Packaging Plays: The Double Screen

One trend that is beginning to take over football is packaging two plays together. Chris Brown analyzed this in his article "Combining quick passes and a shovel pass or shovel screen."

This year, our most effective screen play was a combination of a Crack Swing to our RB, and a Jailbreak Screen to a WR on the other side. We ran the jailbreak to every receiver out of Doubles and Trips. It is a simple read for the QB, and it is a very high percentage pass to either side.

The rules for our offensive line stayed exactly the same no matter which way we ran the jailbreak.

Here are the rules followed by cut-ups from this season:

Hudl + DSV = Winning!(?)

A seismic shockwave was sent through the sports video industry today when Hudl announced the acquisition of their main competitor DSV.

It is hard to imagine that when I started my coaching career eight years ago, we were watching film on VHS, and barely doing any video breakdown. With the advancements that Hudl has made, coaches can now watch game film anywhere at any time. I wrote about the amazing iPad app developed by Hudl, and I have heard whispers that phone apps for the iPhone and Droid are not far away.

What does this mean for the future of sports editing? There are definitely many positives to this acquisition, but there are a few unknowns that make me weary of this change.

Winning!

1. Film exchange

Again, I can't believe that five years ago coaches were logging significant time and miles meeting at the McDonalds halfway between schools to exchange film. Hudl solved that problem for us, but only with other Hudl teams. I know many teams around here had just invested in DSV, and did not want to make the switch to Hudl. That meant we still had to swap DVDs on Saturday mornings, while trading with another Hudl team took less than a minute on Friday night.

In their press release, Hudl says that DSV has a "customer base of 3,000 high schools." That is a huge chunk of the market that will now be added in to the Hudl family. This will put a lot of pressure on non-Hudl schools to make the switch over to Hudl. Who wants to be the only school in the league only exchanging DVDs?

If Hudl puts together incentives for all league schools to jump on board, they will quickly lock up many of the schools still reluctant to switch over to Hudl.

2. Innovation

I was a DSV loyalist until I discovered Hudl three years ago. I didn't even want to look at another video editing system because I loved DSV so much. It has many great features, and it is no accident that they were the industry leader up until the last few years.

They were the first to develop a system of auto-cutting plays from the record button being pressed on your camera. They came up with a slick intercutting feature that matched up your press box and end zone views. Their tendency reports are phenomenal. Truth be told, many of the features in Hudl today were inspired by the work that DSV did.

Unfortunately, the DSV system was completely tied in to the one or two computers you had it installed on. If other coaches wanted to watch cut-ups, they had to watch it on their own computer. They added DSV Anywhere a few years ago to try to keep up with Hudl, but that web-based product was really no better than watching game film on YouTube. They were never able to catch up to the things that Hudl was doing with their completely web-based product.

What will happen to DSV's developers and brain-trust? Even though Hudl has a phenomenal team of developers, it is a huge bonus that Hudl will now have access to the brain-trust from DSV that has been developing their product for a decade.

3. Recruiting

DSV and Hudl not only service high school teams, but they also have many big-name Division-I and NFL clients on their roster. This means that the collegiate DSV teams will also likely switch over to Hudl.

One of the best features of Hudl is how you can create individual highlight videos for players, and e-mail it off to college recruiters. With more college coaches becoming familiar with using Hudl, it will make it even easier to get your players exposure through Hudl's recruiting packages.

Winning?

1. Costumer support

With only a month left before the football season begins, Hudl just opened up a huge can of worms.

All current DSV clients who have paid their service contracts will automatically become absorbed into Hudl. This means that DSV clients will spend the next month importing game film and terminology to Hudl, and Hudl will have their hands full training 3,000 new school. Multiply that 3-5 coaches per staff! This was not the ideal time to make this transition.

Hudl has prided themselves on their customer support, which has always been fantastic. What will Friday nights look like now with all of the new clients calling in to trouble-shoot? I am sure Hudl has a gameplan for all of this, but it is going to be a huge undertaking.

2. Consumers

One of the most attractive things about Hudl is their pricing. While DSV had a one-time cost of approximately $5,000+, Hudl only costs $800 a year for their base package. Their price simply can't be beat.

With DSV out of the way, CoachComm and APEX stand as the only viable competitors in the high school market. I may be biased, but neither one of those programs even comes close to matching Hudl's features and pricing.

The question becomes: Where will Hudl go from here? They have already shown that they are the top innovator in the industry. Will they continue to push the boundaries of innovation, while maintaining the same affordable pricing?

A little friendly competition is always a good thing for the consumers.


What do you think this means for the world of sports video editing? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.

3P Grading System Interview

I was recently interviewed by Steve Peha about his 3P grading system that I implemented this year. You can read my blog post "Five Reasons Why You Should Stop Grading" to learn more about it. 

I thought my responses would be great for a blog post. Here is the interview:

1. Overall, how would you describe the results you achieved switching from traditional grading to The 3P Grading System?

Honestly, I did not know what real teaching and learning meant until I switched to the 3P system. After implementing the 3Ps, I saw students step up their games like never before, and achieve more than they did with the traditional grading system. 

I don't have to worry about "How much is this worth?" or "Is this for a grade?" We just focus on learning, and it has made a huge difference. I saw students taking chances, and putting themselves out there by sharing their writing, answering questions, researching things outside of class. The 3P system pushes students beyond their comfort zone, and engages them in a higher level of thinking.

2. How would you describe the task of switching from traditional grading to The 3P Grading system? Was it easy? Hard? Confusing? Exhilarating? What were your biggest challenges? Your biggest surprises?

At first, it was the scariest thing I have ever tried as a teacher. I was terrified to give up control of the classroom. I worried that students would just stop doing their work since they weren't being graded for it. I was worried that students wouldn't try as hard, or they would blow things off.

I found the exact opposite to be true. 

Even though I didn't grade things, students still did the work, and they pushed themselves like never before. Making the switch to focusing on feedback DURING the learning was the key. I used to just give feedback AFTER the assignment was turned in, which makes absolutely no sense to me now that I think back on it. I used to spend hours grading student's work, even though I knew they weren't doing anything with the information. That was just the way my teachers always graded, so it had to be the right way. I could never go back to doing that.

For example, while students are writing I am constantly circling the room and having mini-conferences with each student. I ask them to read me what they wrote, and I am constantly giving them verbal and written feedback. It makes so much sense to me now, but I never did that before. That shift in mentality has made a huge difference because students are learning while they are working.

It also takes a complete shift in mentality by the students and parents. They have the traditional form of grading so ingrained in their brains, that this system blows their mind when you first talk to them about it. It took until the first grade conference for them to get it, but now they understand how it works and they prefer it to the old system.

3. What personal beliefs or professional concerns did you have to overcome, both to try the new system and to stick with it long enough to see results?

I worried that my colleagues would view this as the "easy" way out of grading. Many are very intrigued by it, and they wanted me to be the guinea pig for it. They are scared of giving up control, and they can't wrap their minds around it either. 

I am a very concrete, detail-oriented person. This system is very abstract and flexible, and it still freaks me out at times.

I have also learned that to be a good teacher doesn't mean you have to fail a bunch of students to show that you are tough. I would be OK with giving all "As" if that is what they deserved. The goal really should be to give all As, which would have horrified me a couple of years ago. I thought that being a good teacher meant you had to "get" students by tricking them or having super-hard tests and assignments.

You also have to let go of the idea of marking students off for behavior, such as turning in assignments late or not at all. I now look at the entire body of work of a student, not just the last assignment they turned in. For example, I have a rock-star student who has done great work all semester long. She is one of the best writers in my class. When we did a grade conference, she did not complete her last assignment. Normally, she is an "A" student, and my first reaction was to ding her and knock her down to a B. I had to stop myself and look at everything she had done. One missing assignment was not enough to knock her down a letter grade.

4. What do you see as the key positive differences for teachers in using the 3P Grading System?

This system allows you to differentiate for each student and focus on what they need. I have high-flyer students who are already doing great work. This system allows them to push themselves beyond what they would normally be asked to do.

Some of my students started out as weak readers or writers, but have worked very hard to improve this year. This system rewards and recognizes their improvement, where the traditional grading system counts their work in August just the same as what they do in December. The goal should be to see growth and learning take place. The 3P system accounts for that.

The 3P system also creates an environment of collaboration in the classroom. Students are working with each other, and the teacher works closely with the students. Giving constant feedback has made a huge difference. Giving students input into their grades has also made a positive impact, because they now take ownership in their grades, not just sitting back and taking whatever grade I magically assign them.

5. What are the key positive differences for students?

See above. Students are rewarded for growth. They are involved in the grading process. They have more control over their grade, as opposed to me giving them a grade that they have little to no control over.

6. What are the key positive differences for parents?

Communication with parents freaked me out the most. I have always sent out weekly progress reports to parents and students with all of their assignments and grades. The grades were so volatile because one missing assignment could have a huge impact on the grade. If a student was absent or didn't turn in something, it could take their grade from an A to a D in no time. Parents would freak out and see that they dropped three letter grades, and I would have to explain what happened.

On one hand, I loved that parents are involved and want to see where their students stand. On the other hand, it isn't an accurate reflection on the grade because it isn't the end of the learning period.

The 3P system still makes me nervous because I can't have that constant communication with parents. I do grade checks every 4 1/2 weeks, so that will be only four times per semester. In the past, parents told me that they loved the constant communication from me about grades. I am looking at how I can improve the communication next year - either through a newsletter or blog posts about what we are doing in class.

Ideally, this system will open up the lines of communication between parents and their children. This is one area where I need to do more work.

7. Many teachers in the US have successfully implemented the system only to be told by their principals that they are not allowed to use it for one reason or another. How would you handle this situation if your principal came to you and said you could no longer use The 3P Grading System and that you had to return to the same traditional grading approach you were using before?

It would be very difficult for me to go back to any traditional form of grading at this point. I can't believe I did the things I did with grades for so many years. It made no sense now that I look back on it.

I am fortunate to have a very supportive principal and administrative team. I would recommend anyone who is considering this system to dialogue it with your administration. They should be in the loop as to what is happening. Provide them with the guidelines so they know what to expect.

If my principal had concerns about the 3P system, I would invite her to come in and observe class, and see how engaged the students are in the class. I would show her examples of my students' work, and see the improvements they are making. I would discuss the benefits of the system with her, and my rationale for making the change. Students are also huge advocates of this system, so I believe their voices need to be heard.

Ultimately, if I could no longer do the 3P system, I would probably move to a standards-based system of grading, but include many of the principles of the 3P System.

8. Is there anything else you’d like to add about The 3P Grading System, your experience of using it, or any other related issue?

The 3P System has been the best change I have ever implemented as an educator. It is terrifying at first, but it has reinvigorated me this year. I am horrified by how I was grading students one year ago before I learned about the 3P system.

My best advice for anyone considering the 3P system:

1. Read Steve Peha's article about the system.
2. Discuss the concept with your students. Discuss it with fellow teachers. Get feedback on how it might look in class. Troubleshoot issues.
3. Communicate your expectations to parents. Keep them in the loop.
4. Communicate the system to your administrative team. Give your rationale and expectations. Provide them with Steve's article.
5. Take a deep breath and take the plunge! You have to try it before you fully understand how works. Don't worry: Students will still do the work even though they aren't getting a "grade".

Get 2-O This Summer

Two years ago, I thought I knew something about coaching quarterbacks.

I worked under the Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach at Kansas State University from 1998-2003 where I had the opportunity to work with several outstanding quarterbacks. I became the OC and QB Coach at Olathe South in 2003, and we had some great QBs come through there.

Coach Slack

In 2009, I went with several of our QBs to the Coach Darin Slack QB Camp in Jenks, OK. I had watched Coach Slack's C4 videos, and I wanted our QBs to benefit from his methods.

Once the camp began, I quickly realized that I didn't know anything about coaching quarterbacks.

The camp was an outstanding experience for our QBs, as well as my growth as a coach. Coach Slack began the camp with a speech about the life lessons that playing football and the quarterback position teaches young men. I was ready to run through a brick wall for Coach Slack after his speech. It was worth the price of camp in and of itself.

This video gives you just a taste of what the camp is like:



The on-field technique work was outstanding. Coach Slack breaks down the quarterback position and throwing mechanics better than I have ever seen before. It is so simple, and it provides the athletes with a framework to self-diagnose their problems. I was even out there in the middle of the drills doing them along with the QBs, and getting instruction on how to teach it.

This isn't just a camp where they throw the football around a little bit and all of the coaches tell you how great you are. They flat out get after you from start to finish. They maintain a 5:1 coach to player ratio, so every QB is getting coached constantly.

After attending the camp, our Varsity QB's completion percentage went up 10% and he threw fewer interceptions compared to the year before. It made a huge difference for our QBs, and helped our offense thrive.

This summer, we are fortunate to host Coach Slack's camp at Olathe Northwest High School in Olathe, KS June 20-22nd.

It is now called the National Football Academies, and will include instruction at ALL positions, not just for quarterbacks.

The QB Academy is $355 with promo code CALLAMQBA (normally $545).

All other positions are $305 with promo code CALLAMNFA (normally $479).

(Note: Those promo codes are good for any C-4 camp in the country, not just at Olathe Northwest HS)

Here is a link to a flyer about the camp with additional information: http://bit.ly/ihfGfY

I strongly believe in what Coach Slack is doing to help high school athletes develop as football players and as men. I would highly encourage you to take your athlete to one of his camps throughout the country.

If you have any questions, please e-mail me or post a comment below!

Hudl Meet-Up: Kansas City

"Video Editing Sucks"

That was the sign that greeted approximately 100 coaches to the first Hudl Meet-Up that took place at Blue Valley West High School in Overland Park, KS on April 19th, 2011.

Hudl is the industry leader in sports video editing software. Two months ago, I wrote about their iPad app which is a game-changer for all coaches.

Just last week, Hudl released an update to the app which solves the problem of downloading film to the iPad for the times when you don't have an internet connection.

I am a football and technology geek, so when I heard that Hudl was going to host a meet-up for coaches 10 minutes from my house, it was the perfect combination of football and technology for me. As you can see from this picture, it was a full house:

The Hudl crew provided pizza and soda to start the evening. Kim Burnham from Hudl organized the event and introduced the speakers:

1. Coach Nolan Hochgrebe from Blue Springs High School spoke about how they structure their week with Hudl.



Best tips:

• Find great student managers to help set up the video equipment, film, input data, and upload to Hudl.
• Their Saturday schedule for how they divide up their film work has some great ideas for work-flow.
• They also have an Excel file that they input data into that will then create grading sheets and a Hudl import file.
• Their data entry coach on Friday nights wears headphones so he can hear the formation and play calls as he is entering in data. This is a great idea if you have an extra set of headphones.
• Coach also discussed some great ideas for marketing your team through your website and Twitter account. Their team website is www.bshsfootball.com and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bshsfootball

2. Next up, I presented "The Quick Game: Ninja Style" You can read about it here.


3. Coach Jared Kenealy from Liberty North High School presented "Effective Video Study Practices":

Best tips:

•  Their "Athlete's Guide to Hudl" document is outstanding. This is a great tutorial for all athletes and parents to have as an introduction to Hudl. (Note: I uploaded the files to Google Docs, so it lost some of the original formatting).
• Coach Kenealy trains his managers how to film practice. Here are his filming rules that explain the different shots he wants.
• Instructions for Live Capture Set-Up
• Game Week Hudl schedule - great ideas on work-flow and daily tasks.
• For his defensive scouting report, he focuses on three run and three pass plays. For Thursday, he creates a presentation with one clip showing the opponent running each play well, and one clip from practice where the defense stopped the play. This is a great tip to simplify the way the players watch film, while building their confidence in the game-plan

4. Kim Burnham closed out the evening by talking about upcoming updates from Hudl and answering questions from the audience. She told us that there is a new video uploader in beta testing right now, as well as continual updates to the iPad app. In fact, there is now an entire team devoted just to the iPad app.

 For a couple of years, Hudl was one of the best-kept secrets around. I was reluctant to tell coaches from other schools about it because I felt like it gave us a huge competitive advantage. The secret is now out. It was great to be in a room full of coaches sharing ideas about how to get better by using video and technology. I want to thank Hudl for putting this together. Hopefully it becomes an annual event here in Kansas City.

Questions? Post them in the comments below!

Oklahoma State "Diamond" Plays

Last weekend, our staff visited Oklahoma State's coaches clinic and spring practice. Here are my observations from watching practice.

They worked on their "Diamond" formation that became popular last season. This is a great analysis of OU's package from the "Offensive Break Down" Blog.

Here are two new wrinkles that I saw Oklahoma State working on during practice: Power with the back kicking out instead of the backside guard pulling, and outside zone that looked more like inside zone.

Oklahoma State Practice Observations

I attended the Oklahoma State University Football Coaches Clinic last weekend. The clinic talks were good, but the best part of the day for me was watching OSU go through a spring practice at the end of the clinic. There were two reasons why I was looking forward to it:

1. I enjoy watching other teams practice. Our staff went to watch a couple of area teams practice after the season and you can pick up so many ways to organize and structure practice.
   
2. Okie State ran the Air Raid the last couple of years under Coach Holgerson, who is now the "Head Coach in Waiting" at West Virginia. I was very interested to see how much, if any, of the Air Raid principles were still intact this year.

Here are my observations from watching practice:

1. Here are the offensive and defensive practice schedules for the day.

2. Practice started with the offense going through a walk-through of their team script plays vs. offensive players as the scout defense. No helmets or shoulder pads. The coaches were coaching and correcting a ton during this time. One assistant told me that this takes some time away from their meeting time, but they do this so they don't have to stop and correct during team time at the end of practice.

3. The segments were controlled by a scoreboard timer in the corner of the endzone. The home team "score" showed what period they were in. The timer counted down. An air horn sounded to start the next period. The coaches were moving from drill to drill based on this timer, but they weren't married to it. At one point, Coach Gundy was personally running a 1-on-1 lineman drill and it ran a minute or two over the time for that segment. The manager waited to start the timer until he was finished running the drill.

3. After the walk-through, the entire team came together to do dynamic and static stretches. The QBs warmed up on the other field by just playing catch and basic warm-up throwing drills.

4. They did not do Settle and Noose drill. In fact, I did not see Mesh at all.

5. The QBs and RBs worked a good drill after individual where they just worked on the swing/check-down route. The RB lined up in the Pistol or offset, and ran his swing to the numbers where he settled. The QB went through his progression and threw the check-down to the RB. This was a huge emphasis all day.

6. Pat and Go was 10 minutes long. They threw for 5 minutes to the right, and 5 minutes to the left. They threw a quick slant, quick screen (foot fire) and fades. I didn't see a huge emphasis on the WR squeezing the numbers or working on the over-the-shoulder fade. The fades were at full-speed.

7. Routes on Air was very standard to all Air Raid teams. Five quarterbacks throwing to all receivers. One difference: They didn't use pop-up bags. Instead, the coaches/managers stood where the secondary would be and gave different looks/alignments.

8. The primary routes they worked on during this practice were: Snag, Shallow (Y & H), All-Curl, Quick Screen, and Jailbreak Screen.

9. At the end of 1-on-1 time with the receivers and DBs, the offense lined up in trips on the 5-yard line vs. two defenders (outside linebacker and corner). They threw their quick screen to #2, and #1 and #3 had to block the defenders. It was live to the ball and they got after it.

10. Everything was no huddle. I spent a great deal of time watching the communication system they had. The coach on the sideline signaled in the play. The QB was the only one really looking at the signals. He yelled out the play to the OL, and gave a quick signal to the receivers, and they ran the play. The signal from the QB to the receivers was very quick and simple. The QB said to the line "23.. 23.." and that was it. They were very sharp with their communication.

11. During team they were working situations. Since it was spring ball, the first offense was going vs. a scout defense while the #1 defense was on the sideline. After several plays, they switched and the #1 defense came on. They may have been doing that since high school coaches were there watching, but it didn't appear that they were game planning at all for opponents, just working on doing what they do.

12. "Game Time" at the end of practice was a 4-minute offense/defense situation where the #1 offense was against the #1 defense. They put 3:40 on the clock and the offense needed to get a first down to win. They got it to 2nd and short, and the defense called a timeout. On 3rd and 2 the offense converted, but Coach Gundy called holding on the offense, which put them in 3rd and 15 or so. They ran a jailbreak screen, but didn't get it. It was a highly competitive and spirited session.

13. From what I could tell, all of the numbered routes from the Air Raid were the same.

14. They ran their "Diamond" 3-back formation a little. Outside zone, inside zone and power.

One interesting play: They motioned the back who was lined up to the left of the QB over so he was directly behind the RB on the right. Then they ran Power with the entire line blocking down. The back to the right of the QB kicked out the end. The back who motioned over led through (instead of pulling a guard), and the QB handed off to the back lined up in the pistol. It was like an I-Formation lined up to the QB's right, but giving the ball to the back lined up behind him. It was a nice wrinkle, and a way of overloading that side of the defense.

If you have any specific questions, please post them in the comments below!