Managing Two-Way Players

By Brad Fortney

Two platoon is all the rage in today’s high school football. Seeing two-way players on a football team is becoming more and more rare. The rise of the one-way player appears to parallel the rise of sports specialization. Although having players focus on one side of the ball than both might represent a perfect world, not every team lives in a perfect world. This past year, I had the opportunity to coach football at Lakes Community High School for Coach Jordan Eder, where I coached the W’s, also known as the H-Back position. This season, we did not have the luxury of two platooning and had to have a handful of two-way players.  The intention of this article is not to say, “When in doubt, two platoon.” Rather, the intention for this article is to give a blueprint to coaches that do not have the capability to two-platoon.

 

Playing your best athletes

This season we had five players — all at skill positions — playing both ways . We knew at the beginning of the year that if we did not have a plan going into the game for conserving those player’s energy, they would not make it into the 4th quarter: when we needed them the most. I know that when most people see a two-way player getting tired in the 4th quarter, they blame it on conditioning. However, I believe two-way players get tired in the 4th quarter because their rest-ratio throughout the game was mismanaged. Without spending thousands of dollars on an Omega Wave Coach that tracks your central nervous system readiness, I used the eye test to best determine when the athlete need a break.

 

Using the eye test

Beginning with week one you need to use the eye test to determine your two-way players rage. The eye test is the coaches observations of the player to identify signs of fatigue. The way I used the eye test this past season from weeks 1-3 was vastly different from the remainder of the year due to better in-game player management, but the way that I tracked players reps was the same: on a memo notepad. Week one’s eye test was myself or other coaches watching for physical signs of the athletes’ slowing down (running routes slower, not finishing out blocks, getting blocked, physically looking tired through body language), though we also relied on players letting us know when they were tired. As a staff, we realized that our two-way players would not make it through the whole season with such an unscientific method of monitoring their fatigue. In particular, I came to this realization after analyzing the information I had obtained on how many snaps the athletes played before they asked for or needed a break. One particular issue was that most players, naturally, asked for a break a few plays after they truly needed one. This is analogous to only asking for a drink of water when you actually feel thirsty and by then it is too late. I figured that if we could get them a break earlier, putting perhaps a third fewer reps under their belt, they would stay fresher throughout the game. I did have to explain to the players what we were doing and why we were going to put them on a rep count during the first three quarters of the game. My explanation to them was that I wanted to keep them as fresh as possible, as long as possible. That meant they would occasionally come out of the game at times when they still felt fresh. The goal, of course, was to feel fresh in the 4th quarter, not just the 1st, 2nd and 3rd quarter.

 

From Eye Test to Rep Test

Our best two-way players were able to go 18 straight plays on the field between offense, defense and special teams without showing fatigue or asking for a break. So, I took away one-third of 18 and figured their “sweet spot” to be 12 plays. Additionally, I should point out that I count special teams as a rep, as just resting on special teams is not adequate enough rest time for players. We found that our “sweet spot” was resting for one special teams and two plays of the upcoming drive. The range for our two-way players was between 8-12 plays straight on the field before they would get a break. I would make sure that I communicated with the head coach and both coordinators to let them know the rep count after each series for each player, especially the ones that were coming close to their limit. We found that going over the count by a play or two did not make a big deal in terms of being fresh in the long run. There were four situations that occurred throughout the year where one of the two-way players went over their play reps by nearly double without a break. Three of those four situations resulted in dropped passes. Although this is a small sample size, it demonstrates how critical it is to keep your players as fresh as possible, for as long as possible, during the game. We also did not lose any players to cramping, which I believe is a direct reflection of not being over-trained and obtaining enough rest. You can only redline the engine so many times before it blows, and I believe that cramps are a direct reflection of the central nervous system being depleted and not having time to recover throughout the week regardless of how much you hydrate.

 

Communication is Key

On Thursdays, during our meetings to review game plan, I would sit with the offensive and defensive coordinators to go over what the rotation would look like and if there were any changes in the game plan. Sometimes we would determine that one player would be full-time offense and every-other series on defense, or vice versa. This would also be communicated to the athlete so that it did not come as a surprise. This would not be the only time coaching staff would talk about playing reps and rest throughout the week, Thursdays is when we made sure we were all on the same page. At first, the five athletes were hesitant when they were pulled from the game even though they felt fresh, but grew to appreciate it later in the season. There was multiple times during the last half of the season that athletes would unselfishly ask for a break so they could be fresh and let me know when they were ready to return, which is not always easy for a high school kid to do when we live in a day and  age where highlight reels and stats are instantly at your fingertips. During the rest time on the sideline they would get water, and I would also often have them reset on the sideline before they returned into the game. The term “reset” comes from Reflexive Performance Reset (RPR). If you are not using RPR or even know what it is, I highly recommend you learn about it, if you don’t I believe you are doing a disservice to yourself and your athletes.

 

Non-Negotiables for Rest

After any type of long touchdown, 35 yards or more, the player who scored, whether it be a pass, run or interception or return, would come out to just get a breather, which would consist of normally two plays. If an athlete returns the opening kickoff for a touchdown, we would have him come out for at least two plays to get fresh and go back in. Not many games are considered lost on first or second down. If your kids need a break, it is better for them to take a break during first or second down as opposed to third down.

 

Final Thoughts

Two-way players in high school football are a dying breed. Having those two-way players make it a whole season without getting hurt or missing a game is equally rare, but we were able to do that this year. That had a lot to do with us trying to keep our players as fresh as possible, as long as possible. Coaches who don’t understand the body’s energy systems and believe that a lack of toughness or hydration is the reason why their players cannot make it through the game are also probably the same coaches yelling at that player to catch the ball when he drops it on what just so happens to be his 25th consecutive play on the field. In such situations, it’s fair to ask: realistically, did the coach have a plan to keep his best players as fresh as possible as long as possible? I realize that sometimes it is very difficult to take a player out in the middle of the drive or late in the game, but consider front-loading that player’s rest time if you want to ride that athlete through the 4th quarter.  If you get one thing from this article, keep your studs as fresh as possible, as long as possible and you will win more games.

Brad Fortney
@coachfortney
Coachbradfortney@gmail.com