The best way to make yourself a better football player is to always anticipate and see the very next play developing in your mind, before the snap of the ball. These are called Pre-Snap Reads.
Pre-Snap Reads always start with visually running down a checklist in your mind of alignment, assignment, and execution. This allows you to see yourself lining up before the snap, what you are going to do once the ball is snapped, and making the play at the end of the whistle.
Before the play starts
To eliminate unnecessary thinking during every play, I teach our secondary to follow and perform a pre-snap procedure which allows them to be ready, alert, and to play instead of thinking once the ball is snapped. The process is a step-by-step procedure players should follow before the ball is snapped.
The Pre-Snap Ready Process:- Know the situation- down and distance.
- Get the call in the huddle.
- Recognize the offensive formation.
- Take the correct alignment.
- Take a great stance. Be ready.
- Read and know your keys.
Teaching players to learn and use this pre-snap process can really improve your teams physical play. You want your players to develop this process like clockwork.
This process gives your team two advantages. First, it cuts out secondary mental errors, and second, it allows players to take the brakes off, fly around the football, and play more physical football when the ball is snapped.
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