OffenseAs a coach I have had the opportunity to work with some prolific offensive attacks. At Clay High School in 2013 our offense rushed for 4,696 rushing yards for 58 touchdowns and averaged 313 yards per game and scored 30 points per game. At Winter Spring High School in 2010 our offense rushed for 2,876 rushing yards in 10 games for 28 touchdowns averaging 230 yards rushing per game.
Our offense will be a multi-tempo, primarly 20 personnel two back spread. We will use multiple tempos, automatics, unbalanced formations and check with me in order to keep the defense on it's heels and to get us in the best play possible. Our personnel will obviously dictate what we can and cannot do. In a perfect world I would like to have one of our best athletes at QB; somebody who can direct the offense, get us into the right play, can make the explosive runs, and make all the necessary throws. Our tailback would be a guy who has explosive running ability and a tough inside the tackles runner. He needs to be a guy who can get a minimum of 5 yards a carry and have the ability to outrun safeties. Our "Z" slot receiver we want a guy who has great speed who can handle the jet sweep and make plays in space on a now screen. Our X and Y receivers we want guys who can reliably catch the football and block on the perimeter. The offensive line has to be able to move, get off the football, and have hip power to dominate the defender in front of them.
Our goal is to control the clock and dictate the pace of the game to the defense. Being multi-tempo allows us to slow the game down or speed the game up. We never allow the defense to get comfortable. We can go no huddle and run plays at a lightspeed tempo; we can line up fast with a dead call, and try to get an easy 5 yards or reset and get into the best play based on alignment. We can huddle and slow the pace of the game in tight games. Note: All of the following listed is not the terminology we will use. Every tempo, formation, playcall, and motion will be built on various code words and signals in order to eliminate unnecessary verbiage, but the concepts remain the same. Tempo 1: HUDDLE - Our slowest tempo, we will use the huddle tempo if we need to make special adjustments, slow the pace of the game, or when we feel the defense may have a handle on our signals, calls, or if we just need to change it up. Tempo 2: FAST - Our fastest tempo, we want to line up as fast as we can with the exact same play in mind. As soon as the ball is set we want to snap the ball. We like to use this tempo with combination calls in mind; run choices (check with me at line, run the ball no matter what), a run with an access throw (run + x solo) or (run + quick screen choice). This allows us to run plays as fast as possible but gives us multiple options that the defense cannot adjust to. We can also issue a dead call at the line of scrimmage allowing us to simulate the snap to try to get the defense to jump; from there we can automatically check with the coach to get us in the correct play. Tempo 3: NO HUDDLE - Our medium tempo we will not huddle, but we will make a significant formation change, motion or some other tag. We can couple this with a dead call in order to try to get defense to jump or a clear call in order to line up and run the same play like our fast temp. Day 1 InstallWe will primarily be a two back 20 personnel spread football team. We can get into a number of different backfield sets that will give us plenty of run options to stretch the defense. We can also incorporate shifts from a split back formation to keep defense's from gaining pre-snap tendencies. Other shifts and changing formations with tempo can provide us with numbers advantages that the defense will struggle adjusting too. The following would be an example of our Day 1 install and would be the bread and butter of what we do. We would later add on, King/Queen/Over/Trips/Full House, additional formations, additional run plays (Trap/Jet/Power/Jet Power/GT/Jet GT/Draw etc), additonal screens, 2 man concepts, 3 man concepts, play-action passes, and specials. We will not install more than we have to. We will become great at a few things and make adjustments week by week. The following are some of our core beliefs.
We will throw to uncovered and soft covered receivers on now screens, x under, to keep defenders out of the box. Once defenders creep up we will throw now-go, x-under go, and double move routes. We will identify fronts and force defenders in order to take advantage of any defensive misalignment. We will run a combination of gap and zone schemes in order to maximize our offensive lines abilities against different types of personnel. We will get the ball into the hands of our best athletes. Our installs will focus on one to three plays or concepts in each category and we will never install anything beyond what our students can handle. We want them to be able to master a skill before moving on to the next. We feel confident that with our first week of install that we will have 85-90% of our offense in. Everything else would be game week adjustments. In day one we would focus on one receiver set, and two back field sets. 3 run plays. 1 run check. 3 pass concepts. 2 quick screens + tag. 2 protections. 2 play action passes, solo side concepts/access throws and 1 open you choice. From this list with two formations we feel that we can run our offense at a lightspeed tempo, make adjustments, and keep defenses on their toes; all while being incredibly simple for the kids. Since every kid is only responsible for learning 2-3 concepts and every concept is just one word, we will be able to be play fast and efficiently.
The play above is a run (weakside iso) with a built in automatic flash screen if uncovered. There are a number of different ways we could address the play call. We could call the weakside iso with a solid call (meaning that we will run the play no matter what), we could make a FIVE CHOICE call (meaning we would line up and check into one of the our preferred run concepts at the line of scrimmage OF, ISO, VEER), we could make a YOU CHOICE call (allowing our QB to take his pick between the X solo (Hitch/Out/Go/Slant), the 2 man screen concept, or the Five choice run. When we get good at it we can run "YOU CHOICE" at FAST tempo right down the field and it could look like we are running 10 different plays. We can also limit choices, such as we could call our preferred run concept in this case Iso and tag X solo (The OL and back are ready to run iso, if the QB gets a look from the defense that would be conducive to throwing the ball we can get a big chunk of yardage). We could call our preferred run concept and tag a check. There is a ton that we can do to stretch the defense, limit or expand QB decision making, and get us into a play where we can take advantage of a defense. Obviously we would not ask our QB on day one to do everything. We would limit his decision making, but at the same time if over the course of the year we can open up the playbook, be fast, and get into the right play; we can be downright unstoppable on the offensive side of the ball with minimum concepts.
An example of this at high speed for a series could be as follows. We call OPEN STACK WEAK, FIVE CHOICE firm at the line of scrimmage and the QB knows that he has his choice of any of the following run concepts VEER WK, ISO WK, and OF STRONG. The QB comes to the line of scrimmage with a 4-2-5, two high shell. He notices there is a one and a five to weak side, with a read force defender. He knows the defense is in poor position to defend veer. He comes to the line calls our signal for VEER LEFT; and we run the play. A coach will be assigned to watch the BS corner to see if he is honoring the hitch, out, slant, fade; another coach will be watching the two man side to make sure the defense is honoring our quick screens.
We go fast tempo, the defense responds to veer by dropping a force defender into the box weak. While we could still run VEER it may not be the best play choice based on personnel. We still have a one and a five to the weak side, the QB checks ISO weak into the bubble.
We continue with our fast tempo coupled with a dead call to try to get the defense to jump offsides. The defense doesn't jump and adjusts by shifting the three technique to the weakside. We still feel veer is not a great concept against a in the box force defender and while we could still run ISO into the A gap, we feel that we have a nice matchup at the 1/5 bubble. QB Calls OF Strong.
The defense has been screaming downhill, the safeties are quick into the box trying to prevent the run. As we are running with fast tempo we check from the sideline to OF screen. The will and mike scream downhill following their guard key and the FS cheats down for cutback giving us an alley with our X receiver in space.
Keys to Offensive Success
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