SOUTH SALT LAKE — Jake Plummer spent a lot of nights trying to memorize football plays, schemes and progressions.
“I spent countless hours, late nights, thumbing through playbooks trying to make sure I was prepared,” said the former Cardinal and Broncos quarterback, who will be in Salt Lake Thursday night to share new technology that will help both coaches and players with the age-old problem of taking what the coach wants and putting it in a player’s mind. “I’d fall asleep studying, hoping that was enough. But with this, you can test yourself and go to bed knowing you’re ready (for the field).”
Plummer’s visit to Utah includes a visit with Ute Conference officials and coaches at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at 3555 S. Main, and any coach, from little league, high school or college, is invited to attend the free event.
Plummer said it was a former teammate, Chad Friehauf, who came to him with the idea of creating an app — Readylist Sports — that allowed coaches to install their schemes on an app that players then use to learn, test their retention and then analyze the effectiveness of their play.
“I loved the idea of tracking how much they’re learning and basically just to get some accountability,” Plummer told the Deseret News Tuesday. “He came up with the whole concept and presented it to me three and a half years ago."
Friehauf, who graduated from the Colorado School of Mines, approached Plummer, and together they presented the idea to Adam Gase, who was, at the time, the offensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos.
“He loved the idea of tracking how much they’re learning,” Plummer said, laughing about the 310 slide power point Friehauf presented in those first meetings. “Chad is a smart guy and he figured if he was struggling to learn them, then some of his teammates were probably struggling to learn them in the manner the coaches expected.”
While much of the game has changed and evolved, teaching methods have stayed pretty much the same. Players learn by studying physical play books and film. They might quiz players as they break down film, but coaches don’t know for sure that players understand everything they’re teaching until they’re tested on the field.
“Sometimes coaches would stop a guy in the hallway, or they might call you out in a meeting and make you tell the whole room your responsibilities,” Plummer said. “You might get a written test the day before a game. … But the real test comes on the practice field or on game day, and when a mistake is made then, it’s not a good time to be made.”
Plummer, who retired from football in 2007 and now lives in Boulder, Colorado, said he believes more knowledgeable players make the game more enjoyable for participants, but it also makes them safer.
“If players know where they’re going and what they’re doing, it’s safer,” he said. “This provides a tool to educate the kids about what coaches expect. Then it becomes about ‘Do you have the talent?’”
He said it’s been exciting to create something that teaches young people in a way that they find engaging and rewarding. The program allows coaches to load their own plays and schemes or use dozens of preloaded plays.
“It’s a screen age we’re living in. Teams can buy it already preloaded with more than 50 passing plays and protections, so they don’t have to search the web or find someone to copy. It can save coaches a ton of time,” he said, noting the real benefit is to the players. “It just gives these players a chance to tap their athletic potential because they’re mentally prepared.”