MULTIPLE FORMATION OFFENSE FOOTBALL PLAYBOOK Introduction Many of the articles, playbooks, and books that have been written about football offenses have centered on one specific formation. For example, different articles, books and playbooks have been written about the single wing formation (MeClesky, 1995), double wing (Bien, 1991), the wing-T (Gentry, 1994), the I (Kramer, 1966), wishbone @emeo, 1990), run and shoot (Williams, 1994), and the west coast offense (Henderson, & Olson, 1997), (Lowry, 1996), (Walsh, Billick, & Petterson, 1998) to name a few. Many coaching clinis today have at least one speaker who tres to explain a specific offensive system and the advantages of using that one system. ‘Most coaches realize that when they have great athletes, any offense will be more productive, but in high school, the level of talent fluctuates drastically from year to year Tequiring adjustments in offenses every season. There are two basic philosophies about how to be successful each year; 1) having a set offensive system that you fit the athletes into each year, or 2) running a different offensive system each year based on the best athletes abilities. Both of these ideas have been used successfully at the high school level, but both ideas have some limitations. In both philosophies, adjustments for personnel, injuries, and different styles of defenses must be planned for (Billick, 1997) AA single set offense can become very limiting because there are only a certain amount of variations that can be made in the formations. Using a new offensive system each year may become confusing to the athletes (Parcelli, 1987). An offense that can2 be flexible enough to allow for the specific adjustments to be made by a high school football coaching staff will be the purpose of this creative project. This creative project will be an attempt to try and develop an offensive system that is flexible, has ‘many variations in formations, and can be adjusted to a variety of situations without being overly complex for the high school athleteLITERATURE REVIEW The purpose of the literature review was to reference the many different football offenses that have been written. This review was extremely helpful in determining there ‘was not one specific offensive set and philosophy that accomplished the variety and flexibility desired for the project. Some useful ideas were gathered from the review which were incorporated into the creative project. The football offenses that were reviewed included the splitback veer (McAbee, 1995), the single wing (McClesky, 1995), the run and shoot (Williams, 1994), the T (Kramer, 1966), the double wing (Eien, 1991), the tri-power (Clement, 1995), the wishbone and multi-bone (Demeo, 1990), the bunch attack (Coverdale, & Robinson, 1997), the multiple spread formation (Burenheide, 1996), (Walker, 1957), the wing-T (Gentry, 1994), and the west coast offense (Henderson, & Olson, 1997), (Lowry, 1996), Walsh, Billick, & Petterson, 1998). A few other various offensive plays, ideas, and formations were found in some other sources (Hawks, 1995), (Parcelli, 1987), (Blade, 1997), Billick, 1997), (Wilkinson, & Handville, 1993), Included with each review was the basic formation for each offensive system, ‘The Splitback Veer The splitback veer offense is based on the double and triple option. In the double option, either the quarterback or one of the running backs will carry the ball. This offense as presented by McAbee (1995) is fairly limited in the number of formations that the offense can run out of since there are always two running backs in the backfield who line up in the same place each play. This offense is very much a run first offense and the4 passing game is primarily play action out of the option. The other formations include a slot formation and a double tight end formation. One advantage to the split back is that the back alignment does not give a specific tendency for which way the play is coming 0 000000 0 0 00 The Single Wing The single wing is an older offense that is primarily designed for running the football. The quarterback is back behind the center several yards and the ball is snapped back to either the quarterback or the fullback. This offense 1s designed to trick the defense by using misdirection and fakes by the running backs ‘The linemen make use of double teaming and pulling for traps. As with the splitback, the single wing is limited in the number of formations the offense can get into. MoClesky (1995) indicating that the single wing is not a widely used offense any more, but that the offense can still be very effective if executed correctly 000000 0 0 0 0 0 ‘The Run and Shoot ‘The run and shoot offense became very popular in the 1980's and is stil a very Popular offense used today. The run and shoot is flexible in that it is either a running or 4 passing offense, The versatility of this offense and the opportunity to emphasize several offensive strengths, make this offense popular at the high school level. The run i and shoot uses the basic double wing formation with two wide receivers that help to5 spread the defense out. According to Williams (1994), the run and shoot is the perfect offense in high school to attack all types of defenses. The triple option is commonly run from the run and shoot formation by using a wing back in motion. 0 00000 0 Odeo) 0 ‘The Double Wing ‘The double wing is an older offense that is still used by some high school football teams today. This formation is a running offense that relies on misdirection, trapping, and faking to try and gain an advantage over the defense. The double wing was developed from the older single wing formation, and both formations have been used for over 50 years. The formation variations are very limited in this offense (Eien,1991). 0000000 0 0 oO 0 The Formation This offense has been used on all levels of football for the past four decades. The offense was developed for a team that had one great running back and another big back ‘used primarily as a blocking back. This offense is primarily a running offense, but either the drop back or play action pass can be used very easily. The double or triple option is also used by many teams that run out of the I formation (Kramer, 196). Variations from the I have made this offense more versatile over the last 20 years than the original set 0 000000 0 0 0 0‘The tri-power offense is sometimes referred to as the T bone because of the use of three running backs in the backfield. This offense is a power running oriented offense that also used misdirection to confuse the defense (Clement, 1995). Passing always is from a play action series, but is limited usually to two receivers, 0 000000 oO 0 0 0 ‘The Wishbone This option and power running offense was very popular in the 1970's and early 1980°s, ‘There are several high school football teams that use this offense today, but many of these teams combine this formation with some form of the run and shoot offense also ‘The term multi-bone is now used to identify the different formations from the original wishbone offense. As with many offenses, the name came from the shape of the backfield set. The fullback is directly behind the quarterback and the two other running backs are in a split formation which forms a wishbone shape (Demeo, 1990). Throwing the football out of the wishbone is fairly limiting similar to the tri-power offense because three backs are in the backfield. 0 000000 | 0 0 o°0 The Bunch Attack The bunch attack refers more to several formations using two or three receiversbunched together, than to an entire offensive package. The bunch attack is almost entirely passing formations that clump or bunch the receivers closely together to allow picks and screens against man defensive coverage, The only threat of running out of the bunch formation is when one back is left in the backfield or a receiver is used ina reverse running play. 0 00000 0 0 0 00 ‘The Multiple Spread Formation ‘The multiple spread formation uses a variety of formations with a single running back in the backfield. Burenheide (1996) indicated that these multiple formations allow the offense to stretch the defense and make them defend the entire playing field. With a Tunning back in the backfield, the defense cannot forget about the running threat, Many of these single back formations are used on all levels of football today. One of the earliest multiple formation offenses was used by Michigan State in the 1950’s, but it used a two back set most of the time and was mainly a running offense (Walker, 1957). 0 00000 0 0 0 0 0 ‘The West Coast Offense ‘The west coast offense is one of the most popular offenses in football today. This offense has been used successfully on every level of football from junior leagues to the Pros. Primarily a passing offense, it is flexible enough to initiate a balanced running attack. The west coast offense is a multiple formation offense that features both ball control and big play potential (Henderson, & Olson, 1997). This offense can becomevery complex especially for younger football players, but the main premise of ball control through the air can be implemented if there is one important player, a superb quarterback (Lowry, 1996), (Walsh, et al., 1998), 0 00000 0 0 0 o 0 ‘Hawks (1995) presented a variety of favorite plays from many different formations. Over 100 plays were diagrammed with specific blocking assignments and points of execution. There were many plays that could be used in a multiple formation offense. Offensive Philosophies Parcelli (1987), and Blade (1994) both outlined several important points for building an entire football program at the high school level. Motivation, strength and Weight training, and even nutritional guidelines were covered in these books. Both of these works had a section on offensive philosophies, but they did not go into specific formations or sets. Billick (1997), Wilkinson and Handville (1993), went into much greater detail than either Parcelli or Blade on successful offensive play. ‘The importance of trying to develop a specific offensive game plan for each game was covered. Scouting reports and game film of the opposing team was a necessary part of developing a complete offensive plan for a particular game, Attempting to exploit any weaknesses found in a particular defense was covered in great detail. Both of these sources covered the importance of both mental and physical preparation for executing a successful offense and offensive game plan. Billick (1997) used the west coast offense as the basis of | | i9 developing a successful game plan, while Wilkinson and Handville (1993) covered a ‘multiple formation offensive system. The ability to move key offensive players into different positions was the main advantage for using a multiple formation offensive system.METHODOLOGY ® ‘The purpose of this creative project was to write a football offensive playbook that could be used at the high school level. The desire was to create a complete offensive system that could be used by any coach who may be interested in using a multiple formation offense. Research The first part of this creative project was to research in detail the material that ‘was written about football offenses in a literature review. Next, the author attended a coaching clinic and camp at Utah State University in June of 1999, This camp and clinic ‘was very helpful in interacting with other coaches throughout the state, and also some college coaches, in leaning some different offensive systems that were being used. Personal experience gained from coaching football for the past 17 years was also very valuable as a source for this project. Philosophy ‘The football playbook began with a fundamental philosophy of the purpose for using the type of offense that was developed. The reason for using different offensive formations over any one specific offensive set was established. The specific goals of the multiple formation offense were also established. Glossary A glossary of terms was needed in order to keep terminology, positions, and formations consistent and understandable. With so many different terms and phrases that can be used, it was important to identify words, symbols, and phrases to help avoidul confusion. Terminology was essential in establishing names for formations and methods of calling plays. The glossary was designed to identify only offensive rather than defensive players and terminology. Multiple Formations The multiple formations focused on combining the advantages of various formations that are being used in football today. Specifically, the I formation , strong and weak backs, split backs, strong and weak I, and aces or a single back set, were all incorporated into the multiple formations along with the various line formations. Running Plays ‘Running plays with blocking schemes against three different defensive fronts and from the various offensive formations were covered. The arrangement of running plays in the playbook followed a numerical progression from quaterback, halfback, fullback, and then Z back, or in series, numbers 10, 20, 30, and 40. Passing Plays The development of the passing game was covered in this project including specific passing routes and the names of those routes. The arrangment of passing plays in the playbook followed a numerical progression from series numbers 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90. Play Calling Chart A play calling chart detailing specific running plays which could be used from the different back formations was included at the end of the diagrammed plays. This chart was designed to see on one page, the combination of plays with back formations that were possible.12 Conclusion In conclusion, this project was designed to describe, define, and illustrate a multiple formation offense for high school coaches and players in a playbook. The construction of a playbook as a Masters project was more formal than the original thought or intention. However, the process of organizing material from research and from years of coaching into a useable format was challenging, but also worth the time and effort involved to complete the project. Recommendations The playbook would have been much easier to diagram from a computer program of some type, however, the price of such a computer program was a deterring factor. One recommendation would be to purchase a program, because the time saved in the actual diagramming would be worth the expense. Another recommendation would be to realize that even though this multiple formation offense may seem complex and difficult to understand, the reality is that this offense is designed with many more formations than the actual number of plays from those formations.1B References Billick, B. (1997). Developing an Offensive Game Plan. Champaign, IL: Sagamore Publishing. Blade, B. (1994). Coaching Football Successfully. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Burenheide, B. (1998). Multiple Formation Offense [On-line]. Available: http:/\www.bewarrior.com. Clement, J. (1996). The Tri-Power Offense [On-line]. Available: http:// www. bewarrior.com. Coverdale, A. & Robinson, D. (1997), The Bunch Attack, Champaign, IL: Sagamore Publishing. Demeo, T. (1990). Football's Explosive Multi-Bone Attack. Chicago, IL: Harding Press. Eien, B, (1997). The Double Wing [On-line]. Available: http://www. bowarrior.com. Gentry, C. (1994), Football's Mis-Diretion Wing-T with Multi-Points of Attack. Champaign, IL: Sagamore Publishing. Hawks, D. (1995). Football’s Best Offensive Playbook, Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Henderson, F. & Olson, M. (1997). Football’s West Coast Offense, Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics,14 Kramer, R. (1966). The Complete Book of the Formation. New York, NY: Parker. Lowry,M. (1997). West Coast Offense 2000, Great Falls, MT: M-Low Enterprises. McAbee, P. (1996). Splitback Veer [On-line]. Available: http:// www. ‘bowarrior.com. ‘MoClesky, R. (1995), The Single Wing Formation [On-line]. Available: http://www. bewarrior/ofifense.com, Parcelli, J. (1987). Building Your High School Football Program. New York, NY: Parker. Walker, R. (1957), Suocessful Multiple Offense in High School Football ‘New York, NY: Glen Oaks, Walsh, B., Billick, B. & Petterson, J. (1998). Finding The Winning Edge. Champaign, IL: Sports Publishing. Wilkinson, B, & Handville, R. (1993), Football: Winning Offense, Minneapolis, MN: National Book. Williams, B. (1997). The Run-and-Shoot Offense [On-line]. Available: http:// www bewarrior/offense.com.APPENDIX MULTIPLE FORMATION OFFENSE FOOTBALL PLAYBOOK