Coaching Your Quarterback From Week To Week

Coaching Your Quarterback From Week to Week

Floyd Schwartzwalder Head Coach Syracuse University Syracuse, N.Y.

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hank you “Rip” (Engle) and I do want to thank all of you gentlemen for the wonderful honor that you have bestowed on Syracuse and our staff. I want you to know that if there was any coaching done at Syracuse this year, the staff did it and we were mighty fortunate in having a wonderful group of boys and the ball bounced real well for us. It has to, men, if you are going to be as lucky as we were this year. When Phil called me about this subject, I said “Yes” before I gave it much thought. As time went on I began to realize that the quarterback position is a pretty significant thing in football. I feel a little better up here than I did in ’53 after a game with Alabama where we were licked 61 to 6. Thank goodness I was assigned the subject of offense and not defense. Our quarterbacks were well coached this year. The man who really did the job was our offensive backfield coach and we felt that he did an outstanding job. In the first place, before you discuss the training of the quarterback, week to week, you should pick the quarterback. Normally, it is very obvious who is going to play quarterback and who isn’t. However, we did have a little problem this year in that the boy who was slated to be our quarterback, Bobbie Thomas, came up with a complaint in the middle of the summer. We didn’t think much of it at first but as time went on we began to be fearful that he had a problem. He started out with us in the fall and looked very good in the practice and scrimmage that we had. It was finally determined that he had a partially ruptured disc and couldn’t play. The season was coming on and we thought from the experiences we had in the past, that a team must have two quarterbacks. We believe that it is most important. Otherwise, if we have just one and something happens to him, we don’t have a football team. We were willing to put our captain and our last season’s right halfback at quarterback because we felt that he was the most capable man to play that position. We had a boy whom we thought could do a reasonable job, but we had just one. So we started the season in our early practices with our captain, Ger Schwedes, at quarterback along with Dave Sarette. We also had a third quarterback, Dick Easterly. We opened the season with Schwedes the quarterback. We were short on halfbacks and our boy

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Easterly came along. It got to the point where we were willing to gamble that he could be our No. 2 quarterback. I just point that out for what it is worth. We are basically a running team (if our opponents will permit us to run), as well as an off-tackle team. That is the crux of everything. If we can run off tackle, we are satisfied. If they are going to stop us, they are going to either bring men from the inside out or they are going to bring men from the outside in, or they are going to crowd us. Now they don’t bring men normally from inside out. We found that most teams load us up pretty good inside. Instead of bringing them from the outside in, we found this year that they were crowding us quite a bit. They would bring their secondary in pretty tight. Now a little more about the individual attributes of the quarterback. Of course, we are all looking for perfection and search for the Holy Grail but we don’t find it that way. The problem that entered into our thinking was whether Schwedes should play quarterback or not. We had a lot of folks helping us on this thing. I know you do, too, when you have a problem like that. Your choice probably won’t be the popular choice with the fans. One thing however that we were sure about in Schwedes was that he had good hands. He had quick hands. He had sure hands. He played basketball in high school. Consequently we made that our number one requisite for a quarterback— that he must have good hands and he must be able to take the snap from center and handle the football. If he can’t do that, he just can’t play quarterback. Number two, if there was any doubt about who was going to be in that position, we wanted a runner. Our quarterback was the fourth runner in our backfield and the passing rated after that. We felt that by sufficient practice, our passer would become adequate enough if he could run and if he had good hands that he could do a respectable job. Naturally, we were looking for all the other things relative to leadership, hustle, hard work, intelligence and common sense, but we like a pleasant boy. If we can get a boy who is a good boy—well, we were very fortunate in that respect this year. We had a couple of boys who didn’t have much of a football background but they were real pleasant and the squad members liked them very much. We thought that was very significant, because

you spend an awful lot of time with these quarterbacks. If you have a boy whom you look forward to seeing and he is pleasant and has a nice personality, all the time you spend with him is much more productive footballwise. As to the mental aspects in dealing with these two quarterbacks—I might say I am a lousy psychologist. I think we had some articles written on that a year ago in the local newspapers saying how poor we were. In trying to build these boys up at the start of the year we called on Meredith another Graham or Lucas or anybody we thought they might look up to. We were always very friendly, and we built up our quarterbacks on the field. We praised them. If they made a bad play or did something wrong, we would say, “Now some other player did that.” If you can get that into your thinking, we feel it is a help. We never criticize a quarterback in front of the other boys. Never! We are always trying to build him up. With regard to the mechanical aspects, the first thing is the center exchange and, as I say, our backfield coach, Bill Bell, did a wonderful job with these boys in this respect. Just a little thing, but it might have some significance. Jim Ringo, who plays with Green Bay, comes back and helps us in the spring. We had always let our quarterbacks put either hand up—Jim said it was significant to put the right hand up—if you had a righthanded center as the center delivers the ball with a twisting upward motion. The forward part turns to the left and the rear to the right. The force of the ball is now absorbed on the side of the thumbs or the strongest part of the hands. It prevents many fumbles. So, if you are doing it either way, it might be just a thought for you. We had never considered it before but when you think about it, it might have some small significance. We can always learn something. So the center exchange is the first thing, and we won’t go into that. We feel it is just a matter of the quarterback going with the center and coming out with that football. And when he does, he pulls it into his stomach. We had a lot of ball handling this year. I don’t think there was a day that we didn’t have fifteen minutes to spare. We would then wind up practice with fifteen minutes of ball handling, particularly with our ride series because we run a three-way option.

If you are going to do something like that, you have got to spend time on it. We feel that the little extra time made a big difference as the season progressed. Our quarterbacks start out with warming up by throwing initially. We spend about ten minutes on that. We feel that by throwing enough, every day, they get to be adequate throwers. Then we go into our ball handling. Of course, the quarterbacks are the busiest men on the field. They are holding extra points and catching punts. There is never enough time for these boys. However, we made sure that they did two things every day. They warmed up on the throwing and the ball handling. Now, as to the huddle; with only 25 seconds, the thing we are conscious of is to get in the huddle and to get out. We try to make a quick call in the huddle. This year we went into left formation for the first time. If we are going into left formation, the first thing our quarterback says is, “Left formation.” If we are going to be in right formation, he doesn’t mention it. That saves a little time. We will flanker either half back either way. If it is not a straight T, the quarterback will mention the flanker. We call it Wing Left, Wing Right, Tail Left, Tail Right. The next thing he gives is the play and then, of course, the snap. The quarterback repeats the snap. As he gives the snap the first time, the center takes off and as he gives the snap the second time, the team claps their hands and they all take off to the ball. It is just a simple call. If we are going to go left formation, “Left formation—Wing Left—213 on 2 (pause) on 2.” In working against each other, we have found if we take too much time in a call, that the defense can always sense it is possibly going to be a pass. So we try to call our passes just as briefly as we do our running plays. Instead of having a lot of men varying their courses, we will have more passes. We never vary over one man on any pass course. The call is made a little quicker in that manner. As to recognition of the defense, we must restrict that to two words. If they can’t get it right, come up with something. The first thing we are concerned with is whether it is a box or a diamond defense. One of the two things in his call will involve either diamond or box by word or implication. The other thing we are concerned with is whether it is an overshift or an undershift. If it is a normal defense, it is very easy.

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In our initial practice, we work against four basic defenses. We feel that this gives us pretty much the picture we need and we can then adjust sufficiently well to variations. First, we work against the “6 Regular.” That is, the wide tackle 6. The tackle doesn’t have to be clear out on the ends, though. We still call it “6 Regular.” This is a diamond under-defense and our boys are taught to make this implication with the call. Second, we work against the “State 7,” a defense that Pitt uses and Penn State used in the past, a 7-man line with stand up men on our ends. Third, we work against the “Okie Box.” This is an over-defense. Fourth, we work against the “6 Box” which is an under-defense. Any other defense such as the Split 6 we just call a Split 6 and our boys know that is a diamond under-defense. A 5-stunt then would be a diamond over-defense. An Eagle, they learn, is a box over. If it’s a fourfour, they would know that would be a diamond under. We could call it a 6 drop, emphasizing they dropped their ends back on a passing situation. The seven-four would be a box over defense. A slot 8, they learn, is a diamond under. If it is all scrambled up in there and they can’t recognize it, they will just call it a slot box or a slot diamond; or they will call it an over or an under box or diamond. The key to our call of over or under depends on whether the center or right guard is covered. If the center is covered, it is under. If the right guard is covered it is an over. If he is shaded or in the gap and we are going to run to the right, and our quarterback feels that our right guard can handle him, he could still call that an under. If we are going to go to the left and he feels that our center can handle him, he could call that an undershift. We have that one little rule of thumb for our quarterbacks to go by and give us flexibility. We feel that simple rule of thumb has helped our quarterbacks. The one thing they should be able to see—“Is there a man on the right guard or a man on our center?” If there is a man on both of them, we know we have a loaded up situation and if they load us up in there too much, our quarterback can always call “goal line” and our line tightens up. We now dig out man to man. We use a non-rhythmic count. We have used that for three years. I am sure most all of you do that by now. It eliminates the problem of your quarterbacks being synchronized and having any need of

cadence. Just so they yell it out loud enough so they can all hear it. We go strictly on sound and not anticipation. We feel that there is an advantage in this. If the defense does jump on us, our quarterback can always pause and let our linemen recall the type of blocking we are going to use. There is no secret that if our opponents use a normal defense on us, we will crossblock inside as much as we possibly can. Of course, if they load you up, it doesn’t make very good sense to run in there. But if we do run inside and they have stunted in there, or they have moved in after we have made a call, we will just dig it out and run it anyway. So, by using a non-rhythmic count, it does give your quarterback an opportunity to pause and let the line change their call. We have a quarterback play book just as everyone else has, in which our quarterbacks diagram all the plays versus all the defenses. As far as possible, we want our quarterback to know what every man does on every play. That is asking a lot of a sophomore quarterback, but the more you expect of these boys, the more it seems they are capable of doing. They should know pretty much who does what. Our backfield coach, Bill Bell, has recognition cards which I know you all have. He flashes these cards and they call the defense. It gets to be a game to see who can recognize them first. By practicing this way they get so they recognize them pretty well, learn just what we are going against, because we have that simple rule of thumb whether it is over or under or includes a slot. As to automatics, I can remember a few years ago hearing Bud Wilkinson say he didn’t believe in automatics and I couldn’t realize that a top coach like Bud didn’t believe in automatics. We used to work so hard and so long until we started checking our results. We found that our automatics actually got us into more trouble than they helped us. Somebody would miss it, another would be confused, or another who had already concentrated on taking a man would be a little more hesitant and then would execute haphazardly. Therefore, we practically eliminated work on automatics and our boys are very happy about it. We use it just enough that if the defense would all line up on one side of the field and leave everything open on the other, we could still go toward the weakness.

Floyd Schwartzwalder at a Glance Experience: Head Coach, Canton (Ohio) McKinley High School, 1941; Head Coach, Muhlenberg, 1946-1948 (25-5-0); Head Coach, Syracuse, 1949-1973 (153-91-3) Career Head Coaching Record: 178-96-3 Bowl Games: 1953 Orange Bowl, 1957 Cotton Bowl, 1959 Orange Bowl, 1960 Cotton Bowl, 1961 Liberty Bowl, 1965 Sugar Bowl, 1966 Gator Bowl Lambert Trophies (Top Team in the East): 4 National Championships: 1959 AFCA National Coach of the Year Awards: 1959 Notes: Led Syracuse to an 11-0 record in 1959 to capture the school’s first national championship ... Was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1982 ... His 153 wins are the post in school history. I will never forget a few years ago in a game we were playing with Holy Cross and had worked up to a three touchdown lead with five minutes to go. I had been talking to our second string quarterback as the game progressed. I told him I was going to send him in and that I expected him to keep the ball on the ground. I even made him repeat after me as he went in—“Keep the ball on the ground.” The ball was back on our own ten. The defensive line backer moved up in the line and our quarterback checked into the pop pass. The line backer baked out, got his hand up and the pass ricocheted up in the air and their halfback ran under it and they had a touchdown. To make a long story short, they had three touchdowns in about three and one-half minutes, to tie us up. We still had time enough to score another touchdown with our first team quarterback and win the ball game. Well, that shook me up a little, but we went ahead with automatics. But now we just don’t feel that it is worth all the attention we used to give it. We encourage team members to help our quarterbacks but not in the huddle. That creates confusion. We want them to simply call a hole that can be run—not a specific play. Time outs or rest periods on the bench are ideal spots to give this information. We did make a huddle compromise this year since we had inexperienced quarterbacks. We had a couple of experienced halfbacks so we let Schwedes help our quarterback in the huddle with the first team and

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Mark Weber helped our second quarterback. If either of these boys thought the quarterback was way off base, he would check the play. They were particularly conscious of delayed plays, pass calls, and goal line plays. This was a desperation move and the first time we ever dared do anything like this, but it worked and our quarterbacks liked it. They were real humble boys. Our first team quarterback didn’t play much defense this year, not that he didn’t like defense, or couldn’t play it well, but we just thought if we had him on the bench we would have time to talk with him. Our spotter could talk to him on the phone and go over anything that might be of assistance. We try to keep this very simple, instead of loading them up with half a dozen things, just one thing at a time. We feel if we could get one idea across to the boy, one play that he might work, particularly a pass, that is adequate. Then, of course, if our alternate team was in there and our team quarterback was on the bench, he would talk to the linemen and see if they could come up with anything that might be of help to him. We feel that you can make this too complex. As I say, we are basically an off tackle team and the key man then is the defensive tackle and the basic play again is our “Ride Series.” Any time we are in doubt, we tell our quarterback just to call the Ride. Some people say, “When in doubt, punt,” but we found our way worked for us this year. Since the off tackle ride is a three-way

option, it gives our quarterback a good check on the defensive tackle, the defensive end, and the corner man in a box. If we are in a diamond, the third man becomes the defensive halfback. He knows just what three defensive men are doing by running our ride series. If the linebackers are reacting very fast and they get in on the tackle (we want the quarterback to check as best he can who made the tackle) and, if he is smart enough, find out why, but at least who makes the tackle. If he sees the linebackers making tackles too frequently on our ride series, then we know it is time for our scissors. Often the corner men are up, he knows then it is time to throw the pass off the ride or an option or bootleg. If the defenses are normal, that gives us our cross blocking inside, so we can run in there. But we don’t find any normal defenses any more and I don’t imagine you men do, either. They crowd us up pretty well inside, so again that fits in with our thinking that we will start off tackle first. If the defense stunts and deals continuously, our inside plays will be quick “dig out” dives. Each game, as I say, is a lesson in itself. We have specific game preparation, as everybody does, and we want to study the philosophy of the opponent just as much as we possibly can. We want to get to the point, if we can, where we are thinking just like they are thinking, as nearly as we can, whether they are diamond or box, whether they penetrate or whether they hit and slide. How do they defend on passes; their tendencies; if their deep men really go back quickly; and if the line backers are crowding or are loose. Do the line backers go with the backs; or do they key linemen? Do they synchronize with linemen in groups or do the linebackers function separately? We try to predetermine as much as possible what we might go with. Accurate prior planning and anticipating what will go gives the team a big lift on game day. Our backfield coach makes up a play chart on Monday after we study scouting reports and films on Sunday. You probably can’t see this, but here is one that we used. We list all the running plays and all the passes for a given week. This was for the Holy Cross game. We had five off tackle plays to each side. Inside the defensive tackle, we had four plays to each side. Other weeks, we might have five. As we go inside, we cut down the number. We had 32 running plays for the Holy Cross game and we had 30 passes. The

passes include our bootlegs, our screens and our shovels. As you see, our tendency is to have a large number of passes with no more than one variation on any pattern. This permits a quick call such as “flood right pass.” If we want a left formation, we just say “left formation, flood right.” If we want a flanker, we say “wing right, flood right” or we can call “tail right, flood right” and that is all there is to it. We can also use a number, like a 70-71 pass, or a 720-721 swing back, or boom right, boom left, opposite. We can flanker with it. That gets us out of the huddle in the 25 seconds. Our two quarterbacks had different characteristics. Our second quarterback Dick Easterly was pretty well restricted to roll outs and bootlegs. Straight setbacks got him in trouble. He was like a pitcher wanting to be a hitter. He always dreamed of the day he was going to throw set-back passes, so I said “Now, Junior, keep in your repertoire and don’t be a showboat.” The other boy Dave Sarette, could set up pretty good as he had a wider repertoire. Even with the two men we would have a little different style for each one of them in our game preparation. We tried to develop in them what we thought were their best abilities, although as the season progressed, Easterly improved his passing quite a bit. We are at a point now where our action passes are the significant passes that we have, particularly our bootlegs, because they look like our off-tackle plays. Over the weekend we go over the scouting reports and films if we have exchanged them. We look at last year ’s film, too, if it is a regular opponent and we get our quarterbacks in on these sessions as much as we possibly can. Every time they have a free period, even if it is only ten or fifteen minutes, we want them to come in. We want to talk with them. We use these set play sheets. We change our sets from week to week. For example, take our off-tackle play, or boom, which we call or 72-73 boom, in our ride series. We can run it right and left formation. To the right, we can run it wing right, tail right, or straight “T.” Actually, we can run that one play six different ways. However, we don’t run it six different ways every week. We run it at least four ways, either right or left formation. Basically we run it mostly counter flanker, that is, wing right. We like to get the halfback up close to that end as we block the ends. Our

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halfback is always in a position where he works on the defensive end. When we started using the ride series, we didn’t originally block the defensive end. We optioned off him. As we used the play more, the opponents soon learned to smack the end quickly into our faking area and foul us up. We had to change our thinking. Now we option off the corner man rather than off the end. Our quarterback decides what he is going to do based on how the end plays. He either gives to the fullback or he keeps. If he is going to keep, he now options off the corner man. It is up to our quarterback to study these play sheets and know each week’s changes including sets and all the plays that we are going to run. We give them this information on Monday evening so they have it for the rest of the week to study. These boys did do a fine job on that his year. Besides studying films as much as they can, they look at their play sheets and the scouting report. We meet with our squad Monday and Wednesday evenings. If we are on a trip, we try to sit with our quarterbacks and go over the situation with them. We always have a meeting on Saturday morning for about ten minutes with our quarterbacks. We try to get them to discuss as much as they can what they think we might do that week. As I say, whenever in doubt, we run off-tackle. We don’t deploy our ends. I know that is out of step. Of course, anything that anybody else does enough of, we are going to do some of. Any defense that our opponents use, we are going to use some of it. If they use enough of anything, we want to get familiar with it. When deployment started and the split started, we worked on it in spring practice and we liked a lot of things. When we analyzed it, we found it took too many things away from us. It split those ends out. Since we want to be in a position to effectively move one man, the defensive tackle, we feel that we can move him better with our end and tackle in there together than we can with the tackle and halfback who is removed a yard from the line of scrimmage. That one step difference gives the tackle time to hit into our tackle and then direct his charge on our halfback. Hence we don’t deploy. When we get inside the 20, we are now still in the same type of offense that we are in when we are out in the middle of the field. Therefore, we don’t have to change our thinking.

A long time ago against Fordham, we had the ball inside their ten-yard line, ten times, and we scored once. When we checked on our failure, we found our opponents changed their defense in there and we weren’t ready for that change. Each week now, we work on goal line plays. We tighten our line up should to shoulder and we will have certain plays we run on the goal line. Basically, they are going to be offtackle. If they are in an 8-3 or a 7-4 and in all those inside gaps, the first break we get is off-tackle. This makes our ride series and off-tackle booms effective. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, we work one against two in our pass drills, while the third team is working against our frosh or against the fourth on defense. We work three teams. We find that if we don’t work three teams, we are not going to keep these boys coming along. Somewhere down the line we are going to have a couple of injuries and the third team is going to be playing anyway. If we don’t work three teams, we are going to be in trouble. We have one team work against two on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and we go back into a huddle. Here is where our quarterbacks learn to stay in their repertoire, particularly, their passing. The biggest factor in generalship is knowing when to pass, when not to pass, and what type of pass is going to be called. By calling these in practice, they get accustomed to throwing the passes that we think they can throw. Also, in working against each other, they get the feel of the thing as they are trying to beat each other. The second team is always trying to complete more passes than the first team. They are out to do most anything they can to accomplish that objective. As the season went along, we had a little problem of keeping them from whacking each other. Thursday is the real review day. We go back into a huddle and get into all the different defenses that the opponent we are going to play might get in, four or five. Also, we let them throw in some extras just for our quarterback’s recognition. We run our passes in this drill to get the feel of the complete picture. If they are calling something we feel is a little out of line, we discuss it with them. Going into a ball game, our first few plays are always predetermined. Our team knows by Thursday what our first three plays are going to be in any given ball game. We figure that gives us that little

extra concentration on just what we are going to do. We try to change it enough week to week so our opponents won’t get a pattern on it. If we feel the opponent is going to crowd us, we may open up with a pass or a screen. Since we are going to pass some time in the ball game, we might as well throw one in the first part of it. Ara Parseghian said that the type of defense and the nature of the game as it unfolds dictate the extent and the type of passing. We certainly go along with that. It also dictates the type of calls your quarterback makes. If the game is unfolding all right, then it is a pretty simple matter. However, if things are not going too well and you get one or two touchdowns behind, that is when the quarterback situation gets to be a problem. We try to predetermine as much as possible what we think might go for the coming game. If during the week, we still feel that some changes must be made, we will make them conservatively, hoping that we will not have to waver from our predetermined plan very much. We stress passing quite strongly. In fact, in our team drills we spend 50% of our time on passing. I know that isn’t the way some people think but we feel that the pass play takes more efficiency to execute. We don’t pass an awful lot but we do spend a lot of time on it because the pass is a very crucial play. I feel we are going to be spending more time on passing because teams seem to crowd us more each year. Of course, when our running attack starts falling apart, they will quit crowding us. We went through the phase where we wanted to keep possession of the football at all costs. We don’t think like that any more. We throw on first down now just as much as we do on the other downs. I know that doesn’t make good sense but that is the way we think right now. Because the way the defenses are playing us, the pass may be as safe as a running play. If we get a particular play going, we want to exploit it. However, we don’t want our quarterback to be a “pig” and just run the same play all the time because then the defense will adjust and stop it. We want to keep exploring around along with concentration on the “bread and butter” and we hope that is our off-tackle play. We are not kick happy. Normally, we wait until the fourth down to punt. I know that’s wrong, too. We will check on our punts if they crowd us. We also check on

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our extra points. The don’ts are important. Here are just a few of those don’ts we try to get across: DON’Tpass when your running attack is going well. As simple as that is, it is amazing how many times you will get down to the 20-yard line with your running attack and your quarterback will throw the football when he might have gone right on in with his running attack. We try to remind the quarterback—don’t forget how you got there. DON’T run delayed plays close in or against a closed up defense. They are going to break through on you. DON’T run reverses, counter plays, delayed plays, against a packed defense. Give them the straight shots, your passing game, your hook passes, and your flat passes if they are loaded up on you. DON’T lose your poise and your confidence. That’s hard to tell a boy, when things are going badly. It is so important that they stay loose. Too much emphasis cannot be placed on this subject. DON’T do the obvious thing. If you never do the obvious, sometimes it might be all right to do what some consider obvious, such as throwing a long pass on big yardage, or bucks on real short yardage. DON’T get into the category where the defense can accurately anticipate your call. DON’T throw the intercepted pass. If there is one thing that our backfield coach really works these boys on, it is to not throw the intercepted pass. DON’Tthrow to the deep receiver who is well covered. We have quarterbacks so intent on this that we thought it was their rule. If there is going to be a mean word spoken to our quarterbacks, it is to the quarterback who throws to the deep man covered by two men. The one thing that we probably yell more about than anything else is for the quarterback to throw the ball “right now.” DON’T hold the ball too long. Get rid of it. If the quarterback is in trouble, get it out of bounds near a receiver or eat it, but don’t throw an intercepted pass. DON’T make a reckless pitch on an option. If you get out there and the defense is in there on you, eat it, but don’t pitch it out. Our second quarterback was a fiery Irishman who would throw the ball when they would be all around him. He would still try to get rid of it and he got himself in trouble because of this. As to general information, know the

score, the time to play, the distance, and the downs. It is very important to check after a penalty because we are not smart enough to always know what the officials have called and where they are going to put the ball. Know what the yardage situation is going to be. I guess Ara had a problem there, didn’t he, in the game we saw on film. They didn’t know what down it was. Try to check that. This was the first year we went into left formation. This created more flexibility, but it also gave us more opportunities to make errors. We prefer to be in left formation on the right hash mark. We likewise prefer to be in the right formation on the left hash mark. We made quite a few errors in this respect the past season. We hope to improve our calls in the coming season. We study the relative physical condition of our team and the opponent as the game unfolds. If our team is in better shape we want to speed up the tempo as much as possible. Stick with the running attack if it is going. Use our power plays. If we are being out-conditioned, we are in trouble. Try to be more deliberate. Mix up your game. Go for the long gainer such as a screen or bootleg or pass. In conclusion, I would like to go over one basic defense with you and what we would try to do. The basic defense diagrammed here is the Okie Box which is the defense we see most. The key is the defensive tackles. If they

Diagram 1: Of Basic Okie Defense

shade our left guard and outside tackle, we run inside. If they are nose up, we concentrate at them and outside. As I indicated earlier, they mostly play us tight as in Diagram 2.

Diagram 2

Diagram 3

With the corner man so tight, we must now throw our ride pass. We release the right halfback deep and the end into the flat after hitting into the defensive tackle. The left halfback picks back on the defensive tackle and our quarterback bootlegs outside after faking to our fullback as in Diagram 4.

Diagram 4

If we wing right, the corner man normally still won’t budge. He stays put. If we run our ride series right, our end can now call “7” and consider the man over him as a tackle. This gives our right halfback an option. He can either help the end on the tackle (Diagram 2) or work out on the corner man (Diagram 3), if he is real close and tight. If the right halfback blocks in on the “T” we option off the corner man. If he blocks out and the “T” stays tight the quarterback keys and options later.

The key to the whole strategy picture is still the defensive tackle. That keeps it simple. I have enjoyed this opportunity to talk with you. I hope I have covered one little point that may be of help to you. Thanks a lot for your attention.

AFCA Divisions It is important to know the AFCA Division and District in which your school belongs. Following are the four AFCA Divisions: University Division I-A — Institutions that are in NCAA Division I-A

University Division II — Institutions that are in NCAA Division II and the NAIA

University Division I-AA — Institutions that are in NCAA Division I-AA

University Division III — Institutions that are in NCAA Division III

• AFCA Summer Manual — 2001 •