How Texas Coaches Got Certified in Safety During the Pandemic

SportsYou, Atavus partner to help coaches through pandemic Coaches had to find creative ways to communicate with state athletic association officials, parents and players this spring, and some of the biggest state athletic associations in the country chose to manage that communication online.

BY DAN GUTTENPLAN

When coaches in Texas noticed a trend of decreasing participation numbers in high school football, they decided to do something about it. The Texas High School Coaches Association attributed the drop in participation to the increased number of news stories highlighting concerns about player safety.

In the spring of 2018, the state’s governing body, the UIL Legislative Council, announced mandatory tackling certification for coaches. In cooperation with UIL, THSCA became the first state in the country to require all football coaches to successfully complete tackling certification.

With 23,000 junior high and high school coaches needing certification by August 1, 2019, the THSCA and UIL approached Atavus to help implement a certification program.

Atavus educates coaches to teach a safe, high-performance tackling technique. Resources such as drill videos, practice plans, coaching tips, and practical, how-to advice are designed to give high school coaches the tools needed increase player safety and improve performance.

Starting the week of March 23 – just after the spread of the coronavirus caused schools to close -- the Texas High School Coaches Association (THSCA) required coaches to use the sportsYou app for certification and professional development opportunities.

A free communication app, sportsYou gives coaches the ability to privately communicate, schedule and share me dia with their teams. With no character limits and the ability to send one-way messages, sportsYou is a highly versatile communication app for coaches.

■ Atavus and SportsYou partnered

to educate coaches in Texas.

“In order for coaches and teachers to keep getting funding, they have to provide curriculum, and our platform enables them to do this,” said sportsYou co-founder Brad Matthews. “They’re putting out a video curriculum with an ability to share daily exercises, sports performance courses, motivational speeches, game film, and information on strength training and nutrition.”

Both the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association and the Indiana Football Coaches Association also committed to partnering with sportsYou for communication with coaches in March.

Coaches in Texas, Illinois and Indiana can share information from the state athletic associations on safety, nutrition, training techniques and instructional videos with their own players. Whether on your phone or computer, in minutes you can set up as many teams/groups as you want on sportsYou. You can create private teams or groups for the varsity, junior varsity and freshmen programs. You can also take it a step further to share specific information to only your defense, offense, special teams and so on.

While face-to-face coaching opportunities will be restricted for the unforeseeable future, the sportsYou app offers coaches the opportunity to reach and motivate their players virtually.

In addition to easy-to-use instant messaging, sportsYou allows coaches to display a calendar for their athletes for training purposes. No more questions and confusion on schedules as everyone knows the workout - and gets notifications on changes immediately through sportsYou.

THE COMMUNICATION PARTNERS

Atavus

Atavus improves defensive performance and maximizes player safety. Introducing Tackalytics™ through data-driven tackle training and assessment. Tackalytics™ is a grading and reporting platform that coaches can utilize through Atavus. A coach can send Atavus film following a game and receive analytical feedback on tackling technique as well as insights and video cut-ups with examples of exemplary and poor tackling technique.

WEB: www.atavus.com/

sportsYou

A free communication app, sportsYou is created specifically for the needs of coaches. It gives coaches the ability to privately communicate, schedule and share media with their team. With no character limits and the ability to send one-way messages, sportsYou is a highly versatile communication app for coaches.

WEB: www.sportsyou.com

■ Eagles linebacker Nate Gerry speaks to youth players

at the Eagles Football Academy Youth Clinic.

10 Tips to Establishing a Feeder Program The lifeblood of any high school football program is the feeder program at the youth level. Engage youth players now so that they are active and informed when they get to the high school level. The future rewards are well worth the sacrifice.

BY DAN GUTTENPLAN

Garrett Shea has been organizing youth football clinics in affiliation with the Philadelphia Eagles for the past two seasons. This year, despite the pandemic, he’s had participation from more than 500 athletes from 30 different states through the Eagles Football Academy Youth Football Clinics. He recently shared tips for high school coaches who are looking to build a feeder system.

1Run a clinic for youth players. Give youth players a chance to meet your coaching staff, learn the game of football and ask questions in a fun atmosphere.

2Show off your facilities. Many 6- to 13-year-old players are used to playing on worn-out fields with old locker rooms and volunteer coaches. Impress them with your football environment.

3Bring in motivational speakers. This could be anyone from a coach on staff, alumni or current player. These youth players look up to high school athletes. Inspire them with their words.

4Incorporate the parents. Half the battle when it comes to selling kids on the sport of football is getting buy-in from their parents. Allow them to spectate at the clinics and ask questions of coaches.

5Follow up with youth players. Don’t let the conversation end at the conclusion of the clinic. Attend youth games, reach out to parents by email, and set up informational sessions each season. 6 Keep it simple. Don’t push youth players too hard with conditioning drills or full-contact workouts. Give them drills to do at home, in their garages or even in their living rooms to stay engaged.

7Connect families through football. Any time a high school coach hosts an event for youth players and parents, he is giving them a chance to connect with each other. If families come together through football, they’ll be more likely to stick with it through high school.

8Build character in your own players. The common feeling among high school players who volunteer their time is they get just as much out of it as the people they’re helping. Ask your players to volunteer at youth football events to give them an opportunity to experience that feeling.

9Expand your fan base. Not every youth player is going to play high school football. But every player might remember how impressive a coaching staff was when they hosted him for a football camp as a youth player. That’s how you build good will in the community. 10 Build leaders. It’s never too early to find out which players at a particular youth level are natural leaders. Find out early, and lean on those players when they get to high school. Those are the players who will lead their classmates to success.

THE VIRTUAL CLINIC

THE EAGLES

Football Academy conducted several virtual clinics this spring after the spread of the coronavirus forced Shea and his team to shift gears. More than 500 kids registered and participated in the Zoom sessions. Players like Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham and running back Miles Sanders served as motivational speakers during the clinics. “When you think ‘online’, a lot of people think it’s recorded,” Shea said. “The fact is we do it live. Mom and Dad can do it with their kids. The kids and parents both loved it.” Between each session of the clinic, Shea opens the floor to questions. Youth players and parents can speak directly to NFL players. “From the Eagles’ perspective, they can connect with youth fans when they don’t get a chance to come to the facility,” Shea said. “It gives Eagles players access to families in their community who are fans.”

WEB: www.

eaglesacademies.com

10 tips to Managing the Changing Recruiting Landscape With lengthy dead periods imposed by the NCAA and very few chances for athletes to showcase their skills, this spring was a wasteland in the recruiting world. Coaches and players will need to adjust to the new landscape to maximize opportunities for college offers.

BY DAN GUTTENPLAN, FNF COACHES EDITOR

Johnson C. Smith University (N.C.) linebackers coach Robert Cross has established a robust social media following by tweeting recruiting advice to high school prospects. The recruiter for the Charlotte-based HBCU currently has more than 11,200 followers, with the majority of his posts directed to high school athletes who want to play at the next level.

Cross offered these tips to players trying to navigate through the changing recruiting landscape.

1Call or text. Recruiters are used to working the phones. Just because they’re spending more time at home or in offices rather than on the road does not mean they are more likely to email.

2Set up Zoom conferences. We’ve all been using Zoom over the last few months. It’s as easy as setting up a calendar meeting, sending an invite, and clicking on the link. Be proactive in requesting meetings with recruiters.

3Ask for a virtual campus tour. More and more schools are offering virtual campus tours since recruits can’t visit schools and walk around campuses. Coaches are even taking the initiative with recruits and touring campuses while holding cell phones.

4Get the parents involved. We all know parents heavily influence the college decision process, so offer them the

chance to sit in on Zoom conferences, campus tours or other communication between the college recruiters and your athlete.

5Don’t wait for things to pick up. Players are still getting offers as coaches need to fill recruiting classes. It’s an arms race, and there is no agreement among college coaches that they’ll wait for things to return to normal before making offers.

6Stay on top of your players’ academics. Many high schools switched to a virtual learning platform this spring. Did your players stay on top of their studies? Is there anything they can be doing this summer to boost their academic standing? Find out, and point them in the right direction.

7Take advantage of social media outlets. Recruiters are still monitoring social media accounts as they look for prospects. Post highlight reels of prospective recruits with academic profile info, height, weight, 40-yard-dash times and any other metrics that might help recruiters.

8Continue to communicate with parents and players. Do you know which of your athletes is still looking for an offer? Have you been in contact with players and parents to help with the process? Some of this communication can take place over team communication apps. Check in whenever you can.

9Encourage athletes to post film. College recruiters like to see athletes advocate for themselves. Encourage your players to use their own platforms to market their own skills and abilities. 10 Organize your players by class. Send your prospect list to coaches organized by graduating classes. List the players in a spreadsheet and email it to college coaches.

WHAT IS THE DEAD PERIOD?

THE NCAA’S

Division I Council has extended the ongoing dead period through Aug. 31. The existing dead period had been set through July 31, which was an extension from the original extension to June 30. The current dead period is in place for all sports. Considering the difficulty teams are encountering in getting their own players on campus, it’s hard to imagine the NCAA giving the green light for recruits to travel to campus any time soon. And given that reality, it seems it’s only a matter of time until we start to hear talk of the appropriate NCAA committee eliminating the December signing period with the hope of making up for lost time in early 2021. “Hopefully it doesn’t extend past that,” Cross said. “There are no visitations or campus visits. Most schools in the country are completely shut down. We’ve all moved our recruiting plan to a virtual platform.”

KICKOFF COVER GET OFF ZONE

BY CHARLIE COINER, FIRSTDOWN PLAYBOOK We break down kickoff coverage into five separate areas to cover as you coach this Special Teams phase. The “get off” phase is critical to getting your coverage team started down the field.

The goal is to have all of your coverage players hitting the restraining line exactly as the ball is being kicked and at full speed as possible. This has always been challenging and it is even more difficult with the new rules that only allow the Kickoff coverage team five yards to work with behind the ball.

It may seem like a small thing but there is still an advantage to getting your Kickoff team moving down the field as soon as possible and at the same time staying within the rules.

It all starts with your Kicker. He must establish a consistent approach to the football. If the Kicker is constantly changing his approach then it will be nearly impossible to maximize the edge that can be gained on the get off.

After the Kicker establishes his normal approach you will designate the step that the 4’s and 5’s can leave on. It may be the Kicker’s second, third or even fourth step but whatever step it is it will allow the 4’s and 5’s to turn and begin to run full speed without worrying about timing up the get off with the kick.

The alignments are critical as the coverage team is forming a bowed line with the outside guys being the closest to the restraining line and the interior players being the the maximum five yards back. This allows every player to see the player to his immediate inside.

As you can see from the drawing the 3’s will leave on the 4’s movement, the 2’s will leave on the 3’s movement and the 1’s will leave on the 2’s movement. If every player executes his part of the assignment you will end up with ten players hitting the restraining line just as the ball is being kicked.

How important is this? One of the most critical aspects of coaching the Kickoff team is eliminating seams in the coverage. These seams can be horizontal and this type of seam is normally caused by one player running behind another. Seams can also be vertical. These type of seams are created when one or more of your coverage players is way out in front or way behind the rest of the unit.

A good coaching practice when grading your Kickoff unit is to stop the video when your first coverage man hits the far 35 yard line. Regardless of individual speed there should not be anyone on your coverage unit more than five yards behind the first man to arrive at the 35.

Monitoring and coaching the elimination of vertical seams will go a long way to solidifying your Kickoff coverage and coaching the get off phase is one of the first step towards getting this done.

Find hundreds of articles to help your program at fnfcoaches.com

BUNCH FORMATION: TOSS CRACK-COUNTER PACKAGE

BY CHARLIE COINER, FIRSTDOWN PLAYBOOK When you line up in Bunch formation on offense you are almost certainly going to get a middle of the field closed defense. Even if you form the bunch with three receivers, the numbers and the leverage convince most defensive coordinators to roll coverage to that side or have a quarters safety ready to insert as part of the box at the drop of a dime.

One obvious counter to that is to have a solid passing game from your Bunch package and that would include Drop Back, Play-Action, Boots

and Sprints. Your 3×1 middle of the field closed beaters would come in handy here.

Today, however, we touch on another answer to a defense that rolls up to your Bunch formation and also starts to cheat the linebackers over strong, and this answer keeps the ball on the ground. FirstDown PlayBook has always liked marrying the Toss Crack with the weak side Counter play that we will detail.

This gives the quarterback something simple to look at for a “Check With Me” at the line of scrimmage, or sometimes the coordinator can just call both plays individually and let it ride. Check out the drawings to get more details on how we coach this run game package.

MOVE THE CHAINS WITH 896 F FLAT

BY CHARLIE COINER, FIRSTDOWN PLAYBOOK On 896 F Flat, the tight end is responsible for running a full-speed seam route and recognizing if the middle of the field is open or closed. He is a viable option vs Cover 2.

Although, when the middle of the field is open, he must keep this seam route thin as he has a backside safety to be concerned with after the catch. The F must expand the curl area with his flat route immediately and try to outflank all defenders.

The Z will push the defenders with initial vertical speed, but at the top of the route he will put his outside foot in the ground and drive straight back to the quarterback. He does not need to run a 4.4 40 back to the quarterback, but instead come back with tempo.

The X will also read if the middle of the field is open or closed. He will run a go route vs. 2 press and run the deep post route vs. middle-of-the-field closed man or zone.

The quarterback will, in most cases, work the strong side all of the way here. If the middle of the field is open and the tight end runs good seam routes, then you may want to give the quarterback the green light. If not, then it is a simple

Flat-Curl-Checkdown read.

If the F out leverages the defense, get him the ball now. If the curl defender expands, then look to get the ball to the Z. If both are covered, progress to the back.

The X is pretty much based on personnel and experience. If the receiver and quarterback have a great feel for this route, then it can be a viable alert on this play, particularly vs. man coverage.

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EXECUTE THE NICKEL KNIFE 3 FIRE ZONE

BY CHARLIE COINER, FIRSTDOWN PLAYBOOK

We call this pressure Nickel Knife, and we are playing 3 Fire Zone behind it. It is one of over 57 different varsity defensive pressures in FirstDown PlayBook. Yes, 57 is right, but it doesn’t stop there.

FirstDown PlayBook then takes every one of these pressures and fits them up against six different formations. Why? Because any good defensive football coach knows that the formation adjustments can have huge implications on how you execute any defensive pressure.

Hold on, though, that’s not all. Then FirstDown PlayBook takes everyone of these pressures vs all six formations, and we motion and tight end trade adjust each one. Starting to get the picture?

Oh, yeah, two last things before we sign off. See the player assignments and coaching points below? That’s right, we do that for every pressure in FirstDown PlayBook

Finally, and the last thing might just be the biggest thing… Now you can edit all of these to fit your system. Talk about a time saver. Enjoy this nickel pressure and the coaching points.

NOTES:

THE FRONT IS SET TO THE TIGHT END. THE PRESSURE (CALL SIDE) IS SET TO THE PASSING STRENGTH. THE NICKEL DB WILL LINE UP TO PASSING STRENGTH. THE PRESSURE WILL COME FROM THE PASSING STRENGTH. THE COVERAGE PLAYED IS 3 UNDER 3 DEEP. SEAM FLAT DEFENDERS COLLISION VERTICAL ROUTES & ZONE OFF AT 10-12 YARDS. HOOK DEFENDER KEYS #3 RECEIVER IN THE LOW HOLE AREA. COVERAGE CAN BE PLAYED AS COVER 1.

CALL SIDE END: ALIGNMENT: 4 TECHNIQUE ASSIGNMENT: SLANT INTO

THE B GAP. READ THE BLOCK OF THE GUARD.

KEY: OFFENSIVE TACKLE TO

OFFENSIVE GUARD.

RUN: B GAP. PASS: B GAP PASS RUSH.

NOSE TACKLE: ALIGNMENT: 0 TECHNIQUE. ASSIGNMENT: SLANT INTO

THE AWAY A GAP. READ THE GUARD’S BLOCK.

KEY: OFFENSIVE CENTER TO

OFFENSIVE GUARD.

RUN: AWAY SIDE A GAP. PASS: AWAY SIDE A GAP

PASS RUSH.

AWAY SIDE END: ALIGNMENT: 4 TECHNIQUE. ASSIGNMENT: SLANT TO

THE C GAP WITH EYES BACK INSIDE.

KEY: OFFENSIVE TACKLE TO

TIGHT END IF ONE IS ALIGNED TO YOUR SIDE.

RUN: C GAP. PASS: CONTAIN PASS RUSH

SAM LB: ALIGNMENT: 9 TECHNIQUE. KEY: TACKLE TO RB. RUN: C GAP. IF TE BLOCKS

YOU, KEEP OUTSIDE LEVERAGE.

PASS: DROP INTO COVERAGE

& PLAY SEAM FLAT & READ QB’S EYES.

MIKE LB: ALIGNMENT: 40 TECHNIQUE.

(POSSIBLE ADJUST TO THE SKILL)

KEY: TE TO RB

(RUN/PASS KEY)

RUN: B GAP. PASS: PLAY HOOK #3.

PASS KEY IS #3. CAN HELP WITH NEAR RECEIVER OR CROSSING ROUTES.

WILL LB: ALIGNMENT: 20 TECHNIQUE.

(POSSIBLE ADJUST TO THE SKILL)

KEY: BACK THRU CENTER. RUN: B GAP. PASS: BLITZ B GAP. NICKEL: ALIGNMENT: HEAD UP TO

INSIDE LEVERAGE OF #2.

KEY: #2 TO TACKLE. RUN: BLITZ C GAP. SET THE

EDGE.

PASS: BLITZ C GAP. CONTAIN

RUSH.

STRONG SAFETY: ALIGNMENT: ALIGNMENT:

8-10 YARDS DEEP HEAD UP TO INSIDE OF TE.

RUN: ALLEY INSIDE OUT. PASS: DEEP MIDDLE THIRD.

FREE SAFETY: ALIGNMENT: 8-10 YARDS DEEP

HEAD UP TO INSIDE OF #2.

ROLL DOWN OVER #2 PRIOR TO SNAP. KEY: #2. RUN: ATTACK #2 & DEFEAT

HIS BLOCK. KEEP OUTSIDE LEVERAGE ON #2 IF HE BLOCKS.

PASS: ROLL DOWN OVER #2

& SEAM FLAT DROP & READ QB’S EYES.

CALL SIDE CORNER: ALIGNMENT: OUTSIDE

LEVERAGE 7-9 YARDS OFF WR.

RUN TO: ATTACK THE

BLOCKER AND WIN OUTSIDE LATE.

RUN AWAY: MAN TO CUTBACK

TO PURSUIT ANGLE.

PASS: DEEP THIRD.

AWAY SIDE CORNER: ALIGNMENT: OUTSIDE

LEVERAGE 7-9 YARDS OFF WR.

RUN TO: ATTACK THE BLOCKER

AND WIN OUTSIDE LATE.

RUN AWAY: MAN TO CUTBACK

TO PURSUIT ANGLE.

PASS: DEEP THIRD.