Develop Your Dynamic Identity

Every experienced coach knows that teams tend to develop a particular identity during the course of the season. Some coaches argue that the best teams are the ones that have the flashiest, most dominating identities – teams like the Oregon Ducks, known for its high-octane offense, or the Baltimore Ravens, known for its suffocating defense. Other coaches counter that the best teams are often the ones that possess less exciting identities, those summarized with phrases like “balanced” or “disciplined” – teams like the New York Giants or the University of Alabama. In either case, at some point in the season, successful teams forge an identity. Furthermore, the most successful teams have players that buy into those identities.

With few exceptions, team “identities” focus on either offense or defense. The special teams phase is usually absent from the conversation. Whenever the special teams units are considered, it is nearly always with a focus on individual players – most notably kickers, punters, or returners.

While there are perfectly logical reasons for this, it does not mean that special teams units don’t play an invaluable role in developing a team identity, and it certainly does not mean that special teams units can’t cultivate their own identity. You can create dynamic special teams units that are prepared to make big plays for your team and keep your opponents on their heels – special teams units that have their own identity.

Using the punt team as an example, there is a framework for building a dynamic special teams identity. The value in this framework lies in its potential for variation and its ability to be narrowed and adapted to your particular team, as well as its ease of implementation. You can teach it, your players can learn it, and your team will believe in it.

My guiding principle is that by utilizing a punt scheme that is variable, threatening, and can be called by the players on the field, the opposition is forced into a reactive position. With some attention to your play calling, this will be true even if you are being heavily scouted. It will provide an advantage at any level of competition.

The scheme draws on elements of several popular punting formations and styles – rugby punt, directional punt, shield punt, and pro-style spread punt – and relies  on several simple fakes.  Typically, when a return team is concerned that the punt team will run a fake, or when they can’t be sure of what type of punt the opposition is setting up to execute, they set up a safe, simple return. In effect, this nearly eliminates the chance that your punt team will face an organized, rehearsed block and gives you extra time and space to execute an effective kick. If the opposition is unwilling or unable to adjust to a “safe” look, your punt team will be armed with enough calls to execute a fake and keep the ball for your offense.

The Basics

The base formation (Diagram 1) is double twins with the a-back at a depth of 4 yards on the right tackle’s outside heel (this assumes that the punter is right-footed). The x and y should use the outside of the numbers as landmarks, and, depending on the spot of the ball, the h-back and z should split the tackle and split end, aligning outside the hashes. The interior line should have minimum two-foot splits. The punter should be aligned at a depth between 9 and 14 yards depending on the game situation, play call, field position, and level of play. Because this base formation is nearly identical to a typical spread offense look, the opposition’s punt return scheme will likely be inadequate to defend it.

Diagram 1: Base Formation

Before the snap, the h-back shifts to a depth of four yards on the right guard’s inside heel. Once the players are on the field, all calls are made by the a-back, including shift calls. Although he will almost always shift to the backfield, the h-back waits for a “shift” call before moving. Against certain looks, the a-back can choose to leave the h-back in the slot (Diagram 2).

Diagram 2: Pre-Snap shift

The most frequent and basic call is rugby kick right. The call can be made by a coach before the players take the field, but it should always be communicated during the cadence called by the a-back. As the scheme develops throughout the season, this allows for on-field audible calls and last-second adjustments. After the “shift” call, the a-back should call and repeat a color-number sequence as the cadence.

The color-number sequence allows for multiple ways to indicate the punt/fake style, protection, and motion. For instance, one type of number could indicate a fake, while another type of number could indicate a kick – multiple of 10 (30, 40, etc.) for a fake, 3-digit number (342, 681, etc.) for a kick. If the number indicates a kick, each color corresponds to a certain protection or motion (Diagram 3: red 251 – rugby with no snapper release; diagram 4: green 324 – rugby with a snapper release; and diagram 5: blue 671 – z motion, left directional kick). If the number indicates a fake, each color corresponds with a practiced fake (Diagram 6: red 30 – rugby pass right; diagram 7: green 60 –run left; and diagram 8: blue 40 – z motion, option left).

Diagram 3: Rugby Right (no snapper release)

Diagram 4: Rugby right (release snapper)

Diagram 5: Z-Motion Left, Kick Left

Diagram 6: Rugby Pass Right

Diagram 7: Run Left (stretch)

Diagram 8: Z-Motion, Option Left (swing pass)

The cadence should be adjusted to fit your team’s needs. Because this variable punt scheme can be taught as an extension of your offense, it should incorporate as many elements of your offense as possible. In addition to using a similar cadence, you should use similar protection schemes, run plays, and pass route combinations to limit the teaching time.

Depending on your level of play (youth, high school, college), depth of talent, and whether or not you have a skilled punter, you can even use all of the same personnel. At the Division III level, we always use experienced receivers and tight ends at the x, y, z, and h positions, and we have even used our starting quarterback as the full-time punter for an entire season. We also use the most athletic and most savvy players that we can find in the a-back position, and we always groom at least three of them to guard against losing one to injury.

Without overloading your special teams playbook or using excessive practice time, you can easily prepare for each game with a run fake, a pass fake, and an option fake, giving you the ability to attack either side of the field. With a simple color-number call by a coach from the sideline or the a-back on the field, these calls can be changed to take advantage of an opponent’s weakness. As the season progresses and you have more practice time to expand your playbook, you can add different shifts and motions to keep the opponent off balance.

The Variations

Depending on your team’s level of play and the skill of your athletes, you may be able to use the rugby base exclusively. In our case, we have found it necessary to have safer, simpler formations, as well as some additional fake options. These incorporate completely different punt concepts (spread and shield) and, again depending on your level of play, perhaps new sets of protection rules. The key to running a variable punt scheme is adjusting the depth and breadth of your playbook according to your team’s skill and level of competition.

Spread Punt: a traditional punt look that simplifies and enforces protection, but reduces the threat of a fake. This can be used when the ball needs to be punted and the opponent is not concerned about defending against a fake (because of down and distance, field position, game situation, etc.)  This is always called before the players take the field (Diagram 9).

Diagram 9: Spread Punt   

Rugby Punt with Maximum Protection: a rugby punt look that maximizes protection, tagged with a particular color (gold in this example). This can be called by the a-back if the opponent crowds the line of scrimmage or shows a lot of blocking threats to the rugby side. This is a good option if you don’t want to get out of the rugby punt, but need extra help to protect the punter (Diagram 10).

Diagram 10: Rugby Right, Max Protect

A Few More Looks: these can be tagged with a different color (black and yellow in this example) to give you more looks for both protection and fake variation. We often substitute particular athletes if we call these plays from the sideline to change the composition of the team. For example, if we are concerned with our coverage, we might substitute a speed player for the h-back and release him on the snap (black). If we are concerned with protecting the punter, we could substitute a bigger body for the z and shift him into the shield (yellow). Additionally, we could run fakes based on either of these looks (Diagrams 11-14).
Be creative: incorporate plays from your offense that translate well into punt fakes and build your playbook as the season progresses.  We have created gimmick fakes simply to keep the players interested and invested, or because we have seen something on an opponent’s film that we think we can use against them.

Diagram 11: H-back release, quick kick

Diagram 12: Pass right, h-back release

Diagram 13: Shield Punt

Diagram 14: Trap Right, Shield

Implementation

By using players who already know your offensive schemes and implementing those schemes into your punt fakes and protection, you reduce teaching time.  The real teaching should be focused on just a few key positions – a-back, punter, h-back, and z. We use some simple rules when we begin teaching the scheme.

The a-back should evaluate the opposition’s alignment by counting their players on either side of the ball. If there are five or fewer defenders on or near the line on the offensive right, they can be accounted for (by the right guard and tackle, the a-back, and the y and z), and rugby right can be run.  If there are six or more, we should run z-motion and kick left.

If rugby is run, even without a fake called, there is always a chance that a fake evolves.  The punter evaluates the block threats pre-snap and decides whether to punt or run for a first down within his first three lateral steps. If the y and z are left uncovered, they should find the first down marker, settle, and expect the football. The key is to take advantage of fake opportunities if the opponent doesn’t respect them.

We also stress that every player should communicate with the players next to him to coordinate the protection. This is especially important if you utilize a man blocking scheme. Our a-back, h-back, and punter always communicate about any players that are threats to rush off the edge and make “in” or “out” calls (coded accordingly, like “indy” and “okie”) to indicate whether or not the punter should stretch the width of the field or sit inside the pocket before kicking.

This empowers the players to take ownership and, most importantly, this is where the development of a special teams identity comes in. If you empower your players to make decisions and give them the tools to attack an opponent’s weakness, they will buy into the system immediately.  I always open our first special teams meeting or practice by telling our players that we will get at least one first down every game with our punt team. While we might not always be able to deliver on that promise, we never have a shortage of players who want to get involved in special teams.

So once you have your players excited to participate and you’ve tailored the scheme to fit what you do on offense to reduce teaching and practice time, how do you get them execute it properly? You give them the freedom to make plays and remove their fear of failure. Our coaching staff has a saying. We didn’t make it up, and we’re not the only staff that uses it, but in the special teams phase of the game, we preach it and live it – coaches take the blame, players get the credit. When our punt team takes the field, the players are thinking about making a big play, not avoiding a big mistake. Certainly the few mistakes they make can be disastrous, but when coaches take the blame, our players stay motivated to make a better play the next time they take the field. We put our best and smartest players in key positions (a-back, punter, h-back, and z), we teach them the principles of the scheme, and, once they have learned the basics, we give them the

We also talk a lot about a few key terms, and we build our identity around those terms.  In the past we have used words like effort, aggressiveness, multiplicity, deception, and execution. I usually choose one term that will get them excited about our scheme (like deception or multiplicity) and one term that relates to a trait that I think we need to improve (like effort or execution). No matter what the terms are, if your players hear them enough the results are the same: they will believe in what they are doing and work to get better at it.

Lastly, we apply the subtle pressure that is necessary to get your players to achieve at a high level. We tell them repeatedly that either proper execution or proper play calling can win most battles, but that both of those elements together will win ALL battles.  They know that they have the tools to beat anything that the opponent can do, and they have the pride to make sure that they make the right call and execute it. Very simply, they want to win the battle when they’re on the field, so they are willing to work for it.

About the Author: Gavin Fitts is the special teams coordinator and defensive backs coach at Framingham State and in his fourth season at the school. He previously was the head coach for three years at the Dexter School in Brookline (MA). Fitts is a graduate of Hamilton College where he played both football and baseball and has a Master’s Degree from Boston University.

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