Best of - Planning, Practicing, and Converting 3rd Down

Planning, Practicing, and Converting 3rd Down

Third down is a critical situation. For the defense it means getting off the field. For the offense it’s about moving the chains on the way to putting points on the board. While the concept is simple - gain the yards necessary for a first down - the strategy, execution, and decision making and awareness is not as easy. The coaches highlighted in this podcast share their ideas on planning for, practicing, and executing their offense. The guests are some of the best in the country on converting third downs. Listen to these NCAA leaders on how they move the chains.

Keith Grabowski - Identifying categories to work as well as keys to executing on third down

Brad Spencer- Prepping and analyzing 3rd down

Fairchild- Prepping for Situational 3rd down

Tinker- analyzing the situation on 3rd

Hughes- Practicing 3rd Down

Neal- Gameplanning 3rd and 4th

Michael Lombardi - utilize an aggressive second down strategy

Brad Spencer us offensive coordinator at North Central College in Illinois. North Central was an offensive power house at the Division III level this past season. In 2018, Spencer’s offense was ranked No. 1 in third down and red zone efficiency, top three in completion percentage and top 10 in total offense and scoring. Coach Spencer how they analyze and prepare for third down execution.

Steve Fairchild is a former NFL Offensive coordinator and college Head Coach talk about ways to be proficient in the red zone. He talks about execution on third down in the red zone Steve Fairchild was a 5 year NFL Offensive Coordinator servicing the Buffalo Bills, St Louis Rams and San Diego Chargers. He spent 18 years in the collegiate game spending 4 years as a Head Coach at Colorado State.

Zach Tinker is the former head coach at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. In 2018, Coach Tinker’s offense was #1 in passing and 3rd down conversion, top 10 in scoring and top 20 in completion percentage. He shared is philosophy on analyzing third down as well as understanding third down context and how to practice for third down.

Jordan Neal is currently the head coach at Division III McMurry University in Texas. He joined us when he was the offensive coordinator of a prolific offense at Hendrix College (Conway, Ark.). Neal’s offense at Hendrix averaged more than 600 yards per game in 2016 and excelled on 3rd down. He discusses his approach to third down game planning.

Brian Hughes is the offensive coordinator at LIU Post. Coach Hughes has been at LIU Post for 22 years and in 2017 helped the team finish top 10 in passing offense, total offense, and scoring offense this past season. LIU Post also finished #1 in NCAA D2 in 3rd down conversion percentage. Hughes covers every aspect of how they practice 3rd down.

Michael Lombardi joined the Coach and Coordinator Podcast to share his stories of coaching with iconic coaches Bill Walsh and Bill Belichik, and Raiders owner Al Davis. Lombardi gives insights into the coaching profession which he learned from the best to ever coach the game. All of these are detailed in his book Gridiron Genius - A Master Class in Winning Championships and Building Dynasties in the NFL. In this segment he talks about one of his pet peeves of “third and manageable.”