In 7-on-7 football in Texas, it’s the players who are running the show.
It’s a baptism by fire for the players, who mostly run the show
COLLEGE STATION — It will be Jackson Harris’ team at Worthing this fall.
There are few better introductions to the ins and outs of that role than the state 7-on-7 tournament.
Harris got a taste of 7-on-7 play during last June’s tournament here. This year, the Colts quarterback is getting a lesson in leadership.
“Now this year, you can see it in his eyes,” Worthing coach Brandon Ellis said Friday. “‘Coach, I like the control of this. I like to control the play.’ He’s calling the plays. He’s basically our coach right now.”
Harris and Worthing aren’t unlike every other 7-on-7 team, essentially. University Interscholastic League rule prevents offseason coaching.
That rule’s impact is prevalent in many aspects of high school football, but perhaps none more than the ever-growing game of 7on-7. It’s usually a hands-off approach during this part of the offseason. Schools’ 7-on-7 programs are organized by coaches but selfrun by players and governed by parents, alumni or former players. Worthing won’t have many elders on the sideline — just the players and Ellis watching from the end zone like other coaches do.
Texas high school football coaches desperately would love to be more involved during the offseason. It would be a natural move and one that continues to be considered by the UIL in some form or fashion. The topic came up again during the latest legislative council meeting earlier this month in Round Rock. No action was taken.
It’s different in TAPPS
But Harris’ sink-or-swim experience is the other side of the coin. The junior called plays as Worthing won the Division II consolation bracket with wins over Hillsboro, Silsbee, Waco La Vega and Brownwood on Friday. If there needed to be an adjustment, it was on the players to decipher and the players only. Head coaches sit in a lawn chair outside the end zone, not allowed to make signals to players but determined to get in a few pep talks.
Sometimes the person governing the players on the sideline is an extension of the coaching staff. Foster coach Shaun McDowell — his team made Saturday’s Division I championship bracket — said the parent, alumni or former player on the sideline during 7on-7 season also could be there to keep player behavior in check, not teach scheme. But even any in-fighting or arguing can be selfregulated by the team.
It’s slightly different in the TAPPS 7-on-7 tournament for private schools. Coach involvement is allowed. But teams like St. Pius X were in College Station this weekend competing with the public schools and abiding by the same rules of allowing the players to mostly sort things out.
Baptism by fire can be a good thing, especially for a young team.
But 7-on-7 wins are not why UIL coaches desire being more involved during the offseason.
They hope a rule change would help them wrestle some influence back in the perceived tug of war against what they call outside forces. Some coaches have a judgmental eye toward 7on-7 travel teams, for example, believing the people affiliated with them don’t have the players’ best interest in mind. Ellis equates it to what AAU culture has done to basketball.
New Clear Brook coach Lupe Florez, whose team is a threetime state qualifier in 7-on-7, says it’s built around the idea of high school football being one of the last bastions where the coach’s word carries significant weight on the recruiting trail.
“I think what you’re starting to see happen now is there are some programs out there that don’t have 7-on-7 and so their kids start going and playing for these select teams,” Florez said. “You don’t see it as much in Texas yet, but in other states the 7-on-7 leagues are huge.
“If we don’t keep a tight grip on it, then it’s going to get away from us. It’s going to be exactly like that.”
UIL in a quandary
The UIL hasn’t quite figured out how to move on the issue.
Coaches’ pay, coaches’ time off and the extra hours are among the hurdles. And, of course, what’s done for one sport has to be done for all. Would allowing offseason coaching work the same across the board? Bringing 7-on-7 under the UIL umbrella is even a topic.
There is a lot of want-to from coaches. McDowell would even make concessions for a chance to coach his players before fall camp. Maybe a dead period like in college football is the answer or even shortening summer conditioning programs.
“I think it would work out if they just allowed us to do it,” McDowell said.