The Football Coaching Podcast with Joe Daniel

For every playbook out there, you will find another way to name offensive football formations. There are no strict guidelines or rulebook to what you call your formations. Creating your own system of rules for how you name offensive football formations is important, though. It will determine how easy it is for your players to grasp new formations. The system also determines how easy it is for you call new formations. I love keeping it simple. Football plays take a lot of work. They take time to install and perfect. You do not need a lot of plays. Formations are cheap. You can install new formations quickly in practice. Being able to run just a few plays out of many different formations creates a complex look for the defense, while you keep it simple. Check out this episode of The Football Coaching Podcast to learn all about naming and grouping your offensive football formations.

Unlike the rest of the topics in Season 9 of The Football Coaching Podcast, this is not one of the 20 most asked questions. In fact, this question gets asked very infrequently. But it is important. When do I know it is time to walk away from coaching? You feel like you need a break. The stress of the job is wearing you out. Changes in your life have made the huge time commitment a bigger burden than it was. You don't get the same joy from the game as you did before. There are a lot of reason coaches ask the question. In this episode, I will talk about how I knew it was time to walk away. And how I knew it was time to come back.

Two platoon football has been a divisive concept in high school football over the last decade or more. Do you specialize players on one side of the ball, or keep the best players on the field at all times? There's a lot to the issue. And while there is not as much argument about two platoon football anymore, there is still a lot to consider. My feelings on two platoon football are not a secret, either. But I see the advantages. And disadvantages. That's what this episode of The Football Coaching Podcast is all about.

What is the best football defense for my team to run? I hear that question a lot. But there's no easy answer. In Season 9 of The Football Coaching Podcast we're answering the most common questions I've heard over the last decade. And this question about the best football defense is one of the most popular. Check out this episode for a look into some of the biggest myths and misunderstandings about defensive football. After listening, you'll be ready to push ahead coaching your defense with confidence.

Coaches are always trying to find ways to spice up practice, like running fun football drills. Little things that make practice more like a game. Wait a minute. We have to come up with cute ways to make football practice seem like a game? There's a problem here. This episode of The Football Coaching Podcast looks at how to cure boring football practices. Fun football drills to spice things up, why that is insane, and how to make your players enjoy practice time so they come back for more. It's all in this episode of The Football Coaching Podcast!

The failures of your football scout team are the bane of every coach's existence. You're trying to prepare your starters to play a top opponent. That scout team is ruining everything, though. Football scout teams don't have to equal misery. But you have to put them in a position to succeed. We have a plan for that, and I'm going to share it with you in this episode.

Winning in all three phases might be a cliche, but you will lose games if you have sloppy special teams practice. Planning your special teams practices is critical if you don't want to shoot yourself in the foot on game day. How do we plan special teams practice when we only have a 90 minute practice plan? It seems like there is too much to get done. But that's not true. This episode of The Football Coaching Podcast dives into planning your special teams practices - and your special teams playbooks - with a Coach Simple approach.

You don't want too many plays in your offensive playbook. But you need enough plays to beat the defense. So how many plays do you need to have ready? How many plays you need in the playbook is the 15th episode in our 20 Questions series for Season 9 of The Football Coaching Podcast. It is one of the 20 most-asked questions I have seen from our podcast listeners and JDFB Coaching Systems clients. Every offensive playbook is different. And every coach is different. But this episode will give you a solid guide for how many plays to have in your offensive playbook.

Linebacker reads and keys are the single most searched for keyword on Joe Daniel Football. It seems every coach is looking for the perfect reads for your linebackers. I have coached just about every type of linebacker reads imaginable. Keying guards, keying backfield. I have cross-keyed the backs, keyed the 2-man surface… you name it, I have tried to coach it. Skip all the hassle. Get the complete guide to Linebacker Reads in this episode of The Football Coaching Podcast.

I hear from coaches all the time who have their own ideas on how a football team should be run. They just cannot get the head coach to listen! This is a touchy subject. After all, the head coach is the man in charge. This is his time to shine. Not only that, he probably has more experience than other coaches on staff (though not always). This episode dives into how to get your head coach to open up to your suggestions… and when to keep your mouth shut.

The Coach Simple plan uses the 5-Day playbook install to get your system taught quickly. All of the systems inside JDFB Coaching Systems use a version of this principle. The 5-day playbook install plan gets your base playbook installed in just one week of practice. The plan is to have enough installed so that you could play a game or scrimmage. You might not have everything, but you have enough.

With the season approaching, you need to figure out how you want to organize your football coaching staff. Who is going to coach which positions? Where is each coaching going to be most valuable to your athletes? Putting the right coaches in the right places is just as important as putting the right players in the right positions. This episode of The Football Coaching Podcast dives into getting the most out of your football coaching staff this season.

Defending quads formations can be scary when your football team is not prepared. Have a plan and your defense can shut down 4 by 1 empty sets with ease.

Football tackling technique is critical for a good defensive football team. There is no special secret. Find out the drills to focus on to get better.

Landing your first or next high school football coaching jobs can be tough. You need a plan. Follow these tips to be prepared for your opportunity.

The wedge kickoff return is the simplest and likely oldest kickoff return scheme in football. It is also one of the most effective and easiest to teach.

Trick plays are a part of every offensive playbook. Sometimes you need a big play and a little trickeration can make it happen. There have been a lot of great trick plays throughout the history of football. In this episode we take a look at three of the best High School Football trick plays. These could be a part of any offensive playbook.

The Tunnel Screen Play is one of my favorite offensive weapons. Check out this podcast to learn everything you need to know about coaching the tunnel screen, and how to defend against it. This episode is part of the deep dive series in season 8. We take one play and dissect it from every angle including origin of the play, how to run it, and how to beat it.

Protect your passing game using slide protection. Get the details of how to coach slide protection in the quick game and drop back pass to give your quarterback time to throw the ball.

This episode of The Football Coaching Podcast takes a deep dive look at the Buck Sweep play. It is the key play in the Buck Series, the most common series seen from Wing-T attacks at the high school level.

Defensive Line Stunts are a great way to be aggressive up front in your defensive calls without weakening your coverage packages. This episode takes a deep dive on Defensive Line Stunts including slants and twists. Every episode in Season 8 is a deep dive into a particular play call (or family of calls, in this case). I'll share origins of the call, why you run the call and how to coach your players to execute it. Then we look at how coaches on the other side of the ball can attack the call and defeat it.

Deep Dive on the Counter Trey run play made famous in the NFL by the early 1980's Washington run game! This play is a feature of the One Back Offense. Learn the origins of the play, how to execute it, and how to stop the Counter Trey.

It's been around forever. The 4 verticals passing concept is probably the most commonly called passing concept in football today. But there's a lot more to it than just running 4 guys down the field.

Part 1: Origins of the Call Where did the Double A Gap Blitz come from? Blood, Sweat and Chalk credits Jim Johnson as DC under Andy Reid's Eagles teams in the early 2000s. Credit to Cincinnati Enquirer article, Mike Zimmer as Defensive Coordinator in Cincinnati really popularized it (with Paul Guenther?). Teams have been attacking the A Gaps since the start of football. Johnson developed the double A gap scheme to force the Offensive Line to adjust protections by putting immediate pressure up the middle. Zimmer article mentions using the blitzes to disguise coverage. I guess? Part 2: Execution of the Call How do you run a Double A Gap Blitz? Blitzing two linebackers (or a linebacker and a safety) in the A Gaps. The Defensive Tackles have to get out of the A gaps, so you're probably lining up in a 40 front with either 2's, 3's or 2i's that will stunt out. Walking the linebackers up on the line forces the Offensive Line to either check protection to a slide or gap protection, or let the back handle one of the linebackers on an immediate rush with no help. An adjustment I like is to stack the two rushers. This is because our guys are not NFL, and so the back guy has a better chance of dropping off for either zone or man blitzes. You can also drop both and play traditional cover 3 if they know how to zone drop. With both guys up, drop the man the center steps to, and blitz the other one. You end up with a 3 under/3 deep Crossfires are great for pass blitzing in High School. Part 3: Attacking the Call What do you run to attack Double A Gap Blitzes? Teams are primarily running double A gap blitzes to attack a pocket passer. It's a great blitz in the NFL, but you probably aren't seeing drop back passers 8 games a season. You can also attack interior run plays like a midline or trap play. Run the ball off tackle. Just run an outside zone play, those backers are locked into the A gap and can't scrape to build a wall against the edge runs. A toss play or jet sweep takes them completely out of the equation. Linebackers aren't adept at keying down blocks the way a defensive lineman is. Try to trap one of them. If you can pop to the second level there's no one there. One on one with the safety. Slide protection is your best bet, but get the ball out quickly. If you've got a 3-step quick pass called, use a slide protection to get the ball out. Screens! Get the QB in shotgun (no matter what), and then get him on the move. Sprint out or roll out. Don't bother with play action, the backers are already sucked up. Hit a quick drag route or TE pop pass, or any sort of moving route.

It's a half-episode! Look for Season 8, Episode 2 of The Football Coaching Podcast with a deep dive on the Double A Gap Blitz on Monday at Noon Eastern!

Season 8 of The Football Coaching Podcast is focusing on deep dives on individual play calls, so what better play to start with than the Zone Read? In fact, we've come full circle - Zone Read Option was the topic on the very first episode of the podcast back in 2012! The deep dive series will take a look at play calls from every angle. We look at the origins of the play, the details of execution, how to attack or defend the play, and how to evaluate and evolve the play within your playbook.

The season kicks off and that call you've been working on for 6 months just is not working. Run plays, passing concepts, blitzes, stunts or coverages. Whatever it is… it's not working. This is the 5 step process to evaluate that football play call before you just kick it to the curb. You're always smarter in February than you are in September and October (or whenever your season happens this year!), so let's figure out what the problem is!

There's an old saying among option football coaches. OK, really it's among all football coaches… mostly old football coaches. If you can't block 'em, read 'em. Pretty simple. When you don't have anybody that can take that guy 1 on 1, you always have another option. Just make him wrong, no matter what he does. That's the premise behind option football. Make one guy wrong, no matter what he does. For coaches running a true option football system, this is a way of life. Let nothing get in the way of reading the guy that's causing problems. Then there's the rest of us. We run an offense that is not based solely on reading defenders. Are we left out of the option offense goodness? Nope. In this episode of The Football Coaching Podcast, I'll show you how to expand your offensive playbook using option football principles. Without confusing your players and causing a total disaster in the backfield.

Any time you decide to install a new playbook for your football team, you could run into trouble. It takes time to teach the skills your players need. It takes time for the coaches to understand how to teach those skills, too. The knee jerk reaction when your team isn't firing on all cylinders in the first few weeks of the season is to panic. Go back to what you were doing before. But that's not the answer. This week's Football Coaching Podcast looks at how to make in-season adjustments when your brand new plan of attack isn't working like you expected. This is how to get your team back on track with the changes you need to make to reach a whole new level of success.

Football drills are a big favorite among coaches. It's our thing. Standing there holding a whistle, watching your guys run around hoops and over bags. That's what coaching football is all about. Except that most defensive drills are a waste of time for high school football players. They end up never translating the drills to the field. Today you'll find out the football drills that really matter at every defensive position to get your players ready to win on game day.