Posted by: @jtrent64

Two things.  We had something happen last game that I have not done with a team.  We are an I formation, off tackle, take our time and control the clock team (4th grade, or 9U).  Last week I we elected to receive to start the game and we marched down the field and scored on the first possession.  Best part?  We took the entire first quarter and two plays into the second!  

Hard part - I failed subbing.  I am struggling with this and need a better system.  we have our depth chart, but I currently have 23 players and I am trying to get all of them in for 10 plays.

I have a coach with a depth chart that helps sub kids in, we had a miss this week and two kids needed to play more.  We work together to try and get kids in.

With 23 kids, how do you sub?  IF you platoon, does your talent level drop significantly?  Do you have a minimum play coach? Have position coaches sub?

Thanks!

 

Additional fun fact - at the end of practice, our QB, who handled the ball all practice, says - "Coach, I might have Pink Eye, I was supposed to tell you that".  

 

Well there are many ways just depends on where the other 12 kids play.  I don't sub interior lineman.  If you're running just lead off tackle the only easy mpp sub are the receivers. If you have 2 of those you can have 5 kids rotating. The wr coming in gives the play to the qb it's quite efficient.  X goes to z, z heads off the field, sub goes to x.  

If you have to sub lineman ide only sub one at a time per side every series. 

Defense is also an option. 

Coach, one thing I always do now is I go through every player on the roster and make sure he has a role.  When I first started coaching I worried about winning first and subbing later.  Now I am the opposite.  I worry about subbing first and then try to win the game.

As far as platooning.  Yes, I platoon as much as I possibly can.  Even if it costs me a few wins.  But here's the thing, I can't really attribute any losses to platooning.  In fact, it may have even contributed to a few extra wins through the years.

You will always have a drop off in talent by platooning.  However, by coaching up kids that would otherwise be, as the great Bobby Heenan would say, "ham n eggers", you don't really have very many kids that are terrible after a few weeks of reps.

You may not be able to practice as a true platoon team, but you can start 22 players or close to it.   You'll usually be done with the mpr requirement by halftime.  I would keep the playing the entire roster regardless of the score or the mpr count.  But if you get in crucial situation, plug your best guys in.  The parents can't complain about that and neither can the kids.  Although, some imbecile parent might say something.  

And yes, it helps to have the position coach sub the players for their group.  However, if the AC is an asshole or a daddy baller, which is one in the same, he might not go along with what you discussed with him prior to the game.  

If only half the roster is contributing, the other half is going to be miserable and they won't be back next season.  They may not finish the current season.

"Wanna know how good of a coach you are?  Ask your worst player."  Jim Harbaugh.

Posted by: @jtrent64

Two things.  We had something happen last game that I have not done with a team.  We are an I formation, off tackle, take our time and control the clock team (4th grade, or 9U).  Last week I we elected to receive to start the game and we marched down the field and scored on the first possession.  Best part?  We took the entire first quarter and two plays into the second!  

Hard part - I failed subbing.  I am struggling with this and need a better system.  we have our depth chart, but I currently have 23 players and I am trying to get all of them in for 10 plays.

I have a coach with a depth chart that helps sub kids in, we had a miss this week and two kids needed to play more.  We work together to try and get kids in.

With 23 kids, how do you sub?  IF you platoon, does your talent level drop significantly?  Do you have a minimum play coach? Have position coaches sub?

Thanks!

 

Additional fun fact - at the end of practice, our QB, who handled the ball all practice, says - "Coach, I might have Pink Eye, I was supposed to tell you that".  

 

With 23 players you have what, 7 subs?

I suggest you create a color scheme. Base is your main team. Green offense is my starting offense. Yellow defense is my starting defense. 

Then you have Black, white, gray. You rotate in the safest spots. Your black/white/gray involves 2-3 kids, and the rest are your starters. 

You need to practice this from the sideline, and it's going to take about 30 minutes to ensure your KO/KR/punt/green/yellow/white/black/gray are ready.

You also need a cheat sheet on the sidelines because when you call black/white/gray you need to ensure the right kids come off and the right kids go out. The same kids are going to forget every single time so watch out for that and keep tabs on them.

Also they have the same color on offense and defense just in case you need to face a clock killing team, like yourself.

Posted by: @jtrent64

I am struggling with this and need a better system. 

--Do you have a system?

we have our depth chart, but I currently have 23 players and I am trying to get all of them in for 10 plays.

--Of the 23, how many players start on offense?  How many of them also start on defense?

I have a coach with a depth chart that helps sub kids in, we had a miss this week and two kids needed to play more.  We work together to try and get kids in.

--I dunno what you're doing, but if you're subbing situationally then you will NEVER make that work with a 10-play MPR and 10-minute quarters.

With 23 kids, how do you sub? 

--It is pre-determined before the game.  We do not sub "situationally."  We know in advance who will be going in, when they will go in and how many plays they will get.  We control the situation; the situation does not control us.  The more "reactive" you are to game situations, the less control of the game (and your destiny) you have.

--We gather together our offensive subs the series before they are set to go in.  They take a knee in front of the play-counter.  They are labeled on the play-count sheet in an alternate color making them easy to identify for the play-counter.  The play-counter knows that group will go in and stay in until they get their 3/4/5 plays for the half.  We do the same for the defense.  The subs will almost always start the 2nd Half, and fulfill their MPR.  If our MPR-count is 8 plays, that's usually a 4-play series in the 1st Half.  If they get a 1st Down in that series, they will probably get even more than their 4-play minimum.  So if they receive 6-7 plays on that series, they only require 1-2 in the 2nd Half.

IF you platoon, does your talent level drop significantly? 

--Usually, no.  Our only 2-way starters are the players who are so good they should never be off the field.  However, positions where we have 50/50 talent split their time.  In other words, if Billy and Bobby have similar skills and ability, then Billy will play offense and Bobby will play defense.  Or Billy will split time 50/50 with Bobby at OLB so they each get 15-20 plays at that position.

Do you have a minimum play coach?

--On offense, it was me.  On defense, it was my DC.

Have position coaches sub?

--Good Lord, no.

--If you have 5 guys who play both ways, that's another 6 guys who play offense only and another 6 who play defense only.  That's 17 starters.  There's another 6 who can be o-line subs.  That's 23 players, and you would never have to sub out any starters on defense.  If you like to "hide" players on the defensive line, then you can put 4 there.  If you do that, you need only 2 o-line subs.  

--Dave

 

 

@coachdp 

I handle it similarly.  I have 18 kids, so not as many, but more are playing both ways bc of talent, so it sort of evens out.  

On O, I have a wedge team where I put 2 mpr kids at TE.  They only run wedge and I do it the second series of each half.  I split my 3 backs in a bunch wide, and have the QB make a decision on either a quick screen or QB wedge presnap.  I put one more MPR kid in the bunch out wide.  sometimes, they even score too quickly. 

On D, I rotate a couple of borderline MPR kids at interior D line.  I have single coach that subs and tracks all minimum plays.  And it’s not me.  The kids know not to ask me about going in.  

I have 16 players in my position group (OL). I have zero obligation to any of them for playing time. However, I'm of the belief that JV football is about development. I think game reps are just as important as practice reps. I go into every game with a plan to play every guy at some point. I can abort that plan should things get tight but most of our games are blowouts one way or the other. It usually ends up that we have one game/year that is a single possession game. If you show up to practice and give decent effort you will play...at least 2 series, which equates to about 10 plays. 

The D-line coach and I share most of the same 16 players. We script our rotations together to ensure we get everybody reps. Our D-line coach is a young guy, he doesn't love my system. He would play the 1's/2's the entire game regardless of the score. Our Varsity HC likes my system, so the young guy has to live with it 😀. We have only had to abandon the plan once this season. We lost that game 21-22.

As a side note- the number of guy's I'm able to play factors into how I judge my own coaching performance. 

Posted by: @seabass

As a side note- the number of guy's I'm able to play factors into how I judge my own coaching performance. 

👍

--Dave

I had a few issues getting players their minimum number of plays the first few years coaching.  Then I decided to guarantee every player at least 50% playing time on one side of the ball and haven't really had playing time issues since. 

The number of two way starters varies depending on number of stud players, but I try to limit the number as much as possible. 

Some positions like RBs often are shared by players who are each starters on defense.  As long as both are performing well (meaning they are not fumbling the ball), I let them rotate. 

The minimum play players share a position on either offense or defense.  My weakest players usually shuttle the plays in on offense and play split end 5 yards from the side line on the wide side of the field. 

Sometimes we rotate players who are sharing a position in/out each series, sometimes after a certain number of plays.  They usually rotate on their own without a coach monitoring the substitutions.  We practice the rotating and it usually works great.