This Missouri high school football program contends with the best in their state by applying next-level tech in an easy and simple way. Technology coach Nolan Hochgrebe tells you how they do it.
3:00 — Speed is the name of the game with tech
Efficiency is the primary goal in whatever Hochgrebe applies to the program, quickly becoming the catalyst for many of his innovations.
4:00 — Overview of the Wildcats’ program
Competing in Missouri’s largest classification, Blue Springs has plenty of state titles. Hochgrebe talks about the program’s history, current staff, facilities and tech involved.
7:20 — The in-game and post-game setup
Hochgrebe walks through all of the technology the Wildcats use on Friday nights. Plus, a look at the breakdown process afterwards, including tagging, spotting, grading and creating tendency and efficiency reports.
12:20 — The Wildcats' "Game Night Entry Sheet"
Hochgrebe shows how they self-populate an entire sheet’s worth of tags just by entering a play number, and how they enter it into Hudl. It’s all so easy.
20:30 — How the Wildcats' "Grade Sheet" works
Alignment. Assignment. Effort. Hochgrebe highlights a remarkably crisp way of cutting to what’s most important.
22:40 — Tracking tendencies
These algorithms allow the Wildcats to get to work right away on tendency reporting once the game’s over. See how they look when finished.
27:00 — Weekends: Taking your work home
Coaches can have their time with their families. Hochgrebe talks about the work-life balance with their staff.
28:00 — A unique approach to wristbands
Individually tailoring the calls on each wristband sounds like a tall order. But Hochgrebe shows us how it’s possible with just a few clicks. Best yet, they print it all on waterproof paper—really!
36:00 — Monday: Introducing the gameplan
The scouting reports and game plans are presented, while an innovative approach to capturing JV games helps players get used to Hudl early in their high school careers.
41:00 — A remarkably efficient method of filming practice
How can their managers be efficient without hours and hours of training? By dividing the field up into 12 zones and aligning that with the practice schedule, there’s never any questions about what needs to be filmed and when.
48:00 — The lifeblood of the program
Without Blue Springs’ dedicated crew of student managers, none of this is possible. Hochgrebe praises the Wildcats’ unsung heroes and shows the detailed how-to guide the team has created for managers to hit the ground running.
55:00 — Thursday: A day of gearing down
Not much technology is used on Thursdays. Instead, they focus on character development.
58:30 — Integrating technology into the offseason
Hochgrebe offers some tips on using Hudl during the offseason, including:
- Filming weight room lifts
- Building coaching manuals
- Creating diagrams for position groups
- Filming team camps with Hudl Sideline
- Filming speed and agility drills
- Filming drills during summer contact days
