Time to Think About Football Season

Its time to think about football season. I coach a 7-8 grade football team with only half of the team having played the game in pads in prior years. I coach in a co-coach situation. I'm the one in charge of the offensive side of the ball, which gives me a lot of control of time management aspects of the game, but more on that in the future. This will be my 9th season as a junior high/middle school football coach and its taken some time to develop a few strategies for practice and games that I feel work well. We need to start with a basic assumption; middle school football is not high school football. What works at one level may not necessarily work at the other. I may make statement that will have you saying "that will never work" and you are probably right, but I have seen it work consistently at the middle school level.

My situation has a unique challenge, only 5 or so practices in pads before the first game or scrimmage. I don't agree with it, but thats what we have to work with. This situation makes it vitally important that practice is prioritized for what the kids need to know to compete in a game. However, I think the priorities are pretty universal regardless of the situation or offensive system used. The following priorities will deal primarily with the offensive side of the ball.

Priority 1 Safety

Some of these kids will be putting on helmets for the first time. Make sure of a proper fit. If you're not sure what a proper fit is, find a qualified person to show you or help.

Take the helmet out of hitting. I do not teach to lead with the head, hit with the head, or hit someone in the head.

Teach them to keep their heads up during all actions (tackling, blocking, running).

Priority 2 Proper Stance then take off on a snap count or ball movement on defense

To play offense this is a very basic fundamental, get in a proper 3 point stance, stay set (perfectly still), and take off on the proper snap call. I tell the kids "if you can't do this you can't play offense." Everyone wants to play offense, so that usually gets their attention. I usually teach this skill in a large group format, but what how you teach it is secondary to the fact that they have to get it. The first time you teach this, kids will be bouncing up and down in their stances, falling forward before the count, jumping early, being anything but still. Every year I think it will be different. I'm still waiting for that year. A small but important point, don't forget to teach them that once their hand goes down on the 3 point stance they cannot pick it up (according to high school rules) or it's a false start. Thankfully referees have typically given warnings on this early in the season (this is a teaching situation after all), but you may run into the guy who calls it all like it is the state finals (believe me, never a good thing at the middle school level, but it happens). Just for fun, check how often this fundamental is messed up in a pro or college game. It will start to drive you crazy how often it is.

Priority 3 Find your centers and quarterbacks and get them practicing snaps

Obviously, if you can't execute a snap, the best plays begin with everybody trying to recover a fumble. That being said, this priority takes some selling, not for the quarterbacks (you'll have plenty of those), but for the center. Nobody will want to play center. I usually start by asking the whole team which position they think is the most important. The answers usually are quarterback or running back. Then I ask who starts each play with the ball. Again the answer is often quarterback, but a few catch on and say the center. Now I play up, but I do truly believe it, that the center is the most important position on the offense, because without a good snap and a solid, strong blocker up the middle none of our plays will work. I then tell them that if they want to never come off the field when we're on offense, then be our best center. We usually find a couple then ,and you need to find, at the bare minimum, 3 kids who could do it in a game. Teach your technique for snapping and receiving snaps and have them practice it.

Priority 4 Line in a formation and everybody know the names of each position

This is actually closely related to priority 5, but deserves its own attention for one very simple, but important when in the middle of a game, reason - substitutions. Whatever formation you play, the kids need to know it and the names of each position. I would only have one formation for the first game (only 2-3 variations of it thereafter). For example, you need to be able to send a kid in the game to play right guard and have him know where to line up. DO NOT assume kids already know the names of the positions. I have made this assumption and it does not look good in a game.

Priory 5 Line up in a formation and on a snap count, make a snap to a quarterback and everybody take off from a proper stance

This is related to priority 1; however, just when you are feeling good about their mastery of priority 1 and you add the steps of a formation and an actual count and snap, it will all fall apart at first. Remind them of the rules concerning false starts and the fact that they won't play offense if they can't do it within the rules. Keep giving them repetitions and priority 1 will mesh quite nicely with the two new added steps. This is also a good time to teach your spacing between linemen. The spacing you choose isn't important (I do have my preferences - foot to foot or 6 inch splits); however, you do need to teach everyone how to establish line splits consistently. Simply telling them doesn't work, because your center will be over the ball and your tackles will establish themselves 1 foot away from him. Now, where do the guards go? They will try to fit and get into a stance in that 1 foot gap. Make sure they establish positions in order, center over ball, guards, tackles, tight ends. Then check to make sure the line is straight and nobody is lined up off sides. You need to give repetitions to lining up correctly. Have them line up, correct as needed, have them get up, send them back 5 yards. Then have them come back up to the ball and line up again.


These priorities may seam quite simple, and they are - to us. They are the beginning point to running an offense and the kids that do get them the fastest actually receive the first look for playing on offense (make sure the fastest kid gets it). These priorities need to be reviewed and practiced throughout the season. Now, we haven't even run a play yet, but without these first five priorities, you never will run a play. Running the offense has another set of priorities that I'll share in the next post.