Cameron Cleminson
Responsibilities of a Graduate Assistant
The number one job of a Graduate Assistant is to prepare the Position Coaches and Coordinator for their week of game planning and practice. This comes in many different ways. Reports and data entry come with being a GA. I believe that a lot of the work that I have done has directly impacted our team in a positive way. From Practice Cards, all the way to counting production.
Practice Card
Coaching the Scout team is the best part of being a GA. The idea of the Scout team is to replicate the upcoming opponent, to better prepare the defense during the week of practice. It wouldn't be possible to teach a team a new playbook each week, so we show them "cards" before each play. The idea is that they can see their responsibility on the card, and carry out their job. For the record, I have drawn thousands of these.
Personnel Sheet
An important part of game planning is knowing who you are going against. Each week I would present the staff with these sheets as soon as they walked in on Sunday. It is a quick snap-shot of what we project their depth chart to be.
D/D Board
The D/D Board, or "Down and Distance Board" is a chart that helps the Defensive Coordinator on Game Day. Offense's have tendencies, and it helps the defense tremendously if they can find them. If you have an idea of what they are going to call, you can call a defense that is more favorable in that situation.
Hit Chart
The "Hit Chart" is the game planning check list for the defense. Based on the games used in the breakdown, the tendencies of the formations the opponent uses begin to form. Certain plays are run out of certain formations. This helps prepare the defense. This can be a huge report, depending on the opponent.
3rd Down Tips
It doesn't matter what the coaches know on game day. The important thing is what the players know. Creating these types of specific cheat sheets can help the players focus on the things that they need to know. None being more important than 3rd Down, or "Money Down", as we like to call it.
Situational Tips
Performing well in Situational Football is critical in football. Regardless to popular belief, some plays are more important than other ones. Making sure that the defense is prepared for these moments will win games.
Universals
Continuing to teach players what types of plays they might see in certain situations is a huge part of coaching. Regardless of who is calling plays on offense, teams do the same things! If a player is in a common situation and know what to expect, they will play faster. We call these "Universals".
Graphic
Recruiting is a huge part of being a football coach. Recruits want to know what your team is all about, and graphics are a great way to show them. Collaborating with our graphic design team on recruiting materials helps us get recruits, and that helps us win games.