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AFM Magazine


Ditching Your Huddle – With so many teams going to the no-huddle offense, should you?

by: David Purdum
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Until recently, the only time most teams would dare to run plays without taking the time to huddle up to get the play call and the snap count from the quarterback was during the two-minute offense, when saving precious seconds was critical. Not any more. Today, dozens of pro and college teams have instituted full-time no-huddle offenses with the simple goal of gaining an advantage over the defense by keeping them off-guard. High school teams are even beginning to follow suit.
The no-huddle offense can be relentless. “You take charge of the tempo of the game by running this offense,” said University of Wyoming Head Coach Dave Christensen, who brought his no-huddle attack to Laramie after an ultra-successful run as Missouri’s offensive coordinator. “You dictate the tempo of the game rather than having the defense dictate to you.”
At its fastest pace – we’re talking 22 seconds between plays max – the no-huddle can overwhelm and undress a defense. It limits substitutions and gives defensive coordinators fits by drastically reducing their time to diagnose the situation and pinpoint tendencies. It also takes away the defense’s ability to disguise itself, with early, simulated cadence from the quarterback.
“This is where the offense really is ahead of defenses these days with the no-huddle,” said University of Idaho Offensive Coordinator Steve Axman. “They’re forcing defenses to show their hand and eliminate their ability to disguise. You want to blitz me? I’m going to call this quick pass, which should dissect your blitz. Oh, you’re going to sit back in a zone? Then, I’m going to hit you with this weak-side run.”
Most importantly, the no-huddle, at any pace, can be a game-changer. Just ask Idaho Head Coach Robb Akey, who has the Vandals in a bowl game for the first time in 11 years. Trailing Colorado State 20-10 at halftime, Akey made the decision to go no-huddle to start the third quarter. The Vandals scored touchdowns on their first three drives of the second half and won 31-29. “It gave us a spark and kept us going,” Akey said of the no-huddle attack. “So we stuck with it. That quick pace can help you make some things happen.”

No-huddle play calling

Maximizing the potency of the no-huddle offense requires prompt, efficient play-calling and organized communication. Idaho’s Akey and Axman, Wyoming’s Christensen and Auburn University Offensive Coordinator Gus Malzahn visited with AFM recently and shared some secrets on calling plays in the no-huddle offense.

Idaho

The Vandals’ no-huddle is fast and versatile. It is run at hurry-up, two-minute speed and is built around Steve Axman’s four-vertical passing scheme. It can shift gears from one play to the next and can easily feature multiple formations. But none of that matters if the play-calling process becomes cumbersome.
The process starts in the booth, where Axman sits next to Running Backs Coach Jeremy Thielbahr. Axmen and Thielbahr are wired to O-Line Coach Dan Finn, who is on the sideline. Finn and Thielbahr are responsible for suggesting run plays for Axman to consider as well as any protection schemes that need to be beefed up. Axman is also connected to Quarterbacks Coach Jonathan Smith on the field. Smith feeds Axman play possibilities in the passing game.
Along with the information coming from his assistants, Axman has color-coded play sheets, one for each half, that is broken down by down and distance, field position and hash marks. The veteran coach, who has written 12 books on offense, spends more time looking at this card than the field. “I’ll be honest. I get to look very little at the game. My head pops up just about when the play is getting ready to begin,” said Axman. “I’m one of those people who believe in having too many plays than too few. I don’t want to use up 3rd-and-short-yardage plays then all of a sudden have to figure a couple out. Some people say you should have four or five calls for third-and-medium. I think you should have eight or nine. As the game goes, there is a flow of the game that always changes from what you think it’s going to be. And I want to be able to go off into different branches of our offense without it being a major problem.”
With such a comprehensive play sheet, time is of the essence. As soon as he calls a play, Axman begins to think about the next call. He anticipates what the ensuing situation will be and starts to pinpoint a few play possibilities on the card. “I have a pretty good idea what the result of the play I call could be,” said Axman. “If it’s successful, well it’s going to mean a first down or third and short (for example). So I’ll point to a couple plays in those situations. I’ve had very few delay of game penalties using this method.”
Idaho has a combination of coaches and players, usually three or four, signal in the plays. Some of them, of course, are live. Some are not. The Vandals also can shift to their “Freeze” methodology, where the quarterback gets to the line, barks out some live-sounding cadence, then waits for the defense to show its hand. He then checks to the appropriate play.
Idaho relies heavily on the quarterback’s wristband. “I might call East for the formation. Then, I’ll say wristband seven,” explained Axman. “He’ll look at the wristband and see the package with the plays. It might be that it’s a zone play to the one technique or if he sees man or blitz or pressure look, he’s checking to a pass play that is on his wristband.” Axman said, on average, there are eight core plays mirrored left and right on the wristband.
Wyoming

During his eight seasons as OC at Missouri, University of Wyoming Head Coach Dave Christensen transformed the Tigers into an electric no-huddle machine. His goal was to run more plays than anyone else in the country. “We wanted to have the ball snapped before 22 seconds and try to run 80 plays a game,” said Christensen. “We wanted to force the defense to adjust to the play instead of us adjusting to the defense.”
To maintain that pace, Christensen scripted 60 first-half plays. “I stayed on that script throughout the first half, unless it was third down or a red-zone play. It really didn’t matter what the defense was doing. I was going to call these plays and they were going to have to stop them.”
In his first year at Wyoming, Christensen has scaled back the playbook to help the Cowboys’ adjust, something he highly recommends for coaches moving into a new situation and trying to install the no-huddle offense. While the offense may be slightly different, Christensen still employs the same system when relaying the plays in that he did at Missouri. The biggest difference is that, as the head coach, Christensen is now on the sidelines and leaves Offensive Coordinator Marcus Arroyo in charge of the play-calling.
Arroyo calls the play down to the assistant coaches on the sidelines. They begin signaling the personnel, the formation and the play. Wyoming uses four coaches signaling. Not all are live and not all are signaling to the same players. Once the quarterback receives the play, he then relays a code for the protection/blocking scheme to the offensive line.
Wyoming also has a package similar to Idaho’s “Freeze” methodology, where the quarterback will force the defense to reveal its scheme. The Cowboy coaching staff looks to see whether the defense is showing man coverage with blitz possibilities or zone coverage with no extra pressure. The alignment of the secondary and the linebacker are the keys. “We have a play call for each situation,” said Christensen. “We’ll have a blitz-beater, if we think pressure’s coming and something for man and zone.”

Auburn

Auburn’s Gus Malzahn orchestrates the Tigers’ no-huddle attack from the sidelines. After a prolific 14-year high school coaching career, he says that’s where his comfort zone is. “I’m more comfortable down there, but, with that said, you have to rely on the guys in the box for certain things that you can’t possibly see on field level,” Malzahn explained.
To help the play-calling process, Auburn offensive assistants are responsible for analyzing certain elements of the defense. One coach is responsible for the defensive front, one for the linebackers and one for the secondary. “They are looking for specific information that we have game planned throughout that week to see how the defense is playing certain things and trying to stop certain things,” said Malzahn. “They feed me the information, which helps me to call plays at a quick pace.”
Once the play is selected, Auburn signals in the plays with numbers, colors, symbols and signalers. “We have the full gamut,” said Malzahn with a chuckle. “It’s a fool-proof system.”
Defensive coordinators, take note. With the success demonstrated by teams such as Idaho, Wyoming and Auburn after installing no-huddle offenses – all improved their records from 2008 to 2009 and Idaho went from 89th in the nation to 14th in total offense – more teams will no doubt follow suit. Whether the trend is only temporary or permanent remains to be seen. One thing, however, is indisputable. If you can design and execute a system of communicating plays from the bench to the players that is efficient and effective, operating without a huddle gives your offense a distinct advantage. p






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