Many youth football coaches invest practice time to get their players to come out strong on different snap counts. That may not be the best way to get your kids to play aggressively and remain penalty free.

How many times do you see youth football teams try and go on “hut two” or “hut three” then jump offsides? How many times does a good drive get into a bad down-and-distance situation because little Timmy moved early? How frustrated do kids and coaches get when those penalties happen?

Back when I played high school football in Omaha, Neb., our team had a problem with any snap count other than one. It drove our coach absolutely nuts. We practiced and practiced and practiced, and we still had players jumping offsides. No matter what our coach tried – encouragement, up-downs, countless laps – we could not solve the problem.

The one thing it did do was make us play more tentatively. No one dared to jump offsides, so we played slower than we should have. This was a team with Outland Trophy winner Dave Rimington at center and four other Division I players on offense. Before the first game, Coach gave up in disgust, and we ended up going on one the entire season. That probably saved the coach’s sanity.

Youth coaches struggle with the same problem, but it can be much worse. Most youth leagues have rules that everyone plays a certain number of downs, so there are a lot more nonstarters getting snaps on offense – nervous rookies whose main goal on every play is to remember the snap count and not jump offsides. That leads to less aggressive and slower play.

One simple way to solve this problem is to have a simple single snap count every time. One that works well is: “Shift, Down, Ready, Set, Go,” something most kids can relate to as they go on the word “go.”

When the quarterback sees that everyone is aligned and their feet are no longer moving, he says “shift.” This means the players are going to lower their rears and rest their elbows on their knees. On the word “down,” the players put their dominant hand on the ground if they are in a three-point stance. On the word “go,” the ball is snapped and the play commences.

By having a single snap count, young athletes can concentrate on what they are supposed to do once the ball is in play. That also saves coaches a step in relaying plays to the huddle.  

Some coaches worry about giving up the advantage they have over the defense by varying the snap count. I agree. That certainty is an advantage for the offense. The defense can’t jump the snap count if it doesn’t know what the snap count is.

You can accomplish the same goal by having a “no play” play. The no play is just that: line up, stay in formation, the quarterback calls the cadence and the kids stay frozen. The goal is to get the defense to jump offsides. If the defense jumps, your team gets a free five yards. If not, take a timeout and the defense now knows you won’t always snap the ball on “go.” In either case, you get the defense to back off of jumping the snap count.

During the late 2000s, I went to watch Jeff Mirets’ Port St. Lucie Pirates Florida Junior Midget team play in the Pop Warner National Championships. The Pirates were playing a very good Detroit Dolphins team that liked to blitz a lot. The Dolphins would try to time those blitzes to the Pirate snap count. Jeff got the Dolphins to jump offsides seven times with his no play, which stopped the Dolphins from timing up the snap count and played less aggressively.

Young players understand the no play better than going on two. At that age, processing “on” and “off” is a simpler concept. And by making it a regular part of your play-calling, you don’t have to explain it every time and possibly give it away.

College teams such as Navy do this all the time to get defenses to back off. For most youth teams, coaches don’t need to call the no play until defenses are obviously jumping the snap count. Going to this approach saves practice time and frustration.

Dave Cisar has coached youth football for more than 20 years. He founded and ran two large youth football organizations in Omaha and Lincoln, Neb. He has been named a Nike Coach of the Year designate five times and has spoken at more than 180 coaches clinics worldwide. Dave helps thousands of youth coaches and teams with his book and Instructional DVDs offered at http://winningyouthfootball.com. He currently resides in Lincoln, Neb. Follow him on Twitter @davecisar.