Youth option question

Welcome back to the board Greg.

We were able to run midline and inside veer pretty well this year. We also ran load on occasion as well but not nearly as much as the midline and inside veer. This was my first attempt at teaching the option game and honestly the primary reason I was able to even consider doing so was due to the talent of my QB. I thought going into this season he would be able to pick up on the reads required well enough to run them and fortunately I turned out to be right. He had to work on the pitch component to be able to do it consistently (even though he only pitched to the TB a handful of times in game situations) but he picked up on reading the down defenders pretty quickly. The great thing about teaching the option at this level is that it puts a good athlete at QB in a terrific position to make big plays due to the unfamiliarity to youth defenses. If you've got the right QB I'd highly recommend taking a look at the midline and inside veer in your offense.

Dave Hartman
CYFL Coach

Greg,

I coach 10-12 year olds (primarily 5th and 6th graders). Before I began coaching 6 years ago, I played high school ball and 1 year in college before a knee injury ended my football career and changed my competitive focus to powerlifting through my remaining years in school. Ironically, I began my coaching education by ordering a couple of Coach Campbell's manuals, not knowing of course, that a few years down the road he'd be coaching here in my hometown! Since then I've done probably what a lot of youth coaches on our board do, attend 2-3 clinics during the off-season, read everything I can get my hands on and visit jcfb.com daily to get insights from everyone on these forums. Having the opportunity to coach 7-on-7 (thanks to Coach Campbell) this past year was a terrific opportunity to further my coaching education as well. One old addage that I have come to believe is very much true is that the more I learn, the more I want to learn and the more I realize that there is to learn about teaching this great game!

Dave Hartman
CYFL Coach

Coach Easton,

I haven't spoken with Coach Campbell in a couple of weeks. I was in Santa Fe, NM with my family during the week after Christmas and Coach Campbell has been out to California and in Kingsville this week preparing for the "Cactus Bowl" Div. 2 All-Star game tomorrow. Even though next week will be a busy one for me at work, I hope to sit down with him next week to discuss plans for the clinic. We're tentatively looking at a mid to late March date as of now. If things pan out this year I'd really like to move the date to the last week in January so as not to conflict with little league baseball starting to gear up for their season. Hope you are doing well coach.

Dave Hartman
CYFL Coach