No Huddle Offense for Youth Football

Coach,

We used it three years ago and ran one formation with it. We would come out with a single back, and 4 WR to the left side. We had four colors that we would call based on the way the defense lined up against our formation. We trained the QB what to look for when making the call at the LOS, but we ended up signalling the play anyhow. This is what we used...

Red....(run) dive with the single back if the defense used a LB to cover the quads look.
Blue...(pass left) if one of the four receivers was uncovered, then we threw a quick pass to him and the other three blocked.
Green...(go...post route) if the defense moved a safety over to cover the quads, we would send the three outside receivers on 'go' routes, and sent the inside receiver on a skinny post and would throw to him.
White....(option right)..if the defense moved the opposite corner over to cover the look we would run speed option to the right, and option the DE.

This worked well during the first series of every game. The offense would go straight on the field and line up in quads left, and we would signal the play, and the qb would call the color on the line. As soon as the play was run, the offense would line up and we would do the same thing. We always caught teams off guard on the opening drive and scored on every opening drive that year. For some reason, we haven't used it since.

This year I would like to find a way to run it more consistently, but vary the formations. In the past, after our first drive, the defense adjusted, and it didn't work as well. I would like to be able to install it with our wing-t offense.

Any suggestions?

Tim

Coaches

I have been running a 100% no huddle for about 15 seasons. I start doing it with the kids once they hit 10 years old….8 year olds cant go 100% but can manage a drive or 2 per game.

Wrist coaches are a pain and if one kid looses his during the game you are in trouble. You will find yourself frantically printing up microscopic ledgers the night before the games and forget important changes. Plus they depend on them too much and don’t really learn the plays. Dry erase boards are a no go because all 11 will not see the same thing. Plus it is really easy to scout. Hand signals get ridiculous….you will look like a major league baseball third base coach and the poor kid reading the signals will melt on you.

Flash cards and tag names. I have been fine-tuning the system for 10 seasons. Works very well. I don’t use it to hurry up. I use it as a variable speed system and to scout the defense while the offense is at the LOS. Kids love it too because they know they are unique plus they have to really learn the plays….which is no problem because if you practice as a no huddle team then you run 3 times as many reps as your opponents…in the same amount of time.

The drawback is once they get to HS they have no clue where the 3 hole is, no real sense of offensive terminology and do not know how to huddle up. Many former players I have run into have told me how boring typical football is once they did get to HS.

My system will retro to any offense. It may seem a bit complicated upon first read but once you get the cow ahead of the plow it is a piece of cake. If 6th graders can learn it in 3 weeks so can you. E-me if interested. Newmahonz@aol.com

Coach Mike

Thanks for your input Coach Wright and welcome to the JCFB Youth forum.

Dave Hartman
CYFL Coach

We have also used it by utilizing a passing tree.

Once the kids get to the line of scrimmage we simply give them numbers, starting from the outside wr in. If we are lined up in 2 wr's to each side, both sides will run the same route. If in Trips, the single wr backside (if there is one) will just run a streak to run off the cb.

For example, from a Trips formation, 279 Strong would be the following:
Strong-indicates throw to Trips side
#1 wr (widest wr) would run a slant
#2 wr (middle in trips) would run a flag route
#3 wr (closest i/s wr) would run a streak route

If we want to hit the backside single wr side, we just use Bama, to indicate throw to the backside wr.