The Scouting Report

by: AFM Editorial Staff
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At the entrance to the Katy High School (TX) athletics field house, there’s a high trophy case with the inscription, “When excellence becomes a tradition, greatness has no limits.” The Katy Tigers have developed both a tradition and greatness. Named as the ‘High School Team of the Decade’ by the Houston Chronicle, Katy won Texas State Class 5A football championships in 1997, 2000, and 2003. The Tigers had an overall 107-25 mark in the 90’s under Mike Johnston and an outstanding staff.

Having been at Katy High School for more than 20 years as an assistant coach, Gary Joseph succeeded Johnston in 2004. The 2003 team won their third Class 5A Texas State Championship and in Joseph's first season, Katy finished 12-2, losing both games by a combined three points. This past fall, the Tigers lost to Southlake Carroll High School in the State Championship behind a crowd of 29,840 at Texas Stadium. The Touchdown Club of Houston honored Joseph as Texas’ 5A High School Coach of the Year as the Tigers finished with an overall 14-1 record.

We spoke to Coach Joseph about Texas HS football and, more specifically, about how he gets ready for his next opponent.

1. What is your process in analyzing an opponents’ game tape?
Tape is transferred to our editing system. Our junior high coaches come in and ODK the video. They will then break the video down by down, distance, hashmark , and yard line. I will then break down the video by formation and play. Upon conclusion, I will give this information back to them to input, for scouting reports and for video cut ups. The same will be done by the offensive staff.

2. What do you look for in scouting an opponents’ offense?
We look for the following:
A. Personnel and personnel groupings.
B. Best runs and passes.
C. Trick Plays.
D. Best match-ups.
E. Are they predominantly a run or pass offense?
F. Pass protections.
G. Running schemes.

3. What about scouting the opposing QB? Do you look for something specific?
We primarily look at his size, speed, presence, release, pocket poise, if he’s a runner, toughness, and his decision making abilities.

4. In scouting your opponent, how much of an emphasis is placed on situational tendencies?
We emphasize two things: personnel groupings and plays by position on the field.

5. What are the keys you look for in scouting an opponents’ defense?
We look closely at how high and hard they play, their basic fronts, their stunting, the personnel used to attack and their basic coverage.

6. How much attention do you place in zone vs. man-to-man coverage?
Our coaches, QBs, wide receivers, and backs have to know what they are attacking on each play.

7. Tell us your process of self-scouting? How important is it and how often do you do it?
We self scout every two weeks.We look at our offense from a defensive perspective and our defense from an offensive perspective.

8. How do you critique players after the self-scouting evaluation of his performance?
We grade our players and keep records of their performance. We also closely evaluate them in their improvement on a week-to-week basis.

9. What’s a typical week like in breaking down film, giving it to the coaches and preparing a game plan?
Preparation begins starting at 8:00 am Sunday with the editing of opponents film. During the regular season two films are traded a week in advance, then broken down and imputing begins. The coaches will evaluate both angles of the video, and start formulating tentative game plans. Sunday preparation is usually concluded around 10:30pm.

Mondays: We work on outside plays through the season and our Red Zone package as well as C-gap plays.

Tuesday: We concentrate on inside running plays and practice third and long situations.

Wednesday: We work on changes we may put in our offense for this specific week as well as clock offense situations.

Thursday: We go through a dress rehearsal for Friday night’s game.

10. Tell us about your digital system?
We have been using the DSV editing system exclusively for all of our video editing, scouting, cutups, reports, and the breakdown of our own and opponent’s videos. It is a good system that allows us to capture three
angles (tight, wide, and end zone) which is a great teaching tool for our kids and coaches. The scouting and cut-ups have allowed us to save time and be more prudent in our teaching during meeting times in season. Everyone is looking for ways to be more efficient and productive. DSV has been an
effective tool for all of the staff because it allows us to quickly evaluate and prepare for opponents whether we are viewing practice video, game video, or specific reports.

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