WOW....^^^^^LOL.

 

I have to admit I had a smile on my face that whole game against them. We got up by 3 TD really early in the first quarter, so I put our scout team offense out there, and ran their own playbook against them till half time, probably wasn't the classiest thing to do, but our kids had a blast pounding them with their own plays.

I misread the question. There are teams that scout their scrimmage opponents? :lol:

 

That's hardcore. I was thinking scouting at scrimmages. Not scouting scrimmage opponents. :lol:

 

Wow. Yeah, this is a good topic. Is this normal behavior in high school football?

 

Now you have the question right.

Also, I think most coaches know that a team is not going to show everything in the pre-season scrimmages. How much scouting can you get from a scrimmage? Unless there is a coaching change at an opposing school, the coaching already know what offense and defense a team is going to run and it's been my experience that a team normally runs their base O and base D in scrimmages. There may be a few new plays that they want to see in game speed, but they are normally pretty vanilla.

 

Now, I have known teams to put in a special package just for the scrimmage to though scouts off. For instance: we are a spread team, and our coaches put in the Wing T base package for the pre-season scrimmage then never ran it again. But every team we played had to at least put in an hour of prep for that prior to playing us in case we did it again.

For the record I think it is crazy and unethical to scout an opponent that you are going to scrimmage but I'll add that I have never coached or played at the high school level so if it's the norm then I guess I am just behind and out of the loop on football etiquette.

Now you have the question right.

 

I would say it is semi normal yes, I don't think teams are scouting per say playbook as much as they are key players. I think it also depends on when said team that is doing the scouting is playing the team they are looking at. If its in a few weeks, then yes perhaps more playbook type stuff, if its later in the year, than more key players to watch.

Playing devil's advocate here a little. A scrimmage is practice. All coaches want to have the best practice possible. Scouting a scrimmage opponent would allow a coach to play to that teams strengths and get the most out of the scrimmage to better prepare their team for the regular season. You could exploit a teams weaknesses and win the scrimmage, but did you get any better as a team from that experience?

 

Nope, I don't buy it either, but it is an argument that could be made.

Scouting teams that you are only going to scrimmage seems to be a little much in my opinion but I have no problem with scouting scrimmages of teams that you will be playing in the regular season.

Are we talking scouting current practices or watching film of the scrimmage opponent from the previous year? I am assuming scouting current practices.

 

 

 

I asked a current coach his opinion and to paraphrase he said scouting practices to prepare for a scrimmage is not normal and is actually a bunch of bull.(paraphrasing)

 

Watching film from the previous year is fair game in his opinion.

 

I agree with him.

Scouting an actual practice of a team you are going to scrimmage.

 

I am told this just happened in NKY and I thought it was a little odd.

Scouting an actual practice of a team you are going to scrimmage.

 

I am told this just happened in NKY and I thought it was a little odd.

 

That wastes resources that could be used elsewhere, like scouting your 1st opponents practices:)

Scouting an actual practice of a team you are going to scrimmage.

 

I am told this just happened in NKY and I thought it was a little odd.

 

 

Yeah, seems like it could make for some bad blood.

 

Yeah, seems like it could make for some bad blood.

 

I don't think any team has any business sending one of their coaches to another team's school to watch (spy) their practice to help them prepare for a scrimmage or a game. I would term this behavior garbage.

 

I think practices at a team's school are VERY private and completely off limits to any other school or coach unless they are there by invitation. For an opposing coach of an upcoming scrimmage opponent to be there in "hiding" is total bush league IMO (and yes Guru, this happened yesterday). Sad. I think a lot of people misunderstood the question posed in this thread.

As someone else pointed out , while it may not be illegal, it's no different than sending a coach to practice to watch another school.

 

No school would say it's cool for other schools to watch them practice.

 

I cannot imagine a head coach condoning such behavior.

Yeah, I read the question wrong, also. Scouting your srimmage opponent(s) practices? Low. Coming to a scrimmage of the team you open up with? Perfectly normal, IMO.

I don't think any team has any business sending one of their coaches to another team's school to watch (spy) their practice to help them prepare for a scrimmage or a game. I would term this behavior garbage.

 

I think practices at a team's school are VERY private and completely off limits to any other school or coach unless they are there by invitation. For an opposing coach of an upcoming scrimmage opponent to be there in "hiding" is total bush league IMO (and yes Guru, this happened yesterday). Sad. I think a lot of people misunderstood the question posed in this thread.

Did it happen at a "normal" practice? Or, was it like an intersquad scrimmage (meet the team kind of event)?