By Ross Maddalon (Assistant Coach, Cinnaminson High School – formerly the OC at Old Bridge HS and Nottingham HS, NJ) Having coached the triple option for over 11 years, I have seen many different ways teams have tried to stop it. Here are three things teams have done in the past that have given us […]
One of the major things that all defenses struggle to do well is line up correctly to a formation. Most coaches spend hours of practice time every week working with their team on how to correctly align to each formation.
The A Frame Drill is a staple of Flexbone and Option based offenses. This drill gives the Quarterback and Fullback the necessary reps practicing the mesh while giving the Center a defender to block all in a 10 minutes window.
The Midline is one of the most troublesome plays in football to defend. By reading a down defender (normally in the B Gap) the offense gains an extra blocker so they can have a double team at the point of attack while also releasing blockers up to the linebacker level.
One of the most difficult things to teach players is proper pitch relationship. For a player to be in great pitch relationship they must have a feel for the Quarterback where he is moving and how he can help force the defender to make a choice.
One of the most frustrating parts of calling plays is trying to guess what the defense will line up in and then picking a play to counter that alignment. Coaches at all levels struggle to determine where the defense will line up.
Optioning the 3-3-5 Stack with the Unbalanced Attack Running the option against the 3-3-5 Stack can sometimes pose some challenges. First off, it makes the hand-off key for the quarterback difficult to recognize.
Utilizing Motion in Your Offense The majority of youth football teams do not utilize any sort of motion in their offense. So if you decide to implement motion defenses will have a difficult time adjusting.
Crack Option Play At the youth football level you can run the option with much success. I coach the midget level a few years ago and we ran the crack option play with great success (Midget Pop Warner Ages 13-15).
One of the most common defenses we see is the 4-4. The 4-4 defense is an even-front defense that puts 8 men in the box to stop the run.
Lead option is a youth football play that I have ran with much success. Lead option is easy to instruct and it will be a lights out play for your offense.