seven's heaven for summer football

Seven’s Heaven for Summer Football-note this is the original draft of next week's Score Atlanta's Prep Section. The new version will be posted Monday. Enjoy

Just as the NFL has been for years and college football has evolved into, high school football is being a year round sport. For years, students participated in maybe one or two summer practices about a month before the football season began. But then schools started weight training in the winter, and then programs began spring practices. And now, summer vacation is no longer playtime for those looking to don the pads come autumn. A recent trend that started in Texas and California has now made its way to Georgia. Seven on Seven football is quickly becoming a staple for programs looking to bring home the state title, and, according to a recent USA Today poll, schools from 42 states and the District of Columbia are taking part in this phenomenon
The basic strategy is the same as eleven on eleven, but with several interesting twists. First off, players do not wear pads, thus no tackling. The field is also shorter, cut down to 55 total yards with ten as the endzone. The offense gets the ball on the 45-yard line and has three downs to go 15 yards for a fresh set of downs. Once in the “scoring zone,” a fourth down is available, but with no punting or field goals in seven on seven, it is touchdown or bust. After a touchdown, instead of the traditional extra point, the offense gets the ball on the three and must reach the endzone to get the PAT, or the team can elect to go for two, with the ball resting on the ten yard line. The most exciting change may be from the time the ball is hiked from the only lineman, the QB has just four seconds to get rid of it, otherwise the play is over and the down lost. This encourages quick thinking from the quarterback and lends itself to benefiting spread teams, though some coaches believe it can help a defense work its coverages.
One man who has been integral with bringing this camp to Georgia has been new Lassiter head coach Chip Lindsey. Lindsey came to Cobb County from Hoover High School (Alabama) where he served as offensive coordinator on a team that averaged over 30 points per game. His offense has been called “basketball on turf,” and resembles that of the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Lassiter is offering a seven on seven camp July 17 and 18 and already eight teams have signed up with Lindsey hoping for four more. “This tournament is for teams interested in throwing the football and it gives guys a chance to compete.” One day Lindsey hopes this camp/tournament can tie into the national tournament held each summer at Hoover. In fact Hoover’s athletic trainer Brandon Sheppard will come to Lassiter and run the two-day affair, which will bring “credibility to the event,” Lindsey says. (Sheppard could not be reached for comment.)
Lassiter’s new head coach hopes that this experience can help turn his team, coming off a 3-7 2007 season and has not won more than six games since 2000, into an offensive juggernaut like his last Hoover offense. That offense rolled up over 4,400 yards last season with a split of 2,800 passing and 1,600 rushing, but Lindsey admits it might be a little more even early on. “Hoover was one of those unique places to be. We passed there, but we will run [here] too. We’ll take a look at our personnel, something we haven’t had a real chance to do yet, and tailor our plan to our team.”
Lindsey has never been a part of a team with a losing record and he thinks that the culture of Lassiter might soon change, especially with weapon such as his tight end Philip Lutzenkirchen. “The tight end is heavily involved in this spread offense,” says Lindsey. “We’ll flex him out and he’ll be a big part of our team. As long as we come in and prepare to be as good as we can be, whatever that is, we’ll go to bed happy.”
Defense wins championships, but offense is always fun to watch, especially when the scoreboard rings up numbers like a gas station. Will this camp signal the beginning of a shift away from “three yards and a cloud of dust” that is Georgia High School football towards the spread-happy ways of Alabama, Florida, and California? One school is hoping this camp does not just make for a fun summer, but for a fun autumn.