Football Hudl Performance Analysis Opponent Scouting Coaching

Blitz '22 Roundtable: Hudl Beta Workshop

Apr 12, 2022

4 Min Read

By Caleb Bacon

Top coaches across the country share their takeaways and success stories with this improved Hudl experience.

One of the key themes of Blitz ‘22 was that Hudl Beta is the future of Hudl football. “Many of you tried [Beta] out last year,” said Hudl CEO David Graff during his opening keynote, “and I want to encourage everyone to really jump in this year.”

Beta is the new, innovative version of the core Hudl experience. Think things like reviewing video, entering data and sharing with athletes. It’s designed to make each of those aspects easier for coaches, and result in improved workflows across the board.

Held among the star-studded sessions at Blitz was a Beta roundtable, where several coaches who have already embraced Beta sat on a panel to share their experience—and successes. Take it from Brandon Evans, defensive coordinator at Georgia’s Brooks County High School.

“I do believe it helped us get over the hump,” he said. “The last two years we played for a state title and came up short. This year we really bought into using Beta and you know, lo and behold, we got a trophy.”

Here are some of their takeaways.

Finding the Right Data Faster

A defining feature of Hudl Beta is that it presents video and data side-by-side, giving coaches a better way to analyze their opponents—and their own team. One thing coaches highlighted with this new layout was the ability to sort through data and find tendencies instantly. If coaches want to sort clips by down and distance, field position or play type, they’re able to do so with a simple click and have the corresponding clips updated for them in real-time.

Tendency charts and video meet side by side in Hudl Beta.

“The quickness of being able to get [situational data] is much more fluid than in previous years,” said Onalaska High School (WI) head coach Tom Yashinsky.

For Evans, the value of Beta came from not having to run reports anymore. Inputting the data and then having to run the reports could be a cumbersome process with Hudl Classic. Now, Beta lets you find tendencies with a click—even giving you the ability to get a full screen look.

“Once the data was in, it was so easy to look at what that data actually told you,” he said. “Once I’m done tagging my data, I can actually use it.”

Easy Collaboration with Athletes

Not only are coaches getting the video they need in easier fashion—athletes are, too.

The collaborative nature of Beta allows coaches to easily communicate with their players by sharing clips and messages with them on any mobile device through the Hudl app. Think of it as a group chat between coaches and players.

“We want them watching the clips that they need to watch to correct their mistakes,” said Yashinsky.

Hudl Beta makes communication between coaches and athletes a seamless process.

Players benefit from seeing their mistakes on film, and from data-driven insights as to what their opponent might throw at them. Say, for example, an opponent runs 80 percent of the time they’re in a certain formation. It’s simple for coaches to uncover these tendencies, and Beta makes communicating them to athletes a smooth process.

“If they know a tendency, it just creates a level of confidence with them,” said James Reyes, assistant coach at St. Pius X High School (MO).

The seamless ability for coaches and athletes to collaborate served as an epiphany of sorts to Yashinsky and his staff.

“We can finally make sure that they're seeing exactly what they need to see without having to watch every single one of those clips in person with them,” he said.

A Simple Transition

It’s fair to wonder if switching over to Beta will be an issue for coaches used to Hudl Classic.

It takes only a few clicks to create and add to a playlist in Beta.

Each coach on the panel found Beta's learning curve to be relatively easy for the rest of their staff—even for the most technologically-challenged ones. Yashinsky pointed to the ease of creating and saving new filters, and building out new playlists as something his staff quickly understood and embraced.

“That has made teaching less technical savvy coaches on staff much easier and something that I think is going to really benefit us going forward,” he explained.

“I think that the first step is just try to watch a game…play around with the filters,” said Evans. “I've not had anybody that I've shown it to say this isn't any good.”

Coaches can easily get up to speed on Beta by checking out these tutorials, or by setting up a 1:1 or staff-wide training session.

Buying in to Beta

The impact of Beta has been felt across the board at these three schools, both on gameday and the days leading up to it.

“This has been a huge game changer,” said Reyes. “I think we're still on the tip of the iceberg of what we possibly could do.”

Coach Tom Yashinsky demonstrates the ease of the pan and zoom feature.

It’s the tip of the iceberg for Beta’s capabilities, too. Stay tuned for new innovations and updates, like the recently-released pan and zoom feature. It allows coaches to get an up-close view of specific players, and study details like hand placement or footwork during film review that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to see.

Yashinsky was quick to embrace pan and zoom upon its release. “If I put two fingers on and zoom in like I can easily see, that's number 82,” he said. “That's something that we previously weren't able to do on Hudl—zoom in and get a better look at some of those intricate things.”

As Beta becomes more widely adopted, and eventually replaces Hudl Classic, we want to hear your feedback on it. Let us know what features you love, and what you’d like to see in the future. We can’t wait to have you dive in this upcoming season.

For even more Beta tips and tricks, catch the full workshop here.

Watch the Session