Initially it was simply an effort to bring the four public school football programs together in a friendly yet still competitive atmosphere. Charlottesville coach Chris Fraser and Western Albemarle coach Ed Pierce talked it through and the result was the 7-on-7 passing league that runs through three weeks in July.
“Ed and I brainstormed this together last year,” Fraser said. “Honestly we felt like there was some bad blood between some of the schools. It gives us a chance, in a much less threatening environment than a game, a chance to work with our neighbors, and also a chance to get in a little extra work.”
The four schools that make up the league — Charlottesville, Western Albemarle, Monticello and Albemarle — are each dealing with significant departures from graduating classes. This year the 7-on-7 league has almost served as a buffer zone as the schools call up a significant chunk of their junior varsity squads and mix them in with some returning varsity players.
“We have so many players that were on our JV team last year,” Fraser said. “This gives us a chance to get a good look at them. We need to see what they have before (camp begins) August 2. That first game of the year comes up quick.”
In Albemarle’s case, the league isn’t just a chance to try and foster younger talent. Beginning his first year as the Patriots coach, Mike Alley has embraced the opportunity to try and install some vocabulary and systematics to a lot of green ears.
“We’re bringing in a new system on offense and defense and our guys have no idea what we’re doing right now,” Alley said. “But when you come out here and play 7-on-7 we can coach them through it and it’s really helpful.”
The Virginia High School League has a lot of rigid regulations when it comes to coaches working with players in the off-season. There are only so many hours and so many days the team can officially gather. This league, however, has given these four schools a chance to side-step the VHSL rules as it’s not a school sanctioned camp but instead a voluntary camp.
Of course, even those have requirements if they want to remain allowed by the VHSL. In order to maintain an ordinance that all public school players are at least two weeks removed from any school related athletic activities, the league moved it’s last night of competition forward from Wednesday to Monday to comply.
From an x’s and o’s stand point. The 7-on-7 passing league is exactly what the name implies. Each team lines up with five receivers, one center and a quarterback and no running plays are allowed. There’s also no hitting allowed. To give the sense of a pass rush, the quarterback must throw the ball before the official blows the play dead.
At the end of the day it’s camp that caters to skill position players, receivers and defensive backs in particular. That’s one thing that Alley hopes the league will be able to expand upon. Linemen need love too.
“That’s one thing I wish we could add,” Alley said. “I’ve run camps before and we’d have the big man stuff too. The linemen can have their own competitions. Not like we do with this 7-on-7, but they can flip tires against each other and stuff like that.”
In just a little less than two weeks, the high school football preseason formally begins. But thanks to the 7-on-7 passing league, the Black Knights, Warriors, Mustangs and Patriots will each enter training camp with a sense of what they can work on. For football coaches, there’s no such thing as too much preparation.
