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AFM Magazine


Three Plays for The Spread Offense

by: Scott Parseghian
Head Coach, Wayland High School (MA)
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The spread offense is one of the most exciting offenses around today and is one of the biggest reasons why, at Wayland High School, we have had such great successes over the past couple of years. Over the last three years we have a record of 33-4 with two league titles and one state championship. It wasn’t always like this at Wayland. My first year as the head coach we were 1-10 while we were installing the spread offense but once the kids bought into the system we were able to turn things around.

Our philosophy on the spread offense can change from year to year depending on your personnel and what your team strengths are. For instance, one year we would pass the ball 70 percent of the time and then the next year we only averaged passing the ball 25 percent of the time. Our philosophy on running the spread offense is:

Take advantage of your skill athletes – In Wayland we found that we have a number of good athletes but not the real big guys to pound the ball every play. By putting more skill athletes on the field we could maximize our athletes on the field. We also found by using the spread offense we have an average of six kids that touch the ball in every game that makes everyone happy.

It’s hard for teams to prepare for – This has changed since we first started running the spread offense. When we first started out using it, we were the only team using the offense in our league so opponents had to take extra time to prepare for us.

It spreads the defense out and creates running lanes – Since we have installed the spread we have had a thousand yard rusher every year. Despite what some may say that you can’t run the ball in the spread, we have found success running the ball as well as throwing it.

It takes pressure off of the offensive line – We found by spreading teams out that it makes it easier for the O-linemen to see where the blitz is coming from and make the right calls.

We use the shotgun snap every time – Because we don’t get to practice offense every day by focusing on the shotgun snap only, we found we would cut down on the mistakes between the QB-center exchange.

The three most successful plays for Wayland HS out of the spread offense are the ZONE, QB DART and our SCREEN PASS. The reason for the success of these three plays is that they all look the same and play off of one another. The nice part about these plays is that we have run them with a QB that runs a 4.7 and a QB that runs a 5.1 forty-yard dash and still have had success. The three plays that we are going to look at are all going to be run out of a four wide set with the RB set to the left side of the QB one yard behind him (See Diagram 1).

Diagram 1

Let’s take a look at the three plays:

The Zone (See Diagram 2) - I believe the zone read has to be the staple play in any in any spread offense. That is why we set the other plays to look just like it. I am sure you are familiar with the play but here it is illustrated. In the zone play the offensive line will take a zone step to the right side that leaves the last defender on the left side of the line alone because he is the person that the QB is reading in this play. The two outside receivers will run off their defender and stock block when the defender starts to come up field. The two inside receivers (W & Y) will take an angle that will allow them to help block the OLBs.

Diagram 2

The most important part of this play is the QB/RB exchange. The RB will drop step and cross the QB’s face while squeezing the ball enough to allow the QB to pull the ball or give it, depending on the read. If the RB gets the ball he will take two steps parallel and then find a hole to shoot through. The QB will take a 45 degree pivot step to the RB side and read the last defender on the line. If the defender attacks the RB, the QB should pull the ball and take off outside. If the defender sits on the edge, the QB will give the ball. One important note is that the QB should get as low as possible to hide from the defense what is happening with the QB/RB exchange.

QB DART (See Diagram 3). This play is a lot like the zone play except that the line is going to zone block to the left because the QB is keeping the ball. It is important that the QB/RB exchange looks the same to make the defense guess where the ball is going. After the RB crosses the QB’s face he should pull the ball and take off down hill. His aiming point should be behind the left guard.

Diagram 3

SCREEN PASS (See Diagram 4) – In this play we again want it to look as much like the zone play as possible except that the QB wants to show that he is keeping the ball to draw the defense to him. The RB should again make a good fake and sell that he is getting the ball. Once the RB gets behind the RG and RT he will bounce outside waiting for the QB to throw him the ball. The QB wants to draw the defense towards him and then throw the ball to the RB. The rest of the offensive line will again zone block to the right. The four wide receivers will follow the same motions as the zone play.

Diagram 4






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