Little Guy With Some Motivation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CdJTfGiRCI

Women in Football

A woman playing football. How is that for a new idea in the game of football?

This past week I finally had an opportunity to meet some of the incoming freshman football players that I would be coaching this fall as they were doing there weight lifting regimen. Much to my surprise, one of them was female! Through my years as a player, I have seen girls say they want to play and then never follow through, but this particular girl is actually in the weight room working towards becoming a football player. I talked to another coach who said that he has seen this before and that she'll quit before long. For me, I believe that she is serious about doing this, and the only question is whether or not she can take a hit. I guess I'll just have to wait and see. If she makes it past her first hard hit, then we'll know this is for real.

But what about women playing football? Certainly it is physically difficult for women to compete against men but there are always exceptions to the rule. We are always looking for ways to use different players in different situations to give us a competitive advantage. Is there anyway to use this with women on the team? If you're a small school could it be advantageous to have a female track star or basketball center on your team?

Maybe women can't compete, but you won't know unless you let them have a fair shake.

Harrison High School Adds Youth to Staff

William Henry Harrison High School of Harrison, Ohio has a long standing tradition of "Old School" football. They have been running a power I offense since before anyone alive can remember. Through many years and many coaches Harrison has maintained an image of traditional offenses, stapled by a strong run game.
Just recently Harrison hired two recent graduates to help coach their football team. Bryan Berning, 2008 graduate, will be varsity offensive line coach and junior varsity offensive coordinator. Kevin Ferneding, 2007 graduate, will be the freshman running backs coach. Both coaches grew up in Harrison's traditional power I offense, but they also are extremely well educated on New Football Schemes as well.
The Ultimate goal is for Coaches Berning and Ferneding to be able to expand the Wildcat's playbook to include New Football Scheme Plays, and be able to utilize these plays without losing the tradition of power running found at Harrison High School. I am excited to see the Wildcat's offense develop and to see how these two talented young coaches create the perfect marriage between traditional offense, and New Football Schemes.

Triple Screen

Running screen plays is often exciting (or scary if you're on defense) to see. I'm not talking about the quick wide receiver screens, I'm talking about the jail breaks and other screens which are designed to look like a complete disaster in pass protection only to see that it was done intentionally to allow the linemen to get up field to block for a running back. Every team has a couple of these types of screens in their playbook. They can be run to one side or the other, or the screen can be thrown in the middle of the field. But, what about a play that allows the quarterback to choose to throw the ball to one of three different screen setups? A triple screen has wide outs set to receive screens on the outside with other receivers and maybe a tackle to block for them, and a running back in position for a middle screen with the center and guards to be his lead blockers. This is a terrible concept for defenses. Assuming that the defense identifies that they are being set up for a screen (which doesn't always happen), where are they supposed to go? Having three different options spreads defenders out, and can make for easy pickings for the offense. The difficulty in this play is that the quarterback has to make a decision with pressure breathing down his back, and there is also the possibility of the pass being picked off. I think that this can be something fun for coaches to play around with and can certainly add a new element to their screen game.

Triple Option

The triple option is in no way a "New Football Scheme", however it's popularity has grown rapidly in recent years. The most common form of the triple option is the Veer. The Veer was invented in 1965 by Bill Yeoman from the University of Houston who ran it out of a split back offense. What makes the triple options such great plays is that two defenders are optioned by the quarterback, which means that those two players do not need to be blocked, which frees up offensive lineman to double team and pick up other defensemen. In recent years many high schools have been switching to a double wing, wing t, or flexbone offense in order to take advantage of the effectiveness of the veer option.

Although the triple option has had a lot of success, especially at the high school level, I would caution coaches against using it as the mainstay of their offense. By running theses plays in high school, many talented running backs and quarterbacks do not develop their abilities to run plays which they will see at the college level. A running back in a double wing does not gain a lot of experience making reads on power, Iso, Counter, and other more traditional plays which they are more likely to see at the college level. My recommendation is to use triple options as an addition to the offense that you already have. This not only helps the development of your players, but also makes defensive game planning very difficult for your opponents.

Sorry that I have been gone for so long.

A couple weeks ago I received a job as William Henry Harrison High School's Freshman Running Backs Coach. I will be working along side of the freshman head coach Roger Osborne who once played for the Cincinnati Bengals as a long snapper. I have a list of plays that Coach Oz wants to run, and I have to say that it is an interesting collection of plays. Many of the plays are the plays that the high school coach (Neal Kasner) wants the freshman to learn, while others are plays that Coach Oz wants to use to throw off freshman defenses as well as add an extra element of fun into the game. It is a mix between traditional offensive attacks, and "New Football Schemes".

I am excited to begin working with the young men this summer. It is a great opportunity for me to advance my coaching skills, as well as learn how to implement "New Football Schemes" into a program who's tradition is a traditional offensive approach.

Red's Wing

Red's Wing Offense is yet another unusual and unique offensive scheme. The unique thing about the offense is that a large split is utilized between the guard and tackle on the strong side. This creates a large seem in the defense, and also spreads out the defensive front. Because of the alignment, it creates great blocking angles for the offensive line. It is a great offense for teams with smaller but quicker offensive lineman. It is also possible to run option plays out of it by utilizing the spit backs in the backfield, as well as the wing back lined up on the strong side. This is an offense worth looking at. I think it as effective way to create an advantage up front even if your offensive line isn't very big.

Stretch/Outside Zone

Instead of posting a blog, I put together a podcast which can be accessed by selecting the link on the right hand side below the facebook link. Let me know if you prefer regular blog posts or would prefer more podcast.

Tackling

This is not a new football scheme, but I think it is an issue which should be addressed:

I recently read an American Football Monthly article which addressed the issue of poor tackling in football today. Many coaches (myself included) get real excited learning about the newest offenses, blocking schemes, and blitz packages. We will spend time teaching our athletes their assignments for the many plays we run, but spend very little time at practice practicing tackling. We are too afraid of the risk of injury. We don't want one of our players to be injured before game day. In a traditional Power I type offense, a player is able to run through a running back because there is no where else for him to go and he is basically served on a platter to an unblocked linebacker. However, with more and more teams moving to a spread offense, this is no longer the case. Now players get the ball in space and it becomes a one on one for the ball carrier and the defender. This is where a lack of practice really hurts. The result has been a lot of missed tackles, a lot of yards after contact, and a lot of offensive dominance. You will hear coaches after a game say that we lost because of poor tackling, but when was the last time you heard a coach say we lost because of a bad scheme? Tackling is one of the basic fundamentals of football and it needs to practiced and practiced no matter what skill level you are at.

I encourage all coaches to continue to study the latest schemes but do not neglect the basics.

Spin Offense

The Spin Offense is best described as a Double Wing offense from shotgun. It is called the Spin because the Quarterback will pivot (spin) on every play. One of the wings will go in an arc motion on almost every play. When the Quarterback catches the snap, he turns to face his own end zone and either hands off or fakes to the motion man who will hit full running speed when he reaches the quarterback. Everything else is the same as any Wing T type offense. The advantage that this offense gives is that there is a lot of crossing between the two wings in the backfield and the quarterback ends up spinning around making it difficult to decipher who had the football. Also, because the Quarterback turns his back to the defense so that they cannot see what is going on. I can see this offense being an effective weapon. It was born from a traditional offensive attack and has the capabilities of using tried and proven plays. The one thing I don't like about the offense is that because the QB turns his back to the defense, he is unable to read the coverage for a play-action pass or read a defensive end for a Quarterback option.

Shotgun Zone Fly

The Shotgun Zone Fly Offense is a type of spread offense. It was invented by Coach Byron Hamilton at Foothill High School in California. The offense features a single running back in the backfield who lines up behind the quarterback who is in shotgun. One of the receivers is designated as the motion man, the 'fly guy'. He will be a speed threat for sweep plays. The quarterback is expected to be a running threat in this offense. This means that there are three players who may take a hand off on any given play, which seems odd coming from a spread based offense. Coach Hamilton says that he likes to use more athletic offensive lineman for this offense to help make reach blocks on sweeps. Most of the inside plays are traps or a zone scheme play. It is a natural fit for smaller lineman on trap plays, and by using zone blocking, double teams are used making it manageable for a small line. I really like what I have heard and seen so far from this offense. I really like the idea of spreading the field, and then having three different run attacks on any given play. I think this offense has a good chance of catching on. More and more teams have started using spread formations, and I think that other coaches will like being able to have a threatening run game out of a spread formation.

Wing T Vs. Double Wing

The Wing T and Double Wing offenses are often times confused with one another. Most people see a Double Wing and call it a Wing T. The offenses are very similar, however it is important to understand that they come from two separate base formations. The best way to explain the difference between the two is to take a traditional T formation and move one of the backs into a wing position. That is a Wing T. A double wing will feature two wing backs and one full back behind the quarterback. Many of the plays end up being the same because of the use of motion out of the double wing which puts a wing back in the position of the second running back in a Wing T. A Wing T is able to be adjusted to fit a more traditional type of tailback by using it similar to the way that a split back formation can be used. In a Double Wing you would optimally have 2 similar style backs to play the wings so that your threats would be the same going in both directions. Also, out of a Double Wing you would have the advantage of having motion on nearly every play which can be used to give backs a running start on sweep and option plays.

A-11 Offense

The A-11 would have to be one of the craziest offensive schemes I have ever come across. The offense is characterized by having only 3 down lineman, and a quarterback lined up in a deep shotgun (around 7 yards behind los). This puts all of the remaining players in a position in which they all seem to be eligible recievers. Two of the recievers are actually ineligilble recievers, however they are still able to take handoffs on reverse plays and catch backward passes. The formation is illegal in the NCAA becuase it is "obvious that a kick may be attempted". In the NFL becuase of jersey number regulations it would be difficult to keep legal players on the field. The Formation is still legal in High School, although six state associations have banned it. This is a very interesting form of offense, and I'm not sure how effective it can be. It breaks all of the conventional rules of football, and I would not know how to use this offense effectively although it would be interesting to see this used for trick plays.

Pistol Offense

The Pistol offense came into being a few years ago. This is a very non-traditional offense. The Pistol is defined by having a running back line up behind the quarterback who is in a shotgun type snap. The plays that can be run out of this offense would be the same as any you would run out of a single back formation. The quarterback is usually lined up a little closer than you would see for a shotgun snap. The advantage that this offense brings is that you have your quarterback away from the center giving you an advantage on passing plays. Having the running back lined up behind the quarterback allows you to have normal hand offs and not having to adjust your under center plays to fit a shotgun snap. The disadvantage to this offense is that if you ran it with two backs, your full back would be mispositioned. I think that this can be an effective long term offense because it still utilizes tried and proven plays.

Wildcat Offense

A lot of attention has been payed this past season to the Miami Dolphins unconventional offense. Coined as the "wildcat", this offense utilizes a direct snap to a running back and eliminates the quarterback position. This is not a new concept. The offense has been used in the past as a trick or gimick play. This is the first time that I know of that a team has utilized it as a primary offense. I do not feel that this offense will last long. I have always believed that an offense needs to have both a passing and running threat in order to be successful, and defenses will be able to adapt and develop to this offense. This is not an offense that should be used as a primary offense, but maybe effective in use on trick plays.