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Take to the Air – Transform your Wing-T into a dynamic passing attack.by: Jared Van AckerHead Coach, Freedom High School (VA) © More from this issue The Wing-T offense is predicated on the run game with the occasional pass to keep defenses from loading the box with defenders. Some Wing-T coaches, however, have been experimenting with incorporating different spread packages for passing situations within their power running offensive systems. The Spread Wing-T offense that I’ve developed combines the Wing-T and the Spread and allows for a fluid transfer between the two by simplifying the system. There are five core passing concepts that we use in our Spread Wing-T offense: • Play-Action Game • Bunch/Traffic/Flood Game Diagram 1. Sometimes, if the QBs notice man-on-man coverage, they may want to find the weakest defender during his pre-snap read and exploit that mismatch. A key to making this play successful is the spacing between the eligible WRs, thus spreading out the defenders. Since a majority of the passes in the quick game need to be released as soon as possible, our OL will execute cut blocks to get the defenders’ hand down. Other route packages that are included in our quick game passing are pop passes, speed outs, and slants. In all of these routes, the passes are going to be quick and the WRs have to be ready for them immediately. One of our favorite spread routes off of play-action and motion is our slant/fly combo route, which is when we read the #2 defender to the trips side. If he goes with the fly route, we throw the quick slant. If he sits, we throw the quick pop fly in the seam (Diagram 2).
High/Low Diagrams 3a, 3b. There are many high/low route combinations that can be run out of various formations. We run our comeback/corner route, fly/out route, fly/stop/curl route, fly/pigtail/arrow route, pigtail/corner/fly route, etc., where we select a specific defender that we want to exploit and use multiple looks to high/low the same individual (Diagrams 4A and 4B). Diagram 4a, 4b. Diagram 5. If we want to still go to the 4-vertical look against a two-high safety look, we tell the QB to look for the one-on-one mismatch on the outside between our WR and their cornerback. Our QB will eye manipulate or pump fake to get the safety to bite on the slot WR toward his side on the seam route and then throw the outside fly route on a 1-on-1 mismatch. If teams start to bail high on the 4-verticals with either a cover 4 shell zone look or a man under w/safeties over the top look, we will then sneak our RB out in the flat or in the hook/curl zone underneath, forcing the defense to play in space with a great open-field runner. Usually, you have the #1 playside WR run a post/corner route to stretch the defense vertically. Depending on our WR’s skill level and/or our QB’s arm strength, sometimes we will have the WR run a post/comeback route. The FB will release into the flat running an arrow route for a dump off pass and sometimes he’ll be the main receiver. If the #1 WR and FB are covered, then the QB will continue his read progression to the drag route from the #2 WR from the backside of the offensive formation. I prefer to pull both guards but tell my playside guard to check for a blitz before he pulls to lead out the QB (Diagrams 6A and 6B). Diagram 6a, 6b. The second form of play-action pass that is used heavily in our Spread Wing-T passing attack is the bootleg pass. The concept is very similar to the waggle with WRs flooding the zones of the defense at all three levels, but the play-action comes off of the FB in this passing scheme (Diagrams 7A and 7B). Diagram 7a, 7b. Like all play-action passes, the really important factor is the play fake. The fakes made by the backfield in the power pass (Diagram 8) set up the play and allow for the QB to read the reaction of the corner and deliver the ball. If you have a one-on-one mismatch on the single WR, you may want to take a shot with him over the top on the post route. Diagram 8. Bunch/Traffic/flood Diagram 9. Another concept that we like to incorporate against teams that play man-to-man coverage is the bunch formation that puts defenders in predicaments. One of our favorite routes is our pigtail/post/corner combination (Diagram 10).
With the Spread Wing-T Offense, you can combine the traditional Wing-T offensive system with the Spread offense without a lot of difficulty. The Spread Wing-T system plays to the strengths of two of the most dynamic offenses in high school football and forces opponents to prepare for two different styles of offense. The Spread Wing-T system allows us to spread out the defense and limit the amount of defenders in the box to stop the run in fear of our passing attack. The Spread Wing-T Offense has also been a huge recruiting tool for athletes who would love to play in a system that doesn’t brand itself as “three yards and a cloud of dust” but rather a wide-open attack. Coach Van Acker answers your questions on Wantmore articles on this subject: The Spread Wing-T Passing Game – December, 2011 |
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