Poetic Justice

My job as defensive line coach is to help my players attain our team goals, our defensive goals, and their individual goals. One of the ways I do this is by preparing them during the week for situations they may encounter during the game. On Saturdays, I do not want them thinking; I want them reacting. For this reason, I am very careful with respect to what I expose them to during the week. I try to keep it simple. At Whittier College, we are not blessed with a myriad of technology at our disposal. In fact, most of our breakdowns are done by hand. We chart our opponents using every offensive play and filling out a form that defines down, distance, field position, formation, yards gained/loss, and the play run. We draw in the play as we see it in the box adjacent to the play formation (see the play chart). After charting the opponent, we split the responsibilities and prepare a scouting