Personnel & Calls

Call names

These are the team's call names.

• TwistEnd first, Tackle off his hip
• PinchTwo-gap the center, squeeze the B
• Angle (Okie)Whole line stunts away from strength
• Leo Storm / Rip StormTackle and End slant down together
• Sam TwistA linebacker-tagged twist
• Slant-LoopLine slants, linebacker loops to contain
• Edge TwistWill slants outside past the Tackle
• StormSafety off the edge with contain
• OverloadNumbers advantage to one side
• AcesDouble-A-gap look
• Fire (4-4 Split)Mike B-gap + Safety edge, with a BAIL out
• Inside CrossBoth ILBs shoot A, Tackles slant to B
• SAWSam and Will switch together
• Green DogA standing rule, not a call

Gap words & hand signals

• A

  Apache

  Hand taps the mouth

• B

  Bomber

  Arms out like wings

• C

  Cobra

  Arm strikes like a snake

• D

  Dog

  Hand opens and closes like barking

Wristband

Point to the grass for green, to the sky for blue.

Calling rules

• Word + hand signal, always paired

  Two redundant channels so a missed shout never blows the play. Every gap nickname is tied to a physical gesture.

• Two-color wristband

  Green and Blue columns, numbered within each color. Coach yells "Blue 2" and the player finds the blue-column, row-2 call. Point to the grass for green, to the sky for blue as a backup channel.

• Tag the blitzer's name into the call

  "Sam Fire" carries both the gap and the specific player coming. One word doing two jobs is the actual mechanism that lets an 11-year-old defense execute cleanly.

• Let the players name the calls

  Documented to measurably improve recall at this age. Every name in this app is editable — rename them with the team and they stick.

• Never stack two calls

  Individually simple calls become too cognitively demanding when layered. Install width matters far less than avoiding combined calls.

About 20-22 total named calls across front shifts, stunts and blitzes is a realistic season ceiling. Past that, recall breaks down no matter how simple each call is.

Personnel

• T

  Tackle (x2)

  Front

  Inside shoulder of each Guard

  ~2i / 3-technique (sources vary)

  A-gap. Attack the inside shoulder of the Guard, control the gap, hold up double teams. Backside Tackle mirrors to kill the cutback.

• E

  End (x2)

  Front

  Outside shoulder of each Tackle

  5-technique (7-technique if a TE is present and the End shades inside on him)

  C-gap. Squeeze down the Tackle's outside shoulder so nothing bounces outside. Backside End contains and pursues.

• M

  Mike (ILB)

  Front

  Stacked ~3-4 yards deep, directly behind the B-gap

  B-gap. Fill downhill through the B-gap opened by the Tackle/End combo block. Curl-hook underneath vs pass.

• S

  Sam (ILB)

  Front

  Stacked ~3-4 yards deep, directly behind the opposite B-gap

  B-gap, mirror of Mike. Curl-hook underneath vs pass.

• W

  Will (OLB)

  Front

  Outside the widest offensive lineman (or TE), 4-5 yards deep, two-point stance

  C/D-gap, outside contain. Force everything back inside — never get sealed or sucked upfield. Flat zone vs pass.

• B

  Bandit (OLB)

  Front

  Outside the widest offensive lineman (or TE), 4-5 yards deep, two-point stance

  C/D-gap, outside contain, opposite side. Flat zone vs pass.

• C

  Corner (x2)

  Secondary

  5-7 yards off the widest receiver each side

  Outside deep third. Outside-in leverage in run support.

• F

  Free Safety

  Secondary

  10-12 yards deep, true middle of the field

  Deep middle third, eyes through the QB. The fourth linebacker is what lets the safety stay truly free.