How to install a football playbook in one week

Run every day through the same loop of walk-through, teach, rep and test, keep the daily load to a few new plays, and check that each player can explain their own job before you add the next layer.

Before Monday: write the install list#

An install goes wrong when the list is too long. Before the week starts, write down every play you want ready by the end of it, grouped by type.

• Formations. The handful you will line up in most. Players learn formations first because every play hangs off them.
• Base runs. Your two or three bread-and-butter runs, like an inside zone and a power.
• Base passes. One quick-game concept and one drop-back concept.
• Protections. The calls your line and backs need to make those passes work.
• Play-action. One or two passes that look like your base runs.
• Situational calls. Red zone, short yardage, two-minute and goal line, a play or two each.

Then cut it. A play you wouldn't call in the first game can wait for week two.

Defensive staffs can use the same order: fronts and alignments, base coverage, the run fits that go with them, pressures, then situations.

How many plays to install per day#

There is no single right number. A useful rule is that every player should be able to explain every new play by the end of the day, and that gets harder as the count goes up. For most high school varsity teams, three to five new plays a day is a workable range. For a JV or freshman team, or a staff installing a new system, start at the low end.

Count by what is new to the player. A new formation with a run the team already knows is lighter than a brand new protection. A play that only changes the receivers' routes is new for five players and familiar for the other six.

The daily loop: walk-through, teach, rep, test#

Every install day follows the same four steps.

1. Walk-through. At walking speed, with no defense or a scout look holding bags. Players line up, hear the call and walk their assignment. The goal is alignment and first steps.
2. Teach. In position groups. Coaches explain the why: the landmark, the read, the rule that covers a different front. This is where the whiteboard comes out.
3. Rep. At full speed, against a scout look, as many reps as the period allows. Keep the script short so each play gets repeated.
4. Test. Before players leave, ask each one to show or say their job. More on how below.

The test step is the one teams skip when practice runs long. Keep it, even if it's five minutes at the end.

The five-day install#

Monday: formations and base runs#

Start with the formations and the two or three runs that everything else builds on. Linemen learn their rules for the base fronts. Backs learn their aiming points and footwork. Receivers learn their stalk blocks and splits.

End the day by calling a formation and a run and having each position group tell you, out loud, what they do.

Tuesday: base passes#

Add one quick-game concept and one drop-back concept out of the formations you taught Monday. Quarterbacks and receivers learn the route tree terms and the read. Linemen get a basic pass set without the full protection yet.

Open Tuesday with five minutes of Monday's runs before you teach anything new. That short review tells you what stuck.

Wednesday: protections and play-action#

Teach the protection calls that go with Tuesday's passes: who the line slides to, who the back picks up, and what happens against pressure. Then add one or two play-action passes that start like Monday's runs.

This is usually the hardest day for the line. Spend extra teaching time with them and keep the skill groups on a lighter load.

Thursday: situational calls#

Red zone, short yardage, goal line and two-minute. Most of these are plays you already taught, from a different formation or with a tag. Teach each one as a tweak to a play the team knows, and the load stays manageable.

Walk through how the call reaches the field: the signal, the wristband number or the sideline board.

Friday: review and test#

No new plays. Run a scripted period that mixes everything from the week in the order you might call it. Then test every position group on every play.

Players who miss a test get a short list of what to study over the weekend. Monday of the following week starts with those plays.

How to check players know their assignments#

A player who runs the right way in a drill may just be following the teammate next to them. Test what each player can explain on their own.

• Whiteboard test. Draw the formation and the defensive front. Hand the player the marker and have them draw their own path and say their rule. This works well for linemen, who need to explain who they block against more than one look.
• Call and respond. Say the play call. The player answers with their job in one sentence. Fast, and easy to run in a water break.
• Blank cards. Give each player a card with the formation printed and their position circled. They draw their assignment. Collect them and you have a record of who knows what.
• Short quizzes. Five to ten questions per position, on paper or a phone, covering the plays installed that week. Score them, and reteach anything most of the group missed.

Track results by player and play, so Monday's reteach goes straight to the rule a group missed.

Supporting players who learn visually#

Many players remember a play better after seeing it move than after hearing it explained. A few habits help them.

• Show the play running. Walk it on the field before you draw it on the board, or show film of the play from a previous season.
• Use the same diagram every time. The picture on the whiteboard, the card and the playbook page should look the same, with the same symbols.
• Give them something to take home. A printed sheet or a playbook on their phone lets them study at their own pace.
• Let them draw it. Drawing their own job is both a test and a way to learn.

Use a call sheet to keep the install honest#

Build a draft call sheet for the first game during install week. Every play on it must have been installed and tested. If a play you want on the sheet hasn't been taught, you either teach it next week or leave it off.

Wristbands do the same thing for the players. A wristband grid forces you to pick the plays that matter, give each a number, and drop the rest.

Adding a play mid-season#

You will add plays during the season, usually in game-plan week for one opponent. Treat a mid-season add like a mini install.

1. Add one or two plays at most, and build them off something the team already runs.
2. Introduce the play on the first practice day of the week, so it gets three or four days of reps.
3. Walk it, teach it, rep it, test it, the same as preseason.
4. Test it again the day before the game. If most of the players who touch it can't explain their job, cut it from the call sheet.

The same rhythm works in other sports#

Each sport has its own install order, and the same weekly rhythm fits all of them. A basketball team installs its base offense and defense before set plays and late-game situations. A soccer team installs shape before set pieces. A volleyball team installs base rotations before situational plays. In every sport, teach a few things a day, rep them, test each player on their own job, and save situations for last.

Running an install in Snack Plays#

Snack's Plays app covers each step of this week. The football playbook software page shows it on a football field. Here is how the install maps to it.

• Get the playbook in. Draw plays on a football field, starting from built-in formations and concepts, or import a playbook PDF, photos or screenshots and check each play before you select Create play. Importing is for football plays.
• Group the install. In Plays, open Playbooks, select New playbook, and name it something like "Week 1 install." Add plays with From library and drag them into the order you will teach them.
• Send it with a due date. Select Share on the playbook. Under Send to, pick the whole team or a group, write a Message, set Due, and turn on Notify players.
• Players study on their phones. Athletes open Plays in the Snack app or on the web, select Watch to see each play run, and take a quiz under Know your job. Snack writes the playbook quizzes from the play you drew, so each athlete is asked about their own position. Quiz me mixes up to 20 questions across a playbook, with more from plays the athlete hasn't learned yet.
• See who knows it. In the playbook, Who knows it shows each player as Not opened, Opened, Quizzed or Passed on every play. A play counts as passed at 80%. Select Nudge to remind players who are behind.
• Help visual learners. On a shared play, Record Snack records a walkthrough video, and Assign walkthrough sends it once it's recorded.
• Test the play before practice. Select Simulate to run a play at least 250 times against the defense you pick and see how it holds up.
• Build the game plan and wristband. In the new playbook form, select Add opponent and set the Game date to make it a game plan. Then use Print play sheet or wristband to print a play sheet or wristband cards for football plays.

Plays and playbooks have no cap on the free plan. Free teams can read 3 plays from photos, screenshots, film or scanned pages, and get 25 sim runs a month. The help article on sharing plays with athletes walks through the sharing steps, and building a playbook or game plan covers the playbook setup.