Coaches talk about the concept of wanting players to play fast. The idea is that a well-trained player can play fast without having to think much. New North Carolina offensive coordinator Phil Longo likes to call it “playing instinctually.” On the Coach and Coordinator Podcast, Longo shares that he and his staff place a huge emphasis on the belief that getting every player to contribute on Saturdays is to get them to play instinctively without thinking.

Longo believes that a player that has to think about things becomes limited. Therefore the emphasis lies in teaching players how to be successful, beginning with keeping the offensive scheme simple enough that the player can learn and have the freedom to play instinctively.

The key to having instinctive players is starting with a system of plays that fit together and spending the necessary time teaching it. Longo does this with a four-day install, keeping the play menu to 26 plays.  

When asked about the philosophy behind the 26 plays, Longo said, “You can’t be instinctive in running 145 plays. You just can’t do it. All 145 might be the best plays in all of college football, but we can’t be good at all of them and all of them don’t mesh together. You know they don’t fit in and jive with each other. It’s just a hodgepodge of different plays that work, and a lot of times those plays work because they are packaged with other plays. We aren’t going to put anything in the offense unless it fits the package and system we are running and it complements it. We cut it off at 26 and that’s just over the years what we feel is the saturation point.”

Longo noted that some of this is subjective, but he does believe that a coach can bring objectivity to the process in measuring the players through film study. It is something the staff will do once a week. They look for players who get lined up fast and respond to the adverse situations they face during the play.

The coaches will put the 26 plays together and watch each play one-by-one while evaluating the players within that scheme on a 1-4 scale. Long gave the criteria for each rating:

1 – The player is playing instinctively. He owns that play. If he knows 23-26 plays, he should be playing instinctively on the field and doing it without thinking or slowing down.

2 – The player sometimes shows he is playing instinctively. He’s a solid player, and in general, he doesn’t make a lot of mental mistakes.  For the most part, he plays fast but not instinctual since he does not own all of the plays.

3- This player is learning but not ready to play.  He has to get to the point where execution shows that he knows assignment on a regular basis. He must become more consistent and own more of the 26 plays.

4- This player should only be a new comer to the program.

In this system, the coach’s job to get the players from a 4 to 1. The details coaches teach are part of the equation. Keeping the package tightened to 26 plays facilitates the process of creating instinctual players, which will definitely be a part of what is installed with the Tarheels.

Longo can be heard going into the details of this in his first appearance on Coach and Coordinator

RELATED CONTENT: Coach and Coordinator podcast: Phil Longo (4/14/17)

RELATED CONTENT: [PODCAST] Ole Miss offensive coordinator Phil Longo talks about his up-tempo offense

RELATED CONTENT: How Phil Longo break downs offensive installations during spring practice

Photo Courtesy: AP Photo