Setting up your kickoff return formations youth football style doesn't have to be a headache, but it's often the most overlooked part of a Saturday morning game. We've all seen it: the ball is kicked, it bounces off a kid's face mask, and suddenly the other team has the ball on your 20-yard line. It's chaotic. But if you spend just a little time organizing your return unit, you can turn that chaos into a serious advantage. In youth ball, field position is everything. If you can start your drive at the 40 instead of your own 15, your chances of scoring skyrocket.
Why the formation matters more than the returner
Everyone wants to find that one kid who can outrun the entire world. While having a fast returner is great, the formation is what actually creates the space for them to move. In youth football, the kicking game is usually "messy." Kickers aren't exactly booming it into the endzone for touchbacks. You're going to see squib kicks, line drives, and accidental onside kicks almost every single time.
If your formation is too spread out, you'll give up cheap turnovers. If it's too bunched up, you'll never get a block on the perimeter. The goal is to find a balance where you can cover the whole field while still giving your athletes a chance to build some momentum.
The classic 5-3-2-1 setup
This is the bread and butter for most youth programs. It's simple, easy to teach, and covers most of the grass. You've got five guys on the front line, three guys in the middle (the "short" returners), two "wing" returners, and one deep guy.
The front five are your "blockers." Their job isn't to hit someone immediately. In fact, if they try to block right at the line of scrimmage, the coverage team will just run right past them. We tell our kids to drop back about 10 yards, find a man, and then get in their way.
The middle three are your safety net. These kids need to be sure-handed. They're the ones who are going to deal with those nasty line-drive kicks that hurt to catch. Their first priority is to secure the ball. If they catch it and fall down, that's a win compared to a fumble.
Dealing with the dreaded squib kick
Let's be real: at the youth level, 80% of kicks are squibs. If you're lining up with a deep returner and expecting a high, hang-time kick, you're going to be disappointed. To counter the squib, many coaches shift to a 6-2-2-1 or even a 5-4-2.
The idea here is to put more "meat" in the middle of the field. You want your toughest, most aggressive kids in those middle spots. They need to understand that when the ball is rolling on the ground, it's a live ball. They can't just wait for it to stop. They have to attack it.
I've found that telling the front line to "peel back" rather than "run back" helps a lot here. They should be looking over their shoulders to see where that ball is bouncing. If it's a short kick, the front line becomes the primary blockers immediately.
The "Hands Team" mentality
Even if it's not an obvious onside kick situation, your kickoff return unit should always be thinking about ball security. In youth football, players often get "ball watched." They stare at the kick while the coverage team is sprinting full speed at them.
Teaching your players to call "Peter" or "Away" when they aren't the ones catching it is huge. It alerts everyone else to get out of the way or start looking for someone to block. Communication is usually the first thing to go out the window when the whistle blows, so drilling this into them during practice is a lifesaver.
The "Wall" return vs. the "Wedge"
There are two main ways to actually run the return once the ball is caught. The "Wedge" used to be the king of youth football. You'd get three or four big kids to lock arms (or just stand shoulder-to-shoulder) and lead the way for the returner like a snowplow. However, you have to be careful—many leagues have banned the wedge for safety reasons. Check your local rulebook before you spend two weeks practicing it.
The "Wall" return is a bit safer and often more effective if your kids can follow directions. In a wall return, your blockers identify which side the ball is going to. If the ball goes right, the blockers on the left side of the formation sprint toward a pre-determined spot on the right sideline. They form a literal wall of bodies. The returner catches the ball, head toward the middle to draw the defense in, and then bounces it outside behind that wall.
It sounds complicated, but kids actually pick it up pretty fast because it's like a "follow the leader" game.
Selecting your returners
Don't just put your fastest kid at the deep spot and call it a day. Your deep returner needs to be someone who isn't afraid of a ball screaming at them from the sky. They also need "north-south" vision.
We've all coached that kid who catches the ball and immediately tries to run sideways to the sideline. In youth football, that usually ends with a five-yard loss. You want the kid who catches the ball, sticks his foot in the ground, and gets vertical. Five yards of forward progress is better than twenty yards of sideline-to-sideline dancing that ends in a tackle for a loss.
The "Short" returners are the real MVPs
The kids in the second and third levels of your formation are the ones who actually win games. These are usually your linebackers or fullbacks. They're tough, they can catch well enough, and they aren't afraid to take a hit while securing a bobbled ball. If you put your "weakest" players here just to hide them, you're asking for a turnover. Put kids there who are hungry to get their hands on the ball.
Practice drills that actually work
You don't need to spend an hour on kickoff returns. Fifteen minutes of focused work is plenty.
- The Drop-Back Drill: Have your front line practice turning and running to a specific yard marker without losing sight of the "kicker" (you). This helps them get used to moving backward while staying aware of the play.
- The Chaos Ball: Throw a bunch of footballs on the ground and have your middle returners scramble to recover them. It sounds silly, but it builds the instinct to dive on a loose ball rather than trying to scoop it up and run.
- The Target Block: Set up cones to represent the "wall." Have your blockers practice sprinting to those cones and then turning to find a "defender" (a coach with a bag).
Coaching the "Don't Turn Your Back" rule
The biggest mistake youth players make is turning their back to the play and sprinting toward their own endzone. When they do this, they have no idea where the ball is or where the opponents are.
Teach your players to "backpedal-run." They should be at a 45-degree angle, glancing over their shoulder. They need to see the flight of the ball. If the ball is kicked short and they're already 20 yards downfield with their backs turned, that's an easy recovery for the kicking team.
Keep it fun and high energy
Special teams can be boring for kids if you let it be. Make it a competition. Reward the "block of the week" on the kickoff return unit. Give a helmet sticker to the kid who recovers a muffed kick. If the kids think the kickoff return is just a transition period between the "real" parts of the game, they won't give it any effort.
If you treat it like a scoring play, they will too. A well-executed kickoff return is a backbreaker for the other team. It sucks the wind out of their sails right after they've scored. If you can get your kickoff return formations youth football players to buy into the "start fast" mentality, you're going to win a lot of games on field position alone.
Just keep it simple, make sure everyone knows their job, and for the love of all things holy, make sure they know how to fall on a rolling ball. Everything else is just icing on the cake.