Youth Football- HS and Younger (2 Viewers)

[Fantasy_Freak]

The munchkins were off today so I was free this practice to watch my older son. Tons of work at RB and some at FB and the moved to OLB on defense when they brought in other kids for FB and RB. The OLB was new. I asked if he was placed there because the stud kid which I believe will start at OLB was out today and he said "No, coach just wanted to see me there" My guess is that the coaches have him slotted to fill in there if the stud is out as I think that is a heavy blitz position for their defense and really want a playmaker there. My son is kind of 'stud light' as they are very similar in terms of having a blend of size, height, strength and speed that is unusual and the stud is almost a year older than my son plus has a self driven work ethic that is admirable.

He didn't get any long runs when on offense and said something along the lines of him getting smothered today. I do think that having the stud at FB (and then at times they switch) makes a big difference so him not being around is a big negative to my son.

The one thing that I love is that several times, I could see my son explaining the play to someone. He really does seem to have a good grasp of the game in general and an ability to remember plays well. It is something he did in previous years and continues.

- - -

For the munchkins, yesterday the HC was out so the skill position coach and myself ran the practice for the most part and then ran the walk throughs we did on offense. The boys did much better than I was expecting which is good. My son is progressing at QB. He is somewhat natural at leadership and comfortable in the role. Though arm wise there is not a ton of difference between him and #2 QB- you can see the deer in headlights of trying to take the huddle over and repeat out a play. That kid is a 3rd grader so he has time and I think next year they will be in a good spot QB wise as I am sure he will get a comfort level.

Wed the varsity has a 'jamboree' which is kind of like a super scrimmage with pretty much all the teams in the league that get rotated and do some scrimmaging. The munchkins have a scrimmage next Sat and then both team have their first games right after... the 25th for the munchkins and then 27th for varsity.

I know you are from the Chicago area, any chance this league is a northern illinois/southeast wisconsin league? My son played in a league that would have a jamboree at the beginning of the season and we had to drive down to illinois.

 

[The Z Machine]

Looking forward to the first real game next Thursday.

I remember my first game as a freshman. First real game I ever played in tackle football. The assistant coach came over to me and asked if I was nervous. I said, "yeah, I guess. " He said, "nervous is good, it means you give a damn. Feed off of that and you'll be fine."

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

Preseason practice ongoing, today scrimmage against the #1 team in the state and a top 15 team in the state. My son will be getting some great work tomorrow, then next week the season starts. My son is the starting right tackle this season. He is really excited for the season to get playing, he has had a number of colleges contact him and I've seen him invigorated into working out harder. Somedays he hits the gym twice in a day. He is working to gain muscle weight and increase flexibility.

Five schools invited him for gameday visits with one of the schools (MAC school) called their invite an Elite invite, which means he is one their top prospects. The other schools are from Big Ten, Mountain West, American Athletic Conference, and one of the Top FCS schools. Sunday morning he had another MAC school coach text him about the upcoming, then Sunday afternoon a coach from an Ivy league school called him and they spoke on the phone for 20 minutes. Yesterday before his practice he spent a half hour on the phone with a MAC team and then he received an invite from them. Currently, he has a verbal offer from a D2 school out of Minnesota. I can tell my son is going through a lot, mentally. He is trying to do his "job" on the football field while trying to manage through what he wants to do in his adult life. My wife and I spoke with him and I could sense a weight was lifted from his shoulders. We ultimately told him do whatever you want, you need to pick a career you enjoy seeing as you will likely be doing this for 40 years. We told him if it means you pass on these college opportunities because you want to get into the trades, fine, but we expressed the need to find a career path that you will enjoy.

That is awesome, exciting and seems somewhat overwhelming. How do you guys manage all the distractions along with your son's school and practice obligations?

 

[Chadstroma]

The munchkins were off today so I was free this practice to watch my older son. Tons of work at RB and some at FB and the moved to OLB on defense when they brought in other kids for FB and RB. The OLB was new. I asked if he was placed there because the stud kid which I believe will start at OLB was out today and he said "No, coach just wanted to see me there" My guess is that the coaches have him slotted to fill in there if the stud is out as I think that is a heavy blitz position for their defense and really want a playmaker there. My son is kind of 'stud light' as they are very similar in terms of having a blend of size, height, strength and speed that is unusual and the stud is almost a year older than my son plus has a self driven work ethic that is admirable.

He didn't get any long runs when on offense and said something along the lines of him getting smothered today. I do think that having the stud at FB (and then at times they switch) makes a big difference so him not being around is a big negative to my son.

The one thing that I love is that several times, I could see my son explaining the play to someone. He really does seem to have a good grasp of the game in general and an ability to remember plays well. It is something he did in previous years and continues.

- - -

For the munchkins, yesterday the HC was out so the skill position coach and myself ran the practice for the most part and then ran the walk throughs we did on offense. The boys did much better than I was expecting which is good. My son is progressing at QB. He is somewhat natural at leadership and comfortable in the role. Though arm wise there is not a ton of difference between him and #2 QB- you can see the deer in headlights of trying to take the huddle over and repeat out a play. That kid is a 3rd grader so he has time and I think next year they will be in a good spot QB wise as I am sure he will get a comfort level.

Wed the varsity has a 'jamboree' which is kind of like a super scrimmage with pretty much all the teams in the league that get rotated and do some scrimmaging. The munchkins have a scrimmage next Sat and then both team have their first games right after... the 25th for the munchkins and then 27th for varsity.

I know you are from the Chicago area, any chance this league is a northern illinois/southeast wisconsin league? My son played in a league that would have a jamboree at the beginning of the season and we had to drive down to illinois.

No, it is the southside Catholic league.... Southside Catholic Conference to be exact. This one is at Mt. Carmel but they apparently move it around to the various catholic HS in the area as it was at Marist or Brother Rice last year (can't remember what I was told)

 

[Chadstroma]

Well, my son had scrimmage Friday, came out unscathed, had a very good scrimmage. Several pancake blocks and kept his QB clean and blocked fairly well for the runs that were on his side of the field. He said coach was ecstatic with him, he was the only offensive player not to pull himself out because he was tired. They played two schools in scrimmage, but the offense played back to back so he played in 40 continual plays. He was happy with his play, he said most of the opponents tried to bull rush him and he handled it perfectly fine. He said last year at the end of the season when he was getting bull rushed he occasionally ended up on his back. He attributed the improvement on his physical growth and weight gain as well as continual offseason training.

This Friday is the opener, he is looking forward to playing and getting on the field. The conference they are in consist of 7 games, then they schedule 2 non-conference games. In the past they were a low level team (few wins), they would schedule lower talented teams, but now that the team has vastly improved they are getting tougher teams. First three games this season are against ranked teams. I know my son and his o line teammates are excited to play against top tier talent.

The college contacts increased over the weekend. 3 more schools invited him for a gameday visit, 2 ivy league and a MAC school. Probably head to the MAC school since it is a 3-4 hour drive.

"Several pancake blocks and kept his QB clean and blocked fairly well for the runs" really hard to ask more including staying in the whole time. Is he a little on the small side for tackle? I only ask because of the constant trying to bull rush. I wonder if that it is something about him that makes that or if rushers don't have a ton of tools in the tool box for rushing.

 

[Chadstroma]

Looking forward to the first real game next Thursday.

I remember my first game as a freshman. First real game I ever played in tackle football. The assistant coach came over to me and asked if I was nervous. I said, "yeah, I guess. " He said, "nervous is good, it means you give a damn. Feed off of that and you'll be fine."

That is some good coaching right there.

 

[Chadstroma]

This doesn't fit completely into this thread but it doesn't need it's own thread and since I am here....

I just sent in an application for the Assistant Athletics Director position at a HS. The one that I was leaning towards my son(s) attending. A big reason I am leaning towards them going there is that it has one of better football programs in Illinois and would certainly get more attention than the local public HS. I was thinking it was kind of a long shot being that I have no education or really athletic background but then I looked up the current AD and he was previously a cop before being the AAD and then getting his promotion to AD. So, who knows. No idea what compensation is and if it would work out but I am sure it would help with tuition for my son(s) to go there. Overall though, I think it would be a job I would really enjoy.

I was notified that I was not selected to be interviewed. I am not surprised, my heave resume of financial services doesn't directly translate well. I might put some thought into doing things to position myself for a similar opportunity in the future.

Maybe you can speak with the AD and offer to help in a volunteer capacity, which may help get experience for a potential future opportunity. I bet an AD would love to have someone help that has finance experience. Along with the scheduling and overseeing the sports program's AD have a budget to upkeep, having someone with that experience and vision would likely go a long way to help them out.

I sent a Linkedin connection request and did ask for suggestions. I like your suggestion and I will press that with volunteering in further communication.

I also asked the AD of my kids current school if he could make suggestions and keep a look out for anything in the future that might be of similar interest.

And I reached out to my grad school (Gonzaga) that I was well over half way through a Masters in Org Lead with that has a Masters in Sport and Athletic Admin online program on what it would take for me to complete that instead with my previous credits in the Org Lead program.

Heard back from Gonzaga. They do not accept any credits over 5 years old without waiver from the chair of the department. Maybe I can see if another school would take them as transfer hours. I don't think I have it in me to start a Masters program completely over.

 

[MAC_32]

Anxious for the upcoming season, partly because I'm no longer coaching and relinquishing control...to a coaching staff I don't trust.

Our son is going into 7th and let's see this is a group that's way more concerned with winning than developing. In a game they were coaching with 5th and 6th graders they forgot to play one kid a snap for an entire game. And this was a decently talented kid. They just forgot. The lesser skilled frequently just got a handful most weeks.

Our then 5th grader was the best wr on that team and got the majority of Y and Z snaps due to it, but these guys being more concerned with winning than developing didn't throw the ball. While I write that with hyperbole there was one game they didn't attempt a single pass. It took some time to develop confidence in our qb when he was a 6th grader led by a coaching staff I was a part of, but once he did we started popping big plays each week. Both our son and the kid the previous coaches forgot to play pulled in multiple 40+ yd td's each.

Now he's back with the same coach from 2 seasons ago and those 2 are still the best wr's on the team. Now I don't want to read too much into just a week of practice, but every play they've practiced has been in 12 personnel with those 2 at Y and Z and they've yet to install a single passing play. I'm friends with both the qb and other wr's parents and am thinking about a conversation with them if this continues for another week. I think it's important the 'can we practice some passing plays' message comes from the kids rather than us, but it'll be more impactful if it's all 3. Hope this is much ado about nothing, but...I don't trust these guys.

Charting play success at their scrimmage elicited all the confirmation bias

30 offensive plays
3-4 drop back passes, 32 yards
2 play action passes, 2 sacks
5 outside runs, 93 yards, 1 TD
17 inside runs, 7 yards, 2 fumbles

If I hadn't seen this show before I'd consider chalking this up as coaches working on some things, but unfortunately I've seen this show before. The other guy I coached with last year (his kid refuses to play with this coach) got quite the laugh when I shared that with him. You watched these 2 WR's reach the finals in a skills competition put on by a local high school, and have a great new addition this year as well, and...you run power I 31 or 32 over and over again. At least our kid is keeping a positive spirit, but he's losing a year of development at WR.

 

[Instinctive]

Anxious for the upcoming season, partly because I'm no longer coaching and relinquishing control...to a coaching staff I don't trust.

Our son is going into 7th and let's see this is a group that's way more concerned with winning than developing. In a game they were coaching with 5th and 6th graders they forgot to play one kid a snap for an entire game. And this was a decently talented kid. They just forgot. The lesser skilled frequently just got a handful most weeks.

Our then 5th grader was the best wr on that team and got the majority of Y and Z snaps due to it, but these guys being more concerned with winning than developing didn't throw the ball. While I write that with hyperbole there was one game they didn't attempt a single pass. It took some time to develop confidence in our qb when he was a 6th grader led by a coaching staff I was a part of, but once he did we started popping big plays each week. Both our son and the kid the previous coaches forgot to play pulled in multiple 40+ yd td's each.

Now he's back with the same coach from 2 seasons ago and those 2 are still the best wr's on the team. Now I don't want to read too much into just a week of practice, but every play they've practiced has been in 12 personnel with those 2 at Y and Z and they've yet to install a single passing play. I'm friends with both the qb and other wr's parents and am thinking about a conversation with them if this continues for another week. I think it's important the 'can we practice some passing plays' message comes from the kids rather than us, but it'll be more impactful if it's all 3. Hope this is much ado about nothing, but...I don't trust these guys.

Charting play success at their scrimmage elicited all the confirmation bias

30 offensive plays
3-4 drop back passes, 32 yards
2 play action passes, 2 sacks
5 outside runs, 93 yards, 1 TD
17 inside runs, 7 yards, 2 fumbles

If I hadn't seen this show before I'd consider chalking this up as coaches working on some things, but unfortunately I've seen this show before. The other guy I coached with last year (his kid refuses to play with this coach) got quite the laugh when I shared that with him. You watched these 2 WR's reach the finals in a skills competition put on by a local high school, and have a great new addition this year as well, and...you run power I 31 or 32 over and over again. At least our kid is keeping a positive spirit, but he's losing a year of development at WR.

As long as hes having fun, I've heard thats all that matters in youth sports. Stop focusing so much on development!

 

[MAC_32]

Anxious for the upcoming season, partly because I'm no longer coaching and relinquishing control...to a coaching staff I don't trust.

Our son is going into 7th and let's see this is a group that's way more concerned with winning than developing. In a game they were coaching with 5th and 6th graders they forgot to play one kid a snap for an entire game. And this was a decently talented kid. They just forgot. The lesser skilled frequently just got a handful most weeks.

Our then 5th grader was the best wr on that team and got the majority of Y and Z snaps due to it, but these guys being more concerned with winning than developing didn't throw the ball. While I write that with hyperbole there was one game they didn't attempt a single pass. It took some time to develop confidence in our qb when he was a 6th grader led by a coaching staff I was a part of, but once he did we started popping big plays each week. Both our son and the kid the previous coaches forgot to play pulled in multiple 40+ yd td's each.

Now he's back with the same coach from 2 seasons ago and those 2 are still the best wr's on the team. Now I don't want to read too much into just a week of practice, but every play they've practiced has been in 12 personnel with those 2 at Y and Z and they've yet to install a single passing play. I'm friends with both the qb and other wr's parents and am thinking about a conversation with them if this continues for another week. I think it's important the 'can we practice some passing plays' message comes from the kids rather than us, but it'll be more impactful if it's all 3. Hope this is much ado about nothing, but...I don't trust these guys.

Charting play success at their scrimmage elicited all the confirmation bias

30 offensive plays
3-4 drop back passes, 32 yards
2 play action passes, 2 sacks
5 outside runs, 93 yards, 1 TD
17 inside runs, 7 yards, 2 fumbles

If I hadn't seen this show before I'd consider chalking this up as coaches working on some things, but unfortunately I've seen this show before. The other guy I coached with last year (his kid refuses to play with this coach) got quite the laugh when I shared that with him. You watched these 2 WR's reach the finals in a skills competition put on by a local high school, and have a great new addition this year as well, and...you run power I 31 or 32 over and over again. At least our kid is keeping a positive spirit, but he's losing a year of development at WR.

As long as hes having fun, I've heard thats all that matters in youth sports. Stop focusing so much on development!

See here's the thing - for some kids the 'fun' is the competition and getting better. Not every kid has the same definition of what 'fun' is though. Those kids I mentioned in the basketball thread? Most of them were on this team at one point, most aren't anymore, and some have said they will return next year - when they expect it to be 'fun' again.

 

[Chadstroma]

Anxious for the upcoming season, partly because I'm no longer coaching and relinquishing control...to a coaching staff I don't trust.

Our son is going into 7th and let's see this is a group that's way more concerned with winning than developing. In a game they were coaching with 5th and 6th graders they forgot to play one kid a snap for an entire game. And this was a decently talented kid. They just forgot. The lesser skilled frequently just got a handful most weeks.

Our then 5th grader was the best wr on that team and got the majority of Y and Z snaps due to it, but these guys being more concerned with winning than developing didn't throw the ball. While I write that with hyperbole there was one game they didn't attempt a single pass. It took some time to develop confidence in our qb when he was a 6th grader led by a coaching staff I was a part of, but once he did we started popping big plays each week. Both our son and the kid the previous coaches forgot to play pulled in multiple 40+ yd td's each.

Now he's back with the same coach from 2 seasons ago and those 2 are still the best wr's on the team. Now I don't want to read too much into just a week of practice, but every play they've practiced has been in 12 personnel with those 2 at Y and Z and they've yet to install a single passing play. I'm friends with both the qb and other wr's parents and am thinking about a conversation with them if this continues for another week. I think it's important the 'can we practice some passing plays' message comes from the kids rather than us, but it'll be more impactful if it's all 3. Hope this is much ado about nothing, but...I don't trust these guys.

Charting play success at their scrimmage elicited all the confirmation bias

30 offensive plays
3-4 drop back passes, 32 yards
2 play action passes, 2 sacks
5 outside runs, 93 yards, 1 TD
17 inside runs, 7 yards, 2 fumbles

If I hadn't seen this show before I'd consider chalking this up as coaches working on some things, but unfortunately I've seen this show before. The other guy I coached with last year (his kid refuses to play with this coach) got quite the laugh when I shared that with him. You watched these 2 WR's reach the finals in a skills competition put on by a local high school, and have a great new addition this year as well, and...you run power I 31 or 32 over and over again. At least our kid is keeping a positive spirit, but he's losing a year of development at WR.

As long as hes having fun, I've heard thats all that matters in youth sports. Stop focusing so much on development!

See here's the thing - for some kids the 'fun' is the competition and getting better. Not every kid has the same definition of what 'fun' is though. Those kids I mentioned in the basketball thread? Most of them were on this team at one point, most aren't anymore, and some have said they will return next year - when they expect it to be 'fun' again.

Not to take this thread off the rails as well but this kind of feeds into my point. "Fun" is fleeting. It can change very easily- no matter what you find "fun" about sport. But eventually "fun" will go away, whether you find the competition fun, winning fun, screwing around fun, being around friends fun, having a good coach fun, etc... but if someone has been helped to enjoy a sport then they are more likely to persevere through the inevitable "not fun" because they are more internally driven towards the sport itself and embrace all the not fun things that become more and more apart of a sport as competition levels increase. It is a major reason why I value focusing on enjoyment and not fun.

 

[Chadstroma]

So, the stud player I referenced several times quit the team.

On Thursday, the mother sent a message to the team app that he wouldn't be at practice. The HC responded asking if he was sick. No response. He didn't show up Friday or yesterday. Today I decided to text the Mom and ask if he was ok since he hadn't been at practice. She informed me that he was fine but wouldn't be playing with the team. I asked why and she responded "it isn't the right fit" It wasn't what was intended and he isn't leaving the school but wasn't going to play this year.

I have been pretty involved with the kid and spent a lot of time with the parents and have (or thought I did) a good relationship with them. We have done a lot of things together like a flag football ID camp and Notre Dame youth football summer camp. I responded "I would caution... as someone who cares about him and wants to see him succeed. This would be the second sport he quit. That is not a good trend." she immediately called me. I figured she just thought it would be easier to talk through everything but when I answered she immediately started yelling at me and cussing me out. Saying she didn't need any caution from me and just a lot of stuff about she knows what she is doing, this isn't 1950 anymore and he (her kid) has options and on and on and on. I was first very shocked then I worked on calming her down and getting her to understand I am not attacking her or him.

She later said that the coaches told him that he needed to be faster. This really doesn't make sense as he is the fastest or second fastest on the team. The only thing that makes sense to me is that they were asking him to be faster in the play. My guess is that he was thinking through a play and not just reacting through it.

I didn't really talk in terms of my perspective or give any advice or anything as it was very clear she had no interest in hearing anything else that didn't confirm their choice. I will say their because she said it was his decision but everything she said when she was yelling at me was all about her choice.

This with the background of him quitting basketball mid season last year (which I referenced in my text) but also over the many conversations we have had over the last year she went on and on about all these problems her daughter had in sports with coaches. I have had in the past tried to walk them back from positions like last year when the kid was over weight limit and could not play outside of the lines they made a lot of comments about how he should be running back etc and I just told them playing now is beneficial and it doesn't mean he won't be a different position next year etc but it was all very.... "aggressive" in their responses. This was the first time that aggression was leveled at me. She did apologize several times for yelling and cussing me out as the phone conversation went on but I think there is a trend here and it isn't a good one for him.

It is a bummer, I was really looking forward to him playing and how my son and him could work together. I suppose the silver lining is that that will mean more carries for my son but it still bums me out. I don't think it is the right move for the kid but he isn't my kid to worry about and the mother has no interest in hearing any other perspectives. Still it is a bummer.

 

[Fantasy_Freak]

Well, my son had scrimmage Friday, came out unscathed, had a very good scrimmage. Several pancake blocks and kept his QB clean and blocked fairly well for the runs that were on his side of the field. He said coach was ecstatic with him, he was the only offensive player not to pull himself out because he was tired. They played two schools in scrimmage, but the offense played back to back so he played in 40 continual plays. He was happy with his play, he said most of the opponents tried to bull rush him and he handled it perfectly fine. He said last year at the end of the season when he was getting bull rushed he occasionally ended up on his back. He attributed the improvement on his physical growth and weight gain as well as continual offseason training.

This Friday is the opener, he is looking forward to playing and getting on the field. The conference they are in consist of 7 games, then they schedule 2 non-conference games. In the past they were a low level team (few wins), they would schedule lower talented teams, but now that the team has vastly improved they are getting tougher teams. First three games this season are against ranked teams. I know my son and his o line teammates are excited to play against top tier talent.

The college contacts increased over the weekend. 3 more schools invited him for a gameday visit, 2 ivy league and a MAC school. Probably head to the MAC school since it is a 3-4 hour drive.

"Several pancake blocks and kept his QB clean and blocked fairly well for the runs" really hard to ask more including staying in the whole time. Is he a little on the small side for tackle? I only ask because of the constant trying to bull rush. I wonder if that it is something about him that makes that or if rushers don't have a ton of tools in the tool box for rushing.

He is 6'4" 275-280. He is adequate sized for a junior tackle, still needs to put on muscle/weight by next year. He looks smaller weight wise because the guard next to him is 5'10" 300 and my son is longer so they may think bull rush works but it doesn't he can hold his own. He has pretty good footwork, I think this goes back to his lacrosse and hockey days, so he can move to get out if someone tries to go low and get around him. I am hoping he can line up against some elite talent and see how well he does. You raise a good point concerning the talent he is lining up against, I don't know if they have the ability to rush in different styles. There is one kid he will play against that largely relies on a spin move, he beat my son with the move during a camp this summer. He starts to rush by getting the lineman to move outside then pulls the spin move. My son learned from that and can neutralize the move.

 

[nirad3]

My boy's been getting time at DE and TE, as they want the kids to have opportunities to play on both sides of the ball. My son actually prefers playing defense and has looked pretty good at DE. I think he's just nervous that he's not especially quick so is losing out on TE snaps... so he also saw time at RT. He's fairly tall for his team, but definitely not as beefy as some of the other kids on the team (that play OL/DL).

In other news, Mr. Picky Eater has agreed to start eating cheeseburgers.

 

[Fantasy_Freak]

Preseason practice ongoing, today scrimmage against the #1 team in the state and a top 15 team in the state. My son will be getting some great work tomorrow, then next week the season starts. My son is the starting right tackle this season. He is really excited for the season to get playing, he has had a number of colleges contact him and I've seen him invigorated into working out harder. Somedays he hits the gym twice in a day. He is working to gain muscle weight and increase flexibility.

Five schools invited him for gameday visits with one of the schools (MAC school) called their invite an Elite invite, which means he is one their top prospects. The other schools are from Big Ten, Mountain West, American Athletic Conference, and one of the Top FCS schools. Sunday morning he had another MAC school coach text him about the upcoming, then Sunday afternoon a coach from an Ivy league school called him and they spoke on the phone for 20 minutes. Yesterday before his practice he spent a half hour on the phone with a MAC team and then he received an invite from them. Currently, he has a verbal offer from a D2 school out of Minnesota. I can tell my son is going through a lot, mentally. He is trying to do his "job" on the football field while trying to manage through what he wants to do in his adult life. My wife and I spoke with him and I could sense a weight was lifted from his shoulders. We ultimately told him do whatever you want, you need to pick a career you enjoy seeing as you will likely be doing this for 40 years. We told him if it means you pass on these college opportunities because you want to get into the trades, fine, but we expressed the need to find a career path that you will enjoy.

That is awesome, exciting and seems somewhat overwhelming. How do you guys manage all the distractions along with your son's school and practice obligations?

Its difficult because my wife and I are at the mercy of my son telling us. He is getting calls or texts from coaches, we hope he tells us timely. He has already picked two schools and notified the schools, I have made hotel arrangements for one of the trips and the other is a day trip. The biggest issue is he has games Friday nights and these schools have games Saturday morning/early afternoon usually the school wants you there 3 hours prior to the game. They take measurements, you sometimes get the opportunity to speak with coaches, they take you on a tour of the athletic facility, weight room and then you go on the field while players for both teams warm up before the game. We put a list together of the invites and are determining which we can make if possible and which we will strike off the list, as of last night we were at 10 schools all Division 1 (split between FCS and FBS). Also, he may very well get additional invites as the season is going on.

 

[The Z Machine]

Preseason practice ongoing, today scrimmage against the #1 team in the state and a top 15 team in the state. My son will be getting some great work tomorrow, then next week the season starts. My son is the starting right tackle this season. He is really excited for the season to get playing, he has had a number of colleges contact him and I've seen him invigorated into working out harder. Somedays he hits the gym twice in a day. He is working to gain muscle weight and increase flexibility.

Five schools invited him for gameday visits with one of the schools (MAC school) called their invite an Elite invite, which means he is one their top prospects. The other schools are from Big Ten, Mountain West, American Athletic Conference, and one of the Top FCS schools. Sunday morning he had another MAC school coach text him about the upcoming, then Sunday afternoon a coach from an Ivy league school called him and they spoke on the phone for 20 minutes. Yesterday before his practice he spent a half hour on the phone with a MAC team and then he received an invite from them. Currently, he has a verbal offer from a D2 school out of Minnesota. I can tell my son is going through a lot, mentally. He is trying to do his "job" on the football field while trying to manage through what he wants to do in his adult life. My wife and I spoke with him and I could sense a weight was lifted from his shoulders. We ultimately told him do whatever you want, you need to pick a career you enjoy seeing as you will likely be doing this for 40 years. We told him if it means you pass on these college opportunities because you want to get into the trades, fine, but we expressed the need to find a career path that you will enjoy.

That is awesome, exciting and seems somewhat overwhelming. How do you guys manage all the distractions along with your son's school and practice obligations?

Its difficult because my wife and I are at the mercy of my son telling us. He is getting calls or texts from coaches, we hope he tells us timely. He has already picked two schools and notified the schools, I have made hotel arrangements for one of the trips and the other is a day trip. The biggest issue is he has games Friday nights and these schools have games Saturday morning/early afternoon usually the school wants you there 3 hours prior to the game. They take measurements, you sometimes get the opportunity to speak with coaches, they take you on a tour of the athletic facility, weight room and then you go on the field while players for both teams warm up before the game. We put a list together of the invites and are determining which we can make if possible and which we will strike off the list, as of last night we were at 10 schools all Division 1 (split between FCS and FBS). Also, he may very well get additional invites as the season is going on.

Very cool. You mentioned ivy league schools too. While they don't give scholarships and don't play at the highest level, getting an ivy degree is definitely worth something. How are his grades and test scores? If he wouldn't otherwise be ivy material, I would think that's an amazing opportunity for him.

 

[Chadstroma]

Well, my son had scrimmage Friday, came out unscathed, had a very good scrimmage. Several pancake blocks and kept his QB clean and blocked fairly well for the runs that were on his side of the field. He said coach was ecstatic with him, he was the only offensive player not to pull himself out because he was tired. They played two schools in scrimmage, but the offense played back to back so he played in 40 continual plays. He was happy with his play, he said most of the opponents tried to bull rush him and he handled it perfectly fine. He said last year at the end of the season when he was getting bull rushed he occasionally ended up on his back. He attributed the improvement on his physical growth and weight gain as well as continual offseason training.

This Friday is the opener, he is looking forward to playing and getting on the field. The conference they are in consist of 7 games, then they schedule 2 non-conference games. In the past they were a low level team (few wins), they would schedule lower talented teams, but now that the team has vastly improved they are getting tougher teams. First three games this season are against ranked teams. I know my son and his o line teammates are excited to play against top tier talent.

The college contacts increased over the weekend. 3 more schools invited him for a gameday visit, 2 ivy league and a MAC school. Probably head to the MAC school since it is a 3-4 hour drive.

"Several pancake blocks and kept his QB clean and blocked fairly well for the runs" really hard to ask more including staying in the whole time. Is he a little on the small side for tackle? I only ask because of the constant trying to bull rush. I wonder if that it is something about him that makes that or if rushers don't have a ton of tools in the tool box for rushing.

He is 6'4" 275-280. He is adequate sized for a junior tackle, still needs to put on muscle/weight by next year. He looks smaller weight wise because the guard next to him is 5'10" 300 and my son is longer so they may think bull rush works but it doesn't he can hold his own. He has pretty good footwork, I think this goes back to his lacrosse and hockey days, so he can move to get out if someone tries to go low and get around him. I am hoping he can line up against some elite talent and see how well he does. You raise a good point concerning the talent he is lining up against, I don't know if they have the ability to rush in different styles. There is one kid he will play against that largely relies on a spin move, he beat my son with the move during a camp this summer. He starts to rush by getting the lineman to move outside then pulls the spin move. My son learned from that and can neutralize the move.

Maybe thinking with his height if he isn't low and anchored then they can push through him or maybe it is a limited skillset. Looking forward to hearing how his season goes specially when he goes up against that spinster again.

 

[Chadstroma]

My boy's been getting time at DE and TE, as they want the kids to have opportunities to play on both sides of the ball. My son actually prefers playing defense and has looked pretty good at DE. I think he's just nervous that he's not especially quick so is losing out on TE snaps... so he also saw time at RT. He's fairly tall for his team, but definitely not as beefy as some of the other kids on the team (that play OL/DL).

In other news, Mr. Picky Eater has agreed to start eating cheeseburgers.

Any protein shakes in there?

 

[Chadstroma]

Preseason practice ongoing, today scrimmage against the #1 team in the state and a top 15 team in the state. My son will be getting some great work tomorrow, then next week the season starts. My son is the starting right tackle this season. He is really excited for the season to get playing, he has had a number of colleges contact him and I've seen him invigorated into working out harder. Somedays he hits the gym twice in a day. He is working to gain muscle weight and increase flexibility.

Five schools invited him for gameday visits with one of the schools (MAC school) called their invite an Elite invite, which means he is one their top prospects. The other schools are from Big Ten, Mountain West, American Athletic Conference, and one of the Top FCS schools. Sunday morning he had another MAC school coach text him about the upcoming, then Sunday afternoon a coach from an Ivy league school called him and they spoke on the phone for 20 minutes. Yesterday before his practice he spent a half hour on the phone with a MAC team and then he received an invite from them. Currently, he has a verbal offer from a D2 school out of Minnesota. I can tell my son is going through a lot, mentally. He is trying to do his "job" on the football field while trying to manage through what he wants to do in his adult life. My wife and I spoke with him and I could sense a weight was lifted from his shoulders. We ultimately told him do whatever you want, you need to pick a career you enjoy seeing as you will likely be doing this for 40 years. We told him if it means you pass on these college opportunities because you want to get into the trades, fine, but we expressed the need to find a career path that you will enjoy.

That is awesome, exciting and seems somewhat overwhelming. How do you guys manage all the distractions along with your son's school and practice obligations?

Its difficult because my wife and I are at the mercy of my son telling us. He is getting calls or texts from coaches, we hope he tells us timely. He has already picked two schools and notified the schools, I have made hotel arrangements for one of the trips and the other is a day trip. The biggest issue is he has games Friday nights and these schools have games Saturday morning/early afternoon usually the school wants you there 3 hours prior to the game. They take measurements, you sometimes get the opportunity to speak with coaches, they take you on a tour of the athletic facility, weight room and then you go on the field while players for both teams warm up before the game. We put a list together of the invites and are determining which we can make if possible and which we will strike off the list, as of last night we were at 10 schools all Division 1 (split between FCS and FBS). Also, he may very well get additional invites as the season is going on.

Please do keep us updated on the entire recruiting process. I would love to hear everything from the visits to process to tips etc. Over share vs under.

 

[nirad3]

My boy's been getting time at DE and TE, as they want the kids to have opportunities to play on both sides of the ball. My son actually prefers playing defense and has looked pretty good at DE. I think he's just nervous that he's not especially quick so is losing out on TE snaps... so he also saw time at RT. He's fairly tall for his team, but definitely not as beefy as some of the other kids on the team (that play OL/DL).

In other news, Mr. Picky Eater has agreed to start eating cheeseburgers.

Any protein shakes in there?

Yeah he does protein shakes, but aside from peanut butter and chicken nuggets, protein is hard to come by with this kid. He needs to bulk up, and he knows it.

 

[Chadstroma]

My boy's been getting time at DE and TE, as they want the kids to have opportunities to play on both sides of the ball. My son actually prefers playing defense and has looked pretty good at DE. I think he's just nervous that he's not especially quick so is losing out on TE snaps... so he also saw time at RT. He's fairly tall for his team, but definitely not as beefy as some of the other kids on the team (that play OL/DL).

In other news, Mr. Picky Eater has agreed to start eating cheeseburgers.

Any protein shakes in there?

Yeah he does protein shakes, but aside from peanut butter and chicken nuggets, protein is hard to come by with this kid. He needs to bulk up, and he knows it.

What kind and how often?

We use to do the Orgain shakes for the kids and still have some of them for them but have moved on to the Carnation Breakfast as the staple as they have got older and some Premier Protein occasionally for my older son. These are all the one use carton ready made grab and go stuff. All the kids also love the Robert Irvines Fitcrunch bars as another quick protein snack. It very much tastes like a candy bar. We target in the range of 80-100g's of protein a day for my older son, and about 60-80 for my younger.

For game days I make a fruit protein shake with frozen fruit, Orgain vanilla protein powder, Chia (or sometimes flax or hemp) seeds, a little 'greens' powder and then some milk and juice.

 

[Fantasy_Freak]

Preseason practice ongoing, today scrimmage against the #1 team in the state and a top 15 team in the state. My son will be getting some great work tomorrow, then next week the season starts. My son is the starting right tackle this season. He is really excited for the season to get playing, he has had a number of colleges contact him and I've seen him invigorated into working out harder. Somedays he hits the gym twice in a day. He is working to gain muscle weight and increase flexibility.

Five schools invited him for gameday visits with one of the schools (MAC school) called their invite an Elite invite, which means he is one their top prospects. The other schools are from Big Ten, Mountain West, American Athletic Conference, and one of the Top FCS schools. Sunday morning he had another MAC school coach text him about the upcoming, then Sunday afternoon a coach from an Ivy league school called him and they spoke on the phone for 20 minutes. Yesterday before his practice he spent a half hour on the phone with a MAC team and then he received an invite from them. Currently, he has a verbal offer from a D2 school out of Minnesota. I can tell my son is going through a lot, mentally. He is trying to do his "job" on the football field while trying to manage through what he wants to do in his adult life. My wife and I spoke with him and I could sense a weight was lifted from his shoulders. We ultimately told him do whatever you want, you need to pick a career you enjoy seeing as you will likely be doing this for 40 years. We told him if it means you pass on these college opportunities because you want to get into the trades, fine, but we expressed the need to find a career path that you will enjoy.

That is awesome, exciting and seems somewhat overwhelming. How do you guys manage all the distractions along with your son's school and practice obligations?

Its difficult because my wife and I are at the mercy of my son telling us. He is getting calls or texts from coaches, we hope he tells us timely. He has already picked two schools and notified the schools, I have made hotel arrangements for one of the trips and the other is a day trip. The biggest issue is he has games Friday nights and these schools have games Saturday morning/early afternoon usually the school wants you there 3 hours prior to the game. They take measurements, you sometimes get the opportunity to speak with coaches, they take you on a tour of the athletic facility, weight room and then you go on the field while players for both teams warm up before the game. We put a list together of the invites and are determining which we can make if possible and which we will strike off the list, as of last night we were at 10 schools all Division 1 (split between FCS and FBS). Also, he may very well get additional invites as the season is going on.

Very cool. You mentioned ivy league schools too. While they don't give scholarships and don't play at the highest level, getting an ivy degree is definitely worth something. How are his grades and test scores? If he wouldn't otherwise be ivy material, I would think that's an amazing opportunity for him.

Not as good as they should be for an Ivy league school. Even though they invited him I don't see him as Ivy League material.

 

[Fantasy_Freak]

Preseason practice ongoing, today scrimmage against the #1 team in the state and a top 15 team in the state. My son will be getting some great work tomorrow, then next week the season starts. My son is the starting right tackle this season. He is really excited for the season to get playing, he has had a number of colleges contact him and I've seen him invigorated into working out harder. Somedays he hits the gym twice in a day. He is working to gain muscle weight and increase flexibility.

Five schools invited him for gameday visits with one of the schools (MAC school) called their invite an Elite invite, which means he is one their top prospects. The other schools are from Big Ten, Mountain West, American Athletic Conference, and one of the Top FCS schools. Sunday morning he had another MAC school coach text him about the upcoming, then Sunday afternoon a coach from an Ivy league school called him and they spoke on the phone for 20 minutes. Yesterday before his practice he spent a half hour on the phone with a MAC team and then he received an invite from them. Currently, he has a verbal offer from a D2 school out of Minnesota. I can tell my son is going through a lot, mentally. He is trying to do his "job" on the football field while trying to manage through what he wants to do in his adult life. My wife and I spoke with him and I could sense a weight was lifted from his shoulders. We ultimately told him do whatever you want, you need to pick a career you enjoy seeing as you will likely be doing this for 40 years. We told him if it means you pass on these college opportunities because you want to get into the trades, fine, but we expressed the need to find a career path that you will enjoy.

That is awesome, exciting and seems somewhat overwhelming. How do you guys manage all the distractions along with your son's school and practice obligations?

Its difficult because my wife and I are at the mercy of my son telling us. He is getting calls or texts from coaches, we hope he tells us timely. He has already picked two schools and notified the schools, I have made hotel arrangements for one of the trips and the other is a day trip. The biggest issue is he has games Friday nights and these schools have games Saturday morning/early afternoon usually the school wants you there 3 hours prior to the game. They take measurements, you sometimes get the opportunity to speak with coaches, they take you on a tour of the athletic facility, weight room and then you go on the field while players for both teams warm up before the game. We put a list together of the invites and are determining which we can make if possible and which we will strike off the list, as of last night we were at 10 schools all Division 1 (split between FCS and FBS). Also, he may very well get additional invites as the season is going on.

Please do keep us updated on the entire recruiting process. I would love to hear everything from the visits to process to tips etc. Over share vs under.

Definitely.

He and I spoke last night, this weekend we will likely put together a spreadsheet of his invites dates of games, and determine where we are going. I told him once the season starts this Friday and he posts his highlights on Twitter he could very well get more invites that we don't know of right now, so leaving dates open is fine. First trip is next Saturday to the Big Ten school, about a 3 hour drive one way, do the trip in a day. It will be our third time at this school, games last year and this year and spring practice in April.

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

Preseason practice ongoing, today scrimmage against the #1 team in the state and a top 15 team in the state. My son will be getting some great work tomorrow, then next week the season starts. My son is the starting right tackle this season. He is really excited for the season to get playing, he has had a number of colleges contact him and I've seen him invigorated into working out harder. Somedays he hits the gym twice in a day. He is working to gain muscle weight and increase flexibility.

Five schools invited him for gameday visits with one of the schools (MAC school) called their invite an Elite invite, which means he is one their top prospects. The other schools are from Big Ten, Mountain West, American Athletic Conference, and one of the Top FCS schools. Sunday morning he had another MAC school coach text him about the upcoming, then Sunday afternoon a coach from an Ivy league school called him and they spoke on the phone for 20 minutes. Yesterday before his practice he spent a half hour on the phone with a MAC team and then he received an invite from them. Currently, he has a verbal offer from a D2 school out of Minnesota. I can tell my son is going through a lot, mentally. He is trying to do his "job" on the football field while trying to manage through what he wants to do in his adult life. My wife and I spoke with him and I could sense a weight was lifted from his shoulders. We ultimately told him do whatever you want, you need to pick a career you enjoy seeing as you will likely be doing this for 40 years. We told him if it means you pass on these college opportunities because you want to get into the trades, fine, but we expressed the need to find a career path that you will enjoy.

That is awesome, exciting and seems somewhat overwhelming. How do you guys manage all the distractions along with your son's school and practice obligations?

Its difficult because my wife and I are at the mercy of my son telling us. He is getting calls or texts from coaches, we hope he tells us timely. He has already picked two schools and notified the schools, I have made hotel arrangements for one of the trips and the other is a day trip. The biggest issue is he has games Friday nights and these schools have games Saturday morning/early afternoon usually the school wants you there 3 hours prior to the game. They take measurements, you sometimes get the opportunity to speak with coaches, they take you on a tour of the athletic facility, weight room and then you go on the field while players for both teams warm up before the game. We put a list together of the invites and are determining which we can make if possible and which we will strike off the list, as of last night we were at 10 schools all Division 1 (split between FCS and FBS). Also, he may very well get additional invites as the season is going on.

Please do keep us updated on the entire recruiting process. I would love to hear everything from the visits to process to tips etc. Over share vs under.

Definitely.

He and I spoke last night, this weekend we will likely put together a spreadsheet of his invites dates of games, and determine where we are going. I told him once the season starts this Friday and he posts his highlights on Twitter he could very well get more invites that we don't know of right now, so leaving dates open is fine. First trip is next Saturday to the Big Ten school, about a 3 hour drive one way, do the trip in a day. It will be our third time at this school, games last year and this year and spring practice in April.

Are you filming and compiling the highlights?

 

[Chadstroma]

Not as good as they should be for an Ivy league school. Even though they invited him I don't see him as Ivy League material.

In my mind, the ideal is going to a school that is Ivy level but also has scholarships. Notre Dame, Northwestern, Stanford, Duke, etc Get that level of education without the cost? Seems to me to be the best option.

 

[MAC_32]

Not as good as they should be for an Ivy league school. Even though they invited him I don't see him as Ivy League material.

In my mind, the ideal is going to a school that is Ivy level but also has scholarships. Notre Dame, Northwestern, Stanford, Duke, etc Get that level of education without the cost? Seems to me to be the best option.

This reminds me - one of my buddies coaches a local public school team. Big school, marginal performers in athletics. He gets a handful of kids each year that can play at the next level. This year he has one that was recruited (and offered) by multiple ivy's. He declined. For a state school in Ohio.

 

[SWC]

Not as good as they should be for an Ivy league school. Even though they invited him I don't see him as Ivy League material.

In my mind, the ideal is going to a school that is Ivy level but also has scholarships. Notre Dame, Northwestern, Stanford, Duke, etc Get that level of education without the cost? Seems to me to be the best option.

i have had players that i have helped get to college and i think there is no standard ideal for some kids the goal is just to get on a d1 team with a scholarship for some it is to get to use ball as a means to get to a school that will help them academically and professionally for some it is to go to a school where they can play regardless of level i think you have to know the kid and they kid and thier family need to soul search on it and have a plan that makes sense for them what they want and what their circumstances are take that to the bank brohans

 

[Chadstroma]

Not as good as they should be for an Ivy league school. Even though they invited him I don't see him as Ivy League material.

In my mind, the ideal is going to a school that is Ivy level but also has scholarships. Notre Dame, Northwestern, Stanford, Duke, etc Get that level of education without the cost? Seems to me to be the best option.

i have had players that i have helped get to college and i think there is no standard ideal for some kids the goal is just to get on a d1 team with a scholarship for some it is to get to use ball as a means to get to a school that will help them academically and professionally for some it is to go to a school where they can play regardless of level i think you have to know the kid and they kid and thier family need to soul search on it and have a plan that makes sense for them what they want and what their circumstances are take that to the bank brohans

Yea, there are a lot of reasons to make other choices... my daughter is at the local public HS versus one of the private schools and there were reasons that it was a better choice for her while my sons are more likley to go to a private school (but who knows, got some time to figure that out). What I am talking about above is what I think is the ideal "set up for life" situation Ivy League school where sport helps you get in but no athletic scholarships vs ivy League level school with athletic scholarships paying the way plus NIL

 

[Fantasy_Freak]

Preseason practice ongoing, today scrimmage against the #1 team in the state and a top 15 team in the state. My son will be getting some great work tomorrow, then next week the season starts. My son is the starting right tackle this season. He is really excited for the season to get playing, he has had a number of colleges contact him and I've seen him invigorated into working out harder. Somedays he hits the gym twice in a day. He is working to gain muscle weight and increase flexibility.

Five schools invited him for gameday visits with one of the schools (MAC school) called their invite an Elite invite, which means he is one their top prospects. The other schools are from Big Ten, Mountain West, American Athletic Conference, and one of the Top FCS schools. Sunday morning he had another MAC school coach text him about the upcoming, then Sunday afternoon a coach from an Ivy league school called him and they spoke on the phone for 20 minutes. Yesterday before his practice he spent a half hour on the phone with a MAC team and then he received an invite from them. Currently, he has a verbal offer from a D2 school out of Minnesota. I can tell my son is going through a lot, mentally. He is trying to do his "job" on the football field while trying to manage through what he wants to do in his adult life. My wife and I spoke with him and I could sense a weight was lifted from his shoulders. We ultimately told him do whatever you want, you need to pick a career you enjoy seeing as you will likely be doing this for 40 years. We told him if it means you pass on these college opportunities because you want to get into the trades, fine, but we expressed the need to find a career path that you will enjoy.

That is awesome, exciting and seems somewhat overwhelming. How do you guys manage all the distractions along with your son's school and practice obligations?

Its difficult because my wife and I are at the mercy of my son telling us. He is getting calls or texts from coaches, we hope he tells us timely. He has already picked two schools and notified the schools, I have made hotel arrangements for one of the trips and the other is a day trip. The biggest issue is he has games Friday nights and these schools have games Saturday morning/early afternoon usually the school wants you there 3 hours prior to the game. They take measurements, you sometimes get the opportunity to speak with coaches, they take you on a tour of the athletic facility, weight room and then you go on the field while players for both teams warm up before the game. We put a list together of the invites and are determining which we can make if possible and which we will strike off the list, as of last night we were at 10 schools all Division 1 (split between FCS and FBS). Also, he may very well get additional invites as the season is going on.

Please do keep us updated on the entire recruiting process. I would love to hear everything from the visits to process to tips etc. Over share vs under.

Definitely.

He and I spoke last night, this weekend we will likely put together a spreadsheet of his invites dates of games, and determine where we are going. I told him once the season starts this Friday and he posts his highlights on Twitter he could very well get more invites that we don't know of right now, so leaving dates open is fine. First trip is next Saturday to the Big Ten school, about a 3 hour drive one way, do the trip in a day. It will be our third time at this school, games last year and this year and spring practice in April.

Are you filming and compiling the highlights?

His team does videos of every game, they have an end zone camera, then my son builds a highlight film for the respective game and posts on twitter then links coaches and website writers.

 

[nirad3]

My boy's been getting time at DE and TE, as they want the kids to have opportunities to play on both sides of the ball. My son actually prefers playing defense and has looked pretty good at DE. I think he's just nervous that he's not especially quick so is losing out on TE snaps... so he also saw time at RT. He's fairly tall for his team, but definitely not as beefy as some of the other kids on the team (that play OL/DL).

In other news, Mr. Picky Eater has agreed to start eating cheeseburgers.

Any protein shakes in there?

Yeah he does protein shakes, but aside from peanut butter and chicken nuggets, protein is hard to come by with this kid. He needs to bulk up, and he knows it.

What kind and how often?

We use to do the Orgain shakes for the kids and still have some of them for them but have moved on to the Carnation Breakfast as the staple as they have got older and some Premier Protein occasionally for my older son. These are all the one use carton ready made grab and go stuff. All the kids also love the Robert Irvines Fitcrunch bars as another quick protein snack. It very much tastes like a candy bar. We target in the range of 80-100g's of protein a day for my older son, and about 60-80 for my younger.

For game days I make a fruit protein shake with frozen fruit, Orgain vanilla protein powder, Chia (or sometimes flax or hemp) seeds, a little 'greens' powder and then some milk and juice.

Not as often as he should given how much protein he gets on a daily basis. And not sure the type, but it's whatever his mom has and I trust her judgement with all things health & fitness.

He tried a cheeseburger yesterday and said it was "yucky and dry". At least he tried.

 

[Chadstroma]

The Jamboree was last night. Interesting to view.

There were 9 teams I believe there. Teams warmed up and then they got paired up on a 1/3 of the field (game and practice fields). Each team would have something like 10 or so offensive snaps and then switch. Then cycle through 2nd string. Time would expire and they would get matched up again. Repeat again for a third matchup.

First thing, my son was on second string. I am not sure why... fell out of favor? Miscommunication that he was not starter? Maybe changing up what they want to do with losing that one player? No idea but he was the RB for 2nd string the entire time and got worked in at OLB mostly at first and then a little MLB towards the end. There was not a lot of substitution so I am not sure if they really wanted to keep to the 1st and 2nd string with limited subs as a plan or if it just worked out that way.

Observation was that my hope that we would be more competitive this year is greatly diminished. The 1st string offense was absolutely horrible. QB/RB ran into each other several times. No running or passing game. We barely moved the LOS. 1st string defense as slightly better. Not getting spanked but losing ground more often than holding it. 2nd string goes in and then we started moving the ball. My son had a few hard run getting a good 3-4 yards... got one for 10+ yards and then punched it in the endzone. Only success we had in the first series at all. In the second series, he did not play at all. I think it was that it was against the team that always has a very large team and they split their team up for even 10 into their 1st and 2nd and the teams matched up like that and ours was our 1st and against their 1st. Again, nothing happened on offense and defense didn't completely fold but wasn't shutting them down either. In the third series, our 1st completed a couple of short/medium passes to finally move the ball but still getting no where on the ground. Defense held up a bit better. 2nd string came in and my son got a nice long run which in real game would have ended up a 40ish yard TD run even with his self caused stumble towards the end of the run. Had some other nice runs. in the end, 3 of their 4 TD's out of all the series were from my son.

It is hard to say that my son obviously should be running 1st string because he had success and the 1st string RB didn't but I didn't see anything special from that RB. I, obviously, would have liked to see him get snaps with 1st to see if he would be able to perform as well in 1st string versus if he was just beating up the 2nd string guys but it didn't happen.

Defensively, he didn't really do much. Nothing really bad or good on it. He didn't get a ton of opportunities so it was small sample size anyway. He does need to speed up his read and react though which I told him.

 

[Gally]

Not as good as they should be for an Ivy league school. Even though they invited him I don't see him as Ivy League material.

In my mind, the ideal is going to a school that is Ivy level but also has scholarships. Notre Dame, Northwestern, Stanford, Duke, etc Get that level of education without the cost? Seems to me to be the best option.

i have had players that i have helped get to college and i think there is no standard ideal for some kids the goal is just to get on a d1 team with a scholarship for some it is to get to use ball as a means to get to a school that will help them academically and professionally for some it is to go to a school where they can play regardless of level i think you have to know the kid and they kid and thier family need to soul search on it and have a plan that makes sense for them what they want and what their circumstances are take that to the bank brohans

There are quite a few factors that should go into the decision for sure. Some of which is what do you want out of your college athletic experience. Just as you have touched on. First is evaluating your skill level honestly. Do you have the skills to play or just go to a D1 program? Figure out where your skills lie on the spectrum. Then you need to figure out if you want to just be on the team, be a starter, or be an all conference type player. What matters to you? Then mesh that with your honest skill evaluation. This all doesn't even touch on the academic side of things or the social side or the weather/lifestyle aspect of where you go to school.

Kids that only look at one aspect of college will often get disappointed if that aspect doesn't reach their expectations. All that starts with being honest about abilities. its cool to say you are going to a D1 school but that mentality might not mesh with the kid. D1 turns a sport into a job. It's more cutthroat, time consuming, etc. It might not be for you. Very few people get to play college sports at any level. It makes sense to try and figure out what you want out of your experience before committing to a school.

 

[acarey50]

D1 turns a sport into a job. It's more cutthroat, time consuming, etc.

This is almost an understatement. And really it's almost all levels of college sports, but more pronounced at D1 and D2.

Typical schedule (this is the current off season summer schedule for my nephew) is up at 6AM for weights, then breakfast, then team meeting, then summer school classes, lunch, then practice, then recovery/trainer, study hall if needed, then dinner, then film study and position meetings. If all ends on time, back to your room around 9pm for about an hour of "free time" before lights out and getting to do it all again. In season is a very similar schedule except for travel or game days. You may get one afternoon or one evening off per week, if that. Don't plan on a very active social life during the season. Off season is a bit lighter of course but still very regimented.

My other nephew played in the Ivy league, and while they did not have the same summer schedule (they don't report until a week or two before school, it's why the Ivy league teams don't start playing until later in the year compared to other D1 programs), their in season schedule was pretty similar.

 

[acarey50]

Freshman game 1 is in the books. A lot of the boys definitely showed some nerves and lack of experience, but also enough positive stuff to see that potential and where things can go. Ended up losing 20-7. Two of the scores we gave up were on jet sweeps that got to the outside - one on the other teams first offensive play. Other than those 2 plays by the other team, it was fairly evenly matched and kind of what you expect from the freshman level.

Offensively we struggled in the passing game. Our QB is good, but very small which can cause issues making some throws, especially if under any sort of pressure. We ended up only completing one pass the entire game, which my son caught for about an 8 yard gain while dragging two defenders and not going down til the third defender finally pulled him down. Several passes just over the fingertips of WRs. Run game we were solid, our RB is big and strong and was getting some nice holes to get through, just could never break one all the way.

Defensively, other than the two aforementioned plays, we held them pretty good. I think they also only completed 2-3 passes, with the base of their offense being a motion/option set. One of our DEs was very disruptive in the backfield and had a couple real nice chase down tackles. I believe my son had at least 6 tackles, maybe a couple more if counting assists, and one QB hurry that was a split second away from being a sack, but still ended up in an INT for us. He absolutely destroyed the QB coming untouched with a MLB blitz straight up the gut.

We'll tack on one clean long snap on a PAT.

He played every snap on defense, missed one snap on offense when his back plate came undone, so he had to come off and get it fixed, was long snapper on our PAT, and was in on kick return, though they let him come off for out last kick return so he could catch a breather.

So, teamwise not the result we wanted, but enough to grow on - individually a very good all around first game for my son. He loves to study film, so he's already looking forward to the game being put up on HUDL so he can review it tomorrow (team film session is Saturday morning), though he wants to look at one or two plays where he thinks he made the wrong read so he can see the birds eye view of the play.

 

[The Z Machine]

Very cool @acarey50 ! I forget, is this his first time playing tackle football or did he play in middle school. He's obviously a huge piece of that tram playing nearly every down and special team. I hope his teammates are a solid group of boys and the coaching can learn and correct mistakes from the first game.

 

[acarey50]

Very cool @acarey50 ! I forget, is this his first time playing tackle football or did he play in middle school. He's obviously a huge piece of that tram playing nearly every down and special team. I hope his teammates are a solid group of boys and the coaching can learn and correct mistakes from the first game.

He played in 7th grade, however he tore his ACL and meniscus in early October (2023) right after he had worked his way up to the starting MLB job on his team. This was his first real tackle game since the injury, though the scrimmage they had last week was played live/full contact, and of course he's had contact in practice.

It is definitely a good team. Our high school isn't exactly known for football. They have run a very high scoring air raid style offense the last 4-5 years which would create video game like offensive numbers, but then our defense would struggle and be exhausted as our offensive possessions didn't last long as we'd usually either score quick or punt, no real long sustained drives. New offensive coordinator is in this year and blending in some aspects to make it a more balanced approach, one aspect of which is actually utilizing a TE at the varsity level which is encouraging for the long term prospects for my son.

I really like the coaching staff - overall there are a lot of highly experienced coaches, and they work with the kids at all of the levels. For example, the freshman head coach and offensive coordinator are both varsity assistants, but then for the freshman games, we also have another 3-4 of the varsity position coaches out there as well to help. For practice, all of the teams have some overlap in practice times so that all of the coaches can work with the players. In addition, the varsity head coach attends all home games for the lower level teams - our schedule is such that when the freshman team is at home, JV is away the same day, and vice versa. Varsity plays on a different day. It is definitely a very positive culture.

He's got some friends on the team, and has got to know a lot of the kids that he didn't know before. I believe 5 or 6 of the boys are starting both ways right now. A couple of the lineman start on both OL/DL, the other TE is at DE and played very well, and I believe at least 1 of the WRs is also playing DB.

 

[Chadstroma]

Freshman game 1 is in the books. A lot of the boys definitely showed some nerves and lack of experience, but also enough positive stuff to see that potential and where things can go. Ended up losing 20-7. Two of the scores we gave up were on jet sweeps that got to the outside - one on the other teams first offensive play. Other than those 2 plays by the other team, it was fairly evenly matched and kind of what you expect from the freshman level.

Offensively we struggled in the passing game. Our QB is good, but very small which can cause issues making some throws, especially if under any sort of pressure. We ended up only completing one pass the entire game, which my son caught for about an 8 yard gain while dragging two defenders and not going down til the third defender finally pulled him down. Several passes just over the fingertips of WRs. Run game we were solid, our RB is big and strong and was getting some nice holes to get through, just could never break one all the way.

Defensively, other than the two aforementioned plays, we held them pretty good. I think they also only completed 2-3 passes, with the base of their offense being a motion/option set. One of our DEs was very disruptive in the backfield and had a couple real nice chase down tackles. I believe my son had at least 6 tackles, maybe a couple more if counting assists, and one QB hurry that was a split second away from being a sack, but still ended up in an INT for us. He absolutely destroyed the QB coming untouched with a MLB blitz straight up the gut.

We'll tack on one clean long snap on a PAT.

He played every snap on defense, missed one snap on offense when his back plate came undone, so he had to come off and get it fixed, was long snapper on our PAT, and was in on kick return, though they let him come off for out last kick return so he could catch a breather.

So, teamwise not the result we wanted, but enough to grow on - individually a very good all around first game for my son. He loves to study film, so he's already looking forward to the game being put up on HUDL so he can review it tomorrow (team film session is Saturday morning), though he wants to look at one or two plays where he thinks he made the wrong read so he can see the birds eye view of the play.

A lot of playing time! Nice

 

[Chadstroma]

Munchkin scrimmage

This is an annual scrimmage against a team that always has the biggest roster with JV and the munchkins. With the munchkins they only have 4th graders. I am not sure if they have 3rd graders on the team and they just don't come to the scrimmage or what. But I was expecting it to be a tough matchup for us. As a reminder, we have 9 4th graders (5 of them have played football before) and then 9 3rd graders but one is out with a broken arm (he fell playing before football started).

Scrimmage is set up where we play on 1/3 of the field and the JV has the other side. They run 10 offensive plays then we switch. Rinse and repeat.

1st series with each 1st string- our defense held up well and allowed one big play for a TD. My son got a few snaps. The big thing we learned is that the kid that was a bit MIA for the first week of practice is a baller. We got two hard hitting LB types now.

1st series on offense (my son at QB), started off with a solid run for about 5 and then the next play the handoff was muffed. I got a good view of it and my son put it where it should be and the RB just didn't get his hands on it. My son had a total over reaction on that (an issue in general and something I have been constantly trying to drill into him that he can't get negative or pout or cry etc... he is the leader as QB and needs to rally the team when bad things happen, be calm and collected etc). After that, I can't remember if it was directly after or maybe two plays later but a QB keeper off a fake hand off and my son took it about 30ish right to the 1 where he got knocked out. Next play we pushed it in. Later he completed a nice pass with a nice catch. No mess ups on the snaps (a huge win at this age) and the biggest thing for him was one play he stiffed armed three kids and the 4th got him.

2nd grouping of series we were not as impressive but that was our 2nd stringers which is 3rd grader heavy so it isn't too surprising. Several bad snaps (the backup QB just keeps moving back and not getting under center). Defense gave up more and the offense didn't get as much going.

Offensive line (my responsibility along with the other coach) did well. We need to get more violence out of our big guy but the boys I was more worried about played well. The one thing I told my compatriot was that we have to grab the TE's this week and work with them along with our Oline as they were consistently lining up too far off from tackle and a little lost on blocking in run plays.

Very happy to see what we got out of them today. First game Monday night against a team that is supposed to be on the smaller side of roster like us. I think we should be competitive this year.

 

[MAC_32]

Welp, game 1 started a lot like game 1 last year - the best player got seriously injured. This time was a Tua-like concussion and the game got called. Just got word that he's okay and heading home thankfully. As expected our boy didn't get any chances on offense, but he blew up a WR screen in his one defensive opportunity. Onto week 2...

 

[Fantasy_Freak]

Well, game 1 in the books for my son, he had a pretty good game, unfortunately got hit with an unsportsmanlike penalty early in the game (15 yard penalty). When we was blocking the DE, the DE got low and my sons hands went up and pulled the DE helmet off. I suspect that was the penalty, other than that pretty good game. Got to put some good highlights together. Game this Friday will be very tough, higher ranked team, then on to Purdue on Saturday for a gameday visit.

 

[SWC]

Not as good as they should be for an Ivy league school. Even though they invited him I don't see him as Ivy League material.

In my mind, the ideal is going to a school that is Ivy level but also has scholarships. Notre Dame, Northwestern, Stanford, Duke, etc Get that level of education without the cost? Seems to me to be the best option.

i have had players that i have helped get to college and i think there is no standard ideal for some kids the goal is just to get on a d1 team with a scholarship for some it is to get to use ball as a means to get to a school that will help them academically and professionally for some it is to go to a school where they can play regardless of level i think you have to know the kid and they kid and thier family need to soul search on it and have a plan that makes sense for them what they want and what their circumstances are take that to the bank brohans

There are quite a few factors that should go into the decision for sure. Some of which is what do you want out of your college athletic experience. Just as you have touched on. First is evaluating your skill level honestly. Do you have the skills to play or just go to a D1 program? Figure out where your skills lie on the spectrum. Then you need to figure out if you want to just be on the team, be a starter, or be an all conference type player. What matters to you? Then mesh that with your honest skill evaluation. This all doesn't even touch on the academic side of things or the social side or the weather/lifestyle aspect of where you go to school.

Kids that only look at one aspect of college will often get disappointed if that aspect doesn't reach their expectations. All that starts with being honest about abilities. its cool to say you are going to a D1 school but that mentality might not mesh with the kid. D1 turns a sport into a job. It's more cutthroat, time consuming, etc. It might not be for you. Very few people get to play college sports at any level. It makes sense to try and figure out what you want out of your experience before committing to a school.

best advice i ever got was that the question you should ask when deciding is if i stepped off a curb and broke my knee and could never play again would i still want to go here i think that is a great question take that to the bank bromigos

 

[Gally]

Not as good as they should be for an Ivy league school. Even though they invited him I don't see him as Ivy League material.

In my mind, the ideal is going to a school that is Ivy level but also has scholarships. Notre Dame, Northwestern, Stanford, Duke, etc Get that level of education without the cost? Seems to me to be the best option.

i have had players that i have helped get to college and i think there is no standard ideal for some kids the goal is just to get on a d1 team with a scholarship for some it is to get to use ball as a means to get to a school that will help them academically and professionally for some it is to go to a school where they can play regardless of level i think you have to know the kid and they kid and thier family need to soul search on it and have a plan that makes sense for them what they want and what their circumstances are take that to the bank brohans

There are quite a few factors that should go into the decision for sure. Some of which is what do you want out of your college athletic experience. Just as you have touched on. First is evaluating your skill level honestly. Do you have the skills to play or just go to a D1 program? Figure out where your skills lie on the spectrum. Then you need to figure out if you want to just be on the team, be a starter, or be an all conference type player. What matters to you? Then mesh that with your honest skill evaluation. This all doesn't even touch on the academic side of things or the social side or the weather/lifestyle aspect of where you go to school.

Kids that only look at one aspect of college will often get disappointed if that aspect doesn't reach their expectations. All that starts with being honest about abilities. its cool to say you are going to a D1 school but that mentality might not mesh with the kid. D1 turns a sport into a job. It's more cutthroat, time consuming, etc. It might not be for you. Very few people get to play college sports at any level. It makes sense to try and figure out what you want out of your experience before committing to a school.

best advice i ever got was that the question you should ask when deciding is if i stepped off a curb and broke my knee and could never play again would i still want to go here i think that is a great question take that to the bank bromigos

I have told this on these boards before but it fits here really well so I will say it again. When my son was getting recruited we went on a recruiting trip to a D3 school. Met with the coach, stayed with the players in the dorm, went to a basketball game (his sport is baseball but we were there during basketball season). Toured the field, amenities, etc. Went on a school tour etc.

Being a D3 school they cannot offer athletic scholarships but can do academic. They threw a lot of money academically at Gally Jr and the coach was really after him. But the coach made a great point that stuck with me. He said you gotta choose the school based on more than sports. It has to be a good fit for location, sports, academics, atmosphere, and general feel. Don't choose it just because of the sports aspect. You won't be happy in the long run.

He also said that being a D3 school his appeal to players was that he could offer you a complete college experience. You will have the time to enjoy the scocial aspect of college. You will have the time to excel academically and you will become a better baseball player. Baseball wasn't a business at his school. His goal as a coach was to help his players become complete people.

It made a lot a sense to me. I really liked the coach and thought he was doing it the right way. My son thought he was a better player than a D3 player so he wanted to shoot a bit higher in that aspect. He also didn't like the area as much as the school he chose. They also didn't have the concentration of major that he wanted. So while he liked the coach a lot and the baseball side was really close for him, the other aspects were lacking. So when the coach was pushing him a month or so after the visit about what he could do to make his school my son's first choice, my son's answer was "nothing". The aspects of my first choice (location, feel, major) aren't things the baseball coach could change about his school. The coach really respected my son's decision because of that and told he was making the right choice. If the other non-baseball stuff wasn't a fit you wouldn't be happy there even if the baseball experience was the best ever.

I even prodded Gally Jr a bit saying this school was treating him like a 1st round draft pick. He would get multiple chances in baseball and would be a bigger fish in a smaller pond vs going to his school of choice as a preferred walk-on which would be more like a 10th round draft pick. The chance is there but you gotta start out crushing it. He said, I like the school better and I want to bet on myself. I couldn't have been prouder about his decision.

 

[Chadstroma]

Game 1 for the muchkins was a 6-0 win (1 TD, failed conversion).

Defense was great. I am pretty sure they had a net negative yardage. Most of their possessions they moved backwards with one exception where they moved close to a 1st. They did not get a 1st down. My son did not play any snaps on defense.

Offense when they didn't shoot themselves in the foot, they moved the ball well. More than a couple muffed snaps and 1 handoff put on the ground. My son had a couple of good runs on QB fake handoff bootleg runs and went 2-2 on passing. One was a big play for about 30 yards which set up the TD- pass was 10+ yards downfield and the receiver gained extra yards. The second was a wheel route out to the flat for 8ish yards. Our primary RB has several nice hard runs and one of them was punching it in for the TD. Our second RB had another good run as well. The HC took my son out and put the backup QB in for a bit. Not sure if that was because of the snap miscues or what. The backup did ok. More muffed snaps though.

We played way better than the 6-0 board says but again, the only thing that kept the other team so close was us muffing the snaps and a bad handoff that ended up a lost fumble.

These boys.... lol.... almost every play I had to yell at the TE's to get closer to the tackle. They are supposed to be inline and they keep lining up like they are in the slot. We two formations. 1 is the WR is on the right and the second the WR on the left. A TE on each side of the tackles. One of the TE's got better the other.... every. damn. single. play I had to yell at him to get closer. For some reason my G's would occasionally line up too tight to center which was really hard to correct in game. So.... plenty of work on splits this week in practice this week. lol A couple of the boys occasionally getting lost ... you are the RG... where the heck are you going lining up at LG! We have never put you at LG... WTF! But other than that, they did well, the Dline was not getting penetration and we were getting good push for the most part. Need to figure out a way to unleash the beast in our monster tackle but he did well... just not as well as he is capable of due to this size.

 

[The Z Machine]

Good stuff, Chad. Like I said, the most important thing pre-HS varsity level for O-Line is simply remembering the responsibilities for each formation, each play.

1) Know what to do on each play called. Even better if you know what the guy next to you should do!
2) Don't get called for holding or false starts. Nothing kills momentum like having a good gain called back for your mistake.
3) Move your feet, stay on your toes, not your heels. Never stand still.
4) Always try to be between your opponent and the ball. If you're there, they can't make a tackle.
5) Use leverage and get under your opponent whenever possible.

 

[The Z Machine]

#1 and #4 were the reasons I got to start varsity O-line as a very undersized junior in HS. I never pancaked many guys, but they didn't make many tackles if I was blocking them. I did suck at shotgun snaps though. Never could put it in the same place twice!

 

[Chadstroma]

Good stuff, Chad. Like I said, the most important thing pre-HS varsity level for O-Line is simply remembering the responsibilities for each formation, each play.

1) Know what to do on each play called. Even better if you know what the guy next to you should do!
2) Don't get called for holding or false starts. Nothing kills momentum like having a good gain called back for your mistake.
3) Move your feet, stay on your toes, not your heels. Never stand still.
4) Always try to be between your opponent and the ball. If you're there, they can't make a tackle.
5) Use leverage and get under your opponent whenever possible.

Our biggest goal has been to simplify the offense. At these ages, it is a lot to take in as is and even more so as we only have 5 players out of the 18 that have played football before. 22 personnel with two different formations which literally is the same but which side the WR lines up at. Simple man to man blocking which works well because the dline must line up over the oline and not in gaps. We have focused on technique and then knowing their running lanes and which way to push and seal off. I think simplifying it and our (my fellow oline coach) inexperience with the oline has ended up working well as we are not trying to coach these kids to play varsity but just get the basics down. The scrimmage on Sat and last nights game seems to suggest we are doing pretty good progress with the boys.

 

[Chadstroma]

24-22 win for varsity. It was closer than that. The good is that we looked much better than we did at the jamboree. The bad is that we almost lost the game in what my opinion was poor coaching decisions.

We jumped ahead and basically dominating the game on both offense and defense early. 16--0 (two TD's and two good extra points which at this level count as 2). They put together a decent drive and scored and we came back as well to the half 24-8.

In the second half, we clearly started giving way on defense where they were putting consistent long drives and offensively losing steam. The bad coaching decision? The entire game there was one substitution for one snap on defense late in the game. Other than that it was the same package, same starters prob about 8 of which play both ways. The boys were clearly gassed and just getting rolled over on defense and offense as the other team had what I would say is more normal substituting. Their long drives marched down the field by consistent 3-5 yard chunks. Scored and then we managed to hold them but soon after coughed up the ball and they marched down again and scored bringing it to 24-22. Now, we have a good kicker but this kicker has a huge leg but missed the extra point. We get the ball and fail to convert a 4th and 3 giving them the ball back on their 40 with a little over a minute left. They do a couple of plays and get the ball down for what would have been about a 35ish yard FG, easily within range for their kicker judging on how he was booting them. He kicked wide with 10 seconds left and we win.

My son is clearly entrenched in the 2nd string as he didn't see the field and as I mentioned only one kid on 1st string offense, defense or ST got called in for a snap. The best I can come up with is that my son was slated for first team along with the kid that quit. When he quit, they moved another kid in at RB who is bigger than my son, a little slower but hard to bring down. They seemingly like another kid who I am very familiar with to pair with him better who is more of a scat back. He is slightly faster than my son, a bit more agile but is significantly smaller. Which ok, but don't see how in the world you don't spell the kids with my son who was 1st string before for a snap or two. I don't really get it and all the parents I knew were saying the same. Very odd decision for a coaching staff that is so highly respected. There is no doubt in my mind that we almost lost the game for the lack of subs.

That being said, I was strapped in for a long bad season but tonight gives some hope again of some wins and at least we won't go winless for sure like we did two years ago.

 

[The Z Machine]

Perhaps the coaches don't have faith in the 2nd strong to execute without making mental or physical mistakes? Risking a fumble or forgetting who has outside contain could cost them the game. Keeping in the players that were executing without errors but physically gassed might have been less risk.

 

[Chadstroma]

Perhaps the coaches don't have faith in the 2nd strong to execute without making mental or physical mistakes? Risking a fumble or forgetting who has outside contain could cost them the game. Keeping in the players that were executing without errors but physically gassed might have been less risk.

Obviously the coach has his reason(s). Your guess is a good one but I find it hard to believe that no one on the team is close enough to the starter that a snap or two to get the starter a breather would collapse the entire team.

Using my son as an example, as I know one of the RB's very well and his abilities. Really, if you matched them up there is very little overall skill difference and it is more about what do you- a small, quick RB that is a little faster or a bigger one cut power runner. Or to replace the other RB who is same type of RB but bigger and slower. There is a lot of practice I don't see even though up to last week we were on the same field practicing but the couple of times I caught my son get a snap, he had long runs (really didn't see long runs from others), at the jamboree- the only time we effectively ran was with my son (caveat on that being that that was 2nd string against 2nd string) but the most important was twice I caught my son explaining the play or moving someone into the right place. I use my son as the example since obviously my attention is mostly on him so my observations are largely based around him.

Also, the starters are all 8th graders with one exception other than a couple of 7th graders on ST.

It is what it is. But man... we got lucky last night. If their kicker didn't shank the extra point and then later the FG which he had plenty of leg for.... it would have been a loss. If we they made that extra point and we went to OT, it would have been a loss. The more the game went on the more that they were dominating.

I just think you really got to find a way to get some subs in there. If you have almos the same 11 on the field the whole game like that, we are going to lose some winnable games for sure. I mean, on our munchkin team where we have 18 players total and played with 16 in our first game (one boy is still out with a broken arm he suffered before football and the other was sick) with some big difference in ability/skill/understanding and we still got most of the boys a breather.

 

[Kuz]

Perhaps the coaches don't have faith in the 2nd strong to execute without making mental or physical mistakes? Risking a fumble or forgetting who has outside contain could cost them the game. Keeping in the players that were executing without errors but physically gassed might have been less risk.

Obviously the coach has his reason(s). Your guess is a good one but I find it hard to believe that no one on the team is close enough to the starter that a snap or two to get the starter a breather would collapse the entire team.

Using my son as an example, as I know one of the RB's very well and his abilities. Really, if you matched them up there is very little overall skill difference and it is more about what do you- a small, quick RB that is a little faster or a bigger one cut power runner. Or to replace the other RB who is same type of RB but bigger and slower. There is a lot of practice I don't see even though up to last week we were on the same field practicing but the couple of times I caught my son get a snap, he had long runs (really didn't see long runs from others), at the jamboree- the only time we effectively ran was with my son (caveat on that being that that was 2nd string against 2nd string) but the most important was twice I caught my son explaining the play or moving someone into the right place. I use my son as the example since obviously my attention is mostly on him so my observations are largely based around him.

Also, the starters are all 8th graders with one exception other than a couple of 7th graders on ST.

It is what it is. But man... we got lucky last night. If their kicker didn't shank the extra point and then later the FG which he had plenty of leg for.... it would have been a loss. If we they made that extra point and we went to OT, it would have been a loss. The more the game went on the more that they were dominating.

I just think you really got to find a way to get some subs in there. If you have almos the same 11 on the field the whole game like that, we are going to lose some winnable games for sure. I mean, on our munchkin team where we have 18 players total and played with 16 in our first game (one boy is still out with a broken arm he suffered before football and the other was sick) with some big difference in ability/skill/understanding and we still got most of the boys a breather.

This is the reason my son quit football in 10th grade.. They had 8 or 9 kids play both ways like your son's team did & lost every game that year. They were always winning or close in the 1st half then the kids got smoked in the 2nd.. Coach kept playing the same kids & they were all gassed.. It was really frustrating