For Penn State defensive coordinator Bob Shoop and many coaches like him, so much of the success he sees on Saturday comes from the work he put in the days leading up to it.
The game itself is just the final step in a much longer process.
Sure, the games are the only thing that really matter, but the time spent preparing and improving on Monday through Friday is how championships are won.
Of all the things a football team does off of the field, few things are more important than film study.
The physical aspects of the game are crucial, but the mental side of the game is what truly molds great players.
LeBron James is as much as physical specimen as he is a mental genius in the game of basketball. Peyton Manning may have once had a laser cannon for an arm, but it’s his ability to dissect coverages that has made him one of the greatest to ever play the game.
Teaching his players how to watch film, — a skill that will turn good football players into great ones — was something Shoop strongly believed in entering Year 1.
“There are a couple different ways you can watch film,” Shoop said earlier this spring. “That’s something I think we’re really proud of from last year, that we taught guys how to watch film. Not just watching like you’re watching the game on Saturday or Sunday afternoons but studying the film and taking diligent notes and our guys were really good about that.”
That in itself is a skill. To be able to watch film without simply seeing it as the TV broadcast shows it. Watching how the linemen block, how receivers run their routes and how defenders react to the play. The ability to see the big picture instead of simply following the ball is an acquired talent, but required one as well.
“So I think you can watch A: Yourself,” Shoops said. “We always talk about that when you watch on defense and watch an individual player you’re critiquing their performance. We have the ability to correct without attacking a person and I think we have the ability to do that very well.
“Secondly we watch your opponent for tendencies. That’s where Mike Hull was always really good at.
“The third thing is watching someone else doing the technique that you’re trying to teach the guys. Hey look here’s Vonte Davis, look how he does this or how he uses his hands there, or he has a little stagger in his stance there, what do you think of that? Or a particular scheme, look at how they run the blitz. That’s where Nyeem Wartman is really good as well, he’ll say “Hey freeze the frame coach, what if I did that?” I think that’s why kids enjoy playing for us, because we let them take ownership and I think when you take ownership of something there is always more value there.”
For Shoop much of film watching comes back to visualization. Like a golfer standing over his ball preparing to shoot, Shoop likes his players to see how they want to play in their mind’s eye. They’re picking up techniques and skills that other players use to be successful. It’s the ability to not only see how the film unfolds but to apply it to the game when it really matters.
As far as he is concerned, that process starts as a player is being recruited. It’s sitting down a prospect and planting the seed that maybe his game resembles that of another player, visualizing all along the way.
“Really it starts in the recruiting process I always sit down and talk to a defensive player and say hey, close your eyes, who do you model your style of play after?” Shoop added. “You remind me of this guy, what do you think of that? Right now everyone wants to watch the Seattle Seahawks, Cam Chancellor or Earl Thomas.
“We’ll watch different defensive schemes that we do. We’ve spent time watching the Redskins this offseason, the Bengals, teams that I enjoy watching and I’ll try and find cuts, because the kids like watching the film too. I’ll show them hey this how they do it, and we do it this way. Now with the iPads they can take that home and watch it at home and it’s great.”
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