John T. Reed’s football coaching blog
The Gap-8 and 10-1 football defenses
Posted by John Reed on
Misnomers The Gap-8 and 10-1 names are really misnomers. My defense is, at times a Gap-8, a 10-1, and sometimes even a 9-1-1 or a 7-3-1. It depends on the offensive formation. The name gap-8 is from the old days when the offense was almost always in a full house T-formation with two tight ends and the defense was truly in a gap-8. Nowadays, with offenses using multiple formations, the gap-8 is really just a basic concept that gave its name to multiple “grandchildren” that are not gap-8's per se, but are related to the original gap-8. Gap-air-mirror defense A...
The ‘off-tackle’ kick return by Dan Reed
Posted by John Reed on
If your next opponent ran nothing but the above play on offense, would you be impressed? Despite the complete lack of creativity, this is the most common kick return strategy in football. Most coaches have heard that special teams make up 10-20% of all plays. A common response is to spend more time on their punt protection and continue to neglect kick return. Some are still convinced they need to spend all your time on offense and defense, and to them, kick return is just something that happens in between “real” football plays. Note by John T. Reed:...
Comments on various youth football plays
Posted by John Reed on
Copyright 1999, 2006 John T. Reed I have seen a lot of plays attempted in youth football. And I have noticed that certain ones are successful a disproportionate percent of the time, while others rarely work. Most of these plays have been successful at one time or another at one level or another, but at the youth level, I have found some plays are more effective than others. Successful plays (highlighted in green): Blast/iso, Pitch Sweep, Fill Sweep, Halfback Pack, Slant Pass, Counter/Misdirection, Fake Reverse, Sprint Out Flat Pass, Wedge, Fake Punt, Goose and Go. Effective if coached properly (highlighted...
John T. Reed's comments on various youth football defenses
Posted by John Reed on
Many youth defensive coaches contact me asking what is the best defense for youth football. It is the Gap-Air-Mirror which I invented and perfected with the help of my readers. Below are comments on that defense and some of the others I have seen in my career as a youth and high school coach. Gap-8 Gap-8 is a misnomer in the twenty-first century. I am now calling it the gap-air-mirror defense. The gap-air-mirror defense has down linemen in the A and B gaps, contain men lined up on air (no offensive player in front of them) just outside the...
What to do with extremely weak youth football players
Posted by John Reed on
Copyright 1999 John T. Reed One of the many ways youth sports differ from high school and higher levels is the wide range of ability levels on the team. In the NFL, every player is one of the top 50 or so guys at his position in the world. On the typical sub-teen youth team, you have a kid who will star in high school mixed in with a dozen or more kids who will stop playing sports in junior high school. Unfortunately, youth coaches and administrators do not recognize this fact and respond appropriately. The key to unhappiness in...