Highlands 30 Ashland 15

I think the mistake that most people make when figuring out how to platoon is focusing on the wrong group of players. You don't start platooning by taking you best, most athletic player and putting him on one side of the ball. You start with the O and D lines. If you can have fresh O and D lines in the fourth quarter, and you're playing a team that is playing linemen on both sides of the ball and are gassed in the fourth quarter, 9 times out of 10 you're going to win that game. Platooning also doesn't start in the summer, or even in the spring. It starts in January when conditioning does, by focusing on specific drills for specific position groups.

 

For example, lets just imagine a hypothetical situation where you have 5 returning offensive linemen. Lets say 2 of those OL also started on defense the prior year. If you have 2 DL who were not starters the year before, but were pretty dang good, I would suggest take the returning starters and keep them on offense and begin training (in January when workouts start) the backups to assume a starting role.

 

I am not sure if what I have said is very clear, or maybe if I am just echoing what everyone has already said, but I think that when people consider platooning they often look at the wrong players. It has to start with the O and D lines, and this is done by getting those second-tier players ready to compete and take over starting position in the off-season.

Hog, I am picking up what you're putting down. Allowing the lines to only play one way allows you to dominate the line of scrimmages which is going to lead to Ws. Another point I would add to what you said is moving players to different positions. There are many players who might be solid LBs or RBs, but are not going to be a starter. However, they could be a starter on the opposite side of the ball. HHS does as good of a job as anyone to find "middle of the road" players and make them successful at a position that is not always their number one choice. As I am sure you know, HHS has had some issues in the past with parents being upset with this method, but once they see their son on the actual field rather than being a backup, they buy in pretty quickly.