Substitution Plan/Strategy

[coach4christ]

Was wondering what type of substitution plan/strategy coaches use when there are small numbers and players have to go 1 1/2 ways. Full time D and half time on O or vice versa? For example do you number the snaps in a rotation for say wide receivers: Starter gets 4 snaps, 2nd guy gets 3, 3rd guy gets 2 and then repeat? Or do most just go by feel. Most of our Wide Receiver's start on D. Really looking for a good plan to maximize the use of my top players, but keep them as fresh as possible also. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you!

[coachg13]

I think you have to go by feel. Most importantly you have to determine when a player not being on the field will hurt you the most. In my humble and ignorant opinion, you can cover up holes on offense a lot more so than you can on defense.

If your best player is your starting running back and free safety, you have to decide when to rest him. If you've got a solid backfield behind him, but back up safety Johnny can't run, catch, or tackle, then your stud can't be missing snaps on defense.

You've got to find a way to get him rest on offense, and special teams if need be. I think ST are very important, but he doesn't need to be in on every kickoff, kick return, punt block, punt, and field goal team.

Also the system you run on offense/defense should play a factor. If you run the ball 90% of the time, then your starting corners don't need to be out there working their tails off stalk blocking every offensive snap. Find some hardworking kids that can get the job done blocking on the edges - it gets kids in the game that maybe wouldn't get a chance in other situations, and gets your guys some rest.

Biggest thing is finding where the depth on your team is or isn't and substituting around those strengths/weaknesses. Sometimes though being at a small school - kids are just going to have to suck it up and play. Off-season conditioning can go a long way.

[mariner42]

In my opinion, unless the kids skillset is blatantly skewed to the offensive side, 1.5 way players are defensive kids first and offensive role players second. Sometimes a kid is just the man both ways, but those are rare.

That said, as a defensive guy I will play a second string/not quite starter when the ball is in their territory but start putting in the best player overall once they cross midfield or become threatening. Gets quality reps to kids who need it, rests kids who are already playing a bunch. I know some people object to that line of reasoning by saying that I'm giving the offense momentum, but good players are pretty lousy when they are tired.

[jasper912]

We do our substituting on offense. Our best 11 are always on the field for defense. As already pointed out, you can be creative and hide the guys on offense. We run shotgun 4 wide for most part. If we are in Ace and running jet right sweep, it really doesn't matter who the outside guy on the left is. Let someone else play there and let your starter rest. Will say this, I'll do all I can to get my best players on the field for 3rd down.

[joker31]

Find the strength of your football team and rotate there. For our Varsity this year, we will rotate more on offense. At JV, I'm extremely worried about our specials and O so we'll create 3-way rotations on D.

I've read "When The Game Stands Tall" and one of the chapters is based on the first matchup between De La Salle and Long Beach Poly in the "Game of the Century". DLS's lineman played both ways and were gassed by 2nd half, so they rotated their backups between the 30 yard lines. We've adjusted it to the 35's, but use the same concept.

[the1mitch]

I've subbed some position groups for 20 plus years. As said earlier above, you gotta feel it somewhat.  Guys get scheduled plays off regardless of how good they are. Even D-1 kids get gassed. My rotation philosophy starts when I identify who my "guys" really are. From there I see who is close. For example we rotate 2 deep in the Dline until we need to change it up when the close guys aren't getting it done. Most games we use 6-8 linemen in a regular rotation. The kids know they can't have all the starters off at the same time so they swap out every 4-5 or 6 plays. This happens without my position coach having to send them in. The bottom line here is that more kids call themselves starters and more Moms in the stands think I'm okay. Bottom bottom line is that when the HC hollers "Black Defense" , the "guys" are on the field as a unit.

[coachphillip]

Huge part of this is going to be clock management. Milk the clock when your guys aren't in there. Remember to use those timeouts, they don't rollover.

[coachmoore42]

Jul 28, 2014 12:51:25 GMT -6 coach4christ said:

Was wondering what type of substitution plan/strategy coaches use when there are small numbers and players have to go 1 1/2 ways. Full time D and half time on O or vice versa? For example do you number the snaps in a rotation for say wide receivers: Starter gets 4 snaps, 2nd guy gets 3, 3rd guy gets 2 and then repeat? Or do most just go by feel. Most of our Wide Receiver's start on D. Really looking for a good plan to maximize the use of my top players, but keep them as fresh as possible also. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you!

Our general rotations happen at WR and DL. That gets most of our kids a rest. Those who are exceptions, like a RB/LBer, we just figure out where missing them will hurt the least, depth and scheme both come into play here. That helps us decide where we can afford to give them rest.

If you use a DL rotation, I'll share some experience for that strategy. We no longer start our best DL, unless they happen to not start on offense. We start the second group. In the past, we rotated generally every three downs. We found that three-and-outs, especially two times in a row, caused our best DL to stay on the field. They rarely got a break. So now, we start the second group and rotate in the best group so they get a rest. They are still playing on the vital downs, and we can get three-and-outs without them stepping on the field. A second team DLman rarely causes a catastrophic breakdown, like a second team DB or LBer can.