Youth Football Defense – Stop My Opponents Speed
The greatest weapon in youth football is speed. The greatest fear is your opponents speed. Speed dominates offense, defense and special teams in youth football. You do not have to be a good coach, if you have great speed.
How your speed matches up versus their speed will dictate how you design your defensive game plan. You have to devise a scheme to contain, or at the minimum harness, the quickest player in the opposing team.
I have become a big believer in no surprises as a coach. I believe using intense scouting, with complete reports so you have an idea of what you will be facing. A complete scouting report is your most valuable tool.
As a coach preparing the game plan for the upcoming opponent, the first inquiry a defensive coordinator must ask himself is who is the fastest player on the other team? This will guide you on how wide out to align your defensive ends and corner backs (if you use them for run containment). There goal is to get their speed back outside your containment defender so he can run free down the sidelines.
Your primary defensive strategy must be not to allow this to happen. You must convey to your players that they need to contain the speed running back. By using team defense, you will have your containment players force their fast running back towards the middle of field and back to where you other defenders are. You can minimize the speed advantage by forcing him to run to the middle of your defense. It sound easy, but trust me it isn’t. It is not impossible and with the right preparation you should be able to harness the speed back.
When designing your defensive scheme, line up your defensive ends and corner backs at a minimum of 4-5 yards closer to the sidelines than you would in your base set. This will make it hard to run around the ends and get to the outside freely. This helps the ends see the play as it develops. When a running back sees a defender, his instinct is to run the other way, even if it is back in traffic.
The opposing offensive coordinator rapidly gets frustrated and has to make over his game plan live while the game is in progress. This is a very difficult position to be in, even if you have worked on a backed plan during the week.
I have witnessed quite a few opposing coaches enter half time, yelling at his speed back, blaming the kid when he, as the coach, has no idea what is happening.
In conclusion the best way to negate speed is to make your opposition run to the middle. The other reward is you are making the speed back go where you have more defenders to help make the tackle.