The Fastest Ways to Run the Football
There’s an old saying in sports and that is “speed kills”! Obviously having fast athletes will greatly improve the likelihood of success, but even if you do not have an abundance of team speed, you still can play fast. Teams that are able to play fast have a much greater chance of success.
Here are the Fastest Ways to Run the Football | 6 Football Plays
Jet Sweep
In my opinion, the Jet Sweep is one of the best plays in youth football. It’s a fast hitting play that will allow you to attack the edge of the defense very quickly. Not only is Jet fast hitting, it also only requires you to block 2-3 defenders in order to gain big time yardage. It’s a great play if you struggle up front. There are also several great complementary plays off of Jet. Giving your best athlete the ball on Jet Sweep will allow him to get in space very quickly. Even if you do not have very fast running backs, the Jet Sweep will make them fast, as they are taking the handoff while running full speed.
See Also: The Jet Sweep Play in Football
Rocket Sweep
Much like the Jet Sweep, Rocket only requires you to block 2-3 defenders in order to gain big time yardage. The Rocket Sweep gets your athletes the football in space even wider. The Rocket motion is full speed motion that will get your rocket motion player the ball really wide. The rocket toss does take practice and it does require your kids to catch a really wide pitch. Rocket is a play we don’t run with kids younger than 8 because of the difficulty and practice time the rocket toss requires. With the older kids, Rocket Sweep is a great play to build you offense around. Plays like Trap and Belly hit very quickly and complement the Rocket Sweep very nicely.
Quick Dive
The Quick Dive is a play that many youth football teams have in their playbook. You can run the Dive out of almost any formation. Many Wishbone and I Formation offenses feature the Dive play to their fullback. It’s a play that has the fullback come downhill fast, attacking the interior of the defense. It is best ran to a side of the defense where there are gaps between defensive linemen. You can utilize a double team on a head up nose guard with the center and playside guard. With a fast downhill hitting fullback and a offensive linemen that gets off of the ball the Dive play is an easy 3-5 yards. It’s also a great alternative to the Trap play (if you don’t want to pull linemen).
Trap
Trap is a fast hitting play that attacks the interior of the defense. Typically trap is ran to the fullback or to a the RB in a Single Back Formation. Trap is a great play off of Jet and/or Rocket Sweep. The wide and fast motion will force the defense to react or overflow, which creates running lanes underneath the motion. The Trap is a fast hitting play that will allow you to take care of penetrating defensive tackles. This is one of the best fastest hitting plays in football. With so many youth football coaches teaching their defensive tackles to penetrate the Trap is almost a must-have a play.
See Also: Off-set I Formation Trap Play
Wedge
We love to run our Wedge play to our QB off of our Jet Sweep motion. It is our inside complement to our edge attacking Jet Sweep. Wedge doesn’t require any handoff exchanges and it allows the QB to take the snap, then fit himself inside of the wedge. Wedge isn’t just a good short yardage play, it’s a play that has big yardage potential. We’ve hit some big time plays with our wedge. Wedge, dive, and trap are great compliments to the Jet Sweep.
QB Iso / Direct Snap Plays
The QB Iso play is a great play because there is no handoff exchange and it gives you an extra blocker at the point of attack. It allows the QB to catch the shotgun snap and get to the point of attack quickly. If you have a mobile QB this forces the defense to have to account for the QB as running and throwing threat. Defending mobile QBs puts a lot of stress on the defense and forces defensive coordinators to commit more practice time and defenders to containing a QB. If your QB isn’t mobile you can take your best running and execute a direct snap. Once again, it takes the handoff/mesh out of the play and allows your ball carrier to see the field easier and get to the point of attack much faster.
