The boys who do not have late afternoon classes meet at 3:30 P.M., and we go over last week’s game movie. Each coach will sit with the players whom he has graded and discuss their performance in the film. If time permits, we like to have the ends and backs meet in one group and the interior linemen in another group for separate viewings of the film. We feel such a practice is highly desirable and eliminates the confusion that generally occurs when all of the players view the game film at the same time.
On Monday and Friday our regular practice commences at 5:30 P.M., since our boys take their laboratory classes on these two days. It is impossible to set up a practice schedule if key personnel are absent due to late labs every day of the week.
The boys who played in Saturday’s game will be out in sweat clothes for approximately 45-50 minutes. They will stretch and loosen up, before we spend most of the time learning and rehearsing the defenses they will be using for this coming Saturday’s opponent. Our procedure is to have the “red shirts” come out of the huddle and line up in the different offensive formations we expect to face, and our defense will adjust accordingly. For the last 15 minutes of the session a scrub team will run the opposition’s favorite plays about half speed so the regulars will have an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the offense. Then the boys in sweat clothes take several short sprints and we send them to the showers.
The boys who did not play in last Saturday’s game have a good workout emphasizing and practicing fundamentals. At times we terminate Monday’s practice session with a short scrimmage against the freshman squad.
After a late dinner on Monday night, we have another squad meeting where the scout will give a complete oral report to the players on our upcoming opponent. He will discuss personnel, favorite plays, passes, defenses, kicking game, and any additional pertinent information relating to the opposition. He then hands out a comprehensive typed scout report to the squad members. Frankly, I do not believe a boy can do an intelligent job of playing without studying his scouting report.
Tuesday’s Schedule
We will have a staff meeting early on Tuesday morning in order to set up the practice schedule for the afternoon. A typical Tuesday practice session will last approximately one hour and 35 minutes, plus the last period which does not have a specific time limit for the reasons I explained previously.
Our schedule is generally set up so that the first five minutes the linemen will be firing out and hitting the big sled or seven dummies, and the backs will be having a fumble drill or working on stance and starts. Our exercises and agility drills precede this drill for the linemen and backs.
The second period will usually be 20 minutes in duration, which will vary from week to week according to our needs. A typical period will have our first team secondary working on pass defense against a scrub team who will be throwing the opponent’s passes. At the same time, in another area we will have our first and second team guards and tackles working on defensive techniques. Our backs will be divided into two groups. One group will work on our polish drill, and the other on the secondary drill. Our third and fourth lines will be working as teams on blocking.
At the termination of the previously mentioned 20 minute period, we exchange the backs and linemen, and the coaches repeat the drills again with their new groups.