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"What's up" call to hike the ball


Old Coot

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Question for the coaches on the forum:

 

Why do so many QB's use the "what's up" call to hike the ball?  Why not a one word signal like "hut"?

 

If the ball is hiked on "what's" there is no need for "up"

 

If the ball isn't hiked until "up" the D line knows a split second in advance when the ball will be hiked.

 

What am I missing?

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4 minutes ago, Old Coot said:

Question for the coaches on the forum:

 

Why do so many QB's use the "what's up" call to hike the ball?  Why not a one word signal like "hut"?

 

If the ball is hiked on "what's" there is no need for "up"

 

If the ball isn't hiked until "up" the D line knows a split second in advance when the ball will be hiked.

 

What am I missing?


It may seem like it, but I don’t believe there’s a whole lot of actual “coaches” here. A lot of experts, but not many coaches..

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During my walk on days running the scout team O, I would get the call from the sideline "on 2" or "on 1" and so on, which told me how many times to bark out the phrase "Set Hut" after usual cadence call out, all of which had to be changed within a drive to keep the D honest and hopefully also draw somebody off-sides. Putting the right amount of emphasis on Hut just so was an art form in itself, but could draw the Oline out of their stance early as much as an off-sides--at least the scout teamers that I worked with, lol. In my experience it wasn't so much about how many words in the final phrasing, but rather how many times that 2 word phrasing was supposed to be repeated or not, and that's what was keeping the D honest.   

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There was a whole discussion about what Allen and many other QBs say, because it's DEFINITELY not "hut." At that time, someone said Allen says "white set" I believe. Maybe he does say "what's up." The exact sound seems to be "wussut."

Just now, Giuseppe Tognarelli said:

There was a whole discussion about what Allen and many other QBs say, because it's DEFINITELY not "hut." At that time, someone said Allen says "white set" I believe. Maybe he does say "what's up." The exact sound seems to be "wussut."

Some QBs' cadence really gets on my nerves. Mahomes and the constant "Let's go bluuuuuue 80" is getting incredibly annoying. As is Roethlisberger's "Blue 20?" said like a question.

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You mean like Green 18...Green 18 Hut...

 

Typically that signals they are running the play called in the huddle and it is being snapped on 2 in this case...

 

If he audibled something else like Kill Kill or Alert Alert that would likely signal they are scrapping the 1st play for the 2nd play called in the huddle.

 

If he audibles Reset Reset it means he went back to the original play called...

 

Way way more complex...here is an article from when McCarthy was still in GB and talking about pre snap calls Rodgers would make

 

www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/sounds-crazy-but-heres-how-aaron-rodgers-packers-call-plays-pre-snap/amp/

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Old Coot said:

Question for the coaches on the forum:

 

Why do so many QB's use the "what's up" call to hike the ball?  Why not a one word signal like "hut"?

 

If the ball is hiked on "what's" there is no need for "up"

 

If the ball isn't hiked until "up" the D line knows a split second in advance when the ball will be hiked.

 

What am I missing?

Depends on the cadence for each team...

 

Many use a variance of:

1. Quick snap: any word, such as "set", "go", "hut"

2. On a count: such as on 2 or 3.  Some teams use a repeatable phrase, ex: green Bay uses 'green 18'..so on 2, would be green 18, green 18.(ball snapped)

3. On a specific word: such as 'set' or 'hut' or 'go'.  ex: on 'set'..green 18 green 18 ready set (ball snapped)

4. Silent count: usually reserved for loud road games, not typical this yr

5. etc.

 

Bottom line each team does their own thing, and has certain ways to cadence, and also try to keep the defense off balance/less of a jump, or even draw Offside.  Alot comes down to QB voice pitches, can they adjust "hard" counts without getting their own oline to false start.

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I always wonder why they don’t use sandlot words that are counter intuitive like “No” or “stop” to start a quick count ... because our brains do react to words and the “No” or “stop” means “wait”intuitively. That half second brain delay would mean a delay on the defensive reaction and it’s why I would use it once in a while. 

Edited by Locomark
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7 hours ago, Johnny Hammersticks said:

White 80!

Is that what they're saying?  It always sounds like 180.  Either way, (1) I don't know what it means, and (2) a lot of teams have their QBs use that just before the ball is snapped. 

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7 hours ago, Giuseppe Tognarelli said:

There was a whole discussion about what Allen and many other QBs say, because it's DEFINITELY not "hut." At that time, someone said Allen says "white set" I believe. Maybe he does say "what's up." The exact sound seems to be "wussut."

Some QBs' cadence really gets on my nerves. Mahomes and the constant "Let's go bluuuuuue 80" is getting incredibly annoying. As is Roethlisberger's "Blue 20?" said like a question.

really?

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I used to coach, but nothing special, just youth football until each of my boys were 12 and 13 (career wouldn’t allow me to help with HS ball)  We just used simple phrases like hike, but my guess would be a two word short one is long enough for offensive players to not have a false start, but short enough the defense can’t anticipate to shoot a gap.  This is pure speculation.  


If you really want to know, you should call into the Movin the Chains guys as Jim Miller usually has an accurate answer to these type of questions.  They do a lot of this stuff in the off season teaching different aspects of the game.  They are on 3-7pm on NFLR.  A lot of guys here like their show.

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12 hours ago, Old Coot said:

Question for the coaches on the forum:

 

Why do so many QB's use the "what's up" call to hike the ball?  Why not a one word signal like "hut"?

 

If the ball is hiked on "what's" there is no need for "up"

 

If the ball isn't hiked until "up" the D line knows a split second in advance when the ball will be hiked.

 

What am I missing?


what what?

 

I may be confused here but

 

One of us needs a hearing aid 🦻 

I hear 55’s the Mike

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