TGOG Film

Well, it's finally here!  For those that have doubted the technique, a dear friend of mine, and colleague, Coach Barry Hoover, who runs Coach Hoover's Football Coaching Site, has done all the leg work for me in finding the proper cut-ups for the film and putting it all together.  I can take no credit here, Coach Hoover's a fine individual, who by the way, can tear up some BBQ!!!  Anhow, here is the film, hope everyone enjoys it!

Some other things to look at this off-season:

Brophy stirring the pot with Florida State and Mickey Andrew's famous "jet" technique and pass rush technique in his latest blog post.  He also has another good post on the "In, At, Out" Drill for LB's.

Some other sites to check out are in my blog roll.  Always give these guys a look, there's some good stuff out there!

Smart Football
Hit Em' Hard
Spread Football
Blitzology
Compete in All Things

These are just a few in my blog roll.  Great stuff out there written by great coaches that take time out of their busy schedules to help us out.  Thanks guys!!!  Dog days of summer are here, don't get lacidasical!!!!  Season's right around the corner.

Duece

Links!!!

Just a tidbit on some things I 'm reading and other happenings out there on the Internet.  Sorry for the lack of postings, but the book comes first, and the blog is suffering.  Please bear with me as I do have some good posts in the works.

Brophy's been beating the band over at Cripes! Get Back to Fundamentals blog.  The latest post on how to download and cut up the NFL's "All-22" films, is, pardon my French...BAD ASS.  Great job big dawg!  Other good ones here lately have been some stuff on Bo Pelini (one of my favorite Over/Under guys), as well as Brophy's 1 high Nickle stuff (which plays in to some of my older posts on defending the spread with a one-high look).

Coach Hoover's been working his tail off too, with some good articles on ball security, using the 8-2-1 kickoff return to limit concussions and injuries (for more 8-2-1 stuff go here), and Urban Meyer's passing concept known as Bullets.  As usual, Hoover's posts are clean, clear and full of some awesome information.

The next blog, is Smart Football.  To be honest, if you aren't checking Smart Football daily, what the hell are you doing then???  Really guys, take the time out to read this blog...DAILY, the popular author of The Essential Smart Football, Chris Brown, has one of the best football blogs around.  The blog is filled with not only football X's and O's, but also philosophy, practice organization information, and even the occasional business and life posts.  What more could you want all in one blog?

Spread Football is a cool blog with several nice tidbits for the spread happy coach.  Some of my favorites have been the post on double slants (always a favorite of mine), the post on option from pistol sets and especially the post on Alabama's smash concept.  A very well thought out and clean blog, so what are you waiting for?  Go check out Spread Football!!!

A couple of new sites I haven't had a chance to read all the posts on are Coach Vint's site and Coach Mac's Play Fast Football.  The few posts I have read, have been flat awesome!  Coach Vint's post on building a championship culture are second to none.  These are two new blogs I'm checking out, and from what I've seen, they will be added to the reading list...shortly.

So many  blogs...so little time!

Again, sorry about the delay in posts, maybe this will wet your whistle for a while until I can get finished with the book.  Things are looking good though and coming right along with it, but when you are a perfectionist it probably takes a bit longer than it really should.  Anyhow, please be patient with me!

Duece

For Those Looking For Some TGOG Video and Technique

Here is some video that may help explain things a bit better.  Though some of the techniques are a bit different than the method I describe in my posts, the theory is basically the same.

Some confusion that's been going on is alignment and assignment.  First off, the rules are clear and concise.  When the defense aligns, regardless of the front, the DL know their assignment based on the status of their inside gap.  If their inside gap is open, then they are a two gapper.  If the inside gap is occupied, then they are a one gapper.

Some other questions have been on whether or not the one gapper will still spill.  My answer has been, yes if he can, if not, no big deal, he did his job by getting off the ball and getting up field.  He should be aligned wide enough to see this, but it's not imperative that he spill, in my opinion.  The run fits work with or without him spilling.

I've had coaches ask me about the various fronts you can run this technique out of, to which my answer has been "I do not know" because all I've ever run it out of is an even front.  Some coaches are suggesting running a two gap nose and have the DT's or DE's in an outside shade and let them two gap.  Look, the idea here is simple, use the technique and the rules, and apply them accordingly.

Another thing I got from my friend who runs this technique is he has switched to using this technique against one back teams only now.  Against two and three back teams he has moved to a traditional way of playing blocks and utilizes a one-back adjustment to the base technique which is TGOG.  When I ran it (by sheer accident) I used it as a call, so really, the sky's the limit when it comes to how you want to package this with your defense.

I really don't know any other way to explain the technique other than what I have.  Hopefully the videos can give me a bit of credibility on the basis of the technique, since some of my peers feel that if it isn't run on Saturdays or Sundays then the technique isn't worth squat!  Anyhow, just thought I'd take a break from writing this book to drop a blurb on TGOG to set things straight.

DL - Pete Jenkins - 1 Gap, 2 Gap Technique (2009) Title 1 from Duece on Vimeo.

Duece

Smart Football Store and Other Links



Want some links?


Just saw this today, but you've got to check out Smart Football's store!  A little (ok, maybe a LOT) Air Raid biased, but some cool stuff nonetheless.  Just in time for the holidays folks, so get your Smart Football gear and as always continue to read Smart Football's blog.





Kick Ass!


Brophy has been lighting up the postings here lately with several awesome tidbits of information, from coaching the under front to Bill Walsh's practice schemes and philosophy, all of these can be found at Cripes Get Back to Fundamentals.  As always Brophy, top notch stuff.

I was checking out Spread Football today and came across their new message board.  Seems like it will be a good one!  Check out the No Huddle Spread message board today!

If you're not into no huddle spread, and are maybe a more "3 back attacker" well, I've got another message board I recently joined that might be the right fit for you.  Coach Calande has his message board dedicated to the "dreaded double wing" and the 46 Gambler defense that has some good discussion topics on it.  Check out his site, and let me know what you think!




Ahh, the Gambler...


Coach Hoover continually churns out great posts.  His latest on making highlight videos and how Georgia lost the SEC Championship are nothing short of stellar posts.  He's also got some great links over there, and good "how to" videos in terms of technique of coaching various positions.  I once ate ribs with this guy, and all I can say is, he writes much cleaner than he eats (wink-gotcha buddy)!!!!

As always, go check out my alter ego at The 12th Man Blog.  Here I get away from X's and O's and Jimmies and Joe's, and pretty much lay it on the line how I feel.  Don't really care whether it's right, wrong, or even politically correct.  So grab a beer, or your favorite "toddy" and come on over to The 12th Man....it'll be fun!

These are just some tidbits I wanted to throw out there, since it is the season of giving.  Hope everyone has a safe and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!




Dont' have too much fun this holiday season!

 


 
Duece

I'll Be Back...

Well, it's been a crazy ride this season, and with only two games left, things will be over soon and I can get back to posting.  Do I ever have some stuff for you guys!  I'm working on the following:

1. Key mistakes to avoid as a defensive coordinator
1. Believe me folks, if anybody has screwed up and NOT followed this protocol this season, it's me.  I'm going to share some of those events and how we got the ship righted to finish strong.
2. The 8-2-1 kickoff return scheme.
3. Using nickel personnel to effectively defend the two back running game.
4. Tackling drills.
5. The unbalanced single wing and how this offense impacted myself, our coaches, and the players.

These are just a few of the things I've got in store, so don't forget about me.  In the meantime you can always check out my other blog, The Twelfth Man, where I get away from X's and O's and go a little more "opinionated".  Here are some other things you should be looking at as well.

Brophy has been back and has some great pieces, on Saban, Tony Franklin and La. Tech.  As always Brophy writes with a witty purpose, and does a great job explaining things.

Smart Football has been putting up some good stuff on the West Coast offense and how it helped Drew Brees attain his record.  Also some great articles on Geno Smith, Dana Holgorsen and some breakdown on the zone blitz coverage.  As always, Chris is a very talented writer and has links to several great video clips over on his site. 

Well, if you season is ending and you are not looking to the playoffs, once it's over, take a week or two and rest up as the whirlwind we know as the off-season will begin!  If your headed to the playoffs, congratulations, now keep your eyes on the prize!!!

Duece

Overwhelmed at the Moment

I figured I better post this before I have a mutiny on my hands, so here goes.  Gonna have to put the blog on hold at least for the football season.  I've picked up some new duties as the interim head coach of the team I was the assistant head coach for.  The head coach is down sick and can only do so much, so I've had to shoulder a much larger percentage of the duties this season.  I hope you understand.  I'm also trying to get my book completed, so time is of the essence and writing along with being a head coach has taxed me to my limit.  Anyhow, please don't throw rocks, I'll be back to posting here soon, just let me get my ducks in a row at the moment!

Some other great sites to check out while I'm away are:
Coach Hoover's Blog
Brophy's Blog
Smart Football
Coach Iannucci's blog
Tony DeMeo
Kickology
Chief Pigskin

Anyhow, good luck on your seasons, we start next week! 

Let's go!

Duece

Links, links links!

Haven't posted any links in a while, so I thought I'd give out some good info.  Posting may drop off for a while as I might be an interim head coach.  I will have to wait and see on what the future holds, but to be honest, I'm not looking forward to being the head man again.  Anyhow, on to those links!

Man, Coach Hoover caught my ugly mug in an otherwise good video of OJW (from the Huey board) talking about the 4-2-5 and the flexibility the defense offers when defending today's offenses.  You can check out the video here.  This video was from our FREE clinic back in early July, if you missed it, I think we might have some more, as we may have started a tradition!  Stay tuned for more information.

Brophy has a good post on Check With Me Defense, which is really becoming the wave of the future.  I mean why not?  Who says the offense has to dictate the tempo of the game, as well as what they are going to do by  how you line up?  This is a great concept, in its infant stage that I believe will catch on as the collegiate game evolves.  I don't know how much this trickles down to high school ball, but I could see it being something high school coaches could take and adapt to the smaller scale for varsity football.  As usual, Brophy also has some great links to good videos and free stuff here as well.

Over at Smart Football there's a good article on Spread Punt Protection.  Many folks have moved or are moving to this concept of punt formation.  I plan on writing an article on an interesting punt formation I have used in the past.  There never is enough information on the most important 33.3% of the game out there...special teams!  Well, Chris, over at Smart Football has got a good post, that is a must for any coach getting ready to start installing those ever important special teams!  Remember, special teams are special!  Oh, and by the way, if you haven't bought the book yet, The Essential Smart Football then please proceed to your nearest psychologist and have your head checked!

Teach to Win is a cool blog I found when searching the Internet.  Not much on X's and O's, but a lot on philosophy and coaching here.  Haven't had a ton of time to look around on the site, but definitely worth checking out.

Anyhow, season is here, so look for a post slowdown for a while.  Like I said earlier I'm working on some special teams stuff, but it probably won't be ready until after the start of the season.  Sorry, I've just been too busy.  Also don't forget to check out my other blog, The 12th Man!  A little off kilter, and more opinionated than here, but worth reading.

Later dudes,

Duece

Creating an Eight Man Front to Defend the Spread Offense

Did someone say eight man front?

When I first went to the 4-2-5, my team struggled to grasp the concept, but it wasn't just the concept alone that hurt us.  There are some glaring weaknesses in the "Pattersonian 4-2" that if you are "out-athleted", you simply are setting yourself up for failure.  I will explain further, but after some miserable seven-on-seven outings, I had to do something.  Well, what I'm going to present you is what I came up with, and a bit of it was stolen from our 3-3 brethren, as well as from Brophy's blog on Nick Saban's adaptation of Cover 3 to the spread offense.

I was forced into the 4-2, because like a lot of coaches in struggling situations, we needed answers which correlated to wins.  Now, this story doesn't have a happy ending, however, there are some excellent things to be learned from the trials and tribulations of ANY coach.  So when the switch was made, things looked good on paper, then enter the seven-on-seven league we played in.  Where we got hurt the most was in the curl area to the away side of the coverage.  Blue is a great coverage, however to the away side, you are essentially giving up the curl, and if you play Bronco, you are giving up that out route to the flat due to the leverage issue of the Weak Safety (WS).  Well, after four disappointing games, and four weeks of not seeing any progress, I became enamored with finding a solution.  I needed something simple and quick to install.  Well, I found my answer on the pages of Cripes, Get Back to Fundamentals in the posts on Saban's Rip/Liz adaptation.  So, the following Monday we installed Cover 3, and Mable, and went on to look a whole lot better in seven-on-seven.  After losing our first four games, we ended up winning three out of the last four, to finish three and five for the summer.  The kids liked the new coverage better and I just knew we were going to succeed.  Well, enter the pre-season!

Prior to the start of the season, the goal was to keep the defense simple so the kids could play fast.  Well, our base coverage to any 2 back set was Robber, and then if we got any one back set, we moved on Cover 3.  Trips check would be Mable, and we were going to blitz empty if we got it (we only saw empty five times that year, even though we played seven spread teams).  What I'm going to do in the following paragraphs is explain the coverages we used, and then go through the "rights" and "wrongs" that we did so you can see how we came to an end result which was an eight man front that was sound against the spread. 

Robber
Robber coverage is nothing new, and since I was a Quarters guy, it fit with my mentality of pattern reading.  Trouble is, we only faced two, two back teams that year, and both were at the end of the season.  Sure, we saw some mix of some spread two back, but not much, so Robber was no the first coverage I taught.  Now, the Robber I ran, was the typical Virginia Tech Robber scheme that so many people have become familiar with over the years.  There's been so much written on the topic that for me to write more, would simply fall into the category of "white noise" as there is very little I can bring to the table on the subject that hasn't already been written about.

Cover Three
Cover three, has also been written about a lot, and most know, by now, the links to Brophy's site where he speaks about Saban's adaptation to this age old fundamental coverage.  Most who really know me, know I can't stand cover three.  Anyhow, after reading the beautifully written pages of Brophy's blog I was hooked.  Saban's cover three is everything you love about cover one, and everything you love about cover three, all rolled into one.  I heard one person even comment to Brophy that Saban's cover three was much like a one-high version of Quarters.  This comment really caught my attention, and got my wheels to spinning.  I'm going to re-hash the rules for Saban's cover three, in case anyone missed them.

For the corners, Rip/Liz (what Saban calls his adaptation), is basically like cover one with some zone principles.  The corner's rule is he has all of the number one receiver vertical.  If one is shallow and in or out, he zones off his deep third.  Pretty standard, yet vague enough of a description to be dangerous.  What I added to this to help our corners was to put in a depth of the route, and more specifically a time. If the corner was able to count to three after the snap and the receiver was still running vertical, then he locked on to him man to man (ala cover one).  If the receiver had made a break before this, then the corner would zone off into his deep third.  This gave the corner a feel for the three step game, since you can roughly count to three and be at the third step of the quarterback, and allowed the corner to anticipate whether he was getting a three or five step drop ( I can't tell you the last time I've seen a seven step drop in high school football).  Anyhow, that was really the basis for the coverage for the corners.  Now I did tweak one thing, that if the number one receiver broke off his route in a hitch or out, that the corner could cushion back and think smash and help play under the deep corner route.  This technique helped our outside safeties (OSS) who were sometimes a little outmatched by the opponent's slot receiver.  Ok, speaking of the OSS's, let's move on to their reads and techniques.



Corner reads

The OSS's rules for Rip/Liz were that they were to take the vertical and out by the number two receiver.  Here I had to tweak the term "vertical" a bit more as well.  What I found out worked for us, was that if the receiver took two steps up field, he was vertical.  I know this is slightly different than the corners, but had to be done this way to combat some of the spacing concepts such as all hitches or all slants.  This allowed us to play the short throws much like cover one would, in a basic man-to-man concept.  The OSS was to align in outside leverage so long as he did not cross the top of the numbers if the ball was in the MOF.  This allowed the OSS to maintain leverage on his run assignment of playing force.  If the number two receiver went shallow and inside, then the OSS would break immediately to the flat based on the corners call of what the number one receiver had done (in or out).  If the call was out, the OSS would flatten his drop and look to get in the "window" of the quarterback's vision.  If the call was in, the OSS would "sit down" and hang on the edge of the curl/flat zone boundary line looking for the slant or dig routes.  Again, we can see, Saban's adaptation has taken two of cover three's known weaknesses, the seams, and the curl flat divider and removed them from existence. 

OSS reads/reactions to number two vertical or out

The free safety had the very simple rule of playing the middle third of the field.  What I liked about the coverage is it took a huge strain off the free safety playing those seam routes against four vertical teams.  The free safety did not have to be such a good athlete as a typical MOF safety does, which was our case. 

So, in summary, the Rip/Liz adaptation really helped, and this help immediately showed in seven-on-seven.  However, like anything else, this adaptation had it's disadvantages too, which I will speak of later. 

Video Courtesy of our main man Brophy

Mable
Mable, which is Saban's adaptation of cover three to defend trips, is a very sound way of playing any three by one set you may see.  However, one weakness that stood out in seven-on-seven was that by pushing the linebacker to the trips, he was barely in the box, and really was asking a tall order of one of my inside linebackers to do what his rules were.  The rules are simple, but my adaptation was shown below, in what a friend of mine (Outlaw Josey Wales on the Huey board) called "dogs over".  This concept was one of many I borrowed from the 3-3 Stack guys, and it was simply to move the weak OSS over to the trips side and slide the linebackers one full shade to the weak side of the coverage.  This did two things, first it put our linebacker in man coverage in a situation with a better match up, our linebacker against their running back (which was much better than our linebacker against their number three receiver).  Second, by sliding the linebackers away, and utilizing our Two-Gap/One-Gap defensive line play, we were able to use this weak side linebacker as our force player.  Thirdly, this scheme, which I aptly named "30 backer" (cover three strong and cover zero weak with weak backer force) put our three better athletes on our opponent's three receivers creating the match ups that we wanted. 

"Dogs over" adjustment to trips in the 3-3 stack



"Dogs over" adjustment in the 4-2



Mable's reads are not that tough, and is nothing more than an overloaded zone pushed to the strong side with a man to man concept on the backside.  This is nothing new, and Brophy has detailed this quite a bit in his posts on Mable.  The key to Mable is that the two underneath droppers (the strong and weak safeties) have got to get the number two or number three receiver on a different level if the offense is running four verticals.  Fortunately for us, we didn't see four verticals from trips, and even though we worked the dickens out of it, this concept still concerned me. 

Coverage Summary
As you can see, that is a very simple and small list of coverages.  Much smaller than the standard TCU fare I've talked about in the past.  I'm not knocking TCU, I'm just saying, that it does require some athletes at certain positions to run.  If you don't have these athletes, you don't scrap the defense (although some would), you make the defense fit what you have.  Saban's adaptations have made this possible.  The ability to play an eight man front against spread teams, and especially the spread option teams has been a huge victory for defenses around the country fighting to keep up with spread football.  Sure, are there weaknesses, yes there are, and I will talk about those in the next post.  I'm going to cut this one up into a few posts, so hang in there, these should be some informative posts to those who don't have the athletes to run some of the seven man front coverage schemes!

Duece

Weak Safety Shuffle Technique in Solo Coverage

Uh oh...

Most who know me know I like the shuffle footwork for defensive backs (DB's).  I started using the shuffle about 2006 as a way to help my slow corners have an advantage against our competition, who was much, much faster than us.  Since then, the shuffle is all I've really used when coaching corners.  The technique really has allowed a lesser player to play the cornerback position and still be able to be effective against much better talent at wide receiver (WR).

Introduce Solo coverage, or as I was taught "Poach" coverage.  I learned this back in my early days of Quarters coverage.  I used it as my trips open check as an automatic.  The problem I always had with Solo was the weak safety (WS) and his ability to both get over the number three receiver vertical, and being able to come up and play the force player to the away side.  Sure, most times this player is into the boundary and our dear friend, the 12th player (the sideline) can help us out.  However, if you've had some of the athletes I've had to coach, over the past few years, you quickly realize you need some way of helping this kid out.  I had used both a flat-footed buzz technique (which is my standard footwork for a Quarters or Two Read safety), and backpedaling as the footwork technique.  I take to heart a lot of what the players tell me, as they are the one's who are having to execute the technique and perform.  Most of the players did not like the sit and buzz because they always felt late getting to the vertical of number three.  Secondly, they did not like to backpedal because they felt by the time they judged it was a run play, they were late forcing the football.  So what to do?

WS has an issue with leverage on both the vertical by #3 and being able to force.

A few years back, I started toying with shuffling the WS out at an angle, having him open to the number three receiver.  The kids caught on pretty quick and liked it much better than backpedaling or standing flat-footed.  The benefit is two-fold in this case.  The WS gets to open up to his pass key (number three), yet still can see the quarterback and EMOL to get his run reads.   If the number three receiver is vertical, the WS can get into better position using the shuffle because he opens in the direction of the number three receiver putting him closer to his assignment than if he would have simply backpedaled.  If the WS reads run, he can easily use the T-step, redirect and get back downhill to help force the run. 




By opening to #3 WS can easily read #3's intentions






By opening to #3 WS can still see his normal lane of ball read and redirect if necessary


You do need to tweak the alignment of the WS if you use the shuffle.  Originally I had the WS align in the away side A gap.  I felt this alignment allowed him to get to both assignments well, however the WS still was late forcing the run most of the time.  Anytime I tried moving him wider, then the number three receiver became a problem.  Once I tried shuffling, I was able to move my lesser athletic WS's to the B gap, and the more athletic one's to stacked over the away side OT. 




WS is too wide in normal alignment to account for #3 vertical




Something else, not related to WS technique, that can help with Solo coverage is having the read side LB work fast to wall number three and force this receiver to run a "bubble" when going vertical.  This gives the WS time to get a clear read and get to his assignment.  The LB has to work quickly to get to this route and at the very least help be in the throwing lane, especially vs. quick throws. 

Lastly, if you really like Solo coverage, mix in "Roll Solo" as well.  Roll is not a good coverage vs. four vertical routes, however, it is good against teams that run flood concepts with the number three receiver going vertical (instead of the standard of having number one take the top off the coverage).  Roll takes some pressure off of your WS because there is added help by the FS in this case.  Maybe that's for another article though...

Just something I tried and wanted to share with folks who may be experiencing the same issues I had when installing Solo coverage.  Solo is a very good coverage, but it does have it's weaknesses.  By utilizing a technique, I already was coaching my corners on, I was able to help out our WS's in Solo coverage.

Most of you are wrapping up spring practice, you've had your spring games and are looking ahead to the off-season.  However, some of you may still need some improvement.  Here's some great sites in my blog roll you need to check out!

Football is Life Blog Roll

Smart Football
Smart Football is a site I check daily.  The latest post on the Colts offense shows exactly why football coaches should use this site.  The attention to detail here is second to none. 

Gridnotes
Gridnotes is one of those gifts that keeps on giving.  It seems as if this site is updated daily.  Articles ranging from X's and O's to philosophy and tidbits that will make you a better coach grace the pages of this blog.  You can also find links to some of my long lost posts on there as well!  Great site chocked full of TONS of information on the great game of football.

Coach Hoover's Site
Coach Hoover, the master of creating and editing video has a great site with more links than I can possibly count.  Plenty of articles on drills as well as devotion and coaching philosophy can be found on Coach Hoover's site.  Plus...he's a Gator fan, what more could you want?!

Cripes, Get Back to Fundamentals
If you haven't found Brophy's site yet, you are missing out.  Cripes, Get Back to Fundamentals is the Mecca of a myriad of football information.  So stop lying around on a bean bag, naked, eating Cheetos, and get on the Internet to this site!  I guarantee you can burn up a couple of Saturdays doing nothing but reading old posts on here.  Good job Brophy!

If you are looking for good football knowledge, check out those sites, you won't go wrong there.  Well, I'm off for a bit, heading to enjoy my memorial day weekend.  Have fun, be safe and enjoy a cool one...





I hear Buffet playing...don't you?!


Duece

"The Most Hated Man in West Texas"...and other news...

Best headline I ever saw!  Craig James is running for U.S. Senate, and it looks like Horatio Sands would have a better chance of winning a marathon than James winning a seat in Congress.  I find this a fitting scenario given James track record with legendary Air Raid coach Mike Leach.  I will not go into Leach's book, or the scandal, as most know what this is all about.  Obviously, Leach has moved on and is surely going to do well at Washington State.  The future of Craig James looks bleak though, and I can't say I didn't smile a bit when I read this headline.




Living the good life...

 We've all had those dad's that just think their son is the greatest thing since the invention of the DVR.  James is no different, yet he's worse in many ways, because of the grand scale on which James portrayed this annoying habit.  "Helicopter dads" are awful, but when they are someone the scale that James is, I'm sure it can be quite disturbing.  Although I don't necessarily condone Leach for what he did, I do like the fact he stuck to his guns, and now he can look both Craig James and the trustees at Texas Tech. University in the eye and say "I told you so!".  That's a very fitting end to this saga in my humble opinion!

Well, in other news those that are wondering about the progress with the book, all the chapters are written!  I still have some illustrations and editing to do, but things are moving along nicely.  I will keep you updated as things progress, so keep those fingers crossed.

I'm sure Kyle Williams doesn't open his mail very much these days, but this was a very heartwarming story about the letter one young man decided to write the belittled football player.  Sure wish more people thought this way...death threats...really?

Speaking of the 49'ers could coach Jim Harbaugh get any hotter right now?  I'm very impressed with what he's done, and I think the Bay Area should be ready for some familiar "January football" once again.  Here's an article by Brophy that shows Harbaugh doing what he does best...coach the quarterbacks.




These days could be closer than you think!


Coach Hoover continues his dissection of the Fire Zone blitzes here.  Good article buddy, keep em' coming!

Here's a good post by Student of the Game, piggybacking an earlier post I had on Coach Paul Johnson's "If/Then" methodology of calling plays in the Flexbone offense. 

I just got my first "moderator" gig over at the Single Wing Forum.  This is a great forum, well thought out, clean and easy to use.  For you "single wingers" come on over and check this place out.  I think you'll like the format, and hey, I'm one cool ass moderator! 

Well, I've joined up with Full Throttle Football and you can read some of my articles over there if you'd like to.  Full Throttle is a very neat site with excellent articles, video and instruction.  You can spend hours on that one site alone, so check it out!

Direct Snap Football has a nice little piece on a shotgun running game some of you "spread" guys might be into.  This is a good site for anything direct snap and single wing.  Check out Direct Snap Football for more information on the spread and single wing offenses.

I found this site while perusing the Huey board the other day.  A very well thought out site with good illustrations and video on the Flexbone offense. 

Anyhow, I will continue with more 46 Nickel stuff here in the near future, so be patient with me!!!!

Duece