You can gain a lot of important information during the pregame warmups, but you need two things: A person who you can depend on, and a solid process to follow.
One of the many templates we’ve released this week is a useful pregame scouting sheet for tracking opponent personnel and where they may line up, and that’s what we’re talking about in today’s article.
This is taken directly from our newest release Football Coaches Charts & Templates: The Complete Collection.
Pregame Scouting Sheets
Use a pre-prepared chart like the one shown below to confirm which key players are suited up. Mark players in pads with a dot and cross out those in jerseys but clearly injured. This can confirm any questions about injuries that you may have had during the week when reviewing film.
OK, that’s obvious. Something else you can do is get an idea of who the other team will be lining up in what positions based on their pregame walkthrough. On the sheet below, you’ll have typed up the expected opponent two deep based on film study, and then you’ll write in whoever actually lines up in that specific spot.
You’ll notice that the offense has 12 spots, which is because this example was taken from a pregame warmup against a team that liked to switch a lot between 11/10 personnel. So you can put 12, 13, or more spots on this sheet depending on what personnel you expect to see.
Other things you can pay attention to are, the plays and defensive alignments themselves that the opponent will run before the game (some coaches actually will run their opening script with the other team warming up on the field).
You can also track special teams information, including the kicker’s range, punter get off time, and much more.
All of these sheets are available in our collection of coaching templates this week.