When we became a no-huddle, multiple-tempo team, we needed to find way to improve our procedures and become proficient at moving at a fast pace.

One of the tools we implemented in spring ball and carried through the season was our team takeoff period. In a 10 minute period before warm-up, we execute 39 plays on air, moving at a very fast pace.

Because we are multiple in our tempos, personnel groups and formations, we include several in each set. The 39 reps are divided into two, five-play sets and a three-play set. We utilize a first, second and third unit with each running 13 plays during the period.

We were not that fast at the beginning when it came to learning and executing tempo, but as our players became more experienced, we could really move fast offensively, even when we were changing personnel, shifting and motioning. We attribute a lot of the success to the pre-practice team takeoff competition period.

The setup

On the first whistle to start, the first unit is on the ball on the 35-yard line going in and looking to the sideline for the first signal, which comes from a player signaling from a script of five plays.

The first unit gets the signal, aligns and snaps the ball. As soon as the ball is snapped, we start a stopwatch that will not stop until they cross the goal line during their fifth play. Any alignment, assignment or procedural error adds 10 seconds to the time.

For each play, a coach spots a ball on a specific scripted yard line and hash. The players must go full out until they hear a whistle. Once a play is whistled dead, they look for the next play being signaled in, get on the ball and run the next play.

Once the first unit crosses the goal line, the second unit is already on the ball at the 35 ready to start their five play series. The second unit is followed by the third, then the first unit is up again.

The competition

Competition is a big part of what makes this drill successful and gives us great focus in beginning a practice.

We keep a running total for each unit. The losers do a quick gasser – sideline to sideline sprint –  before the dynamic team warm-up begins. Our younger players learn quickly that they want to pay attention to the unit that goes before them, and they will at times operate better because they are learning from the mistakes that units before them make.

While this may put the first unit at a disadvantage in having to go first all of the time, we emphasize that they must focus and eliminate errors.

Keith Grabowski has been a football coach for 26 years, currently serving as an offensive assistant and technology coordinator at Oberlin College in Ohio. He previously was a head coach at the high school level for eight years and the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Baldwin Wallace University. Grabowski serves as an advisor for several sports technology companies. He is a columnist for American Football Monthly and writes his own blog at thecoachesedge.com/blog. He's the author of "101+ Pro Style Pistol Offense Plays" and five other books available on thecoachedge.comand operates Coaches Edge Technologies. Follow him on Twitter @CoachKGrabowski.