The No-Huddle Offense

In this segment I want to describe how and why to implement the no-huddle offense to your high school football team.  The no-huddle offense has grown in popularity over the past few years, because of the pace of plays and lack of the ability of the defense to sub players.  By definition the no-huddle offense is just as it sounds, an offense that doesn't huddle.  Many teams run this offense where every player has a wrist coach, and the offensive coordinator just yells out the play number before play.  I find this system to be very ineffective, due to the difficulty of communication and the fact that the defense can pick up on certain numbers for certain plays.  Below I will explain the more modern way to run the no-huddle, and then why you should run it.

Photo by Ethan Hyman

The no-huddle offense utilizes many individual parts to run efficiently and effectively.  First lets talk about how the players know what formation to line up in.  A common method used for this is using big boards that have a variety of pictures, numbers, or words.  These represent individual formations that the players should recognize.  Look at the photo below, this would be the type of thing held on the sideline.  The players would know which part of the sign to look at, like the bottom right for example.  That is a picture of Shaq, who is big, this could signal the players to get into the big or heavy formation.

Photo by Michael Henninger

The second part of the no-huddle is the hand gestures usually done by players or assistant coaches.  In a normal no-huddle offense their are two to three different people making signals on the sideline.  These signals represent the play that will be run and the responsibilities of the offensive line, skill positions, and quarterback.  After the players look at the sign to know the formation they look to the coach/player that is assigned to them.  This coach/player does a series of hand gestures that represents the play.  Sometimes even words are used to specify the play.  The key to this process is putting many decoys in place to make sure the defense or opposing coaches can't catch onto what you are doing.  This can be done by setting a specific player or coach to make fake play signals every time, or fake words used.

Photo by Robert Willett

Now that I've explained the basics of how to run the no-huddle, I will explain why to run the no huddle.  First benefit is it makes it harder on the defense to huddle and call stunts.  With the limited time between each snap it becomes increasingly more difficult for opposing defensive coordinators to get a call in and the defense to get lined up correctly.

Second benefit is the defense gets fatigued.  This is due to the up tempo pace of the offense the defense has less time rest.  Now you may say that the offense will get tired to, but you can control how conditioned your players are.  But, the defensive players are probably not as conditioned.  Also, when you practice the no-huddle you are already gearing your players to last during the game.

The third benefit is that the defense has difficulty making substitutions during a drive.  This is again due to the high paced plays, the defense just doesn't have the time to make the substitutions.  This also helps with getting the defense fatigued, because they stay on the field the whole time. 

The forth benefit is this offense knocks the defense off balance.  If you can get a passing or running game going and you turn up the speed, the defense begins to get confused and usually starts making the wrong reads and gets themselves out of position.  This can also be attributed to the fatigue on the defense.

The fifth and final benefit I will discuss is the amount of plays you can run in a game.  With the no-huddle you are able to almost double the amount of offensive plays that your team can run during a game (assuming you can move the ball).  This also takes the play-clock out of the question (so no more delay of game penalties).

To recap, the no-huddle offense can be very effective if your players fully understand the play calling system and are conditioned enough to last during the game.  With the no-huddle you can compete with the opponent on stamina, which as a coach you can control.   

Defensive Schemes

High school defensive schemes are a lot more set in stone than offensive schemes.  For example one defense may run all of their plays out of one formation for an entire game.  But two teams may run out of the exact same formation but run an entirely different scheme depending on how aggressive the defense is about blitzing and coverage.  In the paragraphs below I will describe four different scheme types and discuss the positives and negatives of each.

The first scheme I will discuss is the basic 4-4 defense.  First of all, 4-4 means there will be four defensive lineman on the line of scrimmage, and 4 linebackers generally 4 yards off of the line of scrimmage.  This defense also has three defensive backs, consisting of two corners and one safety.  This is probably the most basic high school defense because of the flexibility.  I say flexibility because there are essentially 7 players that drop in coverage on each play, and eight that play the run.  Also, these players can move around the field pending on where the offensive players are.  The four linebackers have a tough job in this defense, because these players need to make reads right at the snap to determine if it is run or a pass.  If pass generally the outside backers cover the flats and the middle backers cover the middle.  If it's a run, outside backers job is to make runners stay inside and middle backers need to read guards, fill lanes, and make tackles.

The second scheme  I will discuss is also the 4-4 defense, but I will call it an attacking 4-4.  The 11 players on defense are still in the same spots as the basic 4-4 defense, the only difference is the types of plays run out of it.  An attacking 4-4 sends at least 2 linebackers on a blitz just about every down.  Then the defense will do more man to man instead of zone.  If your corners are relatively good this scheme can be very effective.  You can stuff many runs because your linebackers attack all game and get up field.  This makes it very hard on the lineman to block them.  Also, passing can be difficult if the corners are in good position and the safety plays the field well.  The downside to this is you give up more big plays as a defense as it is easier for runners to get to the secondary.  You are predictable, meaning the offensive coordinator knows a blitz is coming.  Also, if you are unable to pressure a quarterback you will get scorched in the passing game.  But, all in all with good corners this is a pretty effective defense.

The third scheme I want to talk about is the 5-3.  This defense still uses three defensive backs in the same positions they were in before, but includes five d-linemen and three linebackers.  In this scheme it is the defensive ends job to contain the outsides, where as in the 4-4 it was the outside linebackers job.  The three linebackers in the 5-3 all have gaps they cover and must be aggressive and attacking.  There is less flexibility with this defense, but it is much more effective against the run than the basic 4-4.  This defense can be utilized when you have more good defensive linemen then linebackers, which is generally not the case. 

The final defensive scheme I will discuss is the 4-3 defense.  Of all the defenses I have discussed this one is the hardest to pull off in small town football, but can be very effective with the right players.  This defense has four defensive lineman, three linebackers and four defensive backs (like the image below).  As you can see you only have seven defensive players in the box, where as in the other 3 schemes you have eight.  These players need to be good at what they do, especially the three linebackers.  But if they can be coached well and are talented, then this defense has more flexibility then all others.  Because their are four defensive backs and two safeties, these players can move all over to cover various formations, and they can be much more aggressive against the pass and run because there are more of them.  Which, in the end makes the defense basically a 4-4, when the safety comes up field hard on run plays.  This defense also takes away a lot of down-field passes because of the four defensive backs.  The obvious downside, though is there is only seven guys in the box, so if able, you can run all over this defense.

In this blog I have discussed four defensive schemes, all of which have been used very effectively in football with the right players and coaching.  Depending on how much flexibility you want with your players, and how many players you want to devote to the run, will affect the scheme you employ for your defense.

How To Develope a Successful High School Defense

Before I start talking about defense, I'll admit, much of what I will talk about about I just learned last year, which was my first year coaching defense.  Although, I may lack some knowledge in this area, I will discuss knowledge of several other coaches that have more experience.  I started my offensive segment saying what position was most important for success.  For Defense this is much harder to do, as a successful defense is more of a group effort.  But, if I had to choose one player that was all-state caliber I would take the obvious choice, middle linebacker.  If your defense has a dominant middle linebacker, you are able to have more success in making sure people are lined up correctly and know what slant and/or stunt they will be doing.  Also, a great middle linebacker can read inside runs easily and fill the right gap and make most of these plays.  Screens and passes over the middle are much harder to run when your going against a great middle linebacker.

Photo by Hugh Cox

Before any linebackers can have any success at all you need at least an decent defensive line that knows what they are doing.  The key to this is what is called gap integrity.  For linebackers to have lanes to make tackles and not have blockers all over them the d-line needs to fill the correct gap on the snap (gaps are the spaces between the o-linemen).  Gap integrity is even more important on blitzes, I learned this the hard way a couple of times.  If a player blitzes the same gap as where the defensive lineman is going, it opens up a whole.  If the play ends up going up that hole, then runner usually ends up getting to the secondary, which is a bad situation for the defense.  If you look at the picture below you will see the linebacker is blitzing the gap between the center and guard and the two d-linemen are going to the other two gaps.

Photo by FootballsFuture.com

The most successful High School defenses have a d-line that plays with their hands on.  This helps in two ways: first this keeps the offensive lineman away from your body so when you are near the runner you can easily disengage the block and make the tackle, and second this keeps the o-linemen occupied so they are unable to go down field and make a block on a linebacker.  Also, d-linemen need enough power to keep the o-lineman back.  As a d-line the worst case senerio is to get moved back away from the ball.  This makes life easy on the runningback and hard on the linebackers.

A successful d-line makes the job easy for a linebacker.  First it keeps them free to make reads on runs and make tackles.  Also, it makes open lanes where the linebacker knows to fill on inside and outside runs.  But, these linebackers need to be smart and aggressive for them to get tackles.  They need to be smart so they can make there reads.  The middle linebacker needs to read the guard.  I was always told going through football that following the guard will always take you to the play, and through coaching I have found that to be correct.  We run drills in practice everyday just working through reading the guard.  These linebackers also need to be aggressive.  This is a lot easier said then done.  They need to be able to attack, stick their nose into a play and make a tackle.

Photo by Chris Manderioli

 Finally, I will talk about the defensive backs.  Their job is fairly easy in small school football, as their are a lot more runs than passes.  As long as the d-line and linebackers do their jobs the d-back should rarely have to make tackles.  For running plays the defensive backs are your safety nets, they need to be able to make open field tackles when the running back breaks into the secondary.  They also need to be able to read pass, and cover well.  They need to make sure under no circumstance, they ever let a receiver behind them.  They also need the correct footwork to be in position to make plays.

To recap, if the d-line, linebackers, and d-backs all do they jobs correctly.  If they make their reads, fill right gaps, keep hands on, play aggressively and have proper footwork, you will find that stopping the offense will be done easily.