Installing Today’s Hybrid Pistol Offense Run & Pass from Top to Bottom
This manual provides you with the full offensive line, receiver, and quarterback mechanics for installing each offensive play presented. Coach Campbell has left no stone unturned for implementing today’s Pistol Offense into your program.
I have never coached youth football so I am unaware of what can be run down there. I would like to know if it's possible to run Spread in youth football?
I understand the limitations you may have dealing with youth and obviously would have to modify the system. We are a spread high school team that has had a lot of success, however we have never been able to get the little league on board until now. The little league program has not had a winning season in 10 years and has lost a lot of participation because of it. When the kids get to the middle school they are having to re-teach everything.
We feel it's very important that we are teaching the same things throughout the program, however we don't know if it's feasible down there.
coach_pfh - Thanks for your post. Coach, although I believe you can and should attempt to align terminology and teach technique in a similar fashion as your high school program to your youth league players, I personally don't really think you could or need to run a spread offense exclusively. While you could utilize a couple of spread formations in your team's offense, as a general rule your players will not yet have acquired the skills necessary to throw, catch and protect well enough to make that type of offense work in my opinion. My team's offense is I based and is practically identical to what Coach Campbell runs out of the I here at our high school. My blocking schemes are modified somewhat and we don't run anything requiring full zone blocking like a stretch but other than that they are very similar. There are also many, many other things that the high school offense runs that we wouldn't attempt, but I hope you can see what I was trying to get at. One other additional benefit is that doing things similarly as the "Big Boys" is that your youth program will begin to feel like they really have some equity in the high school program and look forward to their opportunity to play at that level some day. I've definitely seen this start to take place here where I live. My advice would be to do things alike whenever it makes sense, teach basic fundamentals the right way with the help of the high school and middle school staffs and let the kids have as much fun learning the game as possible. As many coaches have already posted on this forum, it's not the scheme that counts. Know what to teach and teach what you know and your kids will respond. Thanks again coach and I look forward to discussing this topic further with you.
Dave Hartman CYFL Coach
"It's not the will to win that matters - everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters."
I totally agree with the philosophy of getting the youth teams on board with the high school. We are fortunate to have a lot of participation from our high school coaches in helping our league out. We actually have our high school coaches come to our facility and hold a coaches clinic. The things that have to be done at the youth level are the correct methods of tackling and blocking. That's what we have to spend an enormous amount of time on at this level. So we don't have as much time to work offense as we would like.
With that being said, I think that you can incorporate some spread plays, but the spread philosophy is very difficult at the youth level. If you can't throw the ball......you won't win games. Most teams will play a defense that has 8 in the box at all times.....no matter how many receivers you line up. They do this knowing that your odds of being able to throw the ball at the youth level are very slim. So they disregard the extra receivers.
This also presents some opportunity. If you can teach kids to throw at the youth level, you will absolutely tear up a league. This is because most teams don't have the time to work on how to cover a passing team. Even then more than likely they will do some sort of man coverage, which will now open up your running game......which is true spread philosophy. However, if you can't throw, they'll leave 8 in the box all day long.
We teach our kids to throw from the age of 8 on up. We work on one and three step drop packages......everything is timing. Rare is the QB at the youth level who can read a defense. If you call a pass play he will throw it to the first receiver he sees....open or not. If you tell him who to throw it to....he'll throw it to them open or not. So we work on timing routes.......slant, outs, hitches, post, and fly routes.
So while it is possible to use the spread at the youth level it is the exception more than the rule. We do use a spread shotgun set and run option, QB sweeps, reverses, and a QB iso. Those might be some ideas for you......we've run them very well every year.
Thank you for your comments. I understand and appreciate what you are saying. What are some of the things your program does to ensure what your doing is in line with your high school program? For example, does coach campbell give you certain drills to run, terminology, etc. Are there coaches clinics that your coaches attend that are held by the high school staff?
We are determined to make this relationship work, however we need some advice on exactly how.
We are extremely fortunate to have Coach Campbell to work with. His support and enthusiasm for our youth program is the best I've ever seen or even heard of. Unfortunately this is not always the case with high school head coaches but most of them rightly feel like regardless of their personal feelings for tackle football being played at the youth level, if it's gonna happen with or without you then you might as well have some input and take an interest in things being done the right way. Last year, Coach Campbell and his varsity staff held a 1 1/2 day clinic which was attended by all of our league's head and assistant coaches as well as by the middle school coaches. It was a great opportunity for us to learn from and interact with those coaches whose programs we really do have a direct influence (positive or negative) on. This year's clinic will be geared more specifically to assist first time coaches with the actual "how to"s of coaching a team and will feature a few presentations by a few youth coaches as well. We try to get all of our coaches on the same page when teaching the real basics like hole and back numbering and tackling and blocking techniques, but the adoption of formation calls and other terminology by our coaches is not yet universal. I think what's most important is to determine and prioritize what areas your league's coaches need help with and then approach the head coach with those topics in mind for his ideas on how to best implement them. Outside of your high school program, I'd encourage any coach out their to seek out their local NFL team and the NFL's JPD program. They offer great resources such as clinics, instructional manuals and multimedia materials for youth as well as hs coaches. Good luck with your efforts coach_pfh!
"It's not the will to win that matters - everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters."
Quote Originally posted by: coach_pfh I have never coached youth football so I am unaware of what can be run down there. I would like to know if it's possible to run Spread in youth football?
I understand the limitations you may have dealing with youth and obviously would have to modify the system. We are a spread high school team that has had a lot of success, however we have never been able to get the little league on board until now. The little league program has not had a winning season in 10 years and has lost a lot of participation because of it. When the kids get to the middle school they are having to re-teach everything.
We feel it's very important that we are teaching the same things throughout the program, however we don't know if it's feasible down there.
Post by Coach Campbell on May 31, 2004 18:03:38 GMT
ttowntiger - Certainly appreciate all that you are doing on the web site would appreciate you giving me a call at 361-572-0151. Lyle and I spend a large amount of time and money to make sure we can give our coaches the best informative web site that we can and all our coaches who come to the site are the best. We would appreciate any marketing on our web site first go through us. Look forward to hearing from you. Coach Campbell
I think it can be done. The challenge is to figure out the basic components of the spread. Focus on those areas, and then design your plays to those ends. It is common sense that the ball is not going to be thrown 1/2 as much, but there are many running plays where the spread will give great blocking angles. We face a team in the 8-9 yr old age that are using a basic spread set. Its a dbl W, dbl slot formation and the last two years they have throw more often. They only run about 14 plays at the end of season, but do it very well and do not make many mistakes. We have done well against them, mainly do to disipline on defense, but if they can get more passing going, watch out. I think they were 6-3 last yr, lost 1st round playoffs, and 6-4 the previous yr losing in the championship game. Funny thing is they do not have a good sweep, looks like they should be able to have a great jet sweep...
Basically, if you can execute well you should do well. Assuming the coaches are all on board.
As far as the spread goes for youths it works just fine. Lots of green grass to work with but the opponent must respect the pass or they will jailbreak you every play.
Kids can play catch just fine and we always go shotgun. I have been teaching a pass heavy offense to youths 8-14 since 1989. Every team I have coached eventually will go 100% no huddle and tear the league to pieces passing 75% of the time. Delay draws and speed sweeps are deadly plays form the spread. I have always found a smart QB that has the nerves and a couple of receivers that can eventually catch any football they can touch. We only incorporate one tailback and he is actually the best athlete on the field. He must do it all…run, block read and catch.
Our o-line is typically made up of tight ends and fullbacks…not the typical tackle types. The only slow big kid is the center but he must be the meanest kid out there. The line must be quick and athletic, not necessarily the big slow plow types.. I usually play the backup skill positions type players on the line.
Youth DC’s typically do not practice to defend the pass. If they do it is almost an after thought…it is all run stop. We practice the passing game 90% of our offensive time each season. Like anything, with all those reps you get pretty good at what you do. The running game comes naturally off the passing game not the other way around. You just have to stick with it because at first it is really scary for kids to get used to the passing game. We start out simple and over the years crank it up. In our youth league once you hit 9 years old a large core of the team never changes. We use trees so we eventually have over 95 combinations of pass plays to choose from but the kids never realize it. We typically have 4-5 running plays.
Last season I coached 8 year olds. By the last game of the season the Qb was checking off receivers. Smart kid. I asked him to do it for fun prior to kickoff. He did pretty good and changed my read 3 times completing all of them. Actually we have 2 pretty good QBs…a lefty and a righty. We lost the first 4 games getting used to the passing game then preceded to win the last 4. We threw a couple of picks for TDs and gave up some sacks but that’s part of the process. Our best receiver dropped 7 balls in game one but caught 12 in the last game…..4 for TDs. Five other kids had catches too that day. We gave up zero sacks after game 3 and didn’t throw a pick the last 3 games.
The parents were just fine with the season…its fun to watch…. lots of kids play and actually touch the football. Any flavor kid can be a receiver but the tailbacks are another story. So the spread lends itself well to having fun for all. At the end of the day that’s all that really matters.
As for the dialing into the HS program at the youth level….a waste of time in our area. By the time I coach these 8 year olds all the way to 14 the coaching staff at our HS may have completely changed over. We do not have any middle school sports due to a long time budget crisis. The attrition rate at the HS level is ridiculous. We try to get them to hold summer youth camps and such but they never have the time or energy…probably because they know their days are numbered anyway…I don’t know how the do it?
Its win in three seasons or hit the road….but if you do win a bigger program recruits you away so it is lose-lose for the little leaguers.