Connor Stalions gives hot take on the current landscape of high school 7-on-7

The former Michigan assistant voiced his opinion on X about what high school 7-on-7 has turned into

Michigan football analyst Connor Stalions on the sideline during the Wolverines' 31-7 win over Rutgers, Sept. 23, 2023 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. / Kirthmon F. Dozier / USA TODAY NETWORK

Former University of Michigan assistant Connor Stalions voiced out on social media his thoughts on 7-on-7 and it wasn't all that positive whatsoever.

The former Detroit Mumford defensive coordinator, now Belleville assistant, ranted on X Thursday morning about how the 7-on-7 circuit he feels like turned from a developmental tool for high school football into a negative practice for players.

His rant turned into a lengthy thread on X, which the initial post has reached up to 332,500 people as of Friday evening.

Down below is the transcript of his X rant in its entirety:

"7on7 has turned into a terrible thing for the development of the high school football game & players. The whole purpose of 7-on-7 to begin with was to give high schoolers reps in the offseason without having Spring Ball (with pads) like college does. That needs to be closely reevaluated, and if states actually care about the safety and development of their high schoolers, they’d benefit significantly greater from having actual Spring (or “Summer”) Ball than continuing on with 7-on-7s. The entire concept of 7-on-7 ultimately took 1 step forward while taking maybe 5 steps backwards for the game of football and development & safety of players.

Pros of 7-on-7:
- Competition (really just something to do)

Cons of 7-on-7:
- Competition
- Unrealistic Personnel & Looks
- Rewards bad habits at every position that have to be untaught and re-taught in the fall

Competition:
The pros of competition: obviously any time kids can compete it’s generally a good thing. And they get exposure to competition they wouldn’t have otherwise had the opportunity to do, so yes there are a few minor positives.

And no, this is not a primary point, but it needs to be said, so that if anything the only concrete positive of 7-on-7s is countered. If you go to any given 7-on-7, you’ll most likely see one of three things… and unfortunately often all of them:
1. Players trash talking more than they communicate with their own teammates.
2. Players worried about their celebrations more than their own assignment.
3. Coaches trash talking opposing players & coaches.

I’m all for some fun, but when the culture of 7-on-7 has completely shifted to players (and coaches) focusing more on what the opponent is saying than their own assignment, there’s no point of even competing and we’re just wasting everybody’s time & money.

Unrealistic Personnel & Looks:
It is completely in the offense’s best interest in a 7-on-7 to go Empty 4x1 on every single play. How many snaps of that do you see in a real football season? If any, can probably count them on one hand for most teams.

Defensively: In a real football game, unless you’re in Prevent Defense with 5 seconds left defending a Hail Mary, on obvious passing downs (e.g. 3rd & 13) at most the defense would be in Dime Personnel (6 DBs on the field [4-1-6]). You’d have a Linebacker on the field considering there’s always some threat of a run.

In a 7-on-7, however, all 5 Eligibles are Receivers, considering every play is a pass and there’s no pass rush. Even when the offense has a RB aligned in the backfield in a 7-on-7, he’s really a WR. He’s never in Pass Pro. So if you want to realistically compete defensively at a 7-on-7, there’s no reason not to have all 7 of your defenders be Corner-type defenders. If you have an actual Mike LB out there (who vs the pass in a real game is usually either playing the Hook or defending a Tight End or Back) he’s going to get stuck covering an actual elite WR which would almost never happen in a real game. So the response, from a competitive standpoint, is to put 7 DBs in the 7-on-7. So most teams have a Corner at Mike LB. And if you do have that actual Mike LB at Mike LB, then that takes us to the last point — Rewarding terrible habits for every position — which is such a long list, it has earned its own separate tweet.

7-on-7 Rewards terrible habits for every position:
LBs:
Most LBs in a real football game have a checklist to execute prior to every play.
1. Close the front
2. Align
3. Know which gap I’m responsible for
4. How does my gap responsibility change vs. Motion?
5. What is my coverage responsibility?

A 7-on-7 rewards LBs for just skipping right to step 5. And that doesn’t even mention the bad post-snap habits, specifically where a LB’s eyes need to be at the snap. Depending on the call, a LB’s eyes at the snap in a real game need to either be on a Tight End / Sniffer, the RB, or a Triangle Read (Guards & RB). In a 7-on-7, his eyes can just skip right to his pass responsibility.

Safeties (& in 2-High calls, the Nickel or Corner):
In any 1-high call with a rotating Safety, that Safety is often responsible for the D Gap. So his pre-snap checklist is similar to the LBs regarding the run. And obviously a 7-on-7 rewards him for skipping to the final pass coverage step in his checklist. The same can be said for a Nickel (in Cover 4) or even a Corner (in Cover 6 or Cover 8). Imagine trying to teach a Corner in a 10-day Fall Camp that he’s the final Run Fitter in Cover 6 after an entire spring & summer of him just worried about his drip and covering a flashy WR.

Quarterbacks:
I didn’t forget about offense. Whatever the opposite of “battle tested” is, that’s a QB in a 7-on-7. Not only does he have a clean pocket, he actually has no pocket. In real life, there are upwards of 11 (sometimes even more) people collapsing in on him while he has to process what up to 12 players are doing downfield. He must simultaneously utilize his habitual footwork to navigate that pocket and deliver the ball, oftentimes with an imminent threat of immediately getting hit by a guy who weighs 100 lbs more than he does. In a 7-on-7 he can just hang out and deliver the ball like backyard football. Waste of time for his development if we’re being honest. Some coaches argue 7-on-7 is good for developing QB IQ. Let’s take a look at a QB’s pre-snap checklist (similar to a LB’s). All are somewhat similar to this:
1. Identify any pressure/coverage indicators
2. Key the Weak Safety
3. Evaluate leverage of each defender
4. Evaluate the box count & front (and ID the Mike)
Well, there is no front, no box count, and no threat of pressure. So quite frankly, getting 1,000 reps of keying the weak safety & DB leverage is nice, but it’s not a full habit, so it would have to be untaught & retaught (if that QB is going to actually his IQ effectively). Getting 1,000 reps at one part and not the other is not great for developing any complete habit. Again, all while zero threat of having to actually implement any sense of Pocket Presence.

Offensive skills:
Sure, while you never have to block, the argument could be made that WRs face the biggest challenge in a 7-on-7 — getting open when the defense knows it’s a pass. But once that pass is caught, 90% of these WRs hold the ball like they’re trying to pose for a photo while palming the ball. And why are they rewarded for this bad habit? Because 1. there’s no threat of a fumble; and 2. back to players & coaches prioritizing trash talking & celebrating more than actual good football habits.

WRs do get the most work out of a 7-on-7 without developing terrible habits (not everyone has bad ball security in a 7-on-7), but the point is to explain no position is safe from false-reinforcement (rewarding bad habits). It is significantly worse on defense for reasons explained above plus many more.

All of these bad habits are repped thousands of times all spring & summer. So they have to be untaught and then re-taught in the fall (for actual football) which takes more time than just learning it from scratch to begin with (hence 7-on-7 being 1 step forward while taking 5 steps backwards).

Football is a sport that requires the most reps, considering there are more habits (in quantity & quality) that must be developed (especially at younger ages) than there are in any other sport. There are 22 players on the field, going full speed and colliding with each other, unlike any other sport. And said sport only gets about a 10-day window at the high school level to teach 30+ days of habits to then go execute it at full speed against other teams.

Think about it: college teams (that have athletes who are much further developed and advanced with these habits) have an entire spring practice window with 15 practices, plus an entire month of fall camp. We’re talking 40+ practices with pads to develop & reinforce all these good habits.

Then look at high school in most states. Not only do teams only have a 10-day window to teach the good habits that college teams have 40+ days of practice to teach, but they have to actually unteach all the bad habits developed from 7-on-7 to then reteach the good habits in 10 days. So double the amount of teaching in 25% of the time. All with kids who are physically not as developed, so it’s arguably 5x more important than it is at the college level. We’re talking 50 days of habit-forming in a 10-day window that is more vital to player safety than levels (college) with the adequate amount of days to form said habits.

High School State Associations need to seriously evaluate this and implement a variation of Spring Practice to replace 7-on-7. The second school gets out in June, high school teams should be able to have fully padded practices a couple times per week (say even 15 total times throughout summer prior to the 10-day fall camp window) in order to develop good football habits, ultimately improving technique, which increases safety. The answer for safety in football — especially at the high school level — is not to “decrease the amount of hitting,” but rather to increase the amount of time & reps of good technique habits.

If states truly care about the safety and development of their high schoolers, they’ll move on past this 7-on-7 stage and get to more padded practices spread over time to develop good (and safe) habits.

High School & College football (and athletics in general) is in a much different space than when the rules and regulations were adopted by the HSAA organizations in each state. Therefore, it’s time to re-examine things like transfer rules, eligibility, and available legal padded practice times. The rules no longer reflect the landscape of today’s athletics and are counterproductive to their original intent."

7on7 has turned into a terrible thing for the development of the high school football game & players. The whole purpose of 7-on-7 to begin with was to give high schoolers reps in the offseason without having Spring Ball (with pads) like college does. That needs to be closely…

— Connor Stalions (@cpstalions) February 27, 2025

Stalions briefly served as the defensive coordinator for Detroit Mumford before leaving to join Belleville for the postseason. The Trojans finished the 2024 season with a record of 1-8.

The Tigers on the otherhand ended up finishing the past season with a 9-3 record, featuring Michigan signee Bryce Underwood.

Stalions was a former analyst for the Michigan Wolverines football program and at the center of a sign-stealing NCAA investigation.

Last October, the NCAA launched an investigation into the Michigan football program for sign-stealing. Stalions is considered the architect of a system that allegedly sent individuals to games of future Michigan opponents to scout signs.

Connor Stalions, Michigan staffer at center of sign stealing, takes high school job at Detroit Mumford

Detroit Mumford High School athletic director refutes report that Connor Stalions is acting head football coach

---

More From High School On SI 

• Florida high school girls flag football: No. 2 Alonso shuts down No. 1 Robinson

• Monarch (Florida) to face Archbishop Spalding (Maryland) & Don Bosco Prep (New Jersey) in 2025

• Nick Bigica returning for second stint as Golden Gate (Florida) football head coach

• IMG Academy Has Begun Its Search for Billy Miller’s Replacement as Head Football Coach

---

Follow High School On SI throughout the 2024 high school football season for Live Updates, the most up to date Schedules & Scores and complete coverage from the preseason through the state championships!

Be sure to Bookmark High School on SI for all of the latest high school football news.

High School On SI will serve as the premier destination for high school sports fans, delivering unparalleled coverage of high school athletics nationwide through in-depth stories, recruiting coverage, rankings, highlights and much more. The launch of a dedicated high school experience expands Sports Illustrated’s reach to even more local communities as fans can now truly follow athletes from “preps to the pros” on a single platform, bringing them closer to the action than ever before. For more information, visit si.com/high-school.

Download the SBLive App

To get live updates on your phone - as well as follow your favorite teams and top games - you can download the SBLive Sports app: Download iPhone App| Download Android App

-- Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @highschoolonsi