I met Scott Leech a couple of years ago at a speed and performance conference in Massachusetts, where the dynamic duo of Tony Holler and Chris Korfist was giving a two-day presentation on Reflexive Performance Reset, maximum speed development, and training modalities.
I was a little starstruck at first because I had followed Scott on social media for a while. From his work, I’d long been impressed with the unique training Scott was doing with his athletes at the University of Rhode Island—he was on the cutting edge of collegiate strength and conditioning. Specifically, I loved that he had athletes moving at near top speed, changing direction, accelerating, and decelerating.
Video 1. My athletes performing a circle sprint race to target object. (All videos show how I’ve incorporated Gridiron Warrior elements into training with my high school players.)
What made his work unique was that the athletes were doing it in ways that looked fun and mimicked the demands of football. Also, he played college football with our defensive coordinator, Mike Davis, at Springfield College—the cradle of coaches. So, periodically, we would send Twitter messages back and forth about that.
How the Gridiron Warrior Course Fits in for High School Coaches
I was very excited to see Coach Leech release his entire “Gridiron Warrior” program. Truth be told, I had spent a few years screen recording anything he posted on social media, and then I would replicate the drills with our high school athletes.
The 12-week program is easily digested as a 57-slide presentation with pictures, text, and embedded video of University of Rhode Island football players. The course is geared specifically toward high school football coaches who want to go beyond traditional training methods and take their team to the next level.
Also, it is FUN. Tony Holler always says you must gamify training and make practice the best part of an athlete’s day. Gridiron Warrior does that.
Video 2. 1v1 tag game from toss and catch.
Course Specifics
Gridiron Warrior is set up as a 12-week program that helps athletes create movement habits and explosive power outputs to become dominant football players. The program is comprehensive and provides:
- Weekly plans to optimize off-season training.
- Warm-ups that are specific to the day’s training.
- Work that targets all the major skills required to be a dominant football player: acceleration, deceleration, max velocity, change of direction, and plyometrics.
Coach Leech also includes a modern take on football conditioning that does not detrain speed and explosiveness.
One of the coolest parts of the Gridiron Warrior program is its contact preparation. Essentially, the idea is to safely recreate the force needed to complete a block or tackle, says @ErikBecker42. Share on XOne of the coolest parts of the Gridiron Warrior program is its contact preparation. Essentially, the idea is to safely recreate the force needed to complete a block or tackle. Athletes are locked together and provide force against each other for a short period.
Video 3. Partner combative drill for contact prep.
I also appreciate the skills-based, competitive aspect of the Gridiron Warrior program. Every game that we play contains a skill that we use on the football field; each drill helps our athletes move better in open space. They replicate the demands of tracking a ball carrier, changing direction at top speed, creating space, or closing space.
Video 4. Tag game for closing space at top speeds.
The program is versatile and can be incorporated into a three -or four-day training week.
Gridiron Gold
The Gridiron Warrior program contains more than 100 short, high-quality videos that explain every aspect of the 12-week program. These are quick-hitting, embedded videos that clearly demonstrate the desired movement outputs. These clips are a phenomenal resource for coaches and athletes alike. Watching these videos, which total more than 2.5 hours of content, makes learning the program fun and easy.
Coach Leech does a great job making this information digestible and easy to understand. The 12-week program consists of:
- More than 100 videos of all drills and exercises covered within the program!
- Three unique speed warm-ups.
- Three phases of on-field speed training.
- Three phases of on-field conditioning.
- Set and rep recommendations for all field work.
- More than 2.5 hours of video explanations for each and every aspect of the program.
As a head football coach, my favorite part of the Gridiron Warrior program is the drills that relate directly to our game. In our state, we have strict rules about what we can and cannot do with our athletes out of season. Coach Leech’s program contains a multitude of “games” that cause athletes to accelerate, decelerate, and change directions that mimic football.
I believe deeply that the training we do should look like the game. I do not find value in submaximal work or long, slow conditioning. I want my players to practice the skills that directly make them better football players. I want them to train 95% or higher. We will build conditioning by stacking that anaerobic work together.
Video 5. Open COD drill with commands.
Video 6. Tag game from COD task.
The drills are set up like games of tag involving changes of direction. They enhance the athlete’s ability to react and accelerate and often simulate the skills an athlete needs for tackling. They cause athletes to close space—either alone or in pairs—and tag the other athlete in a safe way. The on-field drills benefit both the athlete tagging and the one being tagged while also being fun and building team camaraderie.
Each drill is presented in video format. These are not long videos that take forever to get to the point—they are quick and effective. The Gridiron Warrior program is set up to be easy to understand.
Another aspect of Coach Leech’s program that I love is contact prep. This new aspect of training for me is very exciting—it provides a safe way to express force against another player. We always set guys up in pairs of similar size and strength and keep the contact prep intervals short. We are not looking to take anyone to the ground; we are just looking for athletes to express force against each other for 6–12 seconds.
Video 7. Band-resisted sprints add another means of teaching athletes to express force.
How the Course Has Impacted My Coaching
The Gridiron Warrior program has changed our off-season programming in beautiful ways. As a Track Football Consortium guy, I am a big believer in max speed development. Consequently, the bulk of my off-season programming was timed linear maximum-velocity sprints. My change of direction work was limited to 5-10-5 and the L-drill.
Video 8. L-Drill races.
The Gridiron Warrior program has given us a multitude of drills that allow us to work change of direction, acceleration, and deceleration in ways that relate directly to football and make our athletes better.
The Gridiron Warrior program has given us many drills that allow us to work change of direction, acceleration, and deceleration in ways that relate directly to football and make our athletes better. Share on XWe train three days a week in our off-season training week (winter, spring, and summer). We spend the first 45 minutes on the field and the next hour in the weight room. We want to run fast and lift heavy.
Monday is typically our max speed day. We work linear max-velocity sprints—typically 40s, fly-10s, and some wicket work.
Wednesday is our change of direction day. We utilize the Gridiron Warrior program during the on-field portion of our training session. The drills we like the most are those that simulate tackling in a “tag”-like format. We like to have several high-output stations for our players to rotate through.
We also utilize the Gridiron Warrior program on Fridays, which is our competition and game day. We like having our guys compete and have fun together; using the program allows us to do that in a high-output way. And, as mentioned, the Gridiron Warrior program has introduced us to the awesome world of contact prep, which we do at least once a week in our off-season training.
Video 9. Reactive curved sprint race.
This program contains specific guidelines for weekly training volume—Coach Leech shares how he builds volume up until the start of fall camp. This helpful metric is put together in several charts based on total yardage and speed. The goal is finding the sweet spot between being prepared for the demands of competition and overtraining. I find it incredibly helpful.
You Say You Want a Revolution
I highly recommend the entire Gridiron Warrior program—it is both comprehensive and cutting-edge. Following the program allows coaches to train the speed-power demands of our game by targeting the adenosine triphosphate energy system.
The program also helps coaches train athletes to change directions at high speeds, accelerate, and decelerate rapidly. As a bonus, the course connects you with one of America’s brightest stars in the collegiate strength and conditioning field. Coach Scott Leech is an innovative coach with a very bright future. The Gridiron Warrior revolution starts now.
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