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Descriptive Labels for Qualities in a Football Player(Reaching out for help)

TheeRealDeal

By TheeRealDeal
in Cleveland Browns

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TheeRealDeal

TheeRealDeal

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Tonight is our last game as it was a disaster of a season and we will not be heading to the playoffs this year. As any coach does in my situation I am already thinking about what to improve next season. One of the biggest reason's we are struggling is because we have no mean kids. The offensive line especially is a group of really nice kids with ZERO mean streak. I have been coaching long enough to realize you cannot teach toughness or a mean streak. There are, however, things that can be done and said that can bring more of it out in kids that lack those traits. Next pre season I am aiming to install some motto's and do some visual activities to instill these ideas into kids head that will hopeful bring out a little mean streak. 

What got me thinking about this was a conversation with one of the coaches after another frustrating performance. It was a younger coach who was feeling discouraged. He wasn't sure if he was coaching something wrong or If he was cut out to coach. I had to talk him up by letting him know it wasn't on him and that I wanted him on myside of the ball at the most important position group for a reason. I told him we all understand we just don't have the jimmy's and joe's right now. I then said "and you have no tough guys on the offensive line right now". I said "for our offensive to work we need at least 3 glass eaters and we don't have those kids" 

I had heard and used the term glass eaters before when talking about football but that night I was thinking about that coach and how the losing was eating at him. I was thinking of what I could do to possible get some positive results out of the offensive line to as the season wound down so he and the younger lineman had something encouraging to build from moving forward. That phrase ran through my head a few more times and I thought well I cannot make someone a glass eater. Surely I cannot these kids here is a bowl of glass, eat up and it will toughen you up. If it doesn't taste good douse it in ketchup but eat up. The mental image I had in my head was kids crunching on class and red oozing from their mouth. I thought well damn if I was a defensive lineman and I saw that I would think what kind of crazy nut job am I dealing with today.

I thought well that could work to put the mental image of toughness in their head and it would be something fun to do. I wound up on the idea of making glass candy like my grandma makes around Christmas time but I would make mine clear like a window. I am going to use it as a team building activity next pre season and take pictures and video of the lineman eating "glass" and "bleeding" from the mouth.

It got me thinking about some more of the great descriptive football labels that have been used to describe certain positions, player types ect.  such as Road Grader, Ball Magnet, Lunch Pail  ect. There are so many good terms out there I cannot think of them all, so I thought I was ask the best football discussion board I know for help. If you have any descriptive tags let me know and if you possible have any ideas to pair with those tags I would love to hear.

Thanks,

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MWil23

MWil23

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@TheeRealDeal, I am also a HS football coach here (Ohio). We run the triple option (and have been very effective at it most years, although this year has been very rough). A few years ago, we started giving out a yearly award called "The echo of the whistle", which we have another term for, starting with a p, ending with a k, and getting those kids to embrace that "attitude" on the OL. This award, while cumulative and given at the end of the season, is also given on game nights in our pre-game, and it's called the "________ of the week". They carry it out on the field, and it's just a black crow-bar. They love it.

Defensively, we have a sledge-hammer. Our guys remember all four years me yelling "BE THE HAMMER!" at practice (Occasionally I rant about how a hammer and a nail don't have a rivalry).

Just a few thoughts on things that have worked for us, but have fun with it, make it your own, and make sure you don't do anything that goes against administrative protocols.

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DaWg_LB.

DaWg_LB.

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My favorite was my Special Teams coach back in College....he said he wanted his Coverage teams to be a "Rolling Ball of Butcher Knives"....

 

And my Defensive Coordinator Julius Adams, use to say he wanted him MLB to be a "Dude that didnt like Anybody...not even his own Momma"...

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buno67

buno67

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To me that attitude always starts in the weight room. It’s tough to be a hardarse when you are weak. Gotta get that test flowing through them. 

Go the military route, give them a baby animal. Make them raise it all offseason and that first day of camp, you make them kill it. The first five that do that is now your starting line lol

really, it starts in the weigh room and off season. Gotta involve as much competition in everything you can. Make them hate failure and crave winning. Get them in that mindset and they will never want to lose on an assignment or a block

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Kiwibrown

Kiwibrown

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38 minutes ago, buno67 said:

. 

Go the military route, give them a baby animal. Make them raise it all offseason and that first day of camp, you make them kill it. The first five that do that is now your starting line lol

If we have a prize giving again, I nominate buno for the charles Manson award.

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bigjohnson2009

bigjohnson2009

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It starts with adversity and camaraderie. Preach it from day 1 in the weight room. Push kids to the limits and create drills and competitions that facilitate the qualities you want to see. In high school we did a 3 day camp at a very crappy college facility where we all had to bunk up in dorms and did a lot of team building in addition to 2-3 a days. Was an important 3 day lesson on fighting for something together. Twas terrible though.

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buno67

buno67

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2 hours ago, Mega Ron said:

You can teach anything. You just need to find an appropriate way of doing it.

I suggest having them take part in army bootcamps. Make sure to use live fire though. That'll find your tough guys.

You're welcome.

A school I use to coach at, had a workout once an offseason hosted by marines. Tell them to put the players through a grueling 45min workout. I still hand lineman soft as baby poop afterwards lol.  I did have one tough linemen but he had one arm, shows you how bad the entire group was lol yet the kid got called for holding a few times. Refs always felt like an a-home when I told them the LG they just called holding on only has one arm. The kid had a stub about two inches where your wrist would be on your arm. 

Had another kid I coached a year before at a different school. When I first Saw him I thought he was going to be the the best lineman in the conference. Kid was a legit 6’5 280, but damn he played like he was 5’5 130 and wasn’t born with knee mobility. Tried so hard to toughen him up nothing worked. Sometimes they have it and sometimes they don’t 

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