End of Year Observations

As we start to close out the HS and Youth Football season for 2025, I wanted to share some observations and thoughts for players and coaches.

1. Players - DO NOT pick a college because of the coaches. Coaches get hired and fired all the time. The one that recruited you or is recruiting you may not be there this coming season. Pick a school because it is a good fit academically and you like the vibe, etc. Its great if you love the football program as well. But don't select the school JUST for the football program. You may end up disappointed or worse, you could jack up your season, eligibility, etc..

2. Players - STAY AWAY from the transfer portal if you can. You may think you will have a better chance of getting playing time and a better offer if you enter, but now take yourself out of the game AND are now competing with everyone else in the portal AND incoming HS seniors. Unless, you are a 5 star stud, the Transfer Portal can be more damaging than helpful. Be smart and realistic. Ask yourself why your not playing where you are and what makes you think you will play some place else? If you are a HS player, to many kids in my opinion are transferring High Schools for playing time. This says a lot about you as a player and coaches pay attention. I have seen players transfer 2-3 times just to get playing time! Insane. This tells me its me versus we. There is no room on a football team for me. Its WE!

3. Coaches and Players - Don't believe your own BS. You are never as good OR as bad as you think you are. Never stop learning and educating yourself on the game. No one knows everything. Your competition is learning, developing, evolving and grinding. What are you doing to be better?

4. Players and Coaches - there are a lot of "private coaches" out there selling their "coaching". I have seen at lot of the player film and marketing film and you can tell a lot about private coaches by their success and abilities of their players. PLAYERS be careful. Lots of people will take your money but not deliver effective and innovative tailored coaching. If I had a dollar for all the dumb ass drills these so called coaches put their players through at rushed speed, I would be a wealthy man. Stay away from so-called coaches that are nothing more than drill fest's with crazy ass YouTube/Insta drills and don't coach the fundamentals and "Y's. In fact, call us. I am confident in our coaching and our results in coaching some of the best players in the US.

5. Coaches - now is the time to reassess, revise and fix what went wrong. Simplify and tailor to your strengths and personnel. Don't be so locked into a system. Some programs run the same offense and defense for decades. STOP! Players change. Team strengths change. Incorporate new techniques and adapt and come out swinging. I am not advocating for blowing up your program. Just be creative and adaptable. If you do the same thing every year, its pretty easy to prepare to beat you.

6. Coaches - NO Coach knows everything. I don't care if you are dad coach coaching girls flag or your sons youth team or the HC of a top national high school program. YOU DO NOT KNOW EVERYTHING! Just ask any NFL coach! Perspective, new concepts, creative ideas, new ways to organize, call plays, manage personnel, train your coaches, how to execute, developing a standard, getting better at situational football, etc. We can all learn from each other. The game evolves. If you don't, you only have yourself to blame. Attend some coaching clinics. Take some of our clinics. Learn from others who have been successful. Success is repeatable.

7. Players - if you are serious about playing at the highest levels personally and at top programs, you NEED to be working and training now! Don't wait until spring. I guarantee your competition is.

8. Players - Do you want to get recruited? Don't have any offers? There is a reason you may not be getting the attention you deserve. A lot of you have terrible film design, don't know how to communicate with coaches, etc. There is a process and system to this. Your film is the #1 tool you have to gather attention. I have seen a ton of player film. Most is terrible. Not the performance of the athlete, but the length, cuts, etc. NO coach is going to watch it. If you need help, reach out. You are competing with the top players in the USA to get an opportunity. Crappy film wont even get you in the door. There is a system to this. Reach out. We can help!

9. Players - Be careful of so called "recruiting services". Some are good, some are trash and will just take your money. In a lot of cases, college coaches cant stand these guys and will not look at the recruiting services players and it can hurt your chances.There is a whole industry on this. Be careful! Also, there are NCAA rules around this as well as.

10. Girls Flag Players - its not your fault, but there is very poor fundamental positional coaching for you. I have watched to much film from HS to Pro. Not good. There is a difference between being elite and "typical". Stay away from coaches that will just run you through cone drills, route cones, etc. while lacking the coaching of positional fundamentals of the receiver and DB positions. There is an art and science to being successful in these positions and its not cone drills or crazy plyometric drills. Girl QB's, you are in an even worse situation with coaching. If the fundamentals of eyes, hip and core rotation, footwork, arm position, load, etc., are critical for boy contact players, its even more critical for you. You can not keep throwing with just your arm strength and off your back foot with incorrect shoulder position. Its a recipe for injury and sub par play. Work with a real football coach who has coached these positions at the highest levels to ensure you are learning effective position fundamentals which you can build off of. Find a coach who can not only coach the fundamentals, but the "Y"s and performance aspects of the position. If you are serious about getting better and being elite, we would love to work with you!

11. Coaches - For most teams in the US, you coach what they give you. In CA, FL, TX, etc. you may get to "recruit" some of the players you coach, but generally speaking, you will have a team of studs, solid players and scrubs. Right? Remember, you are only as strong as your bench. Invest in coaching up your 2's and 3's. I guarantee you there will be a time where you will need your 3's for a position, injury, etc. By doing this, you are coaching up ALL of your players. You are also developing your players for next year. This years 3 may be next years 1 or 2.

12. Players - AVOID injury by taking the weight room seriously. Don't screw around, on your phone (I pray your coaches don't allow you to take your phone into the gym), don't rush, take your time, focus on technique and get the most out of the exercise to develop your muscles and prevent injury. There are many reasons coaches have weight room training. Injury prevention is one of them. Don't forget to warm up and stretch and when your done, stretch and foam roll out. DO NOT SKIP THIS! Elite players take training seriously.

13. Coaches and Players - MENTAL REPS! How many times have we either heard it as a player or said it as a coach. Take your mental reps. Coaches - any time your watching a football game on TV - college or pro, take reps. Analyze the situation. Why did coach call that, what did they do in this situation, how did they run their kick off? Why did he call a time out? How did they manage the clock, etc. What, Why and Situation. Try to stop complaining about the refs call, or play call, etc. We all do it. But be intentional about being a student of the game. Take notes! A real student of the game. Players - look at your analog on the field. How are playing the position. How did the WR run that route, what worked what didn't, was the DB in Man, Press, Zone, Inside Leverage, Out, etc. Watch how the player executes the play. If more players understood and imitated the play execution versus the end zone celebration, we would all be better!

14. Coaches and Players - Next play mentality. You have heard it and you have said it. But how often do we actually practice it. Things go wrong in a football game. Mistakes happen or the opponent does more things right than you do, etc. Truly practice next play mentality. Have a short memory. Don't just say it. Live it. You can't change the past or last play. Control your emotion. Being positive. Fix it and then execute. Next play!

15. Coaches and Players - love the game! If you don't love the game, it becomes work. This game gives so much to us as players and coaches. Every player derives something from being on the team. Winning is awesome. Losing sucks. But each teaches us a lesson, if you love the game. A lot of players and coaches play and coach for the wrong reasons. Coaches, we have an opportunity to help build men of faith, strength and good character. To be a role model and father figure to men who may not have that in their life. Players you have the opportunity to be a part of something bigger than yourself. To succeed or fail as a team. You will learn a lot about life from playing football. Lets remember this is just a game. An amazing game, but in the end, a game. Everyone deserves respect. Players, Parents, Refs, Fellow Coaches, ADs, etc. Very few of your players will be playing D1 ball or make the NFL. Very few of you coaches will be coaching in the NFL. Perspective. Focus on the joy and benefits of what this game provides. That doesn't mean we cant be passionate, hate losing and want to win. Just so long as we keep it all in perspective.

16. Players and Coaches - sacrifice. We all put a huge amount of time into this game, the team, the program and each other. Our spouses know. Our friends know. The game requires excellence and investment. Investment in time, focus and energy. Support each other. As we used to at the HS level - God, Family, School, Football.

17. Players And Coaches - Evolution! Players and coaches evolve. Players are always getting faster, strong, smarter and coaches are getting smarter and more creative. Hell, field goal kickers in the NFL are kicking 60+ yard fields as common kicks now! Everyone can do better. Learn new things and train to be better. Your true competition is yourself.

As we close out the year, I truly hope you had a great year. Won a state championship, you have most of your seniors going on to play at the college level. But for those that didn't, I hope your season was a success at other levels. Someone has to win and someone has to lose. I know that's no consolation to those that lost. But if you were better than you were last year, then thats a win. Jan 1 is coming. That means its time to dial in, educate, train, prepare, simplify and be ready to come at it again. Be honest and look at what didn't work and fix it. Now is the time to lay the foundation for success for this coming season! Remember, 100%, 100% of the time!

If we can help you, whether your player, Girls HS flag player or coach, please reach out. We would love to work with you. I am confident in our ability to add true value and demonstrable success on the field.

Happy Holidays!

Coach David Frederick