OVER THE YEARS, I’ve learned a great deal about football through clinics, staff meetings and even scouting. I’ve learned the best places to scout in our conference, locations at a game and mostly, through trial and error, the best information to include. Scouting an opponent isn’t the key to instant success, but it can give your team a greater edge for success when you face your opponent during the season.
Every coach has his own way and gimmick to scouting the opponents that he may face during the season. Yet in some cases, the scouting of opponents is a lost art and some young coaches don’t see the necessity of scouting. New technology, time, staff size and even expenses have all affected how teams’ scout.
Through this article I’d like to present two main objectives for coaches.
To see the necessity to scout opponents or continue to thoroughly scout opponents.
To gain an understanding of a new and basic way to scout opponents.
Ancillary Benefits To Scouting
Scouting can help a coach better learn the game, pick up a new drill from warm-ups and can even be used for teaching and instruction for the staff. New staff members can use scouting to get a better feel of how other coaches view the game they are watching, how they will adjust to plays and also to better understand each other.
I’ve been on staffs where we know well in advance what game we will scout. We’ll sit down together, make plans for meals and use this as a time to interact as a staff. Breaking down a scouting film provides opportunities to development as a staff and establish a plan for the opponent being scouted.
Communication definitely increases when staffs scout other teams and it can be an extremely productive experience. Scouting is important to staff development and reflects directly on team success. The more organized and complete you are, the better your chances of success.
Scouting Methods
There are a number of ways to scout opponents. The first type of scouting is visual. Having a staff visually seeing someone play in-person opens up a number of opportunities to help your team to be successful. A coach’s checklist or even discussing what each member of the staff is to look for helps to provide insight at the strengths and weaknesses of the opponent. The following is a small list of possible things we look for when scouting.
1. The starters on offense, defense and special teams.
2. Injuries or significant players not dressed.
3. Game program(s) to check later.
4. Significant substitutes and the positions they play.
5. Base formations and plays.
6. Adjustments that the team made during the game to other team’s plays or formations.
7. Any trick plays or formations.
8. Tendencies by side to side or gaps.
9. Coach’s signals, snap counts, tendencies and how they manage the game clock.
10. Scores and key plays.
11. Identify the key players or impact players.
12. Note how the team handled adversity and sudden-change situations (scores, fumbles, interceptions, penalties).
Once you and the staff have a chance to collect and organize all the information, sitting together and sharing what was seen can help in developing a solid scouting report on a team. Using the form in Charts A and B can help put everything in a quick format that can be used to share with players or coaches who were unable to scout with you.
Using Film
Another way to scout is by studying film. Some conferences and school administrations may not allow you to scout in person, so using film is the next best thing. Film doesn’t lie and the better the visual by film, the better the scouting report will be. One can use all the aforementioned checklist points to formulate a plan and establish a desired direction when you face the team you scouted.
Making extra copies for coaches, having players view scouting film and comparing notes from films of previous years can all help in developing a plan for the team you are facing. Most teams exchange film the week before.
Best Of Both Worlds
The third way of developing an effective scouting report is to combine the live visual report with intensive film study. Some coaches know when teams show up to scout their games — and in some cases — they assign a coach, parent or even the ticket person to let them know if they were scouted. Those who rely only on a scouting by film or by visually scouting can limit them themselves.
Visually seeing a team play can lend information to a coach that may not appear on the film. Snap counts, when timeouts were called, signals from the sidelines and even visual impressions as a result of a penalty can all be helpful when planning to face the team you scouting.
Standing in the end zone helps one to see splits and visually see stunts from defense and listening to the impressions of fans concerning players has its worth. Yet having a film also allows a coach to check information and perform a more in-depth study of tendencies.
Sometimes, the only opportunity you have to scout a team live an in person is at the beginning of the season and the film you receive is only the previous game. In this case, comparing what you saw live with the film can be helpful to gain a more complete analysis of your opponent. What you may see in person may not match with the film (new players coming back from injury, new plays they’ve put in along the way or different formations as a result of injuries). Some coaches don’t show their entire package the week before and an earlier scouting report helps to prepare your coaches and players for everything.
Be Detail Orientated
No matter the style of scouting you chose to use, it’s important to remember that the more organized and complete you are, the more thorough the scouting of an opponent will be.
The written style of the scouting report is also very important and it should be put into a format that will be easily assessable to all staff members and allow for the formulation of a total team plan as quick as possible (again, refer to Forms and B). Filing of information, copying of films and discussing knowledge of other teams will be helpful during game week.
Coloring By Numbers
I’ve used a number of different techniques and methods for scouting but as a staff we developed a means of being able to record a great deal of information quickly. We call it “coloring by numbers.”
When I was a child, there were pictures created with numbers on certain parts of the picture that when you either colored or painted them in with the right color (each number was assigned a color), the picture — when it was finished — would be a representation of the author’s intent. In other words, it would provide a visual of what someone else saw and you reproduce it.
The “coloring by numbers” system we use was developed over a few years and it has helped us, as a staff, to get a quick and clear picture of our opponent and have the ability to transfer this information into a game plan.
This system has also helped our practice organization, bettered the understanding of our opponent and has lead to success for our team.
Another benefit to this scouting technique is that it has allowed us to scout as a full staff or a partial staff.
It’s easy to give assignments to coaches and organize and format information when using technology.
We usually have one coach assigned as a recorder, another coach will film (if filming is allowed) and the others are assigned to report information.
Usually one of the coaches is assigned to write down some specific information concerning the game. An example of this would concern weather conditions, size of the crowd, warm-ups of the team playing, condition of the field, even locker rooms facilities if we have to play within this stadium.
Assignments By Colors
For every offensive formation, we assign a color which we use for studying film, describing formations to players or to scout other teams. We then use our terminology if it applies for run or pass plays. This helps when reports from coaches are given to one another. If there is a special play we will write and describe it in as much detail as possible.
Form C has an example of describing a few plays that we scouted with another team.
We can also give a written description of a game or even give it verbally into a tape recorder and then write the plays out later that day or even the next day.
What do you think would be easier to remember: Orange right (Pro Set) ,“I” (Backfield), 36 Power for 3 yards? Or Pro Set right, I-backfield, tailback 3 hole for 3 yards?
We have a color for the shot gun formation — no matter the number of receivers. We would draw the formation or alignment of receivers so when discussing it we would know their alignment but the formation would still be that color.
With using our terminology it especially helps with pass patterns, but there will always be a few different.
We describe the patterns according to our passing tree and even if it is a verbal report, it can be reproduced easier using this system. For example, the X receiver (is the wideout on the left side) ran a fade, the Y receiver (wideout on the right side) did a post corner and the slot which we refer to as the 4-back (or as some call it, the Z receiver) runs and out, you would be referring to our 136-power pass route. In our system, we would describe it simply as “Orange right I, 136-power pass for 5 yards.” (As shown in Form D.)
Once you get the color numbering system down, it simplifies the scouting of another team’s offense and you can begin to look for tendencies.
Defensive Scouting
For defensive scouting, we use numbers exclusively and we follow the same process — especially for getting the staff on the same page with terminology.
For example, we may see “44 Cover 33 with an A-stunt right.” We know that they are lined up in a 4-man front with four linebackers (even if it is a monster), and have 3-deep zone coverage. We break formations down into gaps and this makes it easier to understand where the stunt happened.
The A-gap is on either side of the center, the B-gaps are between the guards and tackles, the C-gaps are between the tackles and the ends and the D-gaps are outside.
This is a great help when calling out stunts, seeing where the pressure is coming from and for finding the strongest defenders.
Giving numbers to coverages also helps in assignments of the secondary and it simplifies all the complex looks secondaries can give to offenses.
It also helps us see how the offense handles the coverages and why certain passes are or are not effective. This process enabled us to educate the players on the different looks that we would be facing and it helped us to not only put our offensive plan together quicker, but it also helped the players to better understand what our focus would be with the play selection and blocking calls.
After reviewing with the players verbally and then visually through the use of written reports, we show the players with film and finally run through defenses against our plays on the field. This process has helped immensely in our practice and game production.
Scouting Special Teams
Concerning special teams, we assign a number to each of the positions using our terminology to describe the movements or formations.
Each of the return members, for example, would have a number assigned to them besides their real football jersey number. We would describe the return as middle return with No. 1 (return man) running middle and to the left. Players 1 through 5 in the front walls set up in the middle wedge and are positioned 10-yards back. Players 6 through10 set up on 30-yard line with second wedge.
Details are given when reporting special teams and in a simple format. Aside from the return men, most substitutions come on special teams and the players are taught to respond the same way — whether they are first string players or the third string, so this style of format makes it easier to record and report.
Customize The System, Use For Self Scouting
No matter what system you use or have found productive, good scouting is an effective way to better understand the game of football from the eyes of a different program.
Perhaps the color-by-numbers method is something that you’ll find easy for you and your staff to use. It has saved us a great deal of time, eliminated unneeded discussions and has helped us to organize and plan more efficiently.
We use it for live scouts and film scouting as well. We have even used it to evaluate ourselves to see if we have any tendencies.
Scouting an opponent is an art form and it is something that can help a team to have an edge within a game and can help you and your staff to give your players every opportunity to succeed.