Triple Option Football Out of the Spread Offense

At John Marshall High School, we run a spread offense. Our base set is a 2 X 2, four wide receiver set, with the quarterback in the sahotgun five yards from the ball. A running back is set to either his right or left, stacked behind the offensive tackle.
Like most spread teams, our base run play is the zone read. In the zone read, the quarterback receives the shotgun snap and, staying square to the LOS, takes a slight lateral step and extends the ball to his running back, riding him across his body, just past his pre-snap home position. He reads the play of the backside defensive end and either gives the ball or keeps it, based on whether the defensive end attacks down the LOS, seems ‘unsure’ or feathers upfield to play contain (See Diagram 1).


As teams began to work to limit and contain this play, planning various stunts and disguises to bait the quarterback into making a false read, we knew we needed to be able to attack the backside of the formation. We needed to keep the defense honest and allow our base zone play to remain effective. Our answer was the Triple Option.
We knew that by putting a tight end in the game, especially against a 40 defense, we would be able to manipulate our opponent’s defensive front. On the tight end side, we knew that we would get a 3-technique tackle, and on the X or open side of the formation, we knew that we would get a 1-technique tackle. Because we would use this and other formations to run our base zone read play, both to and away from the tight end, we knew that we could establish an advantage that would allow us to exploit a team’s over-aggressive focus on our base run (See Diagram 2).


When the RB aligned away from the tight end, we instructed the front side of the offensive line to block the zone read. We then instructed the G on the 1-technique side to take a bucket step and drive block the 1-technique as hard and far as he could. The X side offensive tackle was then to ‘run’ the inside armpit of the near side inside linebacker. The defensive end was left alone. By doing this, the offensive line gave the overall look of the zone read while subtly walling on the entire defense (See Diagram 3).


Upon receiving the snap, the quarterback steps perpendicular to the LOS and reaches the ball back to the running back. The running back takes the first open step as he takes in the zone read, then two quick gather steps, and heads downhill immediately. He becomes the dive back, aiming for the inside leg of the offensive tackle. The quarterback rides him downhill, reading the defensive end, who must decide whether he should tackle the running back right past his inside, or contain the QB. At the same time, the slot receiver takes a hard step forward, then two shuffle steps back to fall into the pitch phase with the quarterback and become the pitchman. If the defensive end attacks the running back, the QB pulls the ball and runs for the outside shoulder of the outside linebacker over the slot receiver. If he attacks the quarterback, the QB simply pitches the ball to the slot. If he stays with the slot, the quarterback keeps the ball and runs upfield (See Diagram 4).


We ran this play for the first time in a playoff game in 2007. The first time we ran it, the QB gave the ball to the RB who ran past the DE who was focused on containing our QB. The result was a 30-yard TD. The next time we ran it, the DE attacked the RB so the QB pulled the ball and read the OLB who was in tight man coverage on our Slot. Our QB kept the ball and ran for a 35-yard gain. The third time we ran it, the DE attacked the RB but the OLB ran after the QB so he simply pitched the ball to the uncovered slot receiver who ran for 30 yards.
The first time we ran the play in 2008, it went to the pitchman for a 12-yard gain. Throughout the season it became a valuable play for us resulting in TDs of 4, 12, 25, and 75 yards. Because it looks so much like the zone read, teams are not sure when it is coming and cannot really see it happening before it’s too late. In one game two years ago it was the only play we ran for the entire second half!
Overall, our offense was able to take advantages of the mismatches that this and other plays created for us. Last year we averaged 412 yards of offense per game and scored 31ppg.