Our game sheet for defensive calls is completely Hudl-driven. Since some of my assistants aren’t as Hudl-crazy as I am, it’s important everyone’s able to understand it clearly.

Using our tendency data, we list the run/pass breakdown and top five plays, regardless of formation, for each down-and-distance situation (short, medium, long). Next to that, we list the stunts and base calls that we think will be the most effective responses to their tendencies.

It’s important to note that every stunt you call is going to leave you vulnerable somewhere. But understanding the analytics allows you to minimize that exposure with the greatest percentage of effect.

Nothing you call is ever going to be 100 percent efficient. So when you’re crafting your play-call menu, ask yourself two questions:

• Is my gut telling me it’s going to work?
• On paper, does this match my gut?

We use the What’s Next report in a unique way— we’ll run it on every single scout film of our opponents. Seeing what plays the report predicts against different defensive looks, and the commonalities between each, influences our automatic checks at the bottom of the sheet.

Of course, there’s times I look at my sheet and say “nothing’s working.” But 75-80 percent of the time, the sheet is right. The numbers don’t lie.

The most important thing to keep in mind with any game plan is that analytics are really important, but if you can combine it with your own instincts, you’ve got a great thing going.

Padilla went into more detail about predictive models like Hudl’s What’s Next report impact his game week, in his speaking session from Blitz ’21.

Down and distance tendencies are easier — and faster — to find than ever with the analysis feature. Just click on the “beta” icon at your home screen in Hudl to start filling out your game sheet in minutes.

Privacy & Permissions

You take privacy seriously — we have that in common.  Let’s address your most frequently asked security questions.

• How is video shared using the Focus Exchange Network?
  To ensure you get a copy of your video on the road, you’ll need to add the scheduled event on Hudl.com with the correct game location, date, time and opponent. We’ll take care of the rest with a little magic behind the scenes ensuring the video is automatically uploaded to you and your opponent’s library only.To put it simply, we’re automating the Hudl exchange process to save you some time and avoid the hassle of requesting game video from an opponent.

• Who is the video shared with?
  Game video is uploaded automatically to you and your opponent’s library and will be shared with your team upon upload.

• How do I make sure the video doesn’t get into the hands of the wrong person?
  The most important step is making sure your schedule entry is accurate with the correct game location, date, time and opponent. When entering your opponent, be sure to pick an option from the drop-down menu and pay close attention to which team and school you’re choosing. (If your opponent doesn’t appear as an option in the drop-down, they likely don’t have Hudl and therefore don’t have Focus either.)
• How do I know if someone has an overlapping recording?
  If a team attempts to schedule a recording that overlaps with a pre-existing event, both the team creating the event and the team with the pre-existing event are notified when scheduling the event on Hudl.com and through the Hudl Focus app.This serves two purposes. First, to help coaches understand when they might be scheduling an event incorrectly, and second, to ensure everyone practicing or playing in front of a Focus camera knows exactly when the camera is being used.

There’s been several significant challenges for coaches during this pandemic, none bigger than the in-person time lost physically developing players.

For the last four months, we’ve been left to our own imagination in planning for how and when we can provide some guidance in working with players. With that in mind, here are a few methods to establishing a framework for expedited fall camp planning.

Depending on the state of your program or state legislation, there are two main factors that will play a role in your installation processes this camp.

Factor 1: Time

Coaches need to be efficient in how they are going to delegate their time this preseason. I can only speak for my state, but New Jersey has already been stretched thin on time. In Phase 1, we’re allowed to practice with 10 players, with participation increasing in subsequent phases. We are given seven days of practice with one day off.

With the assumption that their strength and conditioning may have significantly been affected the last four months, the last thing we want to do is burn our kids out physically before we get into the meat of the season.

(Looking for more ways to cut down on your film review? Hudl Assist saves you hours each week during the season with its film breakdowns)

Factor 2: Experience at Quarterback

A returning quarterback is an immeasurable asset to any program during this time. No amount of virtual Zoom meetings can prepare a signal-caller for real game experience. We’re seeing the same sentiments come out of the NFL, where organizations are scurrying to acquire and solidify experienced players behind center (the New England Patriots’ recent signing of Cam Newton the most popular example).

For high school programs, a decision needs to be made on how much responsibility the quarterback will have for the upcoming season. With most 7-on-7s and passing tournaments canceled, it may make sense to cut back or compartmentalize his reads (if you’re not doing that already). In our circumstance, we’ve gone away from full-field reads to help significantly clear the picture for our quarterbacks.

Method 1: Group Concepts Together

We’ve limited our offensive playbook into bucket teaching. In the pass game, we’ve grouped our routes into the following:

• Horizontal stretches
• Vertical stretches
• Play action passes
• Screens

That may not seem much different than usual. But this season, we’ve simply eliminated anything that didn’t fit into those buckets.

We’ve also made the choice to group all of our run game into three main concepts:

• Tight zones
• Wide zones
• Gap runs

That will be the extent of our run game this season. We consciously decided as a staff to eliminate more and more from our play menu as our timeline continually diminished.

In the RPO game, we’ve decided to clearly segment pre-snap and post-snap reads by play call. We’ve been able to do a lot of work with our quarterback in teaching him exactly what leverage is. We packaged our quick and bubble screens off defender leverage and were able to use Hudl clips and still frames to quiz him on each.

This example below promotes an opportunity for a quick “smoke” screen to the No. 1 receiver based on the cornerback’s positioning.

Method 2: Mix Practice Groupings to Promote Leadership

Aside from losing time on strength and conditioning this spring, we also lost our leadership development program, where upperclassmen govern younger players through our competition groups. It’s our best method for assessing and evaluating leadership. Without that, we’ll need to be creative in leadership development.

When summer workouts begin, the limit to each grouping in Phase 1 will be 10 players for social distancing purposes. We decided we’ll mix those groupings by class, rather than by playing experience, for two main reasons:

1. It gives the older players an opportunity to work with novice players on skill development and provides them with an opportunity to lead drills.
2. A mixed grouping can also help alleviate a nightmare scenario of an infected key player spreading the virus to the entire position grouping. It’s a scary thought, but one we have to prepare for.

Method 3: Flip Your Teaching Methods

To keep connected with our units during the early summer months, we shared all of our installation PowerPoints, film, etc. with our players through Hudl before meeting with them physically. This was a first for us, but it allowed us to deliver the content ahead of time and monitor their engagement.

Once a week, we circled back on a Zoom call to answer any questions. This cut down the learning curve so that when workouts resume, we can simply focus on particular skills that address these problem areas.

For example, if we found a player had trouble understanding the post-player responsibility in zone double teams, we can plan to spend time during workouts simply working on our near leg, or “gallop,” technique. We want to make sure we assess as many individual deficiencies as we can online, so that when workouts resume, we only need to hit those areas in question.

Method 4: Emphasize Reactionary Drill Work

Quite simply, there isn’t enough time to work on items like bird dogs, shield work or chutes like we’ve done as an offensive line in the past. But we can find a way to implement those elementary skills using the progression below.

I’ve incorporated what I believe are the essential techniques of our run game: gap, tight zone and wide zone runs. The more reps I can get on these, the better. These techniques are all fused into a rotating three-day installation method. On each of those rotating days, we can select one specific drill to work on, attaining maximum potential reps.

• Day 1, Gap Run Schemes: Horizontal double teams, training the wall puller to identify second level and kick puller blocks at the line of scrimmage vs. perpendicular and parallel defenders
• Day 2, Tight Zone Run Schemes: Vertical double teams, double under vs. single under blocking scenarios for covered defenders, near knee technique for uncovered defenders.
• Day 3, Wide Zone Run Schemes: Rip to reach principles of covered defender, square drag technique of uncovered defender and backside cut progressions

Method 5: Integrate Conditioning into Individual Drills

Since we lost our entire spring training block, there’s going to be a significant adjustment period for players to get into the shape they need to be in for fall camp. And quite honestly, I don’t anticipate the majority of our players being in competition shape.

Trouble is, there may not be enough time to separate conditioning from skill development, so it becomes our responsibility to integrate the two. From an offensive line standpoint, I’ve integrated conditioning into our drill work, where groupings get the reps they need at a higher tempo.

An example of this is my double pull drill that we use for our Buck Sweep concept below. Guards rotate from left to right in working the alley player block and the insert block on our Buck Sweep concept. It’s a 10-minute individual period, where players can get up to 20 reps at each position.

This fall camp (if we’re able to have one) will be unlike any other we have experienced as coaches. If we continue to be proactive, and not reactive, in our coaching methods, we have a better chance of giving our players the opportunities they need to succeed.

With the suspension of all athletic activities since last March, the playing field has been leveled. How we use the time we have when workouts resume may make the difference between wins and losses.

***

Good news: Your scouting is speeding up this season. With Hudl’s analysis beta, you have a slick new tool to use that puts the data right there on your screen with your film, and lets you uncover deeper tendencies in just a few clicks. Pair it with Hudl Assist, and you’ll be spending far less time building and more time analyzing.

Learn more about how the beta works, and how you can get started, with this quick guide.

The Hudl Beta is allowing coaches to work even quicker this season as we all hit the ground running. And now with the ability to add your own custom columns to this scouting Beta, the possibilities are limitless.

When it comes to what data points coaches track in Hudl, there are rarely two coaches using the same workflow. That’s why customization is such a game-changer for the beta.

When you add custom columns to your grid, they automatically populate under in your Hudl Beta under the “Other” section.

Moving them to another section, such as Offensive Tendencies, is easy. Just open the card, and click where you want it to go.

I spoke with a handful of coaches that are devising custom scouting tags in Hudl to make their scouting methods more definitive and, in turn, getting a leg up on their opponents.

We came across some popular examples, such as home bench tendency for offenses that like to run certain concepts to the sideline. But we also found lesser-used tags like these ones below can be instrumental in exposing crucial tendencies that may normally fly under the radar.

The ‘Next’ Custom Tag

Rob Everett
Head Coach
St. John Paul II High School
Huntsville, Ala.

When scouting his next opponents’ offense during game week, Everett will create a custom column labeled “next”, where he will input what happened on the previous play from scrimmage.

For the first offensive play of the game, he’ll tag the word “Game” in the next column. If the quarterback throws an incomplete pass on that first down, he’ll tag “incomplete” in the next column on the second play, signifying the previous play.

During the course of his breakdown, he will use the following tags:

• Tackle for loss
• Sack
• Complete pass
• First down completion
• First down run
• Turnover
• Penalty
• End of game
• End of half

When this data is filtered and analyzed with all other important situations like down and distance and field zone, it gives good situational insight into an offensive play-caller’s rhythm.

“Now you can get a really strong insight into the play caller and what he likes to do in those fluid situations,” said Everett. “When you compare those numbers with their generic overall numbers from personnel and formation, you can zero in and capitalize on those specific situations.”

Virtual Alignments

Steve Erxleben
Defensive Coordinator
South River High School
Edgewater, Md.

On top of traditional data points like play concept, field zone and down-and-distance, the defensive staff at South River charts both the width and depth of offensive linemen’s splits. This comes in handy particularly on early, run-heavy downs such as first and 10, second and medium, and second and short.

The goal is to identify a tendency towards a particular run scheme. Using the end zone cut, they create a custom tag with the labels “wide”, “tight” or “normal.” They’ll work through the same procedure with running back location in shotgun alignments using the tags “deep,” “sidecar,” and “wide.”

Once these data points are filtered with the specific play concept, they’re able to make accurate predictions on alignment and concept marriages.

For Erxleben, the importance of tracking these data points lies in the productivity of his no-huddle defense, where calls are predominantly made from the sideline and in the booth.

“We tend to check our pressure based upon certain alignments, which comes from the booth first,” he said. “Those alignments can often dictate our calls because our booth staff is identifying them pre-snap and making the right calls accordingly.”

P.J. Fleck’s ‘78 Percent’ Matrix

Jeremy Plaa
Head Coach
Thomas Downey High School
Modesto, Calif.

University of Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck swears by his “78 Percent Rule”. The rule says that you have a 78 percent chance of winning the game if you win one of three stats: explosive plays, turnovers or missed/broken tackles.

If you win two of those stats, Fleck says your chances improve to 90 percent. All three? You can probably guess.

Plaa has not only altered his focus in practice to addressing three elements, but also started charting each of these categories for his opponents for both sides of the ball. This fall, he’s taking extra time studying how takeaways occur situationally, then he builds in his defensive practice plan to devise reps to attack those weaknesses.

If a quarterback routinely has deflected passes, Plaa will spend more practice teaching defenders how to bat passes and corral them. From an offensive perspective, he’ll study all of the explosive plays (20 yards or more) the opponent has surrendered and work to mirror each of those scenarios and build a game plan around it.

“For example, one of our former opponents likes to play seven in the box and play loose cover zero,” said Plaa. “So, one team last year hurt them with a mirrored Post-Wheel combo. The safeties on both sides would freeze their feet and react to the inside receiver’s route. We throw a lot of posts in our offense and we made sure we have to have this play call all over our play sheet.”

And because there is a significant correlation between yards/first downs given up and missed tackles, he will create a custom column to chart his defenses missed tackles. Then he can easily sort and create a playlist on the types of missed tackles (in the hole, sideline, open field, etc.) with the intent of devoting more time on those scenarios in-season. He has also started to track his player’s broken tackles to reinforce the 78 percent matrix.

Pass Pro Efficiency

Nick Davis
Defensive Coordinator
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Terre Haute, Ind.

At Rose-Hulman Institute, Davis created a “Pass Pro” category in Hudl when devising his weekly game plan. He’ll study each pass concept from the opponent’s offense, then add a column tracking whether or not the quarterback completed the attempt and if he was moved off his spot. He’ll quantify these numbers and compare their efficiency to make determinations on creating pressure.

For example, if the quarterback shows he is 90 percent efficient when standing in his intended spot, Davis will design most of his rush patterns to get the quarterback on the move. Conversely, if the quarterback is 85 percent efficient when he is either hit or moved off his spot, he might devise a controlled rush plan instead. The goal is to get the quarterback off his spot on more than 50 percent of snaps.

***

Football has always been a copycat game, and good scouting is a byproduct of studying how opponents’ deficiencies get exposed during the course of the season.

Each opponent has flaws, either by personnel or scheme, and it’s our job as game planners to identify and exploit these weaknesses. And as we continue to navigate through the most uncertain period in our coaching tenure, utilizing custom tags like the ones above can provide stability in your game planning methods.

Log in to your account and start adding these ideas to your data workflow. Then, watch how quickly you pick up on these key tendencies in the Hudl Beta.