Introduction: Turning Practice Reps into Game Speed
Every coach wants to play fast. But speed in football isn’t just about 40-yard dash times — it’s built through football practice design for game speed. Coach Curran White believes true speed develops when decision-making and execution become automatic through intentional, high-tempo practice planning.
When every drill, period, and rep builds recognition and response, speed becomes the natural byproduct.
“We don’t chase speed. We build it by removing hesitation,” says White. “That comes from designing practices that make players think less and react more.”
1. Why Practice Design Determines Game Speed
Game speed rarely comes from effort alone; it comes from clarity. White emphasizes that every team period should replicate the tempo, communication, and chaos of real competition. The foundation of football practice design for game speed lies in creating that clarity under pressure.
Key Principles
- Remove unnecessary complexity: Simplify reads so players focus on execution.
- Rep game realities: Simulate timing, spacing, and pressure situations to accelerate learning.
- Coach in context: Connect every drill to real game decisions players must make.
Takeaway: Speed grows from understanding and context — not conditioning alone.
2. Training Decision Speed: Building Better Reactors
A major feature of White’s football practice design for game speed is the inclusion of “decision-speed” periods — short, high-rep segments where players must read and react instantly. The goal is not perfection but exposure.
Examples
- Rapid-fire coverage ID for quarterbacks and receivers.
- Reactive pursuit drills for defenders.
- Split-field tempo sessions where recognition drives the rep.
“We want our guys to process faster every day,” White explains. “If they can identify what’s happening quicker, everything else gets faster naturally.”
By consistently training decision speed, players build instincts that automatically transfer to game situations.
3. Using Constraints to Shape Game Behavior
Rather than adding more drills, White modifies existing ones using constraint-based practice design — a method central to football practice design for game speed. By changing space, time, or communication rules, he shapes player behavior toward faster decision-making.
Examples of Constraint-Based Adjustments
- Space: Shrink the field to emphasize leverage and pursuit angles.
- Time: Use play clocks or tempo cues to push decision speed.
- Communication: Restrict verbal calls to force non-verbal coordination.
Takeaway: Smart constraints create natural instincts and faster reactions.
4. Measuring What Matters: From Tempo to Transfer
For White, the ultimate test of football practice design for game speed is transfer — whether practice performance shows up on game day. He measures rep tempo, communication efficiency, and mental errors throughout the week to track improvement.
Implementation Tips
- Track the average time between snap and whistle during practice.
- Grade both verbal and non-verbal communication in film review.
- Audit drills for real decision-making value, not just movement.
Takeaway: Don’t just measure effort; measure improvement and transfer to competition.
5. Applying the Model to Your Own Program
White’s approach can fit any system, level, or style. The focus is on football practice design for game speed as a structural philosophy, not a specific playbook.
Action Steps for Coaches
- Audit your practice plan — identify where players react versus repeat.
- Create decision-speed periods that mirror your top five in-game situations.
- Use constraints to strengthen adaptability and communication.
- Review film for tempo, spacing, and problem-solving, not just results.
Bottom Line: Speed is built through structure. Design it into your system, and it will appear on game day.
Think Less; React More
If you want your players to play faster, stop telling them to “go faster.” Instead, use football practice design for game speed to teach them to think less and react more.
Curran White’s system shows that when speed is engineered into practice, execution becomes instinctive — and teams play at game speed naturally.
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More on Coach Curran White
Transcript
John Snell (00:02.693)
Well, we want to congratulate Curren White, the offensive coordinator at Concordia on a big win this past weekend over Aurora. And coach, guys did a great job offensively. We’d like to give you an opportunity to share or to give some props to your staff first.
Curran White (00:22.49)
Yes, sir. Thanks, John, for having me on.
We’ve got a good thing here at Concordia, Wisconsin. We are in Mequon, Wisconsin, which is the suburbs of Milwaukee. I have been coached in small college football for this would be, this is my 25th year. And I’ve lived in some places where it was a college and a gas station. This is a beautiful area. We’ve got a great support. We’re right on Lake Michigan. Our head coach, Greg Etter, our athletic director, Dr. Rob Barnhill, our president, Eric Ankerberg.
They’re great to work with and they let you do your job. I’m pretty fortunate to have a really good offensive staff. Joseph Federico is our quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator. He’s got our quarterback Roman Funk. He’s playing pretty well and he was very locked in on Saturday.
Nick Erling is our receivers coach. He’s in his second year on staff and does a great job. Tyler Ryan is, I coach the offensive line. He coaches them with me and does a great job. played here at Concordia as well. And Jake Rippertella is our running backs coach. He’s another CUW alum. those guys, know, we’re.
We’re also the same staff that got shut out by Aurora the last two times we were down there. I don’t, you we try to, that’s one thing I want to say on this, on this show is be the same guy coach, coach the way that you believe in. And, and, you know, you got to be the same guy after, after things don’t work as, as when they do work.
John Snell (02:04.27)
Well, we appreciate you recognizing your guys. As you know on the show, Kern, we ask that our coaches share a little some thoughts with our listeners. And you mentioned finding your players strengths and then you also mentioned the idea or the concept of playing clean football. How about you share a little bit of that with our listeners?
Curran White (02:28.24)
Yeah, couple of things. A long time ago, I went to the FCA clinic and coach Ralph Frijan was at Maryland and he talked about the idea of bad play ratio. Maybe everybody in the world does this, but we’ve we’ve tracked it every week. So our goals, you know, in a given game are not necessarily throw for 300, 400 yards or rush for 200 yards. Those are generally outcomes by.
that come from playing clean. So our bad play ratio is sacks, penalties, turnovers and drops. Not that you’re going to play a game where you don’t have any of those things, but if we add those up and divide it by our total number of snaps and it’s under 11%, we believe that we’re playing at a clean ratio. part of it is getting out of your own way and allowing
good things to happen. The other part of it is don’t be afraid to make a mistake. 11%, that’s one out of every nine snaps you can get away with having a mistake here and there. But as long as we’re lining up correctly, keeping our hands inside on blocks, we’re gonna minimize penalties if we can be sound in protections and have the quarterback have a good understanding of who we’ve got accounted for in protections and making good decisions, throwing the ball away when he needs to, then we can minimize sacks and
turnovers and then you know if you can just make the routine plays you know it’s great if you make diving catches and one-handed catches but if you just make all the routine plays you know just run a clean offense so we try to set up our practice that way and really focus on that in as far as process oriented goals rather than than worrying about what the outcome is the other thing we like to talk about is deserving victory so
know, doing the things during the week to where when you show up on Saturday, you know, you haven’t left anything to chance. You’ve taken care of your end of things and you can just go and compete with a clear mind for three hours. Doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to win. It means you deserve to win. You’ve done the things that during the week to give yourself the best chance.
John Snell (04:45.851)
Do you have on the flip side of playing the clean plays and trying to keep it to 11 % or better, do you have a percentage of big plays that you try to accomplish every week? You know what I mean?
Curran White (05:01.574)
We always try to strive for at least six chunk plays, what we call a run over 15 or a pass over 20 yards. I think we had 10 on Saturday, so that was a big day for us. Most of them came in the passing game, but.
You gotta create some chunks of yardage, when you’re throwing, talking about a pass over 20 yards, that doesn’t necessarily mean the ball travels 20 yards in the air. Sometimes it’s a short pass or a screen and you got guys blocking downfield and hustling and running to the football. And you can turn a short game into a big game and try to get guys to understand what role they can play in those type of things.
John Snell (05:41.115)
Now, maybe you said this, but I want to make sure I’m clear and our listeners are clear. You said, I think you said your best chance at winning is an 11 % or better. it, if you found that it’s 100 % accurate that if you’re 11 % or better that you win or that.
Curran White (05:59.568)
believe we had one game where we were under 11 % and found a way to lose. But we’ve had tons and tons of games where we were worse than 11 % and still found a way to win. it’s not a scientific fact or anything like that, it should give you some idea of.
Playing clean doesn’t mean you’re not making a mistake in the game. Bad things happen and you gotta be able to overcome them. But as long as you can get out of your own way and allow something good to happen, then you gotta give yourself a chance.
John Snell (06:30.651)
you know how many offensive plays you’re averaging a game, Curran?
Curran White (06:36.4)
We are probably around 65 to 70. It’s less than years past. That’s one thing Coach Eder, our head coach, he’s a defensive guy and he talks a lot about complimentary football. And I, as a younger coach on offense, I always thought it was more plays, more snaps, more points, and that was just the end all be all. there is something to be said for controlling the ball.
We got to have balance on and that means we can run the ball and we can throw the balls. I mean, we’re 50-50, but it means we can be effective in both. And so yeah, I think we’ve probably slowed ourselves down and maybe it’s helped us just going fast for the sake of going fast. Used to be kind of my MO, but I think I’ve moved beyond that a little bit. Plus when the boss says go slow down and run the ball, that’s what you got to do.
John Snell (07:28.752)
Yeah.
Yeah, that’s a good idea to listen to the boss, Curran, that’s for sure. But I think a lot of times, and I’m guilty of this too, Keith could probably tell you, I think a lot of times we think the more plays that you run, the more plays you get on offense in a game, that that’s always better. And the reality is, just as you said, that’s not always the case because…
If you’re forcing your defense to be out there more, even though you’re running more plays, that’s not necessarily a good thing. So I think it’s good that you recognize that that isn’t always the best way to approach the game.
Curran White (08:13.489)
I guess not. mean, offensive guys, that’s always, there’s different schools of thought. But when you work for a defensive head coach, then that’s what you do.
John Snell (08:21.883)
Well, current again, congratulations on a great win. We wish you the best the rest of the rest of the way. And we appreciate you being on on our show. And again, we were happy that we could recognize a great performance on your part and your offenses part. So again, congrats.
Curran White (08:44.09)
Hey, thanks, John. Appreciate you having me on. Go Falcons!