Northwestern University Offense Practice Sturcture

Assistant Head Coach, Offensive Coordinator / QB\'s
© More from this issue

          
It is an honor to represent our Head Coach Randy Walker (one of the best coaches in the college game today); a tremendous offensive staff (Mike Dunbar - TE / FB; Howard Feggins - WR; Jeff Genyk - RB; James Patton - OL; and Kevin Johns - Offensive Graduate Assistant); and the best group of young men that I've ever been associated with in college athletics with this article for American Football Monthly. We are truly blessed here at Northwestern University with excellent opportunities that are afforded to our program, and we are extremely excited about the bright future that lies before our program.

We are now moving into our third season here at Northwestern. The 2000 Season was an exciting year in Evanston, as our institution earned its third Big Ten Title in the last six years. Our staff made dramatic changes in our offensive attack prior to last season. We implemented an offense that operated exclusively from a "No - Huddle" format, and primarily from spread formations and the 'Shot-gun' backfield set. This was a 180 degree turn from our previous season. In short, we made these changes to fit our personnel; we graduated most of our TE's and FB's from the previous season. We needed to be in spread formations more than in any previous year of our program. We felt the "No - Huddle" would fit our conditioning background within our program, which has always been a focal point of our teams throughout the years.

We had an outstanding statistical year in 2000, leading the Big Ten in Total Offense (3rd NCAA) and Scoring Offense (8th NCAA). Our offense set over 25 team and individual records in 2000. In retrospect, a great deal of our success needs to be attributed to our practice format which we used on a daily and weekly basis. I would like to share with you our basic philosophy and plan for practicing our offense. A talented group of players and this practice routine made the difference more than any X's and O's.

A. DAILY PRACTICE SCHEDULE

Our daily practice routine on a full work day (i.e. Tuesday & Wednesday) operates in 3 1/2 hours. This gives our program the flexibility to adjust with any additional special teams meetings or post practice activities. We will begin each day at 2:30 pm with a one hour and 15 minute meeting.

We will follow our meetings with a 15 - 20 minute pre-practice period. During pre-practice, the QB's will warm-up for at least 7-8 minutes. We will execute the Center - QB exchange with our Run Game Time-Up. During C-QB we will have at least 4 groups going at one time. There will be one repetition for the RB (with great expression of the run) for every 3 snaps by the Center. We will get at least 12 under Center snaps (with 4 TB Runs) and 21 gun Snaps (with 7 TB Runs). We will do this every single day that we practice. A key to being a good 'Shot-Gun' team is the ability to executed the snap. Don't take this skill for granted, for it will haunt you. While the QB's warm-up and C-QB-TB Time-Up is going, our OL will go through 'walk thrus' and low impact individual and our WR's will get some 'Stance and Starts' and Ball Drills.

Following Pre-Practice, we will have a 5 minute Specialists period. Every player on our team is involved with this period. Our long and short snappers, kickers, holders, punters, punt returners, and kick returners work on their skills. Some days we will work with our pooch punt, onside kicks, bloop kick returns, etc... The punt front will get reps during this period every day. Our offensive linemen will continue with their walk thrus, and all skill players not involved with the kicking game will go to Pat-N- Go with the QB's. We will throw fades, line throws, and hitches in a rapid fire manner.

Following Specialists, we will have our Team Stretch and Form Run. This takes 10 minutes. As practice begins, we have already had approximately 20 - 25 minutes of warm-up base fundamentals prior to our Team Stretch. Now as we begin practice, we are full tilt - 100 mph as we go through our remaining individual leading up to our group and team work. We have gotten our Center Exchanges done; however, our Center will continue to do a Gun Snap on every individual repetition that does the remainder of the day.

We operate with a 6 minute period structure, giving us 10 periods in one hour. We will work with a continuous moving clock. A typical work day will be 17 periods (1 hour and 42 minutes).

DAILY SCHEDULE:
(Period) 1 2 3-5 6 7 8-10 11	(Emphasis) PAT / Punt (Untimed) Kick Team of the Day Individual Team Time-Up Interior 7 on 7 Team

We will start each day with PAT. This will free up the offensive line after this period to begin their individual drills, including boards and chutes, combos, etc... During PAT, the QB's and WR's will do Routes on Air. We will go from left to right, flipping the formation on the following day. We will start with the quick game throws moving to our base drop back passes.

During period 2, most of our WR's are involved in the Kick of the Day. We will use this period for the QB's to work on their option pitches. Although we are not an exclusive option team, it does have a vital part of our package. We work on the pitch fundamentals every day with the QB's. It is imperative that we become very efficient with our option pitching. Once again, this skill will haunt you if it is neglected. We will do this on a daily basis, primarily with machine gun pitches to each QB during the kicking periods.

We will conclude our individual with Periods 3 - 5. We will get one period of throws to each skill group. We will start with our play-action and other passes to our TE's and FB's. The TE's will move to blocking after this period, and the QB's will then work with the TB's on our base pass routes. We will conclude with another session of routes with QB's & WR's continuing with our drop back passes and moving to sprint outs and play actions. RB's and WR's will work on their blocking fundamentals or other needs when they are not involved with the QB's. A key element to this process is that the QB's are working with a group every period. The QB's will only be by themselves during a kick period when no one is available.

If our scheduled permits, we will do an offensive group ball security circuit during this part of practice. If practices gets shortened, we will do this during post-practice. Again, don't neglect the responsibility of Ball Security. RB's, WR's, TE's, FB's & QB's are involved with this ball security drill - All Skill Positions.

The next segment is our Team Time-Up. Being a 'No-Huddle' Offense, this is something that we feel must be done on a daily basis. We'll work on our substitutions, multiple formations, and any plays that we will use during this segment of practice. We will run 6 plays in a row before we go to the second group. We will try to get 3 sets of 6 plays during one period. Again, this is worked on every day.

Following Team Time-Up, we will have an Inside Running Period. We will primarily work on our two back run plays during this period, trying to get 2 sets of 6 plays in one period. We will do Inside Run on Tuesday, followed by a half line option period during this segment on Wednesday. We will work at a rapid fire pace during the option period, trying to get as many reps as possible, teaching off tape on the following day's meeting. During this period, our WR's will do 1 on 1 Routes vs our DB's. We will typically get good vs good reps during this 1 on 1 period. We will alternate QB's from the Inside Run segment and 1 on 1.

Periods 8 through 10 will be a 7 on 7 (Pass Skeleton) segment. We will typically go two periods vs the scout looks for our upcoming opponent, and one period of Good on Good. Its important to get practice looks during the week with the speed and velocity that you will see on game day. We will rep each group in sets of 4 plays before we rotate to the next group. This allows us to practice with a tempo that we will use during the game. We will easily get 40 - 44 plays during the 18 minutes of 7 on 7. Again, high reps with most teaching coming from the next days film session. During 7 on 7, our offensive line will work of base pass pro fundamentals, twist and blitz pick-ups, and live rush vs our DL. To maximize our practice time, we will rep all of our TE and FB plays first in 7 on 7. We will then free them up for additional individual and continue 7 on 7 working on our 4 wide passing game and the empty package. We have felt that our TE's and FB's were short changed on individual work with their involvement in so many special teams, so the additional individual that we get them here is vital to their continued development.

We will finish with 7 periods of Team. Our current roster is a little small (the 2000 roster had 83 players). Being a 'No-Huddle' Attack, it was difficult for us to practice at the proper tempo with such small numbers in our program. Therefore, we evolved to practicing some of our team with 1's vs 2's. This was outstanding for our team last year. The first five periods of team would be 1's vs 2's. The #1 Offense would run 6 plays in 3 minutes vs the #2 Defense, then the #1 Defense would run 6 plays vs the #2 Offense. We have always felt that we should practice multiple looks on every play vs the scouts. We never play a straight defense with the scout look; we are wheeling and dealing on every play (i.e. blitz, twists, slants, etc...). In this team format, we'll get a great opponent look for our 1's. The Scout Look is coached by our OL Coach & GA (on cards in the Umpire Position), WR Coach working the secondary, with three defensive coaches pushing their twos with all out effort (DL, LB, & Secondary Coaches are coaching their Two's on techniques and effort). We have six coaches coaching the opponent look that we are preparing for. Our defensive coordinator is with the #1 Defense, and the Defensive GA is with the #2 Offense preparing the Scout Look. When we exchange after the six play set, all of the offensive coaches coach the #2 Offense as they work against the #1 Defense. The #1 Offense will get a quick drink, then the offensive coordinator we gather the offense, review the previous set and hit the upcoming segment (much like the sideline game routine). We got great looks last year using this routine. Again, we practice at a great tempo, yet maintain multiple offensive looks going against multiple defensive schemes. Our #1's were challenged each day, and our #2 Offense competed against our best defense. Maybe the Twos don't run our exact schemes, but blocking, route running, throwing and catching are the same base fundamentals regardless of the scheme. Our #2 Offense got better.

The last two periods would be against the scouts. With the scouts missing most of the team segment, we will typically work with them extra in post practice to keep them on track with their daily development. Even though some of these players are being red-shirted, we are not waiting to begin their skill development.

Anything we have missed or needs to be corrected is addressed during post-practice. Working at the pace that we do, we have back end time if we need it. Although we are not punishing our players for mistakes, it is critical to leave the field knowing that we are 'One Day Better'. This is our offensive philosophy. Get better each and every day (Constant Improvement). We will leave the field as an offense with the confidence that we've achieve this objective.

B. WEEKLY PRACTICE ROUTINE

Our weekly preparation is as concrete and solid as our daily practice schedule. We will practice Sunday evenings, after a lift and film review. This is a short 8 Period practice consisting of all Kick Teams, 2 periods of Individual Drills, and 2 Periods of Team. During this practice, we are cleaning up any mistakes or concerns of our previous outing, as well as a simple introduction of the base defense of our upcoming opponent.

Monday is an off day for our players. We will complete our scouting report, and finish our base run plan, protection schemes, and route packages. Play sheets are prepared for Tuesday's meetings as well.

Tuesday, we will prepare our 3rd & Long and Red Zone Plans. When we practice our 7 on 7 (3 Periods), we will get one segment of Normal Down, one of 3rd & Long, and one of Red Zone Pass during 7 on 7. Team Periods (7 Periods) will provide three sets of Normal Down, two sets of 3rd & Long, and two sets of Red Zone (this last set vs scouts). If needed, we could substitute a period of blitz (Team Heat) in place of one of the Normal Down segments.

Wednesday, we will prepare our 3rd & Medium, 3rd & Short, Tight Zone (Inside +10), Goal Line, and 2 Point Plays. Once again, we will implement these situations during 7 on 7 and Team Periods. We will also continue with our Normal Down plays during these periods.

On Thursday, we will conclude our preparation with our Two Minute Plan, Coming Out Plan, Milk (Kill) the Clock, and our Special Plays. Again, these will be the situations that are emphasize during practice. We will leave the field with a confident plan after Thursday's practice.

In our practice routine, we do not practice specific plays or series. We practice situations. We sell our players on the fact that football is a game of situations. We prepare our players from Spring through Pre-Season and game week with a knowledge of each situation. We will prepare our players with our plan for each situation and what we should see from our opponent.

With last years's successes, there is no doubt in our staff's eyes that a talented group of players made it happen. Our schemes are solid, but we are convinced that our daily and weekly practice routine lead to a well-prepared offensive team.

It's been a pleasure to share our staffs practice ideas with you. I hope that we have shared an idea or two that could be of benefit to your program. Thank you for this opportunity, and best wishes to you and your program.

Diagram 1

Diagram 2

NEW BOOK!

Digital Download - 304 Pages of Football Forms for the Winning Coach