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AFM Magazine

AFM Magazine


Slowing Down the Spread

by: JohnAllen Snyder
Offensive Coordinator Pequea Valley High School (PA)
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What do defenses do to slow down the spread and how do offenses counter? AFM asked spread offense coaches, “What defenses give you the most trouble?”


Sparky Woods • Head Coach • Virginia Military Institute
Sparky Woods has been the head coach at VMI for the past four seasons.
Previously, he was head coach at Appalachian State and South Carolina and the OC/QBs Coach at Memphis. Woods was also a position coach at Alabama, Virginia, and Mississippi State. He has been running the spread for 8 years.


AFM: What defense gives your version of the spread the most trouble?

Woods: Well, we really don’t identify a certain defense that gives us a lot of issues. We do what we have to do to put the defense into conflict. Most defenses will take on the mission of stopping the run first and pass second. Our goal is to spread the defense out, or get guys out of the box in order to run the ball effectively. If the defense refuses to adjust to the spread, then that’s when we pass it.

AFM: Is there a defensive coverage that this offense struggles with?

Woods: The thing with the coverages is they also have their weaknesses. If they stay in a two deep coverage, they are going to have a tough time filling to stop the run. This puts enormous pressure on the front of the defense to stop the run. If a team wants to go with a one-deep look we can now stretch the safety. This is where our vertical package comes into effect. Like a lot of teams, the thing that challenges us and our quarterbacks is when a defense can disguise their coverages.  We want to put them in assignment conflict.

AFM: If you had to pick one play to combat disguised defenses, what would it be?

Woods: We run the spread so that we can run the ball. Our quarterbacks are under center more than they are in the gun. We want to call a play that will spread the defense so that we can allow the QB to make the best decision and run the ball. The play we like to run is zone. It’s a downhill running play in which we have had success. Our version of the spread is not a zone read type run game. We do not want our quarterback running the ball in this situation. What we do want is to give him the option to hand the ball off or throw the ball. Often, with our simple zone, we are attaching a WR screen to it. This play serves us well when we are facing one or two safeties (See Diagram 1).



Diagram 1. Zone with Bubble


Mike Kellar • Head Coach • California University of Pennsylvania
Mike Kellar was recently named head football coach at California University of Pennsylvania. He previously served as the team’s offensive coordinator. Kellar was also the head coach at Concord University for two seasons. He has been running the spread for 18 years.


AFM: If you had to name a defense that spread coaches seem to struggle with, what would you say that is?

Kellar: I would have to say the 3-4. I say that because of its multiplicity across the board. At any one time you can have multiple guys blitzing and putting serious pressure on your offensive line and protection schemes. Also you can end up with a number of different coverages and zones in the back.

That being said, sometimes the most difficult defenses to adjust to or find weaknesses in are the ones that teams play the best. That would be their basic defense.  When a team can line up in the same thing they’ve been doing for weeks in the most basic fashion, they are confident and know what they are doing without having to think and react.

AFM: On that same topic, is there a coverage that challenges you?

Kellar: A lot of people are starting to run what they call cover 8 or basic quarter, quarter, half field combo coverages. We run a lot of TE/flanker to the boundary and slot to the field side. This often gets us a quarter look to the boundary in order to provide run support to the TE side of the field. On the slot/field side, we would get half or a one safety look to that side. Another thing that can provide difficulty and this goes back to talking about playing fast is a team that can play cover 2 and stop the run at the same time. Essentially, if you can do that, you are making it difficult for the offense to do anything.

AFM: Do you have a “go to” play you run against every defense?

Kellar: Absolutely. Very simply, we love the 4 verticals. Ask any of the coaches on our offensive staff what their favorite play is and they will probably tell you the 4 verticals. We like it not so much as a long shot down the field,  where often the completion percentage isn’t very good, but one in which we expect a 70% completion rate. We want to get the ball into the seams but sometimes that just doesn’t happen. When I came to Cal, we were throwing that ball 60 yards down the field and completing it less than 25% of the time. What we do now is run our simple 4 verts (seams, numbers) and then we run a 5-yard choice route with our back out of the backfield. The concept is vertical but, if we are covered up, then we have cleared the coverage and can make an easy completion to our tailback out of the backfield (See Diagram 2).



Diagram 2 Spread Verticals Concept


Mike Leach • Head Coach • Washington State
Mike Leach brings his high-powered “Air Raid” spread to Washington State this year after a prolific, 10-year tenure at Texas Tech where his offenses set multiple Big-12 passing milestones. He has been running the spread for 23 years.

AFM: What defense gives your spread the most trouble?

Leach: Truthfully, not too many. My thinking is this - our success is based on our execution, not our scheme. Fundamentally, our package must cover the defenses’ problems. It’s their job to stop us. We want to be able to attack the whole field, and utilize every skill position. Their job is to force us to squander a quarter or a half of the field, which in turn gives them less to defend. That’s not our philosophy. I don’t really care what they do. It’s up to us to be able to utilize and identify what it is that they are doing. If we can do that, then we are able to use their weaknesses against them.

AFM: As far as coverages go, is there any one coverage that causes you problems?

Leach:  Again, we want to be able to run the best play vs.their defense no matter what the defense is. One thing that can give anyone problems is disguises. When the defense can show one thing and do another, that can always throw the QB and skill groups off as well as the coaches. That being said, a defense must be able to play fast and fundamentally sound out of that disguise or it’s not an advantage to them but one for us. They are playing something unfamiliar to what they know and do the majority of the time. We always like it when teams “change” what they do for us, because it’s getting them out of their comfort zone and into ours.

AFM: Is there a play you keep on your play card for any time, any situation?

Leach: No. We want our QB to react to what the defense gives us. I’m interested in quick and decisive decisions. We don’t want to have any hesitation. If I had to pick a certain “type” of play, I would pick one that is multifaceted, not really specific. The dimension we are going for is “if not this, then that.” We are going to use what you do against you, so that in theory you are never right and we are always right. One thing that we do every day that can disrupt the defenses comfort level is motioning. The old adage that motion causes emotion stands the test of time. It works and forces the defense to show their hands one way or the other, coverage-wise. We also employ our fast no-huddle plays. Our kids are at their most comfortable level at this point but defenses are just trying to breathe. Yet, going the opposite way, if you slow your offense down, you can force them to reveal their disguise to show what they really want to get into coverage-wise.

Up front with our offensive linemen, we like to keep it simple so , again, our kids can play fast. We will zone protect up front and have our back protect off the hip of the offensive tackle. The tailback is responsible for off the edge pressure (See Diagram 3).

Diagram 3. Zone Protection


Ron Dolciato • Offensive Coordinator • John Carroll University
Ron Dolciato has been the Offensive Coordinator at John Carroll for the past 11 seasons. He was honored as the 2002 Assistant Coach of the Year by the Northeast Ohio chapter of the National Football Foundation. Dolciato has been running the spread for 10 years.

AFM: What specific defenses seem to give you the most trouble when you are in your spread sets?

Dolciato: Back a few years I would have said the odd stack because it was so new and it just seems like there were guys flying everywhere. Now that it’s not the newest thing and coaches have had a chance to scheme it, I would have to say there isn’t really a specific defense so much as any defense that is able to figure out your protections. If that happens, then you’re in real trouble. So any defense can give us significant problems if they get our protections down and where we slide to or who is big on big. That’s why we must be able to adapt and change our protection at the line of scrimmage.

AFM: From a coverage standpoint, what creates some problems for you in the spread?

Dolciato: A team that can line up exactly the same on every snap and disguises their coverages vs. the spread can cause some issues. For the most part, film study helps recognize what teams are trying to do. However, when they line up the same and move and roll to their coverages during the snap is when our ability to use our systems of checks becomes limited. Our offensive objective is always to have the ability to utilize our audible system to check to a play at the line of scrimmage that puts our offense in the best possible situation. If disguised well, a specific coverage on passing situations that causes some problems is 2 man under. The main reason  is that it is difficult for us to use our checking system effectively.

AFM: How do you combat that with your bread and butter play, whether it is run or pass?

Dolciato: We do a couple of things. First, organizationally, we have a set word in our cadence that means “dummy call”. We will do this to try and get the defense to show what coverage they are going to be in. On the “hit-hit”, we get a glimpse of their coverage and defensive structure. Now we can utilize our check system. Sometimes we have built in checks to various quick game routes, other times it may be checking from a pass to a run play.

One specific play that we love to get into vs. any type of defense is our shallow routes. We can run this with any of our athletes, keeping in mind the objective of getting the ball in our playmakers hands. This is a play that is an easy call. Down and distance usually don’t matter and area of the field usually doesn’t matter either. This helps keep the defense that likes to roll to different coverages or bring people from different places on their heels and allows us to move the ball downfield (Diagram 4).

Diagram 4. Shallow Routes


Tony Franklin • Offensive Coordinator • Louisiana Tech University
Tony Franklin has been a coach at both the college and high school level for over three decades. He has coached at Kentucky, Auburn, Middle Tennessee State University, Troy and is currently the offensive coordinator at Louisiana Tech. Franklin has been running the spread for 24 years.

AFM: Is there a certain defensive scheme that gives your system challenges?

Franklin: It’s never been about the scheme as much as the personnel. If a defense has the ability to get pressure on your quarterback while only rushing three or four defensive linemen, then that’s a challenge for sure. It gets compounded if you aren’t able to run the ball into this type of a defense. We actually prefer it when teams blitz us because now a defense is getting out of its comfort zone and what they are confident doing.

AFM: Is there a coverage that gives you problems?

Franklin: We look at defenses in a unique way. Our thought is that no matter what you run defensively or coverage-wise, there is always grass to be found. Each coverage has a weakness and that is our challenge - to find that grass. Sometimes the grass is in front of the defender, behind the defender, the middle of the field or through a mismatch. We can also find the grass through formations as well. If we are in a power formation where we like to run the ball and that gives us a mismatch with a bigger receiver on a smaller receiver, then we’ll go to that.

AFM: Is there a play for you that you don’t hesitate to call at any point?

Franklin: That’s a tough question because, based on our personnel, I think it changes every year. Think about it from a personnel standpoint. If you have a tremendous X or Z, then your bread and butter play is going to be to an outside receiver. Some years you may have a big 6’2’’ 190 lb. Y and that year your play is going to feature him.

Truthfully, if you ask me to list our best play since I started coaching this style of offense, I would be nearly certain that it would be different each year. This helps in game planning because it’s hard to get tendencies because those tendencies change with personnel. You’ve got to figure out what they do well and highlight that. When you are calling this offense, you can’t call plays but you must call players.


Lawrence Kershaw • Offensive Coordinator • Florida A &M University
Coach Kershaw is the Offensive Coordinator and Offensive Line coach at Florida A & M. He previously coached at Hampton University, Truman State, Virginia State, and Virginia Union. Kershaw has been running the spread for 7 years.


AFM: What defense do you feel gives the spread the most problems?

Kershaw: I think defenses that can play multiple coverages and move after the snap are difficult.

The reason being, it forces the quarterback to think more than he wants too. We teach him to get certain pre-snap reads and when the ball is snapped and a defense does something that changes those reads, it forces the QB to now read again and then make a decision. This certainly plays into the defense’s game plan of creating confusion.

When we game plan, we look at tendencies but they don’t drive our overall plan. We love getting into a 3 x 1 set and we do this with four wide receivers or have three receivers and a tight end. We will look at every single play we have and determine how the defense plays that particular formation. If they do something that affects our passing game out of a specific formation, we will either adjust or simply not run that play within the context of the game plan.
AFM: Are there any coverages that give your spread offenses trouble?

Kershaw: In dividing types of coverages into man or zone, I’ll go with man coverage first. With man coverage, cover 1 with one high safety and cover 2 with man underneath can be troublesome. These types of coverages can force us to put our best athletes vs. their best athletes. But zone coverage puts our receivers into a specific area and allows them to try and make a play in space. Any team that plays zone coverage that can combo their coverage into two different ones at the same time is very difficult.

AFM: Is there a play that, under any of the circumstances you mentioned, you would call?

Kershaw: Running wise, our go to play is very simple. It’s the read zone out of the gun. We want to get defenders out of the box and work to reading different players given different situations. Typically, we read the backside defensive end but he’s not the only one.

From a passing game perspective, we run a very basic post/dig/shallow concept. This is our favorite pass play out of the spread. We can run it out of a number of different formations but we really like it out of 3 x 1 sets. On the single receiver side, our Z will run a 15-yard post route. The number three receiver to the other side of the formation will run a shallow over route to occupy the linebacker’s field of vision. Our number two receiver will run a 15-yard dig route. This route, coupled with the post route, forces the safety into serious conflict and creates an easy read for our QB. If the safety backs up into the deep middle, the QB works down to the over dig, shallow routes. If he comes up, we then take the shot with the post route (Diagram 5).

Diagram 5. Post Dig Concept

Kevin Wright • Head Coach • Carmel High School (IN)
Kevin Wright has been a head coach for 18 years and has won four state championships. His career win-loss record is 157-55. Wright has been running the spread for 19 years.

AFM: What specific defense gives you the most trouble?

Wright: I’m not really sure there is a specific defense that gives us insurmountable trouble, but if I had to pick one that I find difficult to attack I would have to say the 3-4 defense.

AFM: What is it about the 3-4 defense makes it so difficult? Is it the fronts or the coverages?
Wright: A little of both actually. Front-wise, it’s difficult because even though there are only three down linemen, they create great angles with their schemes and can move constantly, slanting this way or that. It can really create some problems for us protection wise, as well as with our run blocking schemes. In this defense, you always have the outside linebackers to account for. If they are players who can disguise what they doing in terms of rushing or dropping, that can really confuse your offensive linemen. This also creates the concept of seven guys on the line of scrimmage or “in the box” and your offense not knowing who is coming or where they are coming from.

From a coverage standpoint, 2 high or deep safeties can be problematic. The reason is because if a team is good at disguising what they really want to do (blitz, roll to cover 3, 2 to the sideline, cover 3 to the field, etc.) and they look the same each time the ball is snapped, you’re at a loss as to what they are doing. The advantage for us is if they stay 2 high, the defense has to be gap sound if they are going to stop our running game. They now have fewer defenders close to the line of scrimmage but the trade off being they have an added pass defender. It all gets down to what they are trying to take away.

AFM: Other than having two deep safeties, is there anything else about Cover 2 or Cover 4 that can make it difficult?

Wright: I am a firm believer that in high school, because of where the hashes are, the sideline can cause some major problems vs. teams that use 2 high safeties when the ball is on the hash, which it is most of the time. Having that sideline there as an “extra defender” can make things very tough on your offense. Most high school quarterbacks struggle to throw from one hash to the other hash, especially down the field.

AFM: What do you do with your favorite play to make it successful vs. a base 3-4, two-safety high team?

Wright: We are a “spread them out so we can run it” team. We really like the zone read play. We feel it gives our quarterback options and puts the defense in a bind as well. Our goal with this play is to take away the defense’s best player. We aren’t one of those teams that option the weakest player while blocking your best. We want to put your best player into assignment conflict, and make him choose and when he does, go the other way. Our goal early in the game is to identify who is responsible for the QB, running back, and pitch. This is a patience play. We will run it five or six times for three-four yards and then it hits for a 60-yard TD where the best defender made a mistake. We also run a bubble read off of this zone play to further confuse the defense while getting the ball into the hands of our best playmakers (Diagram 6).

Diagram 6. Zone Read w Bubble

Thomas Wolf • Offensive Coordinator • Downingtown East HS (PA)
Thomas Wolf has been the OC at Downingtown East High School for the past three seasons. He previously was the head coach at Twin Valley HS and also the OC at Coatesville HS. Wolf has been running the spread for 16 years.

AFM: As a spread coach, what defense gives you difficulty?

Wolf: That’s the thing about the spread, it allows us to get the looks we want from most any defense. But I would have to say any defense that can play straight up, close man coverage and bring pressure is a problem. Passing the ball means nothing if you can’t protect the quarterback. He can’t throw from his back, plain and simple. If a team can do that, we are left trying to get the ball out and get it to our best players in space.

AFM: Is there a coverage you’ve had to learn to overcome that has given you trouble?

Wolf: A team that can divide coverages across the field is always a danger to us. If we get into an empty formation, say anything 3 x 2 and they can man up the two receiver side and play what we call a “cloud” coverage to the trips side, that makes it difficult. Cloud coverage is designed so the corner to the trips side can sit and play the true flat area. The nearest LB can play a curl/flat coverage and the inside linebacker can now cover the hook/curl. This then leaves the safety to roam that half of the field as well as work to the deep ball. Our ability to defeat coverages hinges on the quarterback’s ability to identify the coverage through his pre-snap reads and into his first step.

AFM: If you had to pick a favorite play that can handle all the different problems you mentioned, what would it be?
Wolf: Well, one thing we really like to do is get our quarterback involved in the run game as a way to give the defense something else to worry about. In doing so, they can’t just drop and bring pressure all the time. Now they are forced to account for another skill player running the ball.

AFM: What are some typical QB run plays that you like?

Wolf: All the basics, but the nice thing is we can remove another defender out of the box and then create havoc with motioning players. Then we can run the QB in the basic running plays. We really like QB iso, trap, counter, and most of all, power. This play allows us to come out and see how they line up to a spread formation (Double Slot - 2 x 2) and then simply use the fullback to kick out the DE away from the now trips side of the formation. We then run good old fashioned power. We block it just like traditional power and pull the backside guard around and through on the linebacker or the most dangerous man (Diagram 7).

Diagram 7. QB Power w/Motion

AFM: What defense gives you the most trouble when running your version of the spread?

Ellis: There really isn’t a particular defense for us that gives us trouble but more of a certain type of defense. Any defense that has two safeties back deep and can still keep six defenders in the box with the ability to stop the run is very dangerous. This defense forces us into making a decision - run the ball into a stingy defense and try and move the sticks or throw the ball into a sound coverage defense.

AFM: Talking coverages, what is the toughest coverage for your QB?

Ellis: The toughest coverage we face is split coverage. We look at this where one side runs a cover 2 and the other side is dividing the field into quarters coverage. This is hard to identify, especially for our QB. It throws off our QB’s reads. When a defense lines up in a base coverage and stays in it, it makes our jobs much easier and play calling is much smoother because we can call plays that work well within the specific defensive coverage. When that coverage is split across the back of the defense, it makes our QB think and he has to work through his progressions in order to make the right read.

AFM: Based on these defenses and coverage, what do you do to your simplest plays to make them successful?

Ellis: Our simplest play is called spacing. Versus that split coverage, we are trying to isolate the single receiver on that lone defender. If they roll backside – quarter, quarter, half – we would work to the front side of the formation. The nice thing about this play is that it marries well with our mesh play in that the releases for both are identical. With both of these plays we are giving the same look but we are running two different plays. This forces teams to hesitate that want to jump our spacing or snag routes because we may be running mesh and they can’t tell that what we’re actually doing (Diagram 8).

Diagram 8. Spread Spacing Concept


Dan Ellis • Head Coach • West Chester East High School (PA)
Dan Ellis has been the West Chester East HS head coach for four years. He revived the Springfield HS(PA) program and helped them to their first district playoff win in three years. He has been running the spread for 6 years.








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