2017 UCF Clinic - Scott Frost notes

I didn't know much about Scott Frost until I got to hear him in person at the UCF Clinic last March.  I knew that he ran the Chip Kelly offense that I have always been a fan of, so I made the trip to Orlando.  There were some audio-visual technical difficulties after the first speaker, so he went off the script and just starting talking ball and fielding questions.  You can tell when someone has complete mastery of what they are talking about, and I was really blown away.  Here are the notes:

Practice:

• Chip Kelly always looked to do things differently, not just how everybody else does.
• We want to practice better than anybody ever (Pete Carroll).
• Oregon - the OL would stop finishing blocks to get ready for the next play because they always went fast.  He felt like they got a little sloppy towards the end there.
• UCF - Team periods - perfect plays - slow down and let guys recover between plays.
• Offense - 1st group - 2 superfast plays, then off.  Then 3 superfast plays, then off.  Then 4.  They don't advance past more than 2 superfast plays in a row for a while until they are ready.
• “We don't want our fast to become frivolous.”
• They will do a fast period followed by a slower period (Special Teams or Teach period) to let guys recover.
• UCF - 2016 - they were dumb situationally.  They will emphasize in 2017.

 Team Periods: want to compete in Team Periods and keep track of points.

• Team Mix - 50/50 Run-Pass
• Tempo - 75% Pass
•  RPA (Run and Play-Action) - 75% Run

 Point System:

• Team Mix? - Offense - get 6 yds - get a point
• 7 on 7 - Offense - get 6 yds - get a point
• Runs - Offense - get 4 yds - get a point
• Tempo - like to do right after stretch
• Competition - can't do every day--gets too heated: 2-3 fights
• 0 Period - walk-thru - keeps guys from being late to practice 

Team Spar: rapid fire

• 1st Offense vs 1st Defense - 4 plays
• 1st Offense vs 2nd Defense - 4 plays
• 1st Offense vs 3rd Defense - 4 plays
• It is like how a boxer will spar two minutes vs one boxer, then another, etc. 

Philosophy:

- Every year this offense has evolved (put in Under Center Jet Sweep this year)

-  New formations / New plays – will use in the first series to mess with defensive coaches

-  They do Swinging Gate instead of Extra Point a lot, also do Unbalanced Punt

Jet Sweep:

- Under Center – is faster, DE can’t play it
- Gun – will use also, is a bit slower.  Have to wait for snap, then toss it to sweep guy

·        -  Gun – advantage is that you can read defenders

Jet Sweep timing:

·        - Under Center – snap when motion WR is in the B gap

·        -  Gun – snap when motion WR is over TE

Terminology:

·         Want to shorten everything

·         When you go to McDonald’s, you say, “I want a #2,” not “I want a Quarter Pounder, Fries, and a Coke.”

·         Signaling – must be concise too

·         Every formation – one word – takes more memorization

·         3, 4, and 5 letter words mean different things

·         Signal – if TE is in/out of box, left or right

Tempo:

·         - Meetings – must be high tempo too.  Meetings are a Pop Quiz.

·         - 13 seconds – all the time they have to think between plays during a game.

·         - We want to teach fast, talk fast, think fast.

·         - 13 seconds – use this in meetings too

·        -  Want to say rules fast too to players – got from Mike Tomlin

·         - You have only 2 seconds to talk to players between plays in practice—make them think fast.

·         - On-field – use catch phrases

·        -  90% of coaching goes on in the meetings

·         - High School – he would do a fast Team period and write down mistakes.  Then he would do a slow Fix period right afterwards.

QB Play:

·        -  When the feet are right, the ball is right.

·         - Steve Young – had people filming his feet

·         - Want to recruit guys with good upper body mechanics

Tempo - UCFAST:

·         - You can pick 3 or 4 things that you can do fast—your best plays

·         - Tempo plays – Smash, Unbalanced – great to do

·         - Their Tempo plays: All-Hitch, Inside Zone/Bubble RPO

·         - Tempo takes pressure off of OL and helps them vs DL that are better than they are

·         - OL – going fast can be hard with OL rules—have to learn to block chaos

·         - Run game – must have simple solutions

·         - “Gang” call – we step to gap and block whoever shows up

·         - Tempo – run your best plays for Tempo, not necessarily Stretch or a particular play

·         - Oregon vs Tennessee in 2010 – had 8 Tempo plays – when they first started getting good at Oregon (Chip Kelly’s second year).

·         - Playcaller – get vanilla looks with No-Huddle

·         - Tempo will neutralize Pass Rush, like on 3^rd and Medium

·         - Start with small package of tempo plays and build

·         - Tempo – get more practice reps with everybody – 1^st and 2^nd team

·         Tempo:

·         Practice it

·         Fast communication

·         Simplify rules

·         Do what you do best

·        -  Don’t flip WRs except for Unbalanced

·        -  Use formations to limit your guys running to get lined up

·         - Want to get lined up so you can go faster

·        -  Going fast – kids love it when they see how Defenses get gassed, can’t lined up, and bust coverages

·         - Don’t get greedy with tempo when you have a lead

·         - Center ID – on Inside Zone – “54 is the point”

·         - What he has done is mix the Oregon Offense with the Nebraska Strength and Conditioning program

WR Blocking – all about Culture – must reward

·        -  Attitude – “No Block, No Rock”

·        -  Effort

·        -  Physicality

·        - WRs liked to pick one guy to kill on run plays and triple-team him

Blocking Rules

·        -  Playside – get inside leverage – block right now

·        -  Keepside (Backside for QB pull) – want outside leverage

·         - Keepside – wait 2 seconds to block him because QB has to read it and pull it

·         - vs Press – run off

·         - Block MDM (Most Dangerous Man)

·         - They will block on Inside Zone too, not just always an RPO.  They will block for QB when he pulls it

·        -  Stalk blocking – get 4-5 yards away from the DB and let him come to you

·        - Want to strike DB with staggered feet and get momentum to move him

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