555 Yards Per Game: The Shotgun I Offense

Behind Mark Hudspeth, North Alabama’s offense is racking up some monster yardage.
by: Mike Kuchar
Senior Writer, American Football Monthly
© More from this issue

          
Quick trivia question: Name the winning est college football program in Alabama over the last five seasons. If you answered the Roll Tide in Tuscaloosa you’d be wrong – although much can be said about the job Nick Saban has done with that program. No, not the Auburn Tigers either. You can also count out such traditional powerhouses as Troy and UAB. Give up? Try the University of North Alabama, where the Lions, a Division II program in the town of Florence, have posted a record of 55-12 the last six seasons. At the epoch of that success stands 39 year old head coach Mark Hudspeth, a former offensive coordinator at Navy and who won the NCAA Division II National Championship while Offensive Coordinator at Delta State. Now, his UNA Lions are burning up scoreboards across the eastern coastline with his high profile offensive attack.

He’s undefeated so far this season and his squad has been averaging 45.4 points per game. His Lions sit atop the country among all Division II schools with their output of 555.6 yards per game and are also the nation’s leader in turnover ratio at +14. His tenure at North Alabama includes two Gulf South Conference titles and four NCAA Division II appearances. So how does he do it? As one may expect with his Naval Academy background, Hudspeth does have solid roots in the option game, but the secret to his success doesn’t include classics like the veer or midline option nor does it include any innovative, state-of-the art scheme like the Spin or Pistol. Instead, Hudspeth grounds his success by utilizing a formation that most college coaches utilize on short yardage situations only: the I. The formation is ageless, but it’s what he strains out of it that makes his scheme so hard to prepare for. Although UNA incorporates the spread scheme about 50 percent of the time, he also runs the I under center and out of the gun with split backs (Diagram 1). That, coupled with the tempo of his no-huddle, “Nascar” pace gives defenders headaches and defensive coordinators left scratching their heads.

Diagram 1:Pro Gun

According to Hudspeth, the addition of the 2 back schemes along with the spread scheme occurred this spring when he realized that he can still have a vertical passing threat like most teams could have, yet keep defenses focused on the possibility of the run game. “What we want to do is run the ball effectively enough to force defenses to give you one-on-one match-ups in the secondary. We have always run spread sets with three and four wide, but the interesting part is that we’re throwing for more yards this year in a pro formation than we did in four wide. When defenses get four wide, they seem to get into those umbrella coverage’s like (cover) two or (cover) four and you can’t get behind them. When you get in the I you can get one-on-one matches with corners or safeties because you will either get man free or cover three. You’re able to get a one-on-one match-up on the edges and you’re able to run some play action and can still control the tempo of the game with our no-huddle fast pace tempo. You don’t have to dink and dunk down the field like you would in spread because teams won’t give up the long ball. Now in this type of scheme you can take your shots down the field.”

How Hudspeth is able to take his shots is by using a play action scheme off of his top run schemes. He’ll stay in pro personnel at least fifty percent of the time and execute staples in the run game like power, inside zone, stretch and stretch option. Both running backs are tailback types who can play on both the tight end and split end side of the offense. In the pass game, Hudspeth will assess the talents of his receivers and cater his play calling around those evaluations. “We just try to take advantage of our players ability in order to utilize their talents pro-actively,” says Hudspeth. “If we have big wide outs we’ll throw them slants. With the faster, quicker guys we like running bubbles and speed sweeps to get the ball in their hands quicker. But you have to find a guy to stretch the field when they are in cover three or man free. The key is utilizing your players strengths within the context of the offense.”

Power Package

What’s a pro I offense without the power play? High school programs around the country make a living off Woody Hayes’s old scheme year in and year out. But, when the power play is run out of the gun formation, it presents an entirely new dimension to the defense, giving the offense a little more balance of run and pass.

According to Hudspeth, just the look of the formation causes defenses to soften mentally, and can produce terrific angles to run the ball. “My big thing is angles and numbers,” says Hudspeth. “That’s what I look for when coordinating an offense.” Of course the power play consists of down blocks at the point of attack, so the angles are already there. But, where Hudspeth gets the numbers he needs is by running the scheme out of his unbalanced formation (Diagram 2). He lines up the X and Z receiver to the side of the tight end in order to get a better run surface. “We like the power to the TE like out of pro or unbalanced looks because it’s easier to inside release to the backside linebacker with a 9-technique. If they decide to play with an inside shade, or 7-technique, the coaches can have the tight end arc release and let the fullback kick him out of the 7, or check to the stretch or stretch option.”

Diagram 2: Power Unbalanced

Off the power action, Hudspeth runs the power pass (Diagram 3). He’ll fake the power play to the tight end side with both backs on a full flow path. The offensive line will slide protect away with each lineman responsible for their backside gap. The lead back will cross the face of the support player and release out to the flat with the tight end running a ten-yard flag route, while the Z receiver runs a hitch. On the backside, the split end will run a post--a route that most teams will hardly look to throw--but Hudspeth bears no bones in taking a shot if the middle of the field is open.

“Depending on field position, we’ll take a shot,” said Hudspeth. “If we’re in the middle of the field and the free safety is flat-footed we’ll go deep to that X. But the free safety is the initial read and who we are trying to get own in the box with play action. It’s that kind of big play route that is a game breaker and can tear games wide open.”

Diagram 3: Power Pass

Zone/Stretch Package

Because of the two back structure of the pro I offense, the stretch and stretch option scheme can be very productive as well. Again, Hudspeth’s thought process is all about angles and with the speed of having two tailback-types in the backfield getting to the perimeter is not a problem. Hudspeth uses this play as a check play in either direction vs. reduced fronts (Diagram 4). It’s a scheme that can be a little more productive if the QB is under center. “We’ll split the backs and pitch off the strong safety,” said Hudspeth. “The QB will reverse out and attack downhill. It’s a great scheme for eight players in the box, especially if they are playing with a seven technique because you can get outside right away with the tackle pulling as well. If the QB is under center, then both backs are to the play side and the fullback works levels, play side LB to FS. Once the defense starts to get battered they’ll start to move that end into a 9-technique outside the tight end and that’s when we’ll come back with our power play.”

Diagram 4: Stretch Option

Making adjustments and packaging plays are other tangible reasons why Hudspeth’s offense is so detrimental to defenses. “We check to get in the best play possible vs. that particular defense on that down, many times regardless of the down and distance. We don’t let our QB check anything. If he changes the play he’s fired,” Hudspeth says jokingly. Hudspeth puts that duty on himself and offensive coordinator, Alan Arrington, who checks all plays from the sideline. One of those adjustments could be running stretch to the split end side when teams shift their defense to the TE side and play without the flat defender. Backside from the tight end you may just have a three (technique), five (technique) and weak backer if they are a split reduction defense. So we’ll just bring both backs to the same side and run stretch with the lead back on that weak backer.”

The complementary play to the stretch is the boot pass out of pro gun (Diagram 5). “If you start to run stretch in the same direction and have some success with it like we have had, those LB’s start to run downhill and those safeties get involved,” said Hudspeth. “So we’ll fake the stretch one way and run the boot opposite with the tight end running a 10-12 yard drag.

Diagram 5: Stretch Boot

“Sometimes we’ll even run a corner by that split end because it’s one of the best routes against man free coverage. No corner wants to get beat over the top, so any type of double move is effective out of play action when you have one-on-one coverage. We like to throw the post, post corner, and comebacks. We’ll put our best wide out on their weakest corner and give our guy plenty of opportunities to make plays.”

To the split end side, Hudspeth likes what he calls SE side stretch (Diagram 6). “Our main focus is having enough offense to have enough answers to attack what the defense is giving us. Our tempo is still a main priority and being physical is another. We also want to be multiple enough with the spread and 2 back schemes to try and force defenses to prepare for a lot of different looks. We keep the OL schemes simple and teach our backs and receivers many complements off of the same schemes up front.”

Diagram 6: SE Side Stretch

---

WHAT IF?

Q1. What if you’re getting a lot of two shell coverage (two or four) in the pro gun formation. How would that alter your play calling?

We would run the football. We’d make checks to the side that gives us the best angles and numbers. Out of the 2 back offense, we like to formation teams (many different sets) to get overloads and number mismatches and to make teams adjust. Once your players understand the schemes, it makes it easy to call multiple formations and still keep your rules consistent so not to overload your personnel and to create advantages offensively.

Q2. Since all the calls are made by Alan Arrington (UNA’s OC) and/or yourself from the sideline, what if the defense is disguising its coverage as long as possible as not to tip it off? What would you do differently?

Most of our calls are made to be snapped quickly to catch a defense before they stem and where they may be out of position. We also incorporate “freeze checks” to try to get defenses to show their hand before the ball is snapped. Our main goal is to play with a fast tempo to try to discourage defensive substitutions and mutliple looks and to have enough answers within our system (run and pass) to attack any part of the field that we feel is vulnerable.

Q3. What if you're facing a team that likes to zone pressure, particularly to the field? What, other than the stretch option scheme, could be an effective combatant for that type of defense?

We like to max protect utilizing both backs in some form of play action and try to take advantage of the one-on-one coverage that you are probably getting and run routes that are best based on the leverage and depth of the DB's. Also we like quicks and screens out of the same two back formations.

NEW BOOK!

Digital Download - 304 Pages of Football Forms for the Winning Coach