The Future of Football Film Study: High School Coaches Talk AI, Live Replay and More

Hudl's recent panel of football coaches from around the country shed light on how AI, live replay, new workflows and more are shaping the next era of the game.

Watch the full session below or skim through the blog for some key takeaways.

Panelists: 

• Kyle Amettis: Assistant Coach, Maroa-Forsyth HS (IL)
• Dan Mullins: Assistant Coach, Cartersville HS (GA)
• Nick Danielson: Sales & Customer Success Manager, Hudl
• Dave Hinkens: Head Coach, Xavier HS (WI)
• Elliott Bulling: Defensive Coordinator, Lincoln Northeast HS (NE)

Where is AI going to play a role?

Like most conversations about the future, this one starts with AI. Our panel envisions the addition of AI into their film workflows helping them in a variety of ways:

“Being able to immediately have access to [video] content following practice or in between sessions to show kids and provide that very streamlined process. Tying that with AI and bringing a data component to that is really exciting.” — Hinkens

“ I think of the reports and labeling film as being the two obvious areas for AI to step in and almost serve as an extension of the coach. But it also goes a little bit deeper than that into how we train. I've used AI prompts to analyze data within exercise science and to identify trends.” — Mullins

“ Maybe AI can apply the super basic stuff really fast. And maybe that's all that some programs want to do and now they can just focus on coaching. But maybe that then allows other programs to say, I spend ten hours a week breaking down film. Five hours of that is the basics. Now I can do ten hours and go deeper with the same amount of effort. The effort stays the same, but you just start from a different place.” — Bulling

Coaches also highlighted the ability of AI to create insights around or built for specific position groups:

“If we can use AI to identify what our individual athletes are better against, whether it's, this outside linebacker's better at fitting the run, this one's better at blitzing, this one's better situationally. Allowing us to identify tendencies where our own self scouting might not be able to pick up on, we can dive in and get a lot of that out of AI.”  — Mullins

“The ability to quickly streamline and get the right content to the right person, using AI as the medium for driving the content to the right individual group, to get a playlist and content directed to your DB’s, your linebackers, your O-Line, et cetera. To make that process streamlined and immediate is really exciting for me.” — Hinkens

Ultimately, the true advantage of AI is its ability to automate the link between data and film, ensuring instant, precise delivery to every player.

“It just brings more power to your teaching abilities,” said Hinkens.

What will weekly prep and workflows look like in the future?

Coaches are already seeing the benefits of modernized film review. What’s happening now that hints at where things are headed next?

“Rather than the first four hours of your game planning week, gathering data, gathering film, organizing, is to start your game planning with those things ready and you can start your deep dive. What pays the big bucks at that point is [that] portion of it, rather than the preparation portion to get ready for the deep dive.”  — Danielson

“We've started using drones to film our practices now, and we're in love with the angles as opposed to what we typically get with an end zone or a sideline view. Now we're right on top of the play and you see everything you want when you get that angle.” — Amettis

Tech can also help level the playing field between programs with varying degrees of resources, say some coaches:

“There's a lot of options out there and things you can put in the toolbox. So if a coach is smart with that I think they can do a lot with a little. All these technology pieces that can help you gain efficiency means you can have four or five guys on staff and still affect some real change.”  — Amettis 

Why live replay is key to the future of football video analysis:

Reviewing film instantly is the secret sauce to communicating coaching points that stick:

“Twenty years ago, you would've had to rep it a hundred times for it to sink in, ten years ago you had to wait until the next day and get the DVD out to show them what you were talking about, and then hope that it sunk in the next week.

Now, you've picked it up, you've made the adjustment at halftime, and we can run this play in the second half now. That's how far the instant feedback has brought us. It feels like we're taking that to a fourth layer and adding the AI on top of it.” — Amettis

“ I don't think it changes the way they learn. I think it is the way they learn. Like they learn from seeing it. If it's on their phone, when they get back to their locker and they can see it like that muscle memory can kick in. The closer to real time that you can teach them, the more actionable that teaching is.” — Bulling

Will advancements in tech impact schemes?

Quicker insights can give coaches a bigger schematic menu, impacting play calling in different ways:

“I think it's gonna impact creativity. You can see that type of stuff happening already, as far as the intricacies of play calling. How many of us saw Orbit motion 20 years ago in high school? You didn't see that that much, and it all eventually trickles down.

A lot of that has to do with the deeper insights that you're getting, from the AI side of things and tendencies and taking a deeper dive. Now we know that they're gonna read this a certain way. So we're gonna change how we've always called this play, because we know that they're being coached to cave down on this. And now we're gonna run it completely differently than we've ever run it before. I don't think you saw that in yesterday's game. Now you do see it, even at the high school level.” — Amettis

“ You could quickly learn like, we run zone read really well, it's our most efficient play. We see the data, we see the video, let's just stay on that and continue to hammer that because it works. Instead of throwing a bunch of stuff out there and trying to figure out what works by feel, it's just like, these are your four plays that you're best at, no matter who you're facing. That's what we're gonna do to be successful with the personnel that we have.” — Bulling

Where will film workflows improve in an ideal world?

So what would an ideal film workflow look like? Panelists shared their vision:

“ It's stuff that [already] exists, but how do you scale it down to the high school level? The video game style replay where I can show a play from a player's perspective and teach them from that and learn what they're seeing and do that like for all 22 [players] that are on the field?

That would be amazing to be able to just go in and say, what did you see on this play? And easily access that and coach them through that.” — Bulling

“ I would just love a world where we just have access to a video library to be able to teach from and to use it however you want within your program.”  — Hinkens

“ I want all the stuff that I want and want it to be there. Video from every angle, all the data, so that I can focus on uncovering those insights. Or have those platforms deliver me those insights based on what I'm looking for.

Like if I go scout, I look for these specific things, why can't it just give me those things so I can start my day with it and then go deeper or get that to my athletes sooner? Being able to focus on coaching more than being a data inputter or film guy. I want to coach.” — Bulling