of the parents were pissed that we even played the game against kids that big. Our biggest kid is 75 lbs and he plays about like he's 40 lbs. We really just can't match up with teams that big, we are a first year team without size. Other corches were pissed the whole game, screaming and yelling at the kids. After the game, they were trying to set up a scrimmage against the team we just played. Joe and Teddy's mom told me that a lot of parents were pissed about us even playing the game, so I advised the other coaches to not to, otherwise they wouldn't have a team to coach. They all went home pissed, I went to brunch and drank mimosas.

One positive from the game is that we did run a little shotgun towards the end and didn't have any problems with the snap. We worked on it quite a bit yesterday, too, and I think I'm going to start running it a majority of the time, I just need to put in my plays. We'll be running Shotgun Split. So far, we have sweep left and sweep right, and a fake with the QB keeping it off each. I plan on adding some misdirection tomorrow and maybe a few pass plays. No midline since I've changed the blocking, but I might work in an outside read option. A shovel pass would be bitchin' too.
We also worked on tackling and blocking. I had complete control of the practice, so we worked on hawk tackling and hawk roll against stationary dummies. We will work on it again tomorrow, but we will add movement with the dummies. For blocking, we cut down our splits to pretty much nothing and worked on wedge blocking. Everyone just step inside and protect the gaps. I feel this is our best option with the players that we have, but we'll see how/if it works in the game and I'll modify from there.

Next game will be tough. It's a Tulsa area team, so they'll probably be pretty big, or at least bigger than us. They're 1-3, but they've played some good teams and kept it pretty close. I really only expect one, maybe two/three more wins for the rest of the season. My goal at the beginning of the season was 2-3 wins, so I'm pretty pleased already.

Also, anyone have tips for teaching 8-man football defensive assignments to 2nd graders without a live offense?
 

Skeeter

Uber felon
The best idea for 2nd graders is make the plays flow to your lbs. Your lbs are anyone who can tackle . Your cbs have one job. Stay home and turn sweeps back inside to your lbs. Usually they can do this by staying high and just taking on the lead blocker.

Gap Air Mirror is the defense you should run until 5th grade when teams actually start to pass effectively.

On offense my advice is to run less plays not more. Have about 6-8 plays you can run effectively out of the same formation and learn to block them correctly. Getting creative on offense is the nadir of youth football corches.
 
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