SPREAD OFFENSE IN YOUTH FOOTBALL

Spread Offense in Youth Football

Spread Offense in Youth Football

Introduction

The spread has become the fastest growing offense in the Texas tech. I wonder how many truly understand all facets of the offense. When done properly it can be similar to a full court press in basketball and it will slowly wear the other team down. The running game is an integral part of becoming a complete offense. Coaches need to rep running as much or more than the passing game and few understand this.

There are three basic schemes for the offense line to learn inside zone, outside zone, and the counter trey. On some level this may seem simple. Unfortunately all three concepts are tremendously different and often offense lines will struggle to be good at all three.

Discussion

In a typical doubles alignment there are four wide receivers and one running back. The running back usually is set away from playside. So for example if a team is running "2-Base" then the back will be aligned to the quarterback's left and will crossover and attack the 2 hole and is always looking for a cutback lane. The back should be thinking bend or bang and has to read on the run. Often the hole will develop backside and as result no player should think they can take a playoff. Many times a back may end up backside and if the inside receiver is not doing his job his guy will make a touchdown saving tackle.

The foundation of the spread's running game is the zone read. As the back crosses over the quarterback's eyes are on the backside end. If the end closes the quarterback will pull the ball and run out the back door. If the end stays disciplined or slow plays then it is an automatic give. In this article I will focus on the responsibilities of the quarterback and runners.

Again repetition is critical. Many quarterbacks will guess. They have to read on the run and react to what the defense is giving the offense. 2/3 base is the foundation running play for the spread offense. The quarterback counter trey works off of base and should be learned together with 2/3 base (www.scribd.com).

Quarterback counter trey will look like 2/3 base but there is no read. If the play call was 4 QB counter trey, then the back would align to the right cross over and fake 3 base. The quarterback does not need to ride the ball to back, just let him cross. Backside guard and tackle will pull. The guard will kick the playside end and the tackle will seal on the linebacker. Playside linemen will down block. Let me say here that head up "4" techniques are difficult to counter because it's tough to execute a down block.

One of the most common errors by the quarterback will be for him to try and run wide. This play is tight and will be from backside B gap to play side B ...