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tripleoption
04-28-2009, 10:27 AM
I used to have a thread on football coaching, but since there is now a football 101 section might as well post it here. I finally got around to making cutups and posting them of our kickoff return we used last fall. We had a lot of success with it. I'd say in half our games teams would squib kick, kick right down the middle, try to pooch it, or even kick it out of bounds because they didn't want to risk giving up a big return, so we didn't get a lot of returns. Our KOR is a bit different. Most teams make a wedge, often based on the direction of the kickoff. They may mix in some man blocking with it too. The kick returner simply runs to daylight. Some teams may build a 'wall' for the returner to run behind. We don't do that. We call left, right, or middle. You can see all three in this. It's not always pretty, but it's effective. This was our first season running it. In the first clip it may look like a middle return, but we'd actually called a right return. The kid cut back when he didn't have to. I told him after that he had his lane and he needs to 'trust the system'. It was our first time running it in a game though, so he learned from it. He was just trying to be an athlete, and there's nothing wrong with that. :D I'm not too good at these things, so if someone could tell me how I'd like to post the video here instead of making a link. If I can do that I'll change from the link to the actual video. I also don't have any music yet as I don't want there to be any copyright problems. I'll fix that later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iczBTu8taYA

Thnikkaman
04-28-2009, 10:56 AM
I used to have a thread on football coaching, but since there is now a football 101 section might as well post it here. I finally got around to making cutups and posting them of our kickoff return we used last fall. We had a lot of success with it. I'd say in half our games teams would squib kick, kick right down the middle, try to pooch it, or even kick it out of bounds because they didn't want to risk giving up a big return, so we didn't get a lot of returns. Our KOR is a bit different. Most teams make a wedge, often based on the direction of the kickoff. They may mix in some man blocking with it too. The kick returner simply runs to daylight. Some teams may build a 'wall' for the returner to run behind. We don't do that. We call left, right, or middle. You can see all three in this. It's not always pretty, but it's effective. This was our first season running it. In the first clip it may look like a middle return, but we'd actually called a right return. The kid cut back when he didn't have to. I told him after that he had his lane and he needs to 'trust the system'. It was our first time running it in a game though, so he learned from it. He was just trying to be an athlete, and there's nothing wrong with that. :D I'm not too good at these things, so if someone could tell me how I'd like to post the video here instead of making a link. If I can do that I'll change from the link to the actual video. I also don't have any music yet as I don't want there to be any copyright problems. I'll fix that later.


Solid post. Here is the vid embeded

iczBTu8taYA

tripleoption
04-28-2009, 11:02 AM
Thanks for the help Thnikkaman. :beer:

Nomad
04-28-2009, 11:30 AM
Good stuff, triple! I would say it's effective.

West
04-28-2009, 04:17 PM
Nice. I would have liked a zoomed out video so I could see what the up-men where doing but nevertheless, it looks like yall spend a lot of time on it and it pays off.. My high school coach always said that a football game is broken down into 3 parts.. Defense, Offense and Special Teams.. If you win 2 out of 3.. You usually win the game. I don't think coaches emphasize enough the importance of Special Teams..

Den21vsBal19
04-28-2009, 05:34 PM
You mean you can return kickoffs???????? :eek:

tripleoption
04-28-2009, 07:01 PM
Nice. I would have liked a zoomed out video so I could see what the up-men where doing but nevertheless, it looks like yall spend a lot of time on it and it pays off.. My high school coach always said that a football game is broken down into 3 parts.. Defense, Offense and Special Teams.. If you win 2 out of 3.. You usually win the game. I don't think coaches emphasize enough the importance of Special Teams..

Up front we use a man blocking scheme that's pretty simple. We always leave two guys unblocked, and they're pretty much going to be the farthest away from the return. We have several guys going in opposite directions as they get to their blocks also, so if you're running downfield it can be confusing seeing all the crossing going on. A return like this does take more practice time like you pointed out. You can't spend 10 minutes on it Thursday and expect it to work Friday. We probably spend roughly 45 minutes total a week working on it. My old HS coach told me if you're not going to commit to it, then you shouldn't run it. You're also right about the special teams part. I've known coaches that think special teams are a waste of time and it often shows.

T.K.O.
04-28-2009, 07:08 PM
Nice. I would have liked a zoomed out video so I could see what the up-men where doing but nevertheless, it looks like yall spend a lot of time on it and it pays off.. My high school coach always said that a football game is broken down into 3 parts.. Defense, Offense and Special Teams.. If you win 2 out of 3.. You usually win the game. I don't think coaches emphasize enough the importance of Special Teams..

i high fived the sig...didnt read the post:D

Nomad
04-28-2009, 07:29 PM
Up front we use a man blocking scheme that's pretty simple. We always leave two guys unblocked, and they're pretty much going to be the farthest away from the return. We have several guys going in opposite directions as they get to their blocks also, so if you're running downfield it can be confusing seeing all the crossing going on. A return like this does take more practice time like you pointed out. You can't spend 10 minutes on it Thursday and expect it to work Friday. We probably spend roughly 45 minutes total a week working on it. My old HS coach told me if you're not going to commit to it, then you shouldn't run it. You're also right about the special teams part. I've known coaches that think special teams are a waste of time and it often shows.

I was always taught by my hs HC, special teams is a/the difference maker in a game! It's a 15 min drill towards the end of practice before running 50s:D

Spiritguy
03-09-2010, 03:26 PM
Found this on MHR. It's just the beginning of the article and I think it fits well with what has been discussed so far. It's a bit of a beginners approach to kick returns but I for one appreciate the kiss method. :D

Kickoff coverage is a vital part of a team's quest to control field position in a football game. When you pin an opponent deep in his own territory, you dictate his offensive options. If your opponent is forced to start possession inside his own 20 yard line, his chances of scoring greatly diminish. Of course, it helps immensely if you have a stud defense, but that is another story. This is the unit that helps the defense by making the distance it takes to score as far as possible for the opposing offense.

For the cover team to have positive results, each man must carry out his assignment. Successful kickoff coverage is a team effort. Intense effort and desire are also part of a successful kickoff team.

Each player must stay in his assigned lane as he locates the ball. They can adjust their lanes relative to the ball as long as they don't over pursue. A player that starts right of the ball needs to stay right of the ball, keeping the ball on the proper shoulder. A player who finds an opening closes it, squeezing to the ball relative to the teammate to his inside. Players should always tackle the ball carrier's outside leg. This helps to keep containment, while an error or missed tackle directs the return man towards a ready teammate.

Hitting the 30 yard line at a full sprint is a key to kickoff coverage. If the unit can coordinate their getoff, they will avoid vertical gaps in the coverage. The goal is to hold the opponents return average to less than 18 yards, tackling the returner inside the 20. If the kick has a hang time of 4.0 seconds, the cover team should be at the 35 yard line when the ball is caught. The shorter the kick, the more hang time the ball needs to have, especially if the kick is not a touchback.

Players must always anticipate that the returner will bring the ball out of the endzone. All 11 players must sprint to the endzone. If the returner instead takes a knee for a touchback, the players should meet him there in the endzone.

much more here (http://www.milehighreport.com/2010/3/8/1363617/sts-the-kickoff-coverage-unit)

Nomad
07-30-2010, 04:29 PM
When do your 2 a days start, triple?? Around here they start Aug 9 for the high school kids and school starts Aug 26. How'd your season end up last year?

My oldest son will be an 8th grader and my youngest son will be a 7th grader, so I'm excited for their practices to start and I'll still help out with the DBs. This will be their last year here and next year we'll be in Alaska and it's between Bartlett HS or Eagle River HS where they'll attend HS and the middle schools don't offer football in their sports programs but they have pop warner up there until age 15. Anyway, I hope Aug flies by and I'm ready for fall to get here....football, hunting and more football!!

tripleoption
07-30-2010, 10:32 PM
Our two a days start August 16th. We're actually having a 'midnight' practice under the lights then a campout in the school after practice. For breakfast I'm getting them breakfast burritos. Kind of a team building thing. We have a 7 on 7 tournament this weekend. We played our first two games today and went 1-1. Not bad considering we don't throw the ball much. We have four more games tomorrow.
That sucks your kids won't be able to play HS football. Whats taking you up to Alaska?

shank
07-31-2010, 12:11 AM
I was always taught by my hs HC, special teams is a/the difference maker in a game! It's a 15 min drill towards the end of practice before running 50s:D

i high fived the first post saying that they didn't read the post. it gave me vertigo.

Nomad
07-31-2010, 09:40 AM
Our two a days start August 16th. We're actually having a 'midnight' practice under the lights then a campout in the school after practice. For breakfast I'm getting them breakfast burritos. Kind of a team building thing. We have a 7 on 7 tournament this weekend. We played our first two games today and went 1-1. Not bad considering we don't throw the ball much. We have four more games tomorrow.
That sucks your kids won't be able to play HS football. Whats taking you up to Alaska?


Good luck and sounds fun and team building is a very important step!

Sorry i wasn't clear, but they have HS football up there just not Jr High (7-8th grades) football like they do here and where I grew up and most places around. So my youngest son will have to play in the pop warner league during his 8th grade yr which I find it odd that the Jr high schools there don't offer a football program. Oh well, they'll get to play but it's funny to see how early their seasons start there.

My wife got orders (Air Force) to JBER (Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson) and we move in Feb. It'll be our last assignment as she has 5 yrs left to retire:elefant:

tripleoption
07-31-2010, 10:20 PM
Good that your boys will be able to play HS football. It sucks having no junior high program to act as a feeder. Hopefully the local HS coach has the local pop warner teams acting as feeders for the HS. AK sounds like it could be all right.