Featured courses
- How Football Coaches Can Build A Game-Changing Special Teams Unit by Grant Young
- Master the Art of Quick Passing for High Completion Percentages by Keith Grabowski
- 3 SPO’s to Protect the Passing Game and create opportunities in space by Keith Grabowski
- The Art of Running the Corner Route- Coaches and Players Prespectives by CoachTube Staff
- Evolve your Defense with Quarter, Quarter Half to Stop RPO by Coach Grabowski
- 5 Core Offensive Priniciples for a Winning Football Formula by Keith Grabowski
- Win Downfield - Attacking Different Areas Deep with 3rd Level RPO by Coach Grabowski
- WAKE FOREST’S UNIQUE RPO GAME by Keith Grabowski
- Adjustments to Defeat the Tite Front by Keith Grabowski
- Attack Defenses with The Versatile Y-Cross Concept by Keith Grabowski
- Play Action is a Cheat Code! - 5 Play Action Concepts to Increase Your Expected Points by Keith Grabowski
- Question from Rutgers OC - What does your offense say about your coaching? by Keith Grabowski
- Gap Schemes vs. Tight Fronts, Play Action Shots and Misdirection by Coach Grabowski
- Setting up your young Qb for success by Keith Grabowski
- The Hot Gap plus 3 Gap Scheme RPO’s to Stress the Defense by Keith Grabowski
- Unlocking the True Potential of Your Special Teams Play by Keith Grabowski
- The Most Important Components of Air Raid by Keith Grabowski
- 4 Plays that Benefit from Bunch Formations by Keith Grabowski
- 3 Third Level RPOs for Explosive Plays by Keith Grabowski
- The Role of the Screen Game in Explosive Offense by Keith Grabowski
- The Chess Match: Win on the Perimeter (Part 1) by Coach Grabowski
- Unlocking the Power of Gap Manipulation to Limit Explosive Plays by Keith Grabowski
- TCU’s 3-3-5 and facing bigger personnel by Keith Grabowski
- Elevating Your Team: Strategies from Coach Matt Ruhle by Keith Grabowski
- 7 RPO’s for your playbook by Coach Keith
- Beyond Quarters - The Need For Additional Coverage Concepts by Keith Grabowski
- Top 10 College Football Players to Watch for in 2022 by Alec Burris
- Clemson vs. Syracuse Matchup of the Week by Keith Grabowski
- Sprint Out Passing: Move the Pocket for Success by Keith Grabowski
- How to Maximize Tackling Efficiency within Scheme by Keith Grabowski
- Offensive Drills of the Week by Keith Grabowski
- How a Stoplight Can Make Your Fly Sweep Takeoff by Keith Grabowski
- Keep your Drills Fresh and Your Skills Developing - Offense by Keith Grabowski
- Coach Kevin Kelley, Outside The Box by Keith Grabowski
- Want your defense to get off the field after third down? Sims and Creepers are the answer! by Keith Grabowski
- Create More Turnovers with Circuit Training & Win More Games! by Keith Grabowski
- Devastate the Defense with TE RPOs by Keith Grabowski
- Red Zone adjustments by Keith Grabowski
- CoachesClinic.com Featured Matchup: Cincinnati vs Indiana by Caleb Hopkins
- 3 NFL ZONE RUN PLAYS FROM WEEK 7 by Alex Kirby
- Sonny Dykes Teaches You How to Put Together an Offense by Coach Grabowski
- FIVE REASONS TO RUN THE 3-3 DEFENSE by Alex Kirby
- Getting Your Defense Ahead - 1st and 2nd down Pressures from Noah Joseph by John Grayson
- Chad Morris Teaches How To Builds an Offense by Coach Grabowski
- Get Your Offense a +1 With the QB Run Game by Coach Grabowski
- Are You Causing a 14 Point Turnaround...Against Your Team? by Coach Grabowski
- Learn How to Improve Your Offense with USC’s “Harrell Effect” by Coach Grabowski
- The Power of Influence - Rick Jones, Mizzou by Coach Grabowski
- Easy QB Runs to Drive Defenses Crazy by Ryan Eisenberger
- How many different ways can you make the defense cover everyone? by Ryan Eigenberger
- Win Passing Downs with Creepers and Sims by Coach Grabowski
- Always have a plan to play your best 11 by Keith Grabowski
- Dominate the Defense with Double Teams by Coach Grabowski
- Buffalo OC teaches his model for game planning by Keith Grabowski
- Put your 3 Deep Coverage in a Better Position with Zone Alert Rotations by Coach Grabowski
- 5 Keys to Using Trick Plays by Coach Grabowski
- Learn from 'Juggernaut' Offense by Keith Grabowski
- Bob Wylie - Offensive Line Breakdowns by Coach Grabowski
- Utilizing the Hybrid Linebacker to take away Offensive Advantages by Coach Grabowski
- Always have a plan to play your best 11 by Keith Grabowski
- Coachesclinic.com Featured Matchup: #6 Oklahoma vs #21 Texas by Caleb Hopkins
- Easy for You - Difficult for Them Adjustments by Keith Grabowski
- Coachesclinic.com Featured Matchup: Davidson College vs Presbyterian by Caleb Hopkins
- Week 5 National High School Football Rankings by Keith Grabowski
- Protecting Aaron Rodgers (and your own QB) by Caleb Hopkins
- Defensive Drills of the Week by Keith Grabowski
- Woo Pig - Add a wrinkle with these Arkansas Downhill Run Variations by Keith Grabowski
- Coachesclinic.com Featured Matchup: #7 Cincinnati vs #9 Notre Dame by Caleb Hopkins
- Offensive Drills of the Week by Keith Grabowski
- Coach Jason McEndoo Teaches #12 Oklahoma State’s Top Running Play by Keith Grabowski
- Adjustments - Attach Screens to your best plays, defend star receivers, & movement to stop the run by Keith Grabowski
- Coachesclinic.com Featured Matchup: Army vs #16 Wake Forest by Caleb Hopkins
- How To Implement A Running-Back-By-Committee Scheme by Brandon Ogle
- How To Become The Most Feared Offensive Lineman In Your League by Chrisian Benavides
- Wylie, McNally and Alexander Key Coaching Points on the Wide Zone Play by Keith Grabowski
- #21 Coastal Carolina’s play that is a whole offense within itself by Keith Grabowski
- 4 Plays that Benefit from Bunch Formations by Keith Grabowski
- Best Mesh Concept Plays by Ron McKie
- Forming Families For Football by Darryl Page
- Top 5 Things Coaches Should Strive To Get Out Of Spring Camp by Darryl Page
- 10 Tips To Know Before Attending Football Camps by James Breland
- Offensive Line Drills by Rick Bouch
- You’re a captain, now what? 5 Tips to bring your team together and establish yourself as a true leader by Lester Crafton
- COACHING THE 4-2-5 DEFENSE VS SPREAD TEAMS by Alex Kirby
- Gifts From Grinch by Coach Grabowski
- A Package to Help You Win Mid to Late Season by Coach Grabowski
- The Future of American Football: How to Run the Spread Offense by Coach Scott
- Chris Ash teaches Longhorn Tackling by Coach Grabowski
- The misunderstood Yet Powerful Run Scheme - Duo by Coach Keith
- THE GUS MALZAHN QUARTERBACK COUNTER PLAY by Alex Kirby
- FIVE TIPS FROM GUS MALZAHN ON HOW TO BUILD YOUR PLAYBOOK by Alex Kirby
- LITTLEST KID ON THE FIELD TRUCKS LINEMAN – YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP by Jacob
- HOW TO MAXIMIZE YOUR OFFSEASON FOOTBALL TRAINING by Dominic
- BAD CALL, GREAT COACH: THIS IS WHY PLAYERS LOVE PETE CARROLL by Jacob
- How to Get Recruited for Collegiate Sports by Brandon Ogle
- How Offensive Coaches Win with Pre-Snap Movements by Trevor Strong
- HOW VAN HALEN AND CHIP KELLY CAN MAKE YOU A BETTER COACH by Alex Kirby
- FIVE REASONS TO RUN THE JET SWEEP by Alex Kirby
- THIS GUY’S DESIGNS ARE MAKING NFL HELMETS LOOK LIKE RELICS by Jacob
- Five Leadership Lessons You Learn Playing Offensive Line Worth More than the Touchdowns You Won’t Be Scoring This Season by Lester Crafton
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How Football Coaches Can Build A Game-Changing Special Teams Unit
- By Grant Young
A single play on special teams can often spell the difference between winning and losing a football game — and that’s true at every level of football. While it can sometimes seem like that one play either depends on a player making a miraculous effort or a monumental mistake, these outcomes are usually the result of preparation that comes during practice.
Yet, special teams is easy to overlook when trying to schedule practices, because it seems like there are so many other aspects of the game that need to be drilled meticulously. And for that reason, special teams often gets forgotten — which comes back to bite football coaches once the game begins.
Many elite football coaches have conducted excellent courses on crafting a solid special teams unit. And we have compiled a few of these lessons, taking excerpts and bite-sized lessons from each one to figure out some of the best strategies when it comes to curating success on special teams. Incorporating some of these lessons should help your special teams unit become a formidable force—which could very well alter the course of your season.
Justin Lustig - ‘Special Teams Topics and Organization’sson/special-teams-topics-and-organization-justin-lustig/tip-of-the-spear/11983262"> ‘Special Teams Topics and Organization’
Coach Justin Lustig is currently the special teams coordinator and outside linebackers/nickel coach at Penn State University. Prior to joining Penn State, Coach Lustig was an associate head coach and special teams coordinator at Vanderbilt for two seasons. The 2023 and 2022 seasons saw Vanderbilt rank 41st and 44th, respectively, in ESPN’s Special Teams Efficiency. As a team in 2023, Vanderbilt was one of 20 programs in the country to block multiple punts and finished 11th nationally in net punting.
Coach Lustig liked to tell his special teams units that they’re the “tip of the spear”. What he means by this is that, while special teams isn’t the biggest part of the spear (that would be the offense and defense), they are the tip. And even if the rest of the spear is excellent, if the spear’s tip is blunt then the weapon is useless.
Coach Lustig also discusses how he built a culture within his special teams unit through little things, such as having a special teams-specific chant, and playing a certain song once team meetings end, in order to boost energy. Essentially, Coach Lustig makes it clear that making special teams players feel like they’re a part of something special, an integral component to the team’s success, is crucial for creating a cohesive unit. Especially because most special teams players aren’t starters on offense or defense, making them feel valued in special teams will ensure they’re enthusiastic about executing their job to a tee.
Sean Saturnio - The ABC’s of Punt Blockingcom/course_lesson/sean-saturnio-the-abcs-of-punt-blocking/punt-team-objectives/13584379"> The ABC’s of Punt Blocking
Coach Sean Saturnio has been the special teams coach at Navy since 2020. One of Saturnio’s staples since taking over Army’s special teams again in 2020 has been in his unit's ability to block punts. Army has blocked 11 punts in each of the last four seasons (2020-24) and has 19 total blocked kicks (punts and FGs) which is the most in the country in that span.
When working with his special teams unit, Coach Saturnio lays out eight punt block team objectives. Those are as follows:
- Block a punt
- Force a bad snap or shanked punt
- Force a 35 yards or less net punting average
- Force the punter to have a lower punting average than he had coming into the game
- Field all punts cleanly using great ball security
- Create a first down or BIG play on each return
- Stop ALL fake punts
- No penalties and 100% on all assignments
On top of these punt block team objectives (note how Coach Saturnio calls it a punt BLOCK team rather than a punt RETURN team, because the objective is always to block the punt) Coach Saturnio keeps a quote in mind when interacting with his special teams players:
“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times” - Bruce Lee
This Bruce Lee quote speaks to Coach Saturnio when it comes to coaching special teams because he stresses that, rather than utilizing a bunch of different drills during the special teams portion of practice, instead find a couple that you think will give you the greatest chances of success.
One of those main drills for Coach Saturnio is what he calls the Towel Drill. Here’s a screenshot of the Towel Drill, which Coach Saturnio explains at length on his course.
Brian Mason - Chaos Kills - Punt Block Fundamentals and Schemesan-mason-cincinnati-punt-block-fundamentals-scheme/14017320?ambassador=0d90ee66aac64614b00ca7657"> Chaos Kills - Punt Block Fundamentals and Schemes
Coach Brian Mason is entering his second season as special teams coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts. Prior to joining the Colts, Mason spent the 2022 season as the special teams coordinator at Notre Dame. He was named the 2022 FootballScoop Special Teams Coordinator of the Year after the Fighting Irish special teams unit tallied seven blocked punts, which tied for first in the nation. The Fighting Irish ranked first in the country in average starting field position (33.4). Mason was part of a coaching staff that helped Notre Dame to four victories over AP top-25 teams, including a win against South Carolina in the Gator Bowl.
Coach Mason has a special brand that he reserves for his special teams units: ‘Chaos Kills’. This phrase explains how he wants his special teams unit to feel. To be the ones who create chaos, Coach Mason forces his opponents to react to that chaos. And in having to react to that chaos, the other team usually ends up making a mistake. In addition to this, Coach Mason makes sure to share the importance of special teams each week. This makes his players feel valued, and like they’re serving an important purpose on the field.
There are also a number of specific drills that Coach Mason discusses in his course.
As you can see, a common thread between all of these lessons is that special teams are more often about mental acuity than physical ability. All three of these elite special teams coaches make sure their players understand how important their job is, and get them excited to perform their specific duty to a high degree and make a real difference in wins and losses.
This lesson can be used by any special teams coach, at any level of football.