Scrimmage Format and Learning

#TXHSFBCHAT August 16, 2023

Depending on your fall start time, you may get one to two scrimmages before the regular season begins. There are years where one feels like more than enough, and then there are some where I wish we had another. For teams that have a long non-district schedule, one scrimmage may be enough as they have three to five games for the team to get primed for their district run. For teams with a shorter lead in to district play, you may feel better entering the season with two scrimmages.

Scrimmages are kinda like clothing in the winter, better to be prepared and able to remove some than not have enough and be too cold.

I use the scrimmage to confirm what I think my offensive line rotation will be. I like starting out trading 10 play series to see how they hold up over a series of plays. It is one thing to see this against their defensive teammates, it is something else against another team.

I also learn how well we run our base scheme. The scrimmage serves as a great indicator of how well I have been teaching and how well the players have been learning. I’m not expecting to see mastery, by any means, but if you are looking at it from the perspective of a learning progression, you can see where players fit on the scale from developing to proficient to advanced.

After the ten play series exchange is over, then I prefer to use a game like format. One quarter with a regular clock should be enough to get your players back in game play format. Some coaches like to play a half to cover most of the scenarios they will see, that works for me too.

The end goal of the scrimmage should be to see your players succeed in executing your calls, and to come away healthy.

One aspect of scrimmaging that fascinates me, that I would love to learn more about from coaches who use this is the “jamboree”. If you use this scrimmage style, please reply and share your typical format and what you hope to learn.