Even though the season does not start until August, there is a ton of work that has to be done now. Any good coach will tell you that there is no offseason.

Here are a few key areas to focus on leading into the season.

Coaching Staff

It’s now time to start figuring out who you want on your coaching staff and what defensive position they will be assigned. With my team, each assistant coach is responsible for coaching a particular position and should focus all their attention on that position. It’s important that you clearly define the roles of assistant coaches and hold them accountable. I would recommend sitting down with you coaching staff to put together drills and practice plans for your defense and watch some film from the previous year.

Coaching Clinics

Many clinics will be running into the month of May.  I’d recommend attending as many coaching clinics as possible and search out the ones that are focused entirely on defense. There are also several resources online where you can educate yourself on the defensive side of the football. Last month I went to a local coaching clinic that was dedicated towards the 3-5-3 stack defense. Use these resources as tools to improve in the offseason.

SEE ALSO: The USA Football Coach Performance Center

Plan a Speed and Agility Program

In youth football speed is everything. There is one thing that every single dominate defense has in common, and that is their ability to get to the ball carrier. If want your defense to be great you have to instill the mentality that they need to get to the football, to get there they need speed. During the spring and summer we will work a lot on speed development. In the offseason we will have football camps and try to get our players out on the weekends to do some speed training. In season we will do cone drills, sled work, and the pursuit drill to help develop our team speed.

Playbook

When developing your defensive playbook, make sure that it fits your team’s skill set. For the younger age levels I recommend the 5-3 or the 6-2 defense because it is so run heavy. For the older kids, I recommend the 4-4, 3-5-3, or 5-3 defense.  I like these defenses for the older levels because you will need linebackers that can get to the ball carrier. Also, there will be more spread formations and teams will throw a bit more so it’s important that you can easily adjust your defense.

Jeff Hemhauser is the co-founder of YouthFootballOnline.com