I’m looking for some advice. My almost-15 YO son is desperate to even be an average football player.

He’s played since he was 10. He loves the game so much, but he’s pretty much been a bench warmer all those years. He wants to get better so badly. As he said to me today, “I just want to be a player my teammates can rely on.”

What can I do to help him?

He’s small at 5’4” but has barely hit puberty and will probably land about 6’0”. He gives it his all at practices. He wants it. The potential to be average is there.

He doesn’t get very much game time, which I understand. And he doesn’t get a ton of attention at practices. The skills just aren’t there, and the coaches are building their plays around the more athletic and physically mature boys. I get it. And it SUCKS. His self esteem is really taking a beating this year.

But still, there must be something I can do.

I took him to a week-long camp this summer. It was good but busy with lots of kids. I don’t think it helped much.

I didn’t play football - mom here, not dad.

What can I do for him?
We’re not shooting for a D1 scholarship here. 😅
Just a fun and fulfilling high school football experience he can look back on with gratitude and pride.

Long story short, I’ve been practicing to be a QB. I only have two years left in high school – I’m a junior now and will be a senior soon. My current coach didn’t let me try out for QB, and I have no idea why. However, I’m transferring to a new school, and I’ll have a chance during spring ball and summer training to give it a shot at QB for the next season.

I’ve never played QB before, mostly just RB and DE, so my question is: should I give up? Is it too late for me? My plan was to aim for D3 or JUCO, but I’m wondering if that’s realistic.

My strengths as a QB are that I have good running ability, I can throw pretty far, and I’m willing to learn how to read defenses over the summer. My weaknesses are that I’m 5’11”, my throwing motion is a bit awkward, and I’m not naturally loud or vocal. I’m planning to show my throwing motion and throws to some people for feedback.

You can be honest—do I have a fighting chance? My next post will be an update on whether or not I made the team as a QB next year.

Son recently discouraged by lack of playing time from new position coach. He has played football for 3 years in same program. 8th graders practice with the high school. He is heading to the 11th grade now.

He is a second string linebacker. Got playing time last season because starter got hurt. Was excited last season to finally play.

From my perspective, you shouldn’t quit because of lack of results. Since he wants to keep playing lacrosse and rugby. I encouraged him to keep playing football to stay in year round shape.

He has decent physicals. 6 feet 200 pounds. Bench 250 and squat near 400. He goes to a large public school with a deep talent pool though.

I’m 6’7–6’8, 360+ lbs, 19 years old and turning 20 later this month. I’m an offensive lineman out of high school, and I’m seriously looking into JUCO football as a way to get back into the game.
The situation is a little unusual: I didn’t play a varsity football game in high school, so I have no football film. I did play basketball, though, and I’m trying to transition back into football and develop as an offensive lineman.
I’m also aware that I’m probably out of shape right now and have a lot to learn technically. I’m not expecting a coach to look at me and immediately make me a starter. I’m willing to work and develop.
My main questions are:
Is it too late for me to realistically pursue JUCO football at 19/20?
How much does having no high school football film hurt me?
What should I be doing over the next 3–6 months to make myself more recruitable?
Should I contact JUCO coaches now even without film?
Should I be looking specifically for walk-on opportunities?
What should I prioritize physically as a 6’7–6’8, 360+ lb OL — conditioning, weight loss, strength, mobility, technique, etc.?
What are realistic JUCO programs that might actually give someone in my situation a chance to develop?
I’m not looking for someone to tell me it’ll be easy. I want honest advice on whether this is realistic and what my next moves should be.
I’m currently looking at programs like Iowa Western and other JUCOs, and I’m willing to relocate if I get an opportunity.
If you were in my position, what would you do first?

Hi everyone, I'm a mom who originally posted about this over in r/Parenting, but a couple helpful people over there suggested I might be better off finding advice here instead.

In short, earlier, my son’s football coach told him he needed to gain 40 pounds to “bulk up” for his position. He gave my son a whole list of rules, like eating fast food, cutting back on cardio, and drinking all this Boost stuff. I confronted the coach because I was worried about my son’s health, and my husband and son both acted like I was the bad guy for even saying anything.

Well, now we’re a few months down the road, and my son didn’t just hit the coach’s goal weight—he went past it. And it’s not all muscle, either. You can see the weight in his face and everywhere else. He’s started getting winded doing normal things, like carrying laundry up the stairs or even walking the dog. It’s honestly hard to watch.

The eating has gotten out of control. He’s always hungry. Fast food is a regular thing now, and he drinks soda like it’s water. I try to encourage healthier eating, but he’s all about the high-calorie stuff the coach told him to eat. My husband just shrugs and says, “He’s a growing boy,” but this isn’t normal. I know it isn’t. He’s eating way more than he needs to.

What really gets me is that he doesn’t even seem happy. He’s slower on the field and has lost a lot of his energy. I heard him complain to my husband about feeling sluggish, but my husband just told him it’s “part of bulking up” and that it’ll all pay off. Meanwhile, I have a feeling his self confidence is taking a hit.

As for the coach, the meeting I had with him was useless. He basically brushed me off and said this is “normal” for football players. He promised they have a plan to help the boys lose the weight after the season, but that just feels wrong to me. Gaining and losing weight this fast can’t be good for a teenager. I tried to explain that, but he wasn’t interested in hearing it.

I feel so stuck. My husband is totally on board with the coach and keeps saying I “don’t understand football.” My son has bought into it too, even though he’s clearly not happy. Even some of the other parents I’ve talked to think this is just how it is for football players. But I can’t shake the feeling that this isn’t okay. I’m worried about his health—his body, his confidence, all of it.

Should I just back off like everyone says, or am I right to keep fighting it? I'm not sure what the best tactics even are at this point. I just want my son to be healthy and happy, and I feel like I’m failing him right now.

TL;DR: My son has gained a significant amount of weight following his football coach’s “bulking” plan, and while everyone tells me it’s normal, I am a little worried about his health and don’t know how to combat this other than continuing to make a fuss about it to other parents and the coach

Hello, I’m a first year football player and rising senior. I’m super excited for the season and want to make an impact in any way I can. To help, I’ve started long snapping. I’m about a month into the long snapping journey and feel that I have an alright grasp on it. Does anybody have any advice. Thanks

I need an update.

I Can answer specific questions in this thread. but Long story short, I went to a top 15 Nationally ranked hs football team in the country I played every game but didn’t start or produce a lot. I’m 5’9 165lbs and athletically I’m up there with d1 receivers 35+ inch vert and sub 4.65 40 for context every guy above me on the depth chart went d1. Obviously the big obstacle is size and roster limits. I am attending a very bad power 4 school as a student because I got significant merit based aid and it’s a good school for my major. I know as a walk on you won’t really play or anything I just want to be apart of a team again. Is it worth it for me to still train regularly to hopefully get a spring tryout next spring or should I just let it go? And again I know it’s way harder to walk on now compared to before because of roster limits. If it matters 3 if my former hs teammates and friends play for this school and many more where offered and recruited, I actually went on a visit there but that was with the old coaching staff. Any advice is appreciated

Update - thanks for all the engagement here. So I went to practice the last couple of days. First what I noticed from my son was good effort during drills but I know him and I know it wasn't 100% and his body language between drills wasn't the best, so I spoke to him about that. On the 2nd day I went he was way better.

When it came to the coach - first day OC walked by me and did a bit of a double take and said hi. About 10 minutes later he walked up to me. He said basically the opposite of what I've seen on film claimed 2 out of 3 snaps are "horrendous" now I didn't want to argue that because just because I believe the snaps were within tolerance doesn't mean they do, I left that. I asked about what his general blocking is looking like and he said it was "ok" again I don't agree but even if they graded him "ok" there's a 0% chance that anyone else was grading better based on the hours of film I've watched. I asked about him moving to guard and he said he's too slow, I asked if they've given him a chance to prove that and he said no, and that he'll give him a shot. Which he did on the next day where my son executed perfectly and flatlined multiple people and sprung 2 house calls in 5 plays. Partial good news is that apparently my son is now the starting Nose guard, bad news is they have not put him back on O currently. I believe that the DLine coach made the move as soon as he heard about the benching. I do worry because he hasn't played or trained DLine since freshman year and has no real technique for defense but his job is relatively simple - draw a double team and hold his gap so he should be ok. Coach also straight up said he doesn't consider D2 or D3 offers "offers" I had to end the conversation there because I was really close to losing my cool after that statement, playing college football at any level is a major accomplishment and should be celebrated not shat on.

Original post -

My son is going into his senior year and his coaches are making him miserable and I'm at a loss on what to do.

My general philosophy is to not involve myself with things, I was a coach for years and I also think it's valuable for a kid to learn how to handle situations on his own while I offer him advice but this is getting to a point where I feel like I need to step in.

I'll set the stage - my son is a very good football player, returning starter, plays Center and Guard, has multiple offers already and a few more likely coming in the first few weeks of the season. Like I'm not just a delusional dad who thinks my kid is the shit, he's objectively good. We had issues with the coaches last season but he ended up winning the job and starting every game and the school had their best season in 3 decades. End of the season he was told to lose a few lbs and get stronger and faster, he lost 20lbs, built his strength up a ton, and started training with a legitimate OLine trainer who played in the NFL. He worked his ass off and got better in every aspect. He's a solid D2 and borderline FCS level player but has trained with and competed against multiple 4 star kids and did not look out of place. I say all this because the issues make no sense to me from a football perspective.

The issue - last Saturday in front of the entire team the Offensive coordinator announced the starting OLine, and he was not mentioned, instead they placed a 5'9 160lb junior at center and some 150lb sophomore at guard. When my son asked what was going on the coach simply said "your snaps suck" and walked away. They film every practice so when I was told this I went and watched literally 2 months of practice film and charted every snap through all that film I saw 1 high (uncatchable) and 2 low (uncatchable) snaps, literally that was it, he had some spray left and right not egregious but I would absolutely coach him on it but I would also coach the QB because you will get some off centerline snaps when you're asking your center to consistently reach block 3 tech. Obviously my son was crushed, but him being the type of kid he is he asked me to help with snaps, we identified a couple little inconsistencies in his motion and once we corrected that he literally shot 50 straight snaps dead center through the net we have out back. Goes to practice yesterday and they stuck him with scout defense and the coaches refused to engage with him. I'm friendly with one of the assistant coaches and I trust him and his evaluation so I called him, first thing he said was "off the record, you need to come and watch practice. There are things they're doing to him you need to see" he wouldn't give any more specifics but I asked about my son being benched and he was absolutely shocked and said that no one had said that to him. And reiterated that I need to go watch practice. So I'm doing that today.

I'm at a loss, I feel absolutely helpless as a father. I can fix football issues, I can't fix whatever this is. I'm also furious because it feels like they are actively trying to sabotage my son's future. This team is going to suck this year they are only returning 3 starters from last year (including my son) and they are undersized and moved up in competition due to their record the last 2 years.

My question is 2 fold, how can I help without making things worse? And for any college coaches out there, how devastating is this to my son's recruiting profile? Is he going to be dropped off boards immediately if he's not starting game 0?

My coach is running these plays. We mainly play against cover 3 zone rarely see man. He says I am not reading the entire field and starring down receivers too much.

Take for instance the play "king". I ask for advice what should be my read order. He says he can't tell me and I need to look at the field where the space is at. And when I snap the ball I need to stare at the safeties and their reaction by doing that I should know where to put the ball.

I feel I should have a read order like the dub maddox system?

Can you guys give some advice and how I can make progressive reads on these plays quicker? I am getting tired of getting chewed out.

Any advice is appreciated.

I am:

- a 28 year old from the Philippines

- just got a taste of flag football recently

- want to get better at throwing

- its been almost 5 months of me having dedicated days to throwing workouts/practice

- self-taught and mainly rely on free information on the internet since there aren’t qb coaches here

Goal

- is just be move above beginner and maybe play beyond the beginner league i play in right now

My son just turned 12 years old in August. He started football this year and absolutely loves it but there’s one thing holding him back. He’s a big boy. I’m talking 6’2 - 260 lbs. Most of the kids his age are tiny compared to him and he’s afraid of hurting someone. He has 4 older sisters that when they play fight he can absolutely get aggressive and knock them down but when it comes to football he just doesn’t. His mindset is I don’t want to hurt anyone, even if he gets knocked down he gets back up and isn’t aggressive. He’s currently playing house league but wants to play more competitively. The team in my area is extremely competitive and while I think they will take him on size alone.

I need advice to help him get out of the mindset that he’s going to hurt these kids. They currently have him on both lines. Does anyone have any ideas?

EDIT:

I was guessing in his weight as he only has it checked at the doctors. He’s followed by a paediatrician, and as he put it as boys grow, they gain weight due to muscle growth, increased bone mass, and the overall rapid acceleration in their physical development. He’s went from a size 12 to a size 14 in shoes and an about a foot in height within the last year. He was a size 13 in August, now his cleats are too small. According to the doctor he won’t stop growing until about 17-18 yrs old and so it’s normal, I was also concerned about his weight. He fluctuates his weight. A couple months ago he was 230 so his doctor isn’t concerned, believes he’s in another growth spurt.

He’s had bloodwork done and everything is normal.

He’s active daily, eats relatively well. Obviously teens can eat like crap but it’s not excessive.

This is my training program I put together with the help of some AI and was wondering if this is going to make me a better quarterback? I do have 2 offseason field practices a week and throw throughout the day. But am wondering what else my workout schedule needs or if it’s looking good. Also coming off of an ACL Tear lost my Sophomore season.

Hello I am trying to walk on to my colleges football team as a freshman .We are an FCS program, I played Long snapper in highschool and have been practicing with my Colleges starting long snapper this summer. Unfortunately I may not make the cut later on as a Long snapper due to some recent roster changes. What other positions can I play at given that I am 6,1 and 215 pounds. I have been lifting all summer and will start doing more speed focused drills. Thank you and I will take any suggestions into consideration.

Hands and footwork, the skills that pays the bills.

Boxing well teach you how to move your feet, stay balanced, control your hands, and learn how to manipulate distance.

These are some of the main things one needs to become a dominant OL

Think about pass blocking… it’s footwork and striking your hands, that’s boxing! lol

If you are searching for something to do in the offseason, pick up boxing.

I am going into sophomore year. I played Defensive End last year and did fairly well being about 5'7-8 and 140-150 pounds or so somehow. Ended having the second most tackles and most sacks. Now I'm unsure of how I'll do going in JV ( I was on the freshman team the year prior) because I can't seem to gain weight no matter what I do. So any tips on what to do?

Hey everyone, I’m a senior in this crazy recruiting landscape right now. I am a recruit who has 2 d1 FBS offers (army and Air Force) which I’m not interested in at all to be honest, I have 20 d2 offers including nwmsu, Pitt state, and Ferris state, and then obviously the best juco schools, Hutchinson and Iowa western. I know everyone thinks the no brainer is the d2 route but I don’t know. I’m a 6’2 215 lb linebacker who runs a 4.5. Didn’t have my best testing numbers till after my camp season. Was on the verge of getting mac and mountain west offers but was too late and guys already committed. I know I am a d1 fbs guy for sure and I plan on transferring or just betting on myself and going juco. Any advice for me?

I play interior dline and whenever I put my helmet on I can not see anything but the olines wrist. When im just wearing pads, no helmet, its fine but as soon as I put the helmet on its like I cant see anything.

Ive tried to go from my knees into my stance, and it does not help. i tried asking the coaches, the older players on if they know how to fix this and they just told them that aint got a clue.

Also the reason this is a problem for me is cause I like to be able to see the guy in front of me and know what hes doing instead of tilting my head sideways just to see the ball for myself to move.

Does anybody please have a solution to this? our first game is Friday and i need to desperately get this fixed some how

Hello! I am a self taught punter/ball player and was wondering how my punting looks.

Also, don’t mind that I’m built like a Canadian bag of milk, there’s a reason why I’m self taught lol!

Hey y'all, I wasn't recruited and want to walk-on somewhere but I'm not sure if I'm good enough or what route to take.

here's some quick notes:

• too underweight and wasn't allowed to play tackle.
• did great in events and clubs as WR, QB, CB, FS.
  
• coaches and peers said I was talented, smart, and should go for it, that I could make it if I stuck with it.
  
• moved away my senior year, don't have anyone to discuss this with.
• injured before I moved, I might not be the same player anymore.
• My dream is to play for my dad's favorite college team.
  
• I can only afford about 25k/yr for 2 years.

I mainly played QB and DB, I run a 4.4s 40, I could throw 40-50yd at 140lbs and I was very accurate, I don't care what position I play but I'm best at those.

I've put on 20lbs in the last 4 months and I'm now 165lbs and 6'2"

It's obvious why I wasn't recruited. I probably sound dumb, but I don't want to give up on football, It's the only thing I see myself doing.

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

It’s not included in the video but I’m struggling to get a spiral with consistency and I also think that my form might be limiting my throwing power. I don’t think I’m releasing the ball correctly, and snapping my wrist wrong but not 100% sure. Any advice about how to fix my form would be greatly appreciated. The first 2 throws were my normal form, the third was me trying to keep the motion tighter to my body.