As a practice planner you are always looking for ways to optimize the time you have out on the field. For most, it seems that the Extra Point/Field Goal Team is a unit that is overlooked and/or not enough time is spent on it during the week.
If you are a coach that has felt this way with your X-PT/FG Team, consider the following questions:
1.) Would you like to place more importance on this unit, giving the members of this unit more ownership?
2.) Would you like this unit to become more of a scoring weapon, while quite possibly giving you more 2-point play possibilities?
3.) Would you like to give the coach of the opposing team more to work on during the week? (Usually the Defensive Coordinator).
4.) Would you like to be able to work on this unit without interrupting any defensive position groups during practice?
If you answered “yes” to any of the above questions, the following may be just for you.
The first thing you will need to do is use only offensive personnel for the X-PT/FG unit (This may mean you have to use a little less of a player at a position or two, but the positives of this will outweigh the negatives). With the following example the Long Snapper is also a fullback, and the holder is a former quarterback. All of the other positions listed are what those players normally play. XPT
Second, a name or number must be given to this offensive personnel group just like any other personnel group you use (e.g., Spider). One five minute period each practice is sufficient and can be ran at any point of practice since you are only using offensive personnel with a kicker. Start with your base X-PT alignment and give a formation name for this. You may also want to use a play name for the actual kicking of the ball (e.g., “Spider Personnel, X Formation, Kick It”).
As mentioned above, the holder in this example was a former quarterback who had run the double wing offense. So naturally the first formation and play that was added was a double wing formation (Tilt) and play (Toss Right). DW Formation This was also because this fit the personnel we had on the field.
The kicker was placed at the left tackle Position. This was done because we only ran the ball to the right out of this formation and the kicker would run a corner route to get himself out of the way and not risk getting injured. DW Play
Next, give a name for the ability to transition from one of these formations to the other while out on the field (e.g., Shift).
So, a few examples of a play call would be as follows:
-“Spider Personnel, X, “Shift” to Tilt, Toss Right”
-“Spider Personnel, Tilt, “Shift” to X, Kick It”
-“Spider Personnel, X, Kick It”
Once you have put in your base kick formation and first formation and play, the sky is the limit. Each week you can add another formation to line up in and/or shift to with a play. Remember that the coach in charge of X-PT/FG Block is usually a defensive coach that will have to take time out of his practice to work on all that you have with your new offensive personnel group. Just remember to work within the framework of the people you have out on the field and protect your kicker.
You may also want to consider coming up with a code for the times you may line up in something other than your kick formation. You also may want to actually run the play associated with that formation if the look is right. I have used “Red Light” for shift to kick formation and kick no matter what, and “Green Light” for the times that the play can be run if the look is there. Otherwise, shift to kick formation and kick it. Putting in a fake out of your base kick formation is also a good idea. Think of the confusion that could be created by lining up in a formation, shifting to kick formation, and then running a fake out of that.
Once the procedure (codes, shifting, timing) and basic techniques of this are put in place in fall camp, one five minute period during each practice (20 minutes a week) is all that is required as long as you keep just one special formation and play (e.g., Tilt, Toss Right) for the entire season as your true “go-to” play. Adding another new crazy formation and play each week while usually only showing the formation during the game (then shifting to kick formation) will give future opponents more to work on.
Here are a few other formations that I have used in the past:
The keys are to stretch the field, note who is eligible, and make sure those that are eligible have eligible numbers.