If you have a slower than average team then you need to think inside TE’s plays with overloaded lines and or misdirection plays like those used in a traditional single wing, double wing, wish bone or T formations.  The first thing I would do is overload one side of your offensive line.  Put more numbers of players at the point of attack, and make sure these are your best blockers.  You only need 2 hard running backs so a lead blocker and a ball carrier.   Run a tight gut play with misdirection, an off tackle play, misdirection gut counter, QB bootleg reverse and a TE quick pass.  But, don’t bet on the sweep if you have slow running backs.  In this situation I run my variation of the single wing that some call the Beast by moving all the backs just behind the o-line to the side I am running to.

Don’t worry if you can’t sweep.  A coaching friend of mine had a slow team in the Spring.  They beat us the first game and made it to the playoffs running tight single wing running plays with good blocking.  We won the Super Bowl in the Spring with Speed, but his team gave everyone fits trying to stop his big Power running back up the middle and off tackle with an overloaded line.

Remember to adjust your offense to your players.  I to have a offensive system I like to run but if your players can’t run your offensive system then be flexible and adjust to meet the skills of your players.

Play for Fun and Winning is Funner.

Thanks,
Coach Parker
Fort Worth, Texas / Keller

I personally love running the off-tackle play against the 5-3 defense from an I formation leading with the FB on the OLB and TB trailing cutting off the block.  My play side TE or Slot blocks EMOL and everyone else block GOD.  This play works really good when you Nasty split the TE and widen the OTs splits too.

All the books say Gut plays also work well against the 5-3 defense because the middle of the defense is weak between the guards.  A FB inside trap play might work well or just a tough up the gut FB run.  You can also run an ISO on the MLB.

As far as the passing game.  The flats are weak.  Quick Slants and TE quick passes will work well.

If the DE an OLB crash and bite on inside dives then run sweeps.  If the DE is boxing wide, then run an ISO on the OLB.

Like I have written earlier.  Every defense has a weakness.  They key to good defensive play is to mix it up so the offense can’t figure your defense out.

Play for Fun and Winning is Funner.

Thanks,
Coach Parker
Ft Worth, Texas

Let’s pretend we are camping in (Colorado or Alaska) bear country and we need to take a dump but NO public restroom near our campsite.  I am sure there are a few boy scouts that know how to do this right?  Ok, let’s all squat down like we are going to take a dump with our feet about as wide as our shoulders so we don’t fall over.  Is everyone ready?  Ooops, Nope, we left the toilet paper just out in front of us so we can just reach it with our fingers.  We need to reach out with one of our hands and just gently tickle the toilet paper with our fingers back to us without falling over.  Our hand and fingers should barely touch the TP and ground so we do not fall forward when we let out a loud grunt.  Now that we have the TP between our fingers on the ground so it does not blow away, we need to look up and find any bears that might be spying on us while we dump.  Get your head up and look for bears.  We also need to get our free hand out of the way and ready to punch the bear if it decides to come over and smell us.   Put your free elbow on your uncovered knee with your free hand open and thumbs up ready to punch any curious bears.  Ahh look now we are ready to dump in bear country and its not a bad football stance either.

I know it’s probably not mom friendly but the young boys love the story and remember how to get into their stance.  After Ive told the story a few times, I ask one or two players to demonstrate and tell the bear story.

Do you have any stories you tell?  I would love to hear from you.  Please leave a comment.

Thanks
Coach Parker
Fort Worth, Texas / Keller

Play for Fun and Winning is Funner!

The youth football plays in the playbook are drawn in my Speed variation of the Double Wing and Double Wing Spread Gun formations along with my Space version of the Single Wing and Beast  (Loud Rowdy Monkey) formation that I have been running since 1994.  The Speed plays can also be run from the Spread and Spy or my I formation variation.

You are more than welcome to use these plays in your offense, but please do not post large portions or the complete pdf document to other websites and do not use the information on commercial websites. Please feel free to copy, edit, update and customize the playbook for your private individual non- commercial use, but please do not reproduce for commercial use on football playbook sites or any other commercial site.  I intend to publish my complete finalized plays in my youth football book to be released in the Summer of 2012.  I wish you the best using these youth football plays.

Download Coach Parker Offensive Playbook PDF.

I would love to hear your feedback.

Thanks,
Coach Parker
Fort Worth, Texas / Keller

Play for Fun and Winning is Funner!

If I do not have returning QBs or Centers or I have an almost completely new youth football team, I will basically hold a punt, pass, and kick field day with timed 10, 20 and 40 sprints along with a King Crab Sled push at my first practice and video tape the practice.  If I need more time, this PPK type of practice might be held my second practice also.  This way I can evaluate all my new and returning  little league football players.  From these try-out field days, I will choose 3 QBs and 3 Centers and teach them the snap exchange and have them start working on the snap exchange at practice and at home.

Your QBs and Centers must get in at least 50 snap exchange repetitions every practice.  You should ask the QBs and Centers to arrive about 20 minutes before practice and have them taking snaps.  A good drill is to line up your Centers in a row on the 10 yard line about 10 yards apart.  Have each QB take 5 or 10 snaps from each and switch centers.  The starting QB should call your snap count.  After a set of snaps to get warmed up, then have the QBs Sweep Right / Left and Centers perform a 3 step block down away.  This movement will simulate movement in the game.  You may also want to have a coach with a bag hitting the Center as they move, this will make it more realistic too game situations.  If the Center and QB do not move while practicing the Center QB exchange, this will become an issue in the game!  Also, make sure they do the Center QB snap exchanges with their pads on.  The pads are heavy and get in the way so you need them getting used to the pads and discomfort snapping the ball, especially the Centers. I would also advise you to have your Centers to wear a cup.  I asked all my youth football players to wear cups.

So, the moral of this story, Find your QBs and Centers Fastest than any of your other players.  Yes, I know it should be Faster but you hopefully get my point.

Let me know what you do to improve your Center / QB Exchange.  Post your feedback in the Comments sections.

Thanks
Coach Parker
Ft. Worth Texas / Keller

.

In my opening offensive series, I liked to run my scripted plays which are a few of our key plays from our base offense and couple of plays derived from the scouting report.  I personally like to run up the middle on the first play to test the A gaps and middle linebackers.  This also draws the defense into a tight thought process for the next play.  If the defense was weak up the middle and allowed 3 or more yards, I usually continue to pound the football between the tackles on the second play and successive plays, until the defense adjusts to secure the middle of the field.  My thought process here is, why waste your best plays if simple plays are beating the defense?   If the defense held us to less than 3 yards on the first play, I will test the outside with a sweep and watch the defense’s outside alignments and how the defensive ends, outside linebackers and corners react the to the sweep.  If the sweep gets less than 4 yards, because the edges are stacked with three or more defenders on the outside, I will then test the C+ gap with a nasty TE alignment and run the wide off tackle play.  If the sweep gained 4 yards or more I will run the sweep to the opposite side and test that side of the defense.  On most teams, I like to establish the sweep to move the defense wide of the TEs and Slots and get them chasing the sweeping backs so I can set up the inside counters by the wing and off-tackle fullback plays.  If none of this is working on the first 3 plays of the opening drive, and I am not backed up within my 20, I will usually run a play from the scouting report that attacks a specific weakness to try to get a first down.  I usually do not punt on 4^th down unless I am backed up within my 10 yard line.  The risk reward of a punt in youth football is usually not worth the risk.  If you are in a league that lets you call punt on 4^th down and moves the ball 15 or 20 yards instead of a punt, I will usually punt from the 35 to move the ball to the 50 yard line.

If we made a first down on our opening series, I will continue to run the best plays from the first series that gained the most yardage testing both sides of the defense.  Once I find the defense’s weaknesses I pound the ball until we see a defensive adjustment and then take advantage of the adjustment.  It really becomes a chess match with you and the defensive coordinator to make the appropriate game time adjustments to move the ball down the field.

If nothing worked on the first series and you turned the ball over without a first down, you should talk to your quarterback once on the sidelines and find out what’s wrong.  Has the defense adjusted since the last game, have they moved players around are they blitzing a certain hole.  Maybe you just had a bad series, don’t worry just yet.  You need to get 8 plays or so under your belt before the sky is falling.  Take a deep breath regroup and come out the next series.

A major mistake I made as an inexperienced football coach was not tracking my play’s stats during the game.  I now have a dad or assistant coach, capture the play stats during the game from the sidelines.  After every drive, the offensive coordinator, head coach, and quarterback should review the offensive drive stats and find the best and worst plays, especially at half time.  Trust me, what you remember and what actually happened does not match up 100%.  Your memory is biased.

Now that all my future opponents know my opening drive strategy, I guess I will adjust.  Everyone is different in their opening drive strategies.  I know many who want to establish the off-tackle play and pound the ball up the field like Lombardi.  Hey, whatever works for your team that scores and wins games is always the best strategy.  What works for one Saturday win may not work the following Saturday.  What does work is scouting and adjusting during the game.  If your offensive strategy is not working during the game, you must adjust.  Set your ego aside and regroup.  It hurts but it works, and it took me years to learn.

Youth Football Offensive Play Calling Strategy Series
Part 1   |  Part 2  |  Part 3

Have fun and Winning is Funner.

If you have any questions or comments, please use the comment form below.  You can also find me on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/youthfootball and Twitter @coachparker_org .

Thanks
Coach Parker
Keller, Texas,
Fort Worth TX
DFW

When watching the scout film, some of the things I look for as an offensive coordinator are;

1. What base / goal line / long yardage defenses are they running and adjustments
2. Are they playing an odd or even defensive front
3. Where and how does DE or OLB play the TE and Split Ends
4. Does the DE box or play tight on line reading QB
5. Where and how does the Corner adjust to Splits, Tights, Overloads
6. Where and How does the DT in C Gap (off-tackle) line up
7. What is the depth of their Inside Linebackers and Safety
8. Do they Blitz much and whom do they blitz
9. Who is their best tackler, lineman, LB and DB
10. Is the Nose Guard or A Gappers going to tear up my Center
11. What are the 3 best & worst plays of the opposing offense in the film
12. Does the defense shift for offense’s unbalanced line
13. Are they fooled by misdirection plays

Here are a few Offensive Play Calling Strategies that are discussed:

1. Give your Super Star / Play Maker the ball as much as possible
2. The Sweep is the big play in youth football
3. The off-tackle play wins football games and sets up all other offensive plays
4. Call plays based on a series of play calls to set up the defense
5. Passing in youth football offenses is a wasted play
6. It’s all about misdirection
7. Overload play side offensive line & LOS with blockers
8. Spread the defense out
9. Use trick plays when all else fails on better opponents
10. Use multiple offensive formations to confuse the defense.
11. Use all 4 downs in youth football never punt
12. Always run / sweep to the wide side of the field
13. Passing Spreads the defense out so you can run up the middle

1. Unbalanced / Overloaded Play side offensive line
2. Give the ball to my Play Maker 70%+ of the time
3. Sweep if you have speed / Off tackle if you don’t
4. Use all 4 downs

I would like to see your feedback, please comment in the comments section below.   I will post a second article on youth offensive play calling strategy that addresses play calling during the game.

EZPLAYZ Animated Youth Football Playbook for Youth Football CoachesATLANTA, June 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — According to football legend Lou Holtz, “In a successful organization, no detail is too small to escape close attention.” EZPLAYZ Coaches Todd Alkire and Chris Ragland take the football coachs words seriously. EZPLAYZ is a carefully thought-out eBook that will allow a coach to take his head out of the playbook and focus on teaching the fundamentals of youth football. See more about EZPLAYZ online at http://www.ezplayz.com.

via Coaches Share Plays to Win — ATLANTA, June 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ –.

Poll Closed – Results from 2011 voting.

Youth Offensive Formation Poll Results 2011