re: What's the true significance of a position coach??

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At the college level, is there actually that much technique you can teach a player, that another coach hasn't taught him?

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4 and 5 star players in high school aren't dominating because they are overwhelmingly technically sound, especially in the trenches. They are dominating at that level because of their raw talent or physical attributes.

There is typically a shitton of development at the college level on the lines.

I’m a former DB coach, used to coach the LSU and Auburn 4-5 Star Recruiting camps for Coach Saban and Tuberville. I won’t fully disclose my entire identity, but coached at a very high level in La. And coached many D-1 recruits and eventual future NFL players.

Coaching under Saban standing behind me while i ran his drills was an experience I’ll never forget and 90% of my football x’s & o’s was Saban’s defense as we ran it with our teams and I was personally tutored by him & Muschamp back in The day on the whiteboards.

That being said, a solid position coach is more valuable in certain positions than others. Ie. A RB coach in most schemes is the easiest position to coach. Versus an OL coach with each guy having many different responsibilities.

The “Coordinators”, 1 for Offense and 1 for defense in general (sometimes will have co-coordinators, but that only usually happens when theirs a sudden vacancy and then you’ll generally have the WR coach as the passing game guy & OL as the run game coordinator and they work together.

Coordibators are the ones that install their “base schemes- ie. triple option, spread RPO, or defense 4-3, 4-4, nickel, dime, goaline packages etc”, and some position coaches with tenure and respect will sometimes have some influence on certain packages that are more leaning to their position guys. Ie. A DL coach will have more influence on goal-line and short yardage packages sometimes & a Db Coach playing a spread team may have some ideas they can pitch to the coordinator.

Ie. I was a DB coordinator and obviously had more concerns with the passing game, so I could make suggestions as to how do we cover key players. Do we bracket high-low, man-free, cover 2, bail, press & be physical at the line, disguise etc…

But a good position coach is crucial with “technique, alignments, leverage, physicality, footwork, mental pre-snap reads, adjustments when ball is in the air, high-pointing the ball, top-down” etc…

Position coaches are installing drills, coaching technique and a good coach explains this in a way to make things make sense as to why you must do exactly what we are teaching. You watch film with your position group, you educate them how and why the other side of the ball is doing and why they are doing it. You coach your guys to look for clues on the opponents alignment.

Ie. LB’ers & DL may pick up on a specific offensive lineman or RB may guve up the play by his alignment or stance leaving into the hole or having a special stance that gives up the play. Coaches look for that all the time & when you find that, you make a film cut-up to show your guys and then in the game, it’s like having the other teams playbook.

Good position coaches build strong bonds with their guys. Becomes like a father figure or an older brother type of bond.

And when all “individual drills are Finished in practice”, the COORDINATORS will bring the entire defense together for “Teams” and you run thru the next opponents plays using the scout team. Or sometimes you go agusnt your own offense (1 v. 1’s) which is generally In Spring when your working on fundamentals and physicality.

Anyways, hope that wasn’t too long and hope it shed some light on the subject.

I will end on this, being a defensive coach, I TRULY BELIEVE THE NEAT DEFENSES DISGUISE THEIR PACKAGES and mix things up with a 1st half package and then some changes for 2nd half, throw their adjustments off etc… we used to play different coverages for weak and strong, press & bail, pre-snap movement on the DL, secondary. Confuse the QB,

And I wish we’d get a coordinator that would do more disguising, it messes with the QB’s head & causes turnovers. We snapped Evangel’s 64 game winning streak in the superdome doing that, and the Shreveport newspaper read something like “Shock & Awe”, lol

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At the college level, is there actually that much technique you can teach a player, that another coach hasn't taught him

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Is this a joke???

The answer is 100% yes. Most HS coaches are not great at teaching technique. And most HS players that are good to play at the D1 level were so much better than the competition in HS that technique didn’t matter. They could just physically dominate.

A good position coach can make a HUGE difference beyond recruiting.

I guess the company you work for only had a CEO and no other management? Everyone else just knows what to do and how to do it? Maybe throw a recruiter in there to bring people in?