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Spread Run Game Cheap Install
“Spread” As I mentioned in my first blog post, one of the three formations I would base out of if I were in a pinch would be the 2×2 four open balanced pistol, which I will simply call the “Spread.” First of all, a balanced pistol formation makes it difficult for the defense to set the front to the back, which seems to be the primary way defenses are able to get pre-snap advantages currently. Avoiding that, while forcing four hats on four hats on the perimeter – keeping bodies out of the box – is also a huge plus.
Again, this formation is a big answer if you’re willing to run your quarterback and you’re comfortable with him being the trigger man of your offense. It’s certainly not for everyone, but there are some solid advantages to playing this style of football on Friday nights.
The first two run concepts I would teach if I were to major in this formation would be inside zone and power.
Inside Zone
Let’s start with inside zone. I will be referring to inside zone to the left as black (B-gap-to-B-gap left) and inside zone to the right (B-gap-to-B-gap right) as brown.
Inside Zone Strong (Black) Above is a diagram of the end zone angle of what it would look like to run black against a typical nickel front, which is what you’re most likely to get when defenses are in two-high shells against this formation. Personally, I like to have the quarterback pull into an uncovered B gap, as the explosives in this play most often come on quarterback pulls and the explosive rate is higher when the quarterback pulls into an uncovered B gap, as shown above.
This five-for-six run demands that there is an option element, either with a lock call on the backside tackle, leading to the quarterback RPOing the Will linebacker, or with a read option call that has the quarterback read the end man on the line of scrimmage on the backside of the run. The play above, which is the first version of inside zone I would install, is the read option variation.
Simple rules for the offensive line are as such: Gap, On, Down. If there is a player in your playside gap (left tackle, left guard, right guard in the diagram above), then the assignment is blocking that player’s backside shoulder. If there is a player lined up directly on top of you, that is your assignment. If there is neither a player in your playside gap nor on top of you, work down (backside) on a combo up to linebacker level (center in the diagram above.) The only exception is the backside tackle, who must always remember that the end man on the line of scrimmage is to be unblocked on inside zone. Because of this, he often climbs directly to linebacker level when the quarterback’s pull goes toward an uncovered B-gap. We will get more into offensive line technique in another post, as this simply covers the basic X and Os of an early install.
If the backside end man on the line screams toward the running back, the quarterback will pull the ball and run to the edge of the defense. If the backside edge holds his ground, it turns into a five-for-five handoff. The running back will read the defensive tackle in the A gap to figure out where the open running lane is.
Inside Zone Weak (Brown) Above is what brown would look like against the same front. The left tackle, center, and right tackle have a player in their playside gap, which means they’ll block the backside shoulder of their assignment. The left guard and right guard do not have anyone lined up in their playside gap or directly on them, which means they will combo up to the linebacker level, leading to two combos instead of one. The quarterback’s and running back’s reads do not change, only the direction of the play.
Power
The other run concept I would install early on is power. I will refer to power to the left as gold (G being for the pulling guard) and power to the right as green.
Power Toss Strong (Green) Above is a diagram of green toss, which is essentially speed option with an extra puller. Everyone from the center to the playside tackle will be working down blocks or combos off down blocks. The playside end man on the line of scrimmage and playside linebacker will be left unblocked, as those assignments are covered by the option and backside pulling guard, respectively.
On the backside, the pulling guard will take on the playside linebacker while the backside tackle will have a hinge block that attempts to prevent penetration. At the snap, the running back will get into a 3×3 yard to 5×5 yard relationship with the quarterback, which will be called his pitch relationship. Depending on who the edge on the front side of the play decides to take on, the quarterback will either pitch the ball on the edge or pull the ball and run off tackle himself.
Kent State running power toss Above is a video of Kent State running power toss a few years ago for reference.
Like on the zone read, I highly suggest that the quarterback keep would be called to the uncovered B gap if a traditional nickel front is presented. While the down block from the center on a three-technique may worry some (cut his ass), issues can arise quickly if a three-technique is playside and is able to get any penetration. A three-technique is also more likely to stunt to the edge, whereas if the end man on the line stunts inside to the uncovered B gap then the pulling guard will block the inside linebacker on the edge and the run can still hit off tackle like long trap.
Power Read Strong (Green) Another variation of power that you can run out of this formation is power read. The blocking does not change at all but it does present different timing on the reads defensively. Above is a diagram of the play, which asks the quarterback to shuffle laterally before deciding whether or not to give the ball to the running back, running nearly directly at the sideline.
Oklahoma running power read out of the spread pistol Some of you may be saying to yourself, “How do you run power read out of the pistol?” Above is a video of Oklahoma doing just that out of the spread pistol. The key is to keep the distance of the running back in the backfield short, which is what I would recommend if you’re going to be running this formation anyway. There’s no reason to have the running back in traditional pistol depth if you are not going to have a tight end on the field, at least in my opinion.
The final piece of my cheap run game install for this formation is the perimeter blocking scheme.
Iowa Tag For the inside zone plays (black/brown), you’ll need to have a perimeter tag, as the quarterback can essentially play a game of the modern triple option on the edge. For the power plays (gold/green), the receivers will always need to block as the running back is the carrier on the edge. I call that “Iowa”, with IO standing for In and Out, the reasoning for why receivers are going to block on the option.
This primarily works best when the defense is a hat-on-a-hat on the perimeter, which is when I would call black/brown Iowa or power option plays. The outside receiver will block the cornerback (#1) and the slot receiver will block the slotback (#2) (or safety if there is no slotback.)
Bubble Tag Another call you can make is a bubble tag, which turns the backside slot receiver into the pitch man when zone read gets converted into the modern triple option. You can do this when the defense is a hat-on-a-hat or when the apex defender is too far inside for the slot receiver to block. The quarterback simply reads who the force player will cover when the ball is pulled and the quarterback can turn the ball up inside of him or dump it out to the edge. The outside receiver will block the cornerback (#1) in this call.
Smoke Tag The last tag I would install early on would be a smoke tag, which gets the ball into the hands of the outside receiver instead of the inside receiver. In this tag, the slot receiver would actually block the cornerback (#1) while the quarterback still reads the force player. The smoke route is a jab step upfield that then works back underneath the block of the slot toward the offensive formation.
This call is best when the defense is playing off coverage, which allows the slot to have a better chance to make a block on the safety. Like the bubble tag, this tag plays best when the force player is apexed between the tackle and slot receiver, meaning he has to cover all the space from the outside receiver to the C gap at the same time.
To recap, two blocking schemes out of this formation can give you 10 calls on your call sheet (left and right) with a chance to hit any gap on the field, all while having a chance at a perimeter run on every play.
Inside Zone (Black/Brown)
- Black/Brown Iowa
- Black/Brown Bubble
- Black/Brown Smoke
Power (Gold/Green)
- Gold/Green Toss
- Gold/Green Read
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The Four Formations I’d Run
One of the more interesting questions I’ve ever been asked by a fellow high school coach came up during the pandemic season of 2021. Like many of you, our program had to play in the spring, following basketball season, due to the fact that we were unable to play in the fall of 2020. One of my close friends had just taken a new job as a coordinator and asked me this:
If all you had was one camp to get kids you had never met before ready for a season, what would you run?
In many ways, I hope this blog can help answer that question. To start, though, I’m going to have to take the cop-out answer of “it really depends on which kids I have.” As an offensive line coach who has coached everything from the Wing-T to the Air Raid, I understand how dependent your system should be on what the kids know or can run. If I have 150-pound offensive linemen, I’m not going to run inside zone as my base run play. If I have a college quarterback who would come in third place in a foot race with a pregnant woman, I’m not going to run the option. At the same time, there needs to be a common thread between your scheme so that you can bounce around to your offense’s strength, based on personnel, from year-to-year.
In the most basic terms, the run concepts (from an offensive line perspective) that I would want to teach would be inside zone, outside zone, buck sweep, and power. Depending on the personnel I have in a given year, how we run those plays would be very different. For example, if our best path to winning ball games is running the quarterback, power would be run by calling power read and/or power toss read. If we didn’t have a dual-threat quarterback, we’d probably have to lock the backside tackle and run RPOs to hold the backside linebacker in the run game. This is how you can keep that common thread between seasons while still adapting your offense to your players, which is never more important than when you’re starting off at a new program.
Stepping back from the cop-out answer, I believe that no matter what the roster looked like, I would run one of three formations as the base formation in an offense. I would also run an I formation variation for short-yardage and goal-line work, again, depending on the kids I had. Here’s what they are:
3×1 Nub/Back to Trips (“Nub”)
“Nub” This is the one true shotgun formation I would potentially put in with new kids in a short camp in Year 1. I believe that divorcing run and pass strength so strongly, with the isolated tight end and the back across from him to the trips side of the formation, provides a lot of advantages, particularly in the RPO game. This is my answer to “you have an immobile quarterback but some skill players” personnel.
Run game: Inside zone, power, buck (RPOs)
2×2 Four Open Balanced Pistol (“Spread”)
“Spread” As you can tell by my user name, this is my favorite formation. It revolves around having enough speed on the field to be able to run the option, with the quarterback essentially being the triggerman. If my quarterback can handle option duties, you don’t need stud wideouts to execute an offense in this formation.
Run game: Zone read, power read, power toss read, zone read-bubble, zone read-tunnel
2×2 Two Open Balanced Pistol (“Tight”)
“Tight” If my quarterback is mobile, but I don’t want the offense running through him, per se, I’m manufacturing touches and using boot, buck, and outside zone to run my offense, with a jet sweep threat depending on what my players look like.
Run game: Outside zone, buck, power, jet sweep
2×1 YY I Formation (“Wing”)
“Wing” This is the formation I’d flag if I ran the Nub or Spread formations as a base. I wouldn’t run the I formation down-to-down, but it’s really nice to have in short-yardage and at the goal line.
Run game: Iso, power, buck, outside zone
Why exactly and how exactly would I use these formations? The answer is entirely too long for one blog post. Click on the categories for the individual formations to discover a little about my perspective on them.
High School Spread Offense 