June 27, 2023

Planning, Practicing, and Calling Third Down

25 minutes

On today’s episode from our archives, I talk about the 3rd Down plan that we utilized when I was at Baldwin Wallace University. This was years in the making and I credited some of my direct resources at the end of the episode, but it also was the synthesis of a ton of clinics, videos, and books that contributed to this thought process for third down. I thought this would be a good one positioned right behind Ola Adams's defensive third-down process which we shared yesterday.

I did put together a course on coordinating an offense on CoachTube which incorporates all of our situational thinking and planning methods as well as plenty of tools to help you develop your offense. You can find that in a link in the show notes which includes a 50% off code for our listeners.

Coaches Notebook Show Notes:

This week in Coach Grabowski’s notebook, Keith lets us into his idea of effectively managing 3rd down, and highlighting downs and distances with different plays available to cater to those situations. He talks about the importance of working these situations into the practice week and even resources his personal call sheet that he utilized on 3rd downs.

The game plan in sections

3rd-and-long or extra long

3rd-and-medium

Maintain timing

Stick route example

3rd-and-short

Have an idea of what the defense is doing

Breaking sections into a playlist

The game plan in practice

3rd-and-extra long

Work in practice 2 & 3

3rd-and-long

Watch flow and continuum

3rd-and-medium

Looking for opportunities

3rd-and-short

Work in team period in practices 2 & 3

Mindset going into gameday

1st practice work base, quick game, and play action.

2nd practice red zone, goal line, and 3rd down.

Bring the chains out for situational practice

3rd practice simulate drives

Work on a section of 1st

Coaches to thank

Offensive Coordinator Master Class on CoachTube (50% off using this link):

Offensive Coordinator Master Class

In this course, Keith breaks down the entire process of coordinating into a “6P” process - Planning, Personnel, Placement, Plays, Procedures, and Performance. He shares tools for doing the job and includes perspectives from successful offensive coordinators.

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