First Controlled Youth Football Scrimmage of the Season

Youth Football Scrimmage

We had our first controlled scrimmage yesterday.  The scrimmage could of went better, but at the same time it could of went worse.  The scrimmage went as we expected,  the inexperience at the RB and QB position really showed.  We have a ton of new players (never played) and the players that played last year haven’t won more than 3 games in their career.

This scrimmage allowed us to see what areas we really need work. This scrimmage gave my kids some much needed 11 vs. 11 game experience. This team needs a ton of work, but I look forward to the challenge and getting these kids some wins this year.

Offense

Positives:

• Post/corner killed the defense, pretty good execution.
• Pull screen killed the D, solid execution.
• Pass blocking wasn’t horrible.
• QB threw the ball well on all core pass patterns.
• Stances and line splits were consistently good.
• Play system worked.
• Fakes were executed very well.
• Ball security and hand-off exchanges were good.
• We did not turn the ball over.

Improvements needed:

• Did not run to the line when we broke the huddle.
• Getting set and executing the play, way to slowly.
• Finishing the blocks.
• Fluency on plays.
• Counter looked horrible, although the one time we executed it right it went for 20 yards.
• Faster drop back by our QB.
• Perimeter blocking needs to get better- it’s an attitude thing.
• Need more depth at the RB position, we are not very deep.
• Need more depth at the OL position, we are not very deep.
• We did not mix up our snap counts very well. Kids did not get off the ball on  quick counts and got off slow on longer counts. This was probably the most disappointing aspect offensively. We do everything off our snap counts in practice and it still hasn’t sunk in.  We will keep working at it.

Defense

Positives:

• Defensively we were pretty aggressive, swarmed to the football.
• Created 3 turnovers- 2 fumble recoveries and 1 interception.
• Pass coverage wasn’t terrible.  Got beat for one long pass early on.
• Linebacker play wasn’t bad.
• Alignment was good, but still needs to get a little better.
• Defense did not jump off sides. They watched the ball and did not jump when the offense formation shifted.
• Kept their heads up and there were no injuries, minus the normal bang and bruises.

Improvements needed:

• Containment was terrible.  But, it did get a lot better as the scrimmage went on.
• Defense over pursued several times-got beat on two reverses and a counter.
• We need more DL penetration.
• Block shedding wasn’t terrible, but needs improvements for sure.
• Tackling can always get better. Too high and too much arm tackles.
• Defensive ends need to contain consistently.

This was the first scrimmage of the season for a group of every inexperienced players.  The scrimmage went well overall and our entire team benefited from it. I look forward to our next game scrimmage!