In my opinion, the jet sweep is the best play in youth football. My teams will always run jet sweep regardless of the age level I am coaching. The jet and rocket sweep are very underrated and underutilized plays in youth football. Here is a look at the 5 reasons why we score so much on jet & rocket sweep.
Teams Don’t Scout Us
I would say the biggest reason why we score so much is because some coaches don’t take the time and scout us. There are only so many coaches that are willing to take the time and get film on us. I will say that there are many teams that know what they are going to see when they play us, but we are always adjusting and evolving so they still find themselves getting gutted anyway. We are going to score point whether teams scout us or not, but if teams do not get film on us they are in for a really long day defensively.
Athletes Gets The Football Out In Space Very Quickly
Jet & rocket sweep allow us to get our athletes out in space very quickly. The rocket sweep gets our running back the ball out by the tight-end, which means we only have to block 2-3 defenders to gain big yardage. When you only have to block 2-3 players each play your offense will score a ton of points. Jet and rocket sweep are plays that are immediate threats to the edge of the defense. This forces the defense to adjust or get beat. Once the defense overflows/over-adjusts, that’s when you hit them inside.
Ball Carrier Receives The Football At Full Speed
On jet and rocket sweep our running back receives the ball while already running at full speed. On these sweep plays we are able to outrun many of the defenders. When you run jet and rocket you will see defenders trying to ‘arm tackle/reach’ for the ball carrier because they can’t keep up. Running these sweep plays you will literally give your ball carrier a head start! In addition, you really don’t even have to block any interior defenders.
We Utilize Blocking Angles & Multiple Formations
We have three formations that we execute the jet sweep play out of. We like to utilize an unbalanced formation, a balanced formation, and a spread formation. Each of those formations generate excellent blocking angles on the defense. We also love to utilize crack blocks. We like to crack with our split-end and lead block with a pulling guard or fullback. If you want to be an efficient play caller you need to attack where the defense is giving you excellent blocking angles. Utilizing different formations will create alignment conflicts for the defense and it will generate great blocking angles on the defense.
Defense Has Too Many Down Defensive Linemen
Anytime we play 6, 7, or 8 man fronts we absolutely shred them. When defenses commit 6, 7, or 8 defenders on the line of scrimmage they are left with no defenders to pursue the football. If you are able to break through that horizontal line of defenders it’s easy sailing into the end-zone. Against gap defenses all you need to do is go with unbalanced formations and utilize down, kick-out, and crack blocks. When there is a defender in every gap, they just won’t be able to pursuit to the jet and rocket sweep. These type of defenses can’t defend the pass, jet/rocket sweep, and they can’t align properly against multiple formation offenses.
(See Also) Jet Sweep Play in Youth Football
(See Also) Shotgun Wing T Playbook
(See Also) Rocket Sweep Series