Single Wing Beast Formation with Zone Running

Single Wing Beast Formation with Zone Running

Coach Demiko is the Head Coach & Offensive Coordinator for the UM Gators Jr Pee Wee team. The UM Gators play in the American Youth Football League.

The History

The Beast is a formation rooted in the Single wing offense. Its origin can be traced back to the early 1900’s and Yale University. The Beast represents an era in football that was concerned with power above all else.

The Formation

As with all formations, there are countless nuanced variations. You can run Beast as both a balanced and unbalanced (double beast) alignment. For my purposes, I prefer the unbalanced version. This alignment equates to a Wing systems ‘tackle over’ formation. Due to its straight forward nature, the Beast formation is a GREAT play to utilize personnel.

The Formation is heavily unbalanced with 4 players to the call side of the Center. The backfield will align 1 yd off the line in the C, D, and E gaps for Sweep. For the Wedge, the backfield will align 1 yd off the line in the B, C, and D gaps. The S back will be at a depth of 3.5 yds behind the Center to receive the direct snap for both Sweep and Wedge.

Beast Formations

The Purpose

The Beast formation serve’s two primary purposes for us:

Unstoppable Force: No dancing, no music, just a stampede.

You CAN Zone block and Wedge:

Present a challenge to the defense: What are they going to do with 7 players to either side of the midline?

The Plays

In our Beast package, we run two plays:

Sweep (Perimeter)
1. S Back to the 7 / 8 hole (Read the block of the QB)
Wedge (Off-tackle)
1. S back to the 5 / 6 hole (Follow the QB to daylight)

I love my QB as much as anyone. ‘Personnel’ as desired.

The Blocking

First and foremost, we are a zone blocking team. PERIOD. Our linemen will target the playside # of the defense at all times. Providing our linemen with 1 set of rules, has many advantages:

l More time spent perfecting technique

l Less confusion as the defensive front changes

l Inherit answers to multiple fronts

l Natural creases for the runner

This is still Zone Running

While the formation is SW and tight in nature, we stick to our Zone principles:

l 12” splits

l Blocking the playside # of each defender

l The Runner must ‘make the blocking right’ (Bang/Bend/Bounce)

This is a great package to utilize both personnel and tempo. When in the Beast package, we prefer use our Quick cadence.