Creating An Effective Game Plan In The 50 Defense Head Coach – Tom Bolden Defensive Coordinator – Shawn Cutright Secondary Coach – Phill Joseph COLERAIN FOOTBALL RUN FAST! HIT HARD!

About Us Division I High School (Approx Boys) in Cincinnati 11 Consecutive Greater Miami Conference Titles Playoff Qualifier 10 of the past 11 seasons Multiple Division I College Players 2004 Ohio State Champions 127 – 14 with 35 All-Ohio players since 2000

About Our Defense Defensive Averages Since 2005: 80 Rush Yds. Per Game 99 Pass Yds. 10 Pts. 3 Ohio Defensive Player’s of the Year Since 2000

Why Run The 50? Lack of size on the line Advantageous to our players… speed Difficult to get a pre-snap read Easy to adjust to power and spread Flexibility to change players Ability to run multiple coverages Keeps offense off balance with ability to angle

Colerain Defensive Philosophy Use formation recognition & game situation to make defensive adjustments/alignments Be flexible enough to react to what the offense is doing, even if that means changing our call ILB’s & Safeties are leaders on the field & must completely understand the game plan each week Allow them to get us into good situations through checks Take advantage of team speed Run all defensive calls from the same look

Defensive Colerain 1.Win 2.Hold Opponent under 10 points 3.Hold under 100 yds. rushing 4.Hold under 125 yds. Passing 5.No plays over 25 yds. 6.Force 3 Turnovers 7.Score/Setup a Score 8.Win all sudden changes 9.Prevent Back-to-back 1 st downs after we score 10.No penalties to extend drives 11.Hold Opponent to under 33% on 3 rd down 12.5 Sacks/TFL

Creating The Game Plan: What We Want to Know What do they want to do & when do they do it? What are they best at/What do we have to stop? What can we do best against them? Personnel – Who’s the guy? – Best Player – QB Ability – Worst OL/Do they flip O-Line – Do they have packages?

Phases of Creating an Effective Game Plan 1.Film Breakdown (Coaches) 2.Game Plan Creation/Scouting Report 3.Film Study (Players) 4.Practice 5.Putting it all together & Making adjustments in-game

Phase 1: Film Breakdown Meet & get it done in 1 day. Defensive staff meets & begins film 7am Saturday, typically finished before 2pm Breakdown 3 films* – Last 3 opponents or 3 opponents who run the 50 defense Make sure that every coach has responsibilities & let them create a system to meet them

Film Breakdown Responsibilities Coach 1: Inputs Formation, Play, Play Type, Play Direction, Field/Bench Coach 2: Inputs Location, Down & Distance, Result Coach 3: Draws all run plays Coach 4: Draws all pass plays/create passing chart Coach 5: Watch/note personnel, begin to draw scout cards

Film Breakdown Continued After 3 Films are finished: – Create personnel sheet for scouting report – Determine basic tendencies (run/pass, field/bench) – Draw enough cards for Monday practice – Create a Run & Pass Summary page – Draw each formation & label plays from them – Discuss initial thoughts & Go home! Coaches may need to finish drawing cards, generate tendency reports, watch additional film

Phase 2: Creating the Game Plan Sunday is spent creating the game plan & scouting report. By Sunday night this is finished Assistants finish scout cards, begin writing scripts, create film playlists, etc. Coordinator reviews all information, contacts coaches, reviews film, etc. to formulate plan If you play angle defense, tendencies are critical to your game plan

Tendency Reports We want to know as much as we can about what the opponent will do in almost all situations. Tendency reports will determine our automatic checks, the direction we want to angle, where to bring pressures, what coverage's to play when, etc. We start by looking at the following: Run/Pass Hash/Direction Each formation Tight End Motion/Type of Motion Backfield Alignment Down & Distance Combinations of any of these Anything else we may see that week

Scouting Report Format Handed 7am Monday morning Title Page – Paragraph summary of opponent Personnel Page Keys to Victory by position (3-4 each) Tendency Nutshell Down & Distance Tendencies Checks & Game Plan Page (What we will call & won’t) Run Summary Page Pass Summary Page Passing Chart Formation Drawings with plays

Phase 3: Film Study Your players can never watch enough film!! Short 15 – 20 min. sessions if possible Teach formation recognition during film Our online system is extremely helpful – Playlists are created and sent to players via text & each week. – Players can now see what is important for them quickly & easily

Film for Players Players will watch opponent film Tues./Weds./Thurs./Fri. from 7 – 7:25 am We typically watch the film from previous seasons game on Friday morning Players are expected to watch film from the playlists created online Players are quizzed during film sessions about information from scouting report

Phase 4: Practice Monday – Learning Day – Use walk-thru periods, be patient, adjust if need be Tuesday – Chaos – Up-tempo, lot’s of mental mistakes, focus on effort Wednesday – Get it Right! – Should be few mental mistakes, correct anything that goes wrong Thursday – Perfect Practice! – As game-like as possible, no mistakes

Practice Continued As much about coaches learning & adjusting as it is for the kids (debrief after each day) Film practice! We watch practice film with players everyday Utilize opportunities for 1’s on 1’s We try to see every situation in practice, almost 100 plays a day The key to this is having scout cards & scripts done right

Creating Scout Cards & Practice Scripts Scripts Have the same coaches responsible for creating them Make sure you see a variety of plays Put players in good & bad positions Pay attention to details like down/distance, hash Scout Cards We draw EVERY PLAY! Typically from 3 films this means we have over 250 plays, we use about 90 a day Cards are numbered, drawn, color-coded, and have hash and field position labeled

Monday Practice Full Pads/Full Contact 10 – 15 minute Walk – Thru – Done every Monday!! Take as long as you need! Individual – Walk – thru again by position, discuss keys for the week, fundamental drills Interior & Perimeter Periods – 32 Plays Each – 8 plays of 1’s on 1’s during interior – Group your plays by formation to help players learn checks – Put them in good situations a lot Team Period – 33 Plays – 8 plays of 1’s on 1’s – Arranged by hash & down/distance – Group plays together by formations

Tuesday Full Pads/Full Contact Tuesday is mistake day! High-paced practice, energetic/enthusiastic coaching. Individual – Work on opponent specifics (DB’s = Route Combos, DL/LB = Key Drill) Interior (32 Plays, Including 8 1’s on 1’s & 5 Goal Line) Perimeter (32 Plays) Team (33 Plays including 8 of 1’s on 1’s) – Players will make multiple mental mistakes, coach the physical!! – Put players in bad positions and see how they react – Repeat checks later on to see if they are learning

Wednesday Helmets & Shoulder Pads Only Walk thru again if need be Individual – Usually Combo’s or fixing something from the previous practices Interior (32 Plays), Perimeter (32 Plays/ 8 are 1’s on 1’s), &Team (33 Plays) – Checks should run smoothly – Mix up formations & plays – Challenge your players mentally & physically

Thursday We simulate this as close to a game as possible Put players in positions to make plays Coach in between series Players should make all checks with little or no problem Be as positive as possible so your players leave confident

Friday - Gameday 3 pm – Review of Defensive Goals with team, pass out incentives 4:30 pm – Position Meetings with coaches Remind them of checks, keys, answer questions Pre-game warm-up's = no checks Run Fast! Hit Hard!

In Game ALWAYS HAVE A C.O.P. READY! – We always have something just in case Check on Personnel (Pre-game & during) Chart tendencies from press box – Down/Distance – Field/Bench – Formation & Play Chart what you are doing effectively/ineffectively How are our guys doing? Listen to your players & adjust

Questions/Contact Shawn Cutright Phill Joseph Colerain High School 8801 Cheviot Rd. Cincinnati, OH 45239