Touchdown Wire’s summer football reading list

You remember those days well, dear reader. I know you do.

Think back to your childhood and one of the best days of the calendar year: The last day of school. Nearly three full months of freedom were in your future. Maybe you were headed to camp for some of that time, or you had visions of playing with your friends every single day from dawn to dusk. But buried deep in your backpack, and something that would hang over your head as fall approached, was a list.

The summer reading list.

I wish I could regale you with stories of how I was a model student, and attacked that list with the same vigor I attacked pickup football games with the neighborhood friends or the various sports camps I attended each summer, but of course I did not. That list stayed buried in my backpack until sometime mid- to late-August, when my mother would finally lose her patience and tape it to my door so it was the first thing I would see in the morning, and the last thing I would see at night.

Eventually I would surrender to the inevitable passage of time, and start from the top of the list. In most cases, I would be turning the final page on the last book on my list just before drifting off to sleep the night before school started.

Maybe your experience was similar. Perhaps it was not. Either way, do not think that summer reading lists are a thing of the past. Summertime is the best part of the year to dedicate some effort to learning more about a wide range of subjects. To that end, and spurred on by a Tweet from a fellow member of the football media space, I present the football summer reading list. Here are some books, presentations, and more that I rely on, almost on a daily basis, to guide my work and my thinking about the game. I guarantee in here you will find a book or books to teach you more about the game you love. If you have some that you like, feel free to share!

Nike Coach of the Year Clinic Manuals

These have been a must-purchase for me dating back to the 2014 edition. Every year, Earl Browning edits together the presentations given at the various Nike Coach of the Year Clinics. High school and college coaches around the country come together to present on a variety of topics, from practice schedules to the ever-present “building a culture” presentation and of course some deep dives into Xs and Os.

For example, in the 2014 edition you had Mike Bobo on quick game passing concepts, Don Brown on linebacker drills, Kirk Ferentz on the offensive line, David Cutcliffe on training quarterbacks, and Mike Leach on the mesh play. That manual alone has supported much of my own work over the past few years. While these are available in a printed version, recently Browning has made them available via an immediate .pdf download.

I am a firm believer that when it comes to evaluating college prospects, it helps to know what they are being asked to do by their coaches, and these manuals are a huge help in figuring that part of the puzzle out. You can find these at nikecoyfootball.net.

Offensive Line Coaches Handbook

Browning does not stop at the Nike Coach of the Year Clinic notes, and this next item will not be the last of his mentioned in this piece. Browning also puts together the presentations at the various Coaches of Offensive Line (COOL) Clinic that is held annually.

I have these dating back to 2015, and in that 2015 edition you’ll find presentations like Jim Schwartz on breaking down offensive line film from a defensive perspective, “Hard Knocks” star Bob Wylie on slide protection schemes, Ed Warinner on the Ohio State spread run game, and Alex Gibbs himself on the inside and outside zone plays. These are also available at nikecoyfootball.net.

Coaching by the Experts

The final collection put together by Browning is the “Coaching by the Experts” series. These I have been able to find on Amazon, but these books are categorized clinic presentations from various years on a specific position, and as you might guess I gravitate toward the quarterbacks with these. There might be overlap between some of these presentations and what you will find in the more global yearly presentations, but if you just want to focus on a specific position group these are worth your time.

In the third edition of “Coaching Quarterbacks,” for example, you’ll find another presentation from David Cutcliffe on coaching quarterbacks, Ken Anderson, former Cincinnati Bengals quarterback, on coaching the quarterback, Chris Petersen, formerly of Boise State and the University of Washington on developing quarterbacks, and more. These I have found on Amazon.

Attacking Coverages with the Passing Game

Steve Axman is a great resource for learning about the passing game and quarterback play. Axman is a longtime college coach, and he was Troy Aikman’s offensive coordinator at UCLA, but also guided Marques Tuiasosopo and Cody Pickett to record-breaking seasons at the University of Washington. In this book, he goes through every potential coverage scheme and highlights route concepts that work to attack that coverage. From Cover 3 to Cover 0 and everything in-between. I found this on Amazon, and you might want to opt for the Kindle version, since apparently the paperback is going to run you $326.53…

Coaching Quarterback Passing Mechanics

The other book of Axman’s that I rely upon is “Coaching Quarterback Passing Mechanics.” This breaks down every part of the mechanics behind quarterback play, from setting up for the snap, taking the snap, footwork on every type of drop, and the throwing chain from head to toe. Mechanics don’t matter until they matter – I’ve often said this – but when you are finding that they matter for a particular passer, this is where you should turn. This book is also available on Amazon.

Joe Montana’s Art and Magic of Quarterbacking

Like many who played the game years ago, I grew up wanting to be Joe Montana. His breakdown of playing the position still guides my work, and this book is worth it for his attempt at taking you inside the mind of a quarterback on a single play alone. But Montana talks about preparing for the game, reading coverages, attacking coverages and playing under Bill Walsh, and is definitely worth your time. You can find this on Amazon.

The Art of Quarterbacking

Before Montana put his words to paper, there was Ken Anderson. This was the book that I relied on as a kid, teaching myself the position. Remember those summer reading lists I talked about ignorning? That’s because more often than not I was in the backyard taking myself through some of the drills highlighted here by Anderson. Some of the aspects might be a bit outdated, but there is an absolute ton of information in here about playing the quarterback position. This one might be a bit tougher to find, but copies are still available on Amazon.

Match Quarters: A Modern Guidebook to Split-Field Coverages

If you want to know what the future of football is going to look like, talk to a high school coach. The schemes we are seeing in the NFL now are designs that high school coaches were running years ago. The football world – and in particular #FootballTwitter – is filled with brilliant schematic minds who are more than willing to outline what they run at the high school level. Talk to people like @CoachVass (who has a tremendous podcast and website coachvass.com), @CoachCogan (who is fluent in “Sabanese”) and others and you will learn a ton in no time.

One of the other brilliant minds on the defensive side of the ball is Cody Alexander. His website, MatchQuarters.com, takes you through a ton of defensive concepts, and his book “Match Quarters: A Modern Guidebook to Split-Field Coverages” is a tremendous deep dive into the many variations and nuances of split-field and quarters coverages. You can find this book and his other work at MatchQuarters.com, and you can follow Cody on Twitter @The_Coach_A.

Read and Shoot

On the offensive side of the football comes this guide to building a modern offense. Dan Gonzalez was a wide receiver at the University of Texas and is now a coach and private consultant in the football world. “Read and Shoot” takes you inside the offensive system that he has built, from terminology to concepts, and the book illustrates how a coach can simplify a system for the players while still stressing a defense at all levels. This is a great look inside the future of offensive football, and it is also available on Amazon.

Caponomics: Building Super Bowl Champions

I will admit to being completely lost anytime a discussion of the financial side of roster construction broke out. Or, at least I was, until I added this book to my collection. Zack Moore was a college football player at the University of Rhode Island and then went on to receive an MBA from Rutgers Business School. He has been writing for OverTheCap.com since 2014, and this deep dive into the salary cap, analytics, roster construction, how teams stay competitive in this era and more is absolutely a must-read. You can find this great work at Amazon.

You Negotiate Like a Girl

Amy Trask is one of the smartest people on the planet, and in this book she and Michael Freeman look back on her time in the NFL. She relays her story, starting with the Raiders as an intern during law school and working her way up to the top of the organization. The book takes you behind the scenes of an NFL franchise, into owner’s meetings, and into the relationship between Trask and Al Davis. A must-have for anyone who loves the game. This is also available on Amazon.

The Genius of Desperation

You cannot understand the future of football without tracing its evolution. In this book, Doug Farrar works through the game and illustrates the schematic advances that were spurred on by the need to win. Farrar highlights the various paradigm shifts that moved the game forward, dating back to the 1920s and tracking to the modern game. Farrar also points to the future, and the likely impact that “positionless football” is going to have on the game we love. You can find this book on Amazon.

What Did Football Teach Me

Football: A Love Story

Emory Hunt is the hardest working person in football media. Period, full stop. In these two books, he and the rest of the team at FootballGamePlan.com conduct hundreds of interviews with people all around the game of football. From owners to players, coaches to general managers, and everyone in-between, these two books bring to live the reasons why so many people fall in love with this sport. But these books also highlight the value of the game, and what this sport has done for so many different people. I’m a better person because of this game, and because of reading these books. You can find them on FootballGamePlan.com.

17 Drives

Look, you were not getting out of this without at least a mention…

Back in late 2015 I put this together, looking at the 2015 college football season one game at a time, one drive at a time. One drive from a critical game from each week of the season is broken down, focusing on both the micro and the macro aspects of the drive. Some of it holds up, some of it doesn’t, but it was my first crack at a book and for that, it holds a special place in my heart, and on my shelf. You can find it on Amazon, but if you want a copy, reach out because I’ve got a few extras lying around.