Oct. 19, 2011
A safety shades to the short side of the field, the quarterback points to a cornerback who is inching toward the line of scrimmage and the middle linebacker yells and signals at the weakside linebacker to follow the tight end who is in motion.
The ball is yet to be snapped, but the play has long since begun.
A common saying in football is to play hard every snap until the whistle blows. However what sometimes gets lost in the importance of the game is what happens before the snap.
To a casual observer, the intricacies of what takes place between plays may seem like minutia, but for those on the field, the time is critically important to what transpires next.
In the game of football, it is the play within the play.
For those that are very good at it, it can provide a significant edge over the opponent.
Being able to recognize what is happening on the opposite line of scrimmage can be the difference in what separates equally gifted athletic players and can close an athletic gap for less athletic players.
“You have some guys who have talent that are just going off of pure athleticism and then you have some guys that are film rats and know everything because they study everything,” strong safety Sean Richardson said. “They just make more plays because they know the tendencies.”
“Pre-snap recognition is everything,” sophomore linebacker Chase Garnham said. “Without that you become lost.”
Exactly what players look for before the snap depends a lot on the position they play on the field.
“We all have a role in what happens before the snap,” Richardson said. “Chris (Marve) gets the play calling in as the middle linebacker. I get the personnel with how many tight ends or running backs they have in. The free safety gets the down and distance.”
In addition to ensuring the right personnel are on the field and getting the defense set for the next down, defenders also try to recognize what the offense is doing.
“As a linebacker, you are looking at the backs and stick with them at first,” Garnham said. “Also you are looking at offensive linemen — picking up any pulls or down blocks. At the same time during pre-snap, you are looking for heavy hands or light hands to anticipate the pull.”
As an outside linebacker, Garnham also has the role of reinforcing the defensive calls middle linebacker Chris Marve is responsible for. Garnham communicates with the defensive end nearest him to ensure they are on the right page for calls and blitzes. He also communicates with defensive backs by using hand signals before the snap.
Just as it is important for the offense to know what the defense is doing, it is equally important for the offense to recognize what the defense is doing before the snap. And it isn’t just the quarterback who needs to be aware of all the moving parts of a defense. Just like on the defense, every player has a role.
“Pre-snap recognition, especially for a running back, is a big key in success,” Zac Stacy said.
Stacy goes through a similar set of steps before each snap. Whether it is a pass or run, Stacy first looks at the defensive front to know where he will need to help block in pass protection or where the key block will come on a running play.
Stacy credits much of his success this season to what he has been taught to look for before the snap.
“Based on this offense, you also want to read the safeties,” Stacy said; “that has been a huge deal for me because it has helped me become a smarter, better player and a better student of the game.”
For Stacy, his pre-snap recognition gets even better as the game goes on and the carries pile up.
“As a running back, the more carries you get, the more you get into a rhythm,” Stacy said. “That also comes from preparation. Watching film, getting a feel for different players and how they play and how they tackle.”
Because there is so much film study done to find tendencies and exploit weaknesses, players try to offset those advantages before the snap trying to confuse the opposing team through different formations and movements.
“Sometimes we will move and show a certain formation and we bail out at the snap of the ball to confuse them,” Richardson said. “It is like a game of chess trying to figure out what move to make and reading the opponent.”
Working to distract the quarterback and confuse him is something that can provide a team with a huge advantage, and it has been an emphasis this season. However, the steps taken to confuse the opposing team do not come without risks.
“We try to do it a lot, but at the same time, you try not to get too far out of position,” Garnham said. “Coach (Bob) Shoop and Coach (Brent) Pry tell us to have a little more personality on the field and play loose and show different things and try to confuse the quarterback a little bit.”
While players begin to understand an opposing team’s tendencies at a young age, the breadth of information is substantially heightened from high school to college with the added emphasis on film study.
“Looking back at high school, if I would have known then what I know now, I could have done so much better,” Garnham said. “You learn a lot more about the game in college. It is interesting.”
Stacy, who prepped at Centreville High School in Centreville, Ala., echoes Garnham’s thoughts even as a player who rushed for almost 6,000 yards in high school.
“In high school, we watched film as a team, but I didn’t really know how to watch film,” Stacy said. “I’ve grown a lot. I got here and learned how to watch film. I learned how to read the fronts, know what front the defense is in, know the coverages.”
The added work in the film room pays off time and time again. But even those who feel like they know a team best aren’t always willing to take their chances.
“Sometimes you can know their tendencies and you just don’t trust yourself,” Richardson said. “You know it is coming, but you don’t want to jump a play or jump a route and something else gets behind you. It is all about experience. Sometimes you take shots and gambles but you don’t always want to be the person who is always gambling because they will game plan for you.”
However, sometimes there are those moments that make a player’s eyes light up because the added work has paid off.
“It is especially rewarding when it is third down, a big play in the game, and you make the play,” Richardson said. “You feel proud. That is what pays off from studying film. You knew what their tendencies were and you were right on something.”
“I have had a few of those moments where I saw a defense and knew this was coming or that was coming,” Stacy said. “You have to hide that grin.”
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