As the popularity of 7-on-7 football camps and tournaments increases, high school coaches weigh the pros and cons of having their players participate in the offseason.
Georgia high school football coaches have plenty of time in the offseason to work on making their teams better. Coaches also have plenty of opportunities and activities to keep their players busy at perfecting their craft.
Organized team activities, also known as OTAs or padded camps, allow teams to simulate real game scenarios, going 11-on-11 against each other with players able to wear pads.
Then there are 7-on-7s, which have really become popular over the past couple of decades, although no one is really sure where 7-on-7s originated or who is credited for starting the passing drill.
It’s only natural that as more high school football teams adapt their offenses to a spread formation, which relies on a strong passing game, those teams take part in more 7-on-7 camps. It seems that most coaches in the state have their teams participate in at least one 7-on-7 tournament in the offseason.
As participation in these camps and tournaments rises, high school football coaches are taking a hard look at the benefits of participating in 7-on-7s. Players seem to love the attention and exposure they get from participating in 7-on-7s. Their high school coaches, however, seem to have mixed opinions about them. Some coaches are even raising concerns about some of the bad habits players seem to be developing from the 7-on-7s, which takes away from the proper technique coaches have instilled in their players through traditional on-campus practices.
We spoke with a few coaches around the state about what they think of 7-on-7s, and they gave us both the good and the bad.
The Good
“I think the 7-on-7s have a place in the offseason, and there are things I like about it, but there’s some things I don’t like,” said Justin Newman, who was recently hired as the head football coach at Crisp County and previously served as the defensive coordinator for the state champion Carver Tigers. “I like that 7-on-7 teaches quarterbacks to go through their progressions, and that’s a great teaching tool, especially for the younger guys. The receivers can work on running crisp routes, but they’ve got to do things right.”
JT Thompson, who previously served as Lee County’s offensive coordinator before being tabbed as the Roswell Hornets’ new head football coach earlier this offseason, said the 7-on-7s are absolutely necessary.
“You have to do it,” Thompson said. “I think there are a lot of benefits from having your guys involved in 7-on-7s. I like to see how our kids handle themselves in competitive situations, and you’ll get a lot of those types of situations in 7-on-7s. The kids like to outdo each other, and I want to see how my players handle the adversity.”
Thompson said his Roswell team will take part in as many 7-on-7s as possible.
“We are going to throw with someone every week because at the end of the day, the way our guys get better is when the receivers are running routes, catching balls, and competing, and you learn a lot about your kids when they’re competing,” he said.
Thompson said he likes to use the heat of competition as a teaching tool, especially with his quarterbacks.
“As a quarterback coach and coordinator, I’m always teaching, and 7-on-7s offer me the perfect opportunity to work with my quarterback and making sure he is keeping his footwork clean,” Thompson said.
Carver (Columbus) head football coach Pierre Coffey pointed to two main benefits he sees from 7-on-7s.
“I like the fact that our guys stay active, especially if they aren’t playing in a spring sport,” Coffey said. “I also think it’s a great opportunity to work on timing between the quarterback and the receivers.”
Collins Hill head football coach Drew Swick loves both the reps and the competition that 7-on-7s offer.
“I want our guys at Collins Hill competing every chance we get, and a lot of the college 7-on-7s give my defensive guys a chance to see the best high school receivers around,” Swick said. “I love the best-on-best.”
Swick said that once the regular high school football season rolls around, your team may not be lining up against the top wide receivers in the state until deep into the season or even into the playoffs.
“I like our guys seeing the highly recruited receivers in 7-on-7s,” Swick said. “That helps to prepare my defensive players. Plus, all the reps that players get in 7-on-7 are just added to the reps you get in practice. The more reps the better.”
The Bad
Throwing Time
Some coaches think the amount of time that quarterbacks have to throw in 7-on-7s may be a bit much. In 7-on-7s, most teams use a timer with a digital clock display that gives the quarterback four seconds to release the ball to one of the receivers after a simulated snap.
“I question how many quarterbacks are going to have four full seconds to throw the football in a real game,” Newman said.
He suggested there be an adjustment to reflect real game scenarios.
“Set the QB clock to maybe two or three seconds for a blitz scenario so he has to get rid of it quicker,” Newman said. “There are other things you can do to adjust for real game situations.”
Competition vs. Teaching
While many coaches welcome competition, there is a concern that the desire to win a 7-on-7 trophy may override the objective of what 7-on-7s were initially created to do: teach good habits and technique.
“I’m not a fan of the competition side of 7-on-7s because it becomes something different altogether,” Newman said. “If teams really want to win the 7-on-7, they all go to playing man-free (zone) coverage. That’s not what I want from my defensive guys or my receivers.”
He’s referring to the multi-team tournaments that high schools, and in many cases college programs, host. Schools pay a fee to enter one or more teams in a 7-on-7 tournament, with most using a double elimination format.
Newman recalled a 7-on-7 tournament his previous team participated in.
“There were a couple of teams there whose only concern was to take home a trophy,” he said. “You could see that they weren’t teaching or coaching the kids on the proper coverage skills and footwork. I mean, it was bad. They did take home a trophy, but I also remember they finished 2-8 that season too.”
Matt Helmerich, the head football coach at Peachtree Ridge, said he’s not sure if he learns much at all about his players from 7-on-7s from a competition standpoint and how that relates to real game situations.
“Yes, players do get a lot of reps, but you have no idea if he’s going to be physical or not when they are in helmets and shorts,” he said.
Helmrich said he prefers the OTAs over 7-on-7s.
Bad Habits
Every coach agreed that preventing bad habits that players might pick up from 7-on-7s is something to keep an eye on.
Those bad habits include players running shallow routes, like receivers running too shallowly crossing routes over the middle where linemen would normally be.
“You have most linemen that are at least 6-foot tall, and a quarterback needs to learn to throw over those linemen, while the receiver needs to learn that he’ll never be able to cross where those big guys would normally be,” Swick said.
Injuries
Coffey said that injuries are his biggest concern with players participating in 7-on-7s.
“Knock on wood, we haven’t had players get seriously hurt in 7-on-7s, but we all hear about it every year, a player going down and being lost for the season,” Coffey said.
Rush Propst Weighs In on 7-on-7s
Rush Propst, who was previously the head football coach at Valdosta High School and Colquitt County High School in Georgia and at Hoover High School in Alabama, is credited with being one of the first coaches to bring 7-on-7s into the mainstream of high school football.
While at Hoover, Propst began hosting the Southeastern Select 7-on-7 Tournament in 2002. It was the first large scale 7-on-7 tournament of its kind, drawing teams from all across the southeastern United States.
In a recent phone interview, Propst explained how the tournament helped to not only grow the popular passing drill, but also helped to modernize it.
“There were no real hard rules before we started our tournament. We put in the four-second QB clock and came up with other rules of the game, and it began to take off into what it has become today,” he said.
Propst said that as 7-on-7s have become more and more popular, there have been issues with player habits.
“What I have noticed about 7-on-7s is not good,” Propst said. “The environments are not good, there just isn’t a lot of teaching going on, and these kids have developed some really bad habits.”
Propst said he was at a recent 7-on-7 tournament as an observer, not in a coaching capacity, and that he talked to several parents about their kids and their habits.
“There were three sets of parents that I talked to about their kids,” he said. “I told them they were picking up some really bad (football) habits.”
Propst said he isn’t sure his advice made any difference.
“No, parents don’t see it,” Propst said.
A long-time advocate of the 7-on-7s, Propst said he has had a change of heart about what is best for players now in offseason drills.
“I think teams and players get way more benefit from the padded camps and OTAs now,” he said.
Propst is currently serving as a part-time assistant coach with Coosa Christian School in Gadsden, Alabama. He previously served as Coosa Christian’s athletic director and associate head football coach for 10 weeks in 2023 before resigning to become the head football coach at Pell City, where he served for one season before resigning.
Propst said he’s not sure what his future holds or if he’ll ever return to being a full-time head football coach.
“I’m happy doing what I’m doing now, working with these kids (at Coosa).”
