Jun 17, 2015 5 min read

The mandatory heat acclimation period for high school football is still seven weeks away, but athletes across the country are already preparing for games on Friday nights.

Other sports have always had options to keep athletes busy during the summer. There are leagues for basketball and baseball and tournaments for wrestling. Football players have historically been relegated to a weight room as they prepare for preseason camp.

Not anymore. Now, high school athletes are happy to keep their shoulder pads in their lockers and are staying active through non-contact, 7-on-7 camps and tournaments.

Wearing athletic shorts and T-shirts, skill position players are able to test their athleticism and football acumen against each other in a flag football-like atmosphere. The quarterback, after taking the snap from center, tries to read the defense and exploit its weaknesses. The field is smaller – usually 50-by-53 1/2 yards – and possession begins on the 40-yard line.

Colleges across the country are hosting these events as a recruiting tool. Washington & Jefferson hosted a large tournament Wednesday, and Pitt’s two-day event this weekend is the most popular in Western Pennsylvania with almost 50 teams competing annually.

The competitive game is more like touch football played in a backyard than a weekend high school game, but high school coaches across the area are using the summer as a way to quickly develop young players.

“I look at them as a teaching tool and an evaluation tool,” Peters Township coach Rich Piccinini said. “The teaching and learning aspect is very good. To keep up with everybody else, the evaluation period you get earlier helps you out and you are behind if you don’t start competition early in the summer. Years ago, we didn’t have this.”

Peters Township is one of several local teams that will participate in Pitt’s tournament, which will feature high school teams from other states, as well as the top talent in Pennsylvania. The scope of the event is an example of how 7-on-7 tournaments have grown in recent years.

McGuffey head coach Ed Dalton remembers his first 7-on-7 tournament. It was the mid-’90s and Laurel Highlands High School hosted an event with similar concepts to today’s competitions. There was an emphasis on speed and the passing game, but the scoring was unorthodox.

“We went and the rules were really complicated,” said Dalton, who was then the coach at Mt. Pleasant. “I remember that everything counted. If you caught a ball it was a point. It was almost like fantasy football, and it was almost too complicated.”

Now, points are counted for touchdowns and concepts are closer to tackle football. The Highlanders are attending four 7-on-7 tournaments within the next 10 days then focusing on strength and conditioning in July. Not only do players benefit, but coaches use the format to experiment with a no-huddle offense, signals, hot reads and simple adjustments to the playbook.

“You get to defend everything that sometimes you don’t see in high school with motions and shifts,” Dalton said. “You get to put in your whole secondary package, which is really good. It gives football teams a chance to compete in the summer.”

The modern event is simulated to Friday night football, but there are a few catches. Some teams run plays designed specifically for 7-on-7, and some run defensive coverages that are never used in tackle football. The differences might make it harder for coaches to evaluate the outcomes, but that does not mean they don’t take advantage of the extra practice time during the summer.

“The benefits for us are you get to see kids in a competitive atmosphere, you get to work on some concepts you carry into the year, and defensively, there are a lot of benefits to it,” Charleroi head coach Donnie Militzer said. “When you start the season you can put an extra focus on stopping the run game because your players have a pretty good understanding of your pass coverage.”

There are adjustments. Teams rely heavily on man coverage in 7-on-7 games, which could cause defenses to scramble to learn their zone coverage when preseason camp opens Aug. 17.

High school football has constant turnover. Graduation thins a roster, forcing coaches to turn to young, inexperienced players. Now, 7-on-7 tournaments can expose them to the playbook earlier and that’s important for teams grooming an inexperienced quarterback. Some colleges even host challenges for linemen that include sled pulls, tug of wars and bench press contests to coincide with 7-on-7 tournaments.

While it is a popular outlet, not every coach is a fan.

“I’ve talked to some coaches and it seems like they just do it to keep up with the Joneses because everyone does it,” Piccinini said. “It’s almost an unwritten rule now that you have to get in these 7-on-7s. Some coaches really don’t care for them, but it’s obviously become a big part of high school football.”