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AFM Magazine


Revamping the Wing-T

by: Mike Kuchar
Senior Writer, American Football Monthly
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Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Sure, the Wing-T offense has been around for over half a century and is continued to be used productively at every level of high school and small college football. The down blocks, traps and misdirection schemes have been giving defensive coordinators conniptions ever since the legend himself, former Delaware head coach Tubby Raymond, ran the Wing-T. This scheme has begun to morph into a different style. Good coaches are always trying to find ways to tweak their system to get the most of their athletes and adapt to the times, and slowly but steadily the Wing-T is starting to do the same.

Yes, on any given Saturday you will see your conventional buck sweep, fullback traps and wing back counter sally’s but that’s not all you will be seeing. Many coaches around the country are finding ways to adjust the offense in ways to be more productive but all the while keeping the core of the scheme with its pulls and its misdirection the same. We don’t want to be too forward, as we all know those Wing-T coaches stick together- they’re the closest thing to a Hell’s Angel’s clan that football has to offer. And while these coaches are all “Wing-T guys” by heart, they’ve found ways to adjust the system to fit their personnel and in turn have produced plenty of wins for their program. American Football Monthly caught up with three programs that have shook the Wing-T tree, and produced various branches of offenses along the way.

The Sling-T
We all know that New York City high school programs are more renown for producing terrific athletes on the hardwood than on the gridiron. This concept wasn’t lost on the staff at Port Richmond High School in Staten Island either. They don’t believe so much in quantity (they may not have over fifty players a year try out for varsity football each season) but instead focus on the quality of athlete that roams their hallways every year. A powerhouse every year in basketball, the Raiders staff sat and contemplated ways to improve the schools other most popular sport. They had always run the Wing-T scheme, the pulling and trapping nature of the offense was perfect for their smaller type linemen up front. But the run dominated consistency of the offense wasn’t getting any good athletes out for the team, or putting any more people in the stands.

So the staff decided to fuse both the run and shoot and Wing-T into what is now known as the “Sling-T.” It’s yet another hybrid offense that combines two of the most prolific schemes in high school football and it has produced tremendous results. In 2007, Port Richmond finished third in the entire city with a 9-3 record while their QB passed for over 1300 yards- a rarity itself any time you mention those types of numbers and the Wing T offense in the same system. According to offensive coordinator Anthony Panagakos – who will be a featured speaker at AFM University’s clinic in Springfield in February – the key to the system is the double slot formation. In addition of the five offensive linemen, he’ll have a tight end type two yards off the line of scrimmage outside the tackle and what he calls the true halfback in more of slot position splitting the difference between the tackle and the wide receiver. Though Panagakos will still utilize the staple of the Wing-T offense like buck sweep, wham and fullback trap, the diamond of the Sling-T offense is the bubble screen (Diagram 1).

Diagram 1: Bubble While In Motion

It can be thrown to any one of the four receivers at any time and proves to be lethal when coupled with the traditional Wing-T run game. “It’s perfect for us because we see a ton of cover three,” said Panagakos. “We’ll start to see eight men in the box at any given moment and that is exactly what we want with a double slot formation because it’s like a spread set. All we really do is keep our tight end off the line of scrimmage by two yards and it looks like a totally different offense. We still can run counter to his side with the halfback and we can also use him as a blocking back when we run blast. So when we open it up to our bubble series, team’s have a hard time keeping up.”

In order to get those great athletes the ball, Panagakos will start to set teams up by running what he calls “bubble red” a quick screen to the number one receiver in the trips core. The number two receiver blocks the corner while the offensive line zone blocks to the play side. It’s usually a good adjustment for teams that play some type of cover two with a hard corner. But once the defense has seen the set up a few times with that, he’ll come back with the “three super” (Diagram 2) which is a double pass off that same bubble action. The QB will take a one step drop and a quick reach back with his play side foot and fake the bubble to the number one receiver then unload it deep on a flag route to the number three receiver. The offensive line will reach block and cut the end man on the line of scrimmage while the fullback releases on the snap to block the play side outside linebacker. It’s been a tremendous scheme for Panagakos, scoring 15 times in the last three years on it.

Diagram 2: ‘Three Super’ Double Pass

The Double Wing-T Offense

What do you get when you combine the Wing T with one of the single wing? You get what has aptly been tagged the Double Wing-T offense, at least as coined by Darwin Rost, the head coach at Palo Verde High School in Nevada. Rost was a Pro I formation coach in 2001, when his team finished a disappointing 7-3 season. So he installed the double wing with Wing-T blocking schemes in 2002 and went 9-4 winning the regional championship. The following year the Panthers were 12-1 and the rest, as they say, is history.

The most interesting aspect of the Double Wing-T offense is the double wing formation (Diagram 3). It is basically a double tight end formation with one foot splits along the line. The wingbacks are one yard outside the tight end and one yard deep while the fullback is two yards from the ball lined up on either guard. Rost numbers the backs with one being the quarterback, two the fullback, three the left wing and four the right wing. The tight shoe-to-shoe splits provides for a shorter perimeter in which Rost takes advantage of when he runs his 45 pitch play (Diagram 4). It’s similar to the Wing-T buck sweep blocking scheme with the ball given to the right wing. Both the backside guard and tackle pull having kick and lead responsibilities, respectively. Against a 50 defense the nose gets double teamed as does the five technique defensive end. The left wing seals the inside linebacker and the fullback must aim for the inside hip of the defensive end as he kicks him out. The QB gets a good 180 degree turn and actually winds up being an additional blocker by attacking the first bad color he sees- whether it be a linebacker, corner or safety. According to Rost, it’s the tight alignment of the backfield that makes the play gel.

Diagram 3: Double Wing Formation

Diagram 4: Double Wing/45 Pitch

“When we were an I team, we ran the same blocking scheme with the tailback at seven yards. By the time he got to the line of scrimmage, the defense had defeated all double team blocks and had him lit up,” said Rost. “What I like about the system is that we very seldom get negative yards on the play. We start the wing that is carrying the ball just a fraction before the snap count.” The companion play that Rost uses to the 45 pitch is the double wing 45 reverse (Diagram 5). It’s a double handoff from the QB to the left wing then to the right wing on the reverse. The blocking stays the same.

Diagram 5: Double Wing/45 Reverse

Productive Play-Action

How productive would the Wing-T be without its play action passes? Any defensive coordinators who have to line up against this offense know that defending the play-action is the hardest part of defending the scheme. Sure, you can line up nine and ten guys in the box and shoot them through gaps created by pulling linemen, but we all know that once that happens the pass lanes open up. Perhaps no one is aware of this more than Hal Lamb, the head coach at Calhoun High School in Georgia. Lamb doesn’t rely on all the traditional Wing-T sets, the Yellow Jacket offense is pretty multiple by using some two and one back sets. He tries to get into as many different formations as possible, but runs the same schemes off of it- a trademark of quality offensive coordinators.

One of Lamb’s favorite formations is what he calls the “Red Formation” and the companion plays that come off it. He aligns the Z receiver 2x2 off the tight end with the A back aligned symmetrically similar off the offensive tackle with the fullback in the backfield. Lamb utilizes the jet sweep to the A back so often that he sets up his jet sweep pass off the same action (Diagram 6). After faking the sweep, the A back sneaks into the strong flat at three yards while the Z runs up the seam. The tight end is on an eight yard flag route. “We call it our flood route,” said Lamb. “We look for our jet back in the flat first. Next, the QB reads the corner route by the tight end.”

Diagram 6: Jet Sweep Pass

Another common Wing-T scheme is the buck sweep. In order to combat teams that start to shift their linebackers on the arc motion by the Z receiver setting up the buck sweep, Lamb will dial up his Arkansas Throwback (Diagram 7). Resembling more of a bootleg type structure, the Q will fake the handoff to the Z and roll opposite. The fullback after faking a block to secure the C gap will sneak into the flat with the tight end on the same corner route as the jet sweep pass. The A back runs the seam route with the X, or split end, running a rollover route across the middle of the field. “It’s a great route vs. any cover two scheme,” says Rost. “Our first read is the A back on the go route. Next we look for the X receiver who is running a crossing route at fourteen yards. We usually hit big on this one more often than not.”

Diagram 7: Arkansas Throwback


WHAT IF?
Q1: What if you sent trips to a side, who gets the bubble screen?

A. Panagakos has a color system (e.g., red, white and blue) that denotes which receiver will get the bubble screen. The player that will get the bubble is all dependent on how far removed the outside LB is to the trips side. Since Panagakos sees a lot of cover 3, his QB will check that outside LB pre-snap. If the outside LB is closer to the inside receiver he will call the middle color, signifying the middle receiver getting the screen. If the linebacker is way outside, he’ll call the third color, getting the ball to the third receiver while the middle receiver blocks that backer.

Q2: What plays will you run if the linebackers start to cheat outside to protect against the bubble?

A. Panagakos will package the bubble play with his wham play. On the wham play, he will motion the WR inside to isolate on the play side inside linebacker, giving the single back the ball. It provides a great inside attack in the box against teams that will constantly remove their linebackers against his spread look.

Q3: What if you don’t have two big, or dominant tight ends? Can you still utilize the double Wing-T offense?

A. According to Rost, he's never had big offensive linemen. When Palo Verde played in the 2004 Nevada state finals, his line barely averaged 200 lbs. He’ll often move fullbacks to play in the tight end position. Since so much of the offense is down and angle blocks, like the Wing-T, quicker linemen are more efficient in this scheme.






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