By: Chad Wilson – owner – All Eyes DB Camp
Everyone at some point has had a coach who has told them they need to watch film. After all, what kind of coach wouldn’t tell his players to watch film? Studying your opponent is a key factor to success but what good is watching film if you can’t act on the things you saw?
When I first began playing defensive back and watching film, I remember finding it amazing to get all the answers to the test by watching film of the opponents’ previous games. However, there was one problem. I found that when I got out on the field, a lot of times I would hesitate. Why was I hesitating? I was out thinking myself. Somewhere in there I got this grand notion that the other team knows that I watched their film and that I know all their plays. Doesn’t it make sense that they would change them and trick me?
It took time for me to change that thinking. It took me several times of going out there, seeing the same plays that I watched on film for me to realize that a team’s success on offense is more from execution than trickery. To be able to execute, they have to run those plays over and over again. If an offense changed all of their plays every week to avoid being “found out” by their opponent then chances are they won’t run those plays well and all that trickery would be for nothing anyway.
Good offenses usually are good because they practice plays over and over again. Then they run those plays over and over again. They believe in their ability to execute even when you know what’s coming. What offenses often find out too is that defenders don’t study enough to defeat their execution.
So with that piece of information, I say this unto you. Study more than the next guy. Study more than the offense thinks you will. Then, once you have studied, go pass the test. On game day, when you see the formation or the motion or the personnel or the situation and you know the play that is coming, go ahead and believe it. When things unfold the way you expected them to according to your studies, go ahead and act accordingly. That’s how plays are made.
Now if studying isn’t really your thing then continue to be shocked and caught off guard by everything you see by the offense on game day. If you get shocked enough, you can always get cooled off by the metal benches on the sidelines after your coach puts someone else in. For us playmakers, we’ll keep studying and believing what we are seeing.
Chad Wilson is the owner of All Eyes DB Camp and author of "101 DB Tips". He played college football at the University of Miami and briefly in the NFL for the Seattle Seahawks. Over his 15 year high school football coaching career, he tutored over a dozen Division I defensive backs and as a trainer has worked with NFL All Pros, first round draft picks, college football All Americans and Top 10 ranked high school football prospects.
