the Fish Podcast

JOINS THE FNF COACHES PODCAST NETWORK

The Fish Podcast (a.k.a The Fish Cast) is now part of the FNF Coaches Podcast Network. Hosted by Charles Fishbein, Corey Long and Chris Demarest, known as Coach Demo, the Fish Cast has become a necessary offseason stop for some of the nation’s top coaches.

Corey Long, co-shot of the Fish Cast, sat down with co-host Charles Fishbein, president of Elite Scouting Services, to discuss the show. f Hey Fish, it’s been a wild ride with the Fish Cast so far. It’s hard to believe that we’re about 7-8 months into this and have already gotten the coaches that we had and we’re joining the FNF Coaches Podcast network. It’s an exciting time. What were you thinking when you decided to do this?

■ CF: When I started it, I wasn’t sure where it was going to go. I wanted it to be different than the company I run, Elite Scouting Services, where I am just evaluating prospects. As you remember we just did it to talk about the college football teams in Florida and break down their results weekly. But the college football season only lasts about 18-20 weeks, what are we going to do with the other 32 weeks? We can talk a lot of recruiting of course but getting the coaches to come on has turned out to be our most important thing for the offseason. I think we’re giving fans a real insight to the guys that coach their programs. We get into their history and talk about the guys and styles that influenced them. We hear about their challenges and the growth that’s allowed them to get where they have in the sport. And then when we talk about recruiting, well Coach Demo is one of the best to ever do it and he provides so much insight to what coaches are looking for in prospects and how they evaluate talent. f The depth of the coaches that we have had on is impressive given we’re less than 50 episodes in. I remember how excited when we could get convince a coach to give us a chance. Now we have coaches calling us!

■ CF: Think about who we’ve had on so far. Coach John Beam from Laney College, the subject of a Last Chance U season. Tom Allen from Indiana was amazing. We brought in Pete Shinnick from West Florida, the reigning Division 2 National champions, to talk about coaching and recruiting at the non-FBS level. Coach JaJuan Seider from Penn State talked about the art of recruiting and what he is looking for. If you are a coach, it’s a must listen in my opinion. If you are a prospect or a parent of a prospect there is a ton of good information these coaches, who are currently at the top of the profession, are providing. f It’s been a good first year so far and we have some great opportunities ahead of us. What are your hopes for the Fish Cast over the next year?

■ CF: I hope by this point next year we are a destination podcast for listeners that are both fans of football and looking to get something out of their time listening. Yeah, I love having the big coaching names on and we want to have more on like Jimbo Fisher and Ryan Day and Nick Saban...that’s great, but I want coaches on from FCS, from the HBCUs, retired coaches with stories to tell and information to pass on. I want people to be able to tell their stories, offer their philosophies and explain their process. I believe that’s what young coaches, prospects and parents of prospects need to hear.

FISHCAST PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS

HERE ARE SOME POPULAR EPISODES OF THE FISHCAST THAT ARE NOW AVAILABLE FOR STREAMING.

DATE: June 19, 2021 BRET BIELEMA THE SKINNY: Illinois

head coach Bret Bielema joins the podcast to talk about returning to the college game after spending time in the NFL, coaching under Bill Belichick and the teams and players that stood out to him over the years.

DATE: June 9, 2021 TOM ALLEN THE SKINNY: Indiana

University head coach Tom Allen has a great story of rising up from coaching a small private high school in Tampa, Florida to becoming the head man at the Indiana Hoosiers. He’s got plenty of stories and will get you pumped up!

DATE: May 26, 2021 MIKE NORVELL THE SKINNY: Florida

State head coach Mike Norvell joins the Fish Podcast and talks about the impact COVID-19 had on the program, going through his first full spring practice, preparing for the upcoming recruiting and evaluation season and hosting the first FSU Mega Camp on June 6.

DATE: May 13, 2021 FRANK PONCE THE SKINNY: Frank

Ponce, the offensive coordinator for Appalachian State, talks about his road in coaching from Miami high schools to FBS football. He’s worked under some of the best coaches in the business.

DATE: May 6, 2021 DAVID JOHNSON THE SKINNY:

David Johnson, the running backs coach for FSU, talks about program building, recruiting during the coronavirus pandemic and bouncing back from a rough season.

DATE: March 31, 2021 DAVID KELLY THE SKINNY: Florida

Atlantic coordinator of player personnel David Kelly joins the podcast. He talks about building a program, finding the right kids, his recruiting mistakes and what it takes to have a successful football team from the time the kids are rookies to graduates.

DATE: March 17, 2021 FRAN BROWN THE SKINNY: Fran

Brown, the defensive backs coach for Rutgers University, takes us in depth about his recruiting method, coaching under amazing coaches and helping young players focus on having a winning mentality.

DATE: Feb. 23, 2021 CHRIS DEMAREST THE SKINNY: Chris

Demarest, known as Coach Demo, has seen it all in his 20+ years of college football. The former coach at Rutgers, Hawaii, N.C. State, Florida State and others talk about recruiting top kids, how he changed the landscape of recruiting with satellite camps and building bonds and relationships with the players he has coached.

The Fish Podcast (a.k.a The Fish Cast) is hosted by Charles Fishbein (President of Elite Scouting Services) along with Corey Long and Chris Demarest, and has become a necessary drop-in for the nation’s top football coaches. LISTEN TO THE FISH CAST ON YOUR PREFERRED PODCAST PROVIDER.

PLAYBOOK attacking with deep choice concepts

BY SHAWN LIOTTA, HEAD FOOTBALL COACH, BURRELL HIGH SCHOOL (PA)

Our deep choice concept allows us to attack an area of the field with a variety of option routes. We will give our outside receiver the option to run multiple adjusting routes depending on the reaction of the corner. The quarterback and choice receiver will be reading a specific coverage area of the field. This makes the teaching process for your quarterback extremely simple. Notice I did not say easy as I will preface as you read through this material that this concept is a very “expensive” one. Meaning that you must commit significant practice time to this play through drills and high repetitions to allow your quarterback and receivers to be able to read the coverage and attack in total synergy.

With this route we are able to effectively run a multiple adjusting route with total synergy between our receivers and quarterback we will pick up huge chunks of yardage. We will spend a lot of time repping the different looks that we could see from a cornerback alignment and technique standpoint in an effort to defend this play. Over the past two seasons we have passed for over 2,000 yards on this concept alone.

The advantages of this concept are that we can take one top receiver and move him around the formation and in essence “Force” the football to him. This is in contrast to if you are running a traditional four vertical scheme and the quarterbacks read progression takes him to the 3rd or 4th receiver in the sequence. This may not be a player that you want the ball going to vertically down the field. Maybe it is a young sophomore or similar type of player. With the deep choice series we can dictate exactly who we want the football to go to. I like to compare this to the old days of Michael Jordan with the Chicago Bulls when they would just clear the floor and let him go to work one on one. This is a very similar thought process with your best receiver.

THE SCREEN SHOT ILLUSTRATES HOW

with alignment we are able to isolate a player one on one and place a defender on an island. Notice how all remaining 10 defenders are placed inside the top of the numbers to the boundary side.

FOR THESE REASONS I BELIEVE THAT THE SIMPLICITY OF THIS

concept can be a game changer for those at the small school level who may only have one or two “top” receivers. This concept will allow you to essentially force the football to these players in a situation where the defense is always wrong. At the same time your quarterback will enjoy the simplification of only reading one area of the field. This concept can also be implemented into a variety of offensive systems and personnel groupings.

Traditional four verticals concept

outside choice alignments

Everything in our offense begins with alignment and assignment and

probably none more important than the deep choice concept. I can not stress enough the importance of maintaining these alignments each and every play. If the proper split is not taken you are not effectively segmenting an area of the field by placing the defenders we are going to be reading and adjusting off of post snap “on and island”. We do not want to align ourselves in a position where defenses can cheat their coverage post snap and get help on the deep choice concepts.

The base alignments are as follows; if the ball is into the boundary we will align our receiver running the deep outside choice from 3 yards to a maximum of 5 yards from the sideline. We will try to stretch the coverage as far as possible. If the ball is in the middle of the field the alignment can be anywhere from 5 yards from the sideline to the numbers (preferably bottom of the numbers or wider). If the ball is on the wide side of the field depending on our quarterbacks arm strength we will align anywhere from the top of the numbers to the bottom of the numbers.

outside choice alignments (cont.)

By maximizing our splits in this concept we are able to isolate the attack area and clean up the read for our quarterback. If we take an alignment that is too compressed to the formation we can allow players from outside of the attack zone to get involved in the play. An example would be a safety coming from inside the hash over the top to make a play on the vertical option.

Diagram illustrating the “Attack Zone” as defenders have been placed on an island due to the extreme splits in the deep choice series.

GPS - Open road to end zone

The deep choice concept differs from a lot of

our other routes as there is not a progression read for our quarterback. We are focusing on reading a particular segment of the coverage and the reaction of certain key defenders both pre-snap but more importantly post snap. We utilize a GPS thought process when attacking with multiple adjusting routes. What that means is we look at the overall picture of the coverage pre-snap. This gives us our GPS (Fastest Route to the End zone). Once the ball is snapped we are “driving the car” and reacting accordingly to defenders who may change their position or get in our way. This is much the same way a GPS will reroute your vehicle to a quicker path, our multiple adjusting routes will provide our receivers with the best path to “open road to the end zone”.

When we get to the line of scrimmage we quickly identify area defenders in this manner. We will only be concerned with defenders pre-snap who are aligned in following area on the outside choice route.

In the previous diagram you can see our outside choice concept. The ONLY players we will be concerned with in the concept are designated by shapes in the diagram above. As our QB and receivers get to the line of scrimmage they will be identifying these players and setting their initial GPS for the best path to the end zone. The first thing that our WR and QB will check presnap are the alignments of the corner (designated with a star), and the area outside defender (designated with a circle). Finally they will scan for the safety nearest the hash (triangle). This will provide the road map pre-snap, while also indicating if there is a need to change the play at the line of scrimmage to a companion concept such as inside deep choice.

It is important to remember that this is ONLY a pre snap road map, and the defense will most likely change at the snap as the play develops. This is where our multiple adjusting routes will come into play and no matter what the defense attempts to do to you they will be wrong. Defensive coverage categories do not matter when running this concept as much as getting your players to be able to identify individual defender leverage and techniques. We are only concerned with the alignment and reaction of defenders who are aligned in this attack zone.

With high repetitions at practice and the synergy of your quarterbacks and receivers, you will be able to navigate any potential defensive roadblocks or detours on your way to the end zone. This is accomplished through high repetitions and our daily choice drills segments of our offensive practice schedule.

Coach Liotta has recently released a detailed book on his passing game titled No Huddle No Mercy- Attacking Through The Air. It can be purchased at nohuddlenomercy.gumroad.com

High School Football Preparation, 1975 style

BY JOHN SCANLAN

IT WAS THE SPRING OF 1975.As a Logan Elm High School sophomore, I had just finished football and wrestling seasons, and was now looking for another sport. But I was too slow for track and a terrible baseball player.

Enter Dennis Sparks, known as “Chop”. This big, loveable lug was labeled as such because—instead of playing sports at nearby Circleville high school—Dennis practiced karate. But why did Chop need martial arts? At six feet, three inches tall and two hundred pounds, who was going to mess with Dennis?

In any case, Chop’s home was on the northeast side of Circleville. There, he had a home gym of free weights in his family’s garage. Barely big enough to hold a single car, his garage was crammed with a bench, weights, and a couple machines, forcing his family to park their car in the driveway.

Lastly, to join Chop’s Gym, all you had to do was pay ten dollars a month and buy a “Chop’s Gym” t-shirt.

Hmmmm . . . maybe that would be my sport.

In the late sixties, a man named Arthur Jones created the Nautilus weight machine—then called the “Blue Monster”. With the goal of developing a fitness machine that more accommodated human movement, the company’s name was changed to “Nautilus” because the machine’s spiral cam resembled a nautilus, which is a marine mollusk in the same family as the squid and the octopus.

In the summer of 1975, Nautilus opened a franchise on the north side of Circleville within a mile of Chop’s Gym. Nautilus offered membership specials to members of the Circleville High School football team.

And there I was, a young, dumb bonehead. Which would be better in the preparation for football—free weights or Nautilus machines?

Lastly, I guess there was a third possibility. Circleville was a small, rural community located twenty-eight miles south of Columbus, Ohio. Thus, there were those who espoused that if you worked on a farm, then you didn’t need to lift weights at all for football. I’m sure that any farmer’s son who has ever bailed hay would certainly vouch for that.

Well, my high school football and wrestling coach was Mr. Perry Griffith, hailing from AAA powerhouse, Worthington High School, up in Columbus. Preaching that “lifting weights is like strapping metal around your joints”, Coach Griffith was a free weights advocate.

I drank Coach Griffith’s Kool-Aid

So after hearing about Chop’s Gym from a Logan Elm senior football player, I checked it out as a potential spring sport—and immediately fell in love. With me being small in stature, maybe weightlifting would be just what the Doctor ordered to make me more competitive for the second half of my high school career in football and wrestling.

I also bought a weight belt and a workout journal.

Plus, this was the era of a young, up-n-coming body builder in Hollywood named Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnold who? Maybe he would provide the necessary inspiration.

Thus, as a doe-eyed teen, I joined the motley cast of characters who worked out at Chop’s every evening. This included two men named Dean and Jim. With both being in their late twenties, they had joined the work-a-day world of Circleville, and were looking for a way to maintain their youth. Dean and Jim were both in the Army and had fought in Vietnam; thus, they seemed so... so…so old.

Overbearing and condescending, Dean ruled Chop’s Gym. He bought muscle magazines at the local drug store, read them cover-to-cover, and tried to impress others with his knowledge.

■ The author as a

happy pre-workout high schooler.

Possessing a muscular build, Dean was a screamer when he lifted weights, and threw dumbbells around that tiny garage like they were rag dolls. On the side, he sold bodybuilding supplements out of his home.

In Chop’s Gym workouts, Dean rode me like a rented mule.

More laid back and deferential, Jim was a former track star at Circleville high school. He didn’t care about the muscle magazines or what anybody thought of his athletic prowess. Possessing a runner’s build, he couldn’t keep pace with Dean and Chop—but he tried. On the side, he bought those supplements from Dean.

Jim rode me more like a pet pony.

■ Chop’s Gym closed because his parents disliked the constant flow of men to their garage.

■ Dennis opened a karate studio in downtown Circleville.

■ Nautilus was right next to the drug store where Dean bought his muscle magazines, and went out of business due to a lack of members.

■ Dean settled into his work-a-day world in Circleville. ■ Jim changed to a fitness regimen consisting of more running and less lifting.

■ Coach Griffith left Logan Elm for a more lucrative head coaching position.

■ Those farmer’s sons played football without ever lifting a single weight.

■ I continued lifting in my bedroom with a set of weights from the

Sears catalog.

IT’S FUNNY HOW THINGS IN LIFE TURN OUT.

■ The author in his

gridiron glamour shot pose.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JOHN SCANLAN IS A 1983

graduate of the United States Naval Academy, and retired from the Marine Corps as a Lieutenant Colonel aviator with time in the back seat of both the F-4S Phantom II and the F/A-18D Hornet. He is currently pursuing a second career as a writer and can be reached using ping1@hargray.com.

FIND OUR FULL PODCAST LINEUP AT FNFCOACHES.COM

Listen to the fnf coaches podcast on your preferred podcast provider.