Run and Shoot Resource v1

8/10/2019 Run and Shoot Resource v1

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Run And Shoot Terminology and Schemes

PASS PROTECTIONS

50/51 pro was for 3 step...

PST - Man onto outside. Can cut if having trouble.

PSG - Man on or off inside. if uncovered Bandit (bandit is to pull backside).CEN - Block man on off. If uncovered bandit

BSG - Block man on near shade. If uncovered bandit

BST - Man on outside. Block 1st man onto outside

Back - Aim for the PSG, Base. never come backside if Bandit call

60/61 was for half roll, 5-7 step

PST - Man onto outside

PSG - Block man on or off you insideCEN - Block man on or near shade.

BSG - Block man on or near shade

BST - Set to 'B" gap. Block 1 st man onto outsideBack - Aim for the PST, Block First man inside

JUNE JONES SMU TERMINOLOGY

3x1 (trips as frontside)

14/15

go

georgia (curl concept)

houston (flood concept)9 (3 vertical concept)

divide (4 Vertical concept)

delay (Smash concept)switch corner

army (r&s concept)

double post

1x3 (trips as backside)

choice

levelsnebraska

backside houston

2x2

streakswitch


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switch corner

14/15

navy (2 man army)texas (2 man houston)

nebraska

double posttrue switch/streak (true vertical concept)cross (shallow concept)

delay (smash concept)

main tags:

single receiver:

pivot (run it hitch at 8 yards)

slant (5 step)14/15 (hitch/fade/back shoulder read)

turn (short comeback: 10 back to 8)

2 receiver:

h/y out (fade-speed out concept)

x/z quick out (double speed out concept)

h/y hook (option/comeback concept)h/y sail (smash concept)

x/z fade (fade-flat concept)

3 receiver:

h/y corner (curl/flat/corner concept)

quick:thunder (double qk outs)

lighting (triple slants/double slants)

PASS PROTECTION (HS COACH ON COACHHUEY)

We are pretty much 4 down plus a mike...1/2 slide to the shade side. BOB to 3 tech. backresponsible for everyone else. Hot off 2 to the back

Against 3 down we typically name 2 mikes. Skip a backer in between. So if I tagged them from

the boundary it would be Bandit, Will, Mike, and Spur. We would mike bandit/mike or spur/will.

This keeps us from hot against any traditional fire zones. For us to be hot it has to be a trueoverload with a blitz pattern in which the rb is responsible for both backers the d brought...which

isn't common...or a lb and db the back is responsible for. Ex:bandit, corner or strong safety andspur. If the line is responsible for the bandit in the bandit corner overload, we have it picked up

pending the back sees it.

CHRIS BROWNS RUN AND SHOOT SERIES (PT1)


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The most famous game that involved a team running therun and shoot offense was one where

that team lost: the infamous "greatest playoff comeback of all-time," where the Buffalo Bills

came back from 35-3 down to beat the Houston Oilers in overtime. The storyline was, to many,that the Oilers' four-wide offense couldn't control the clock and gave up the lead. Maybe so. But

something had to go right for them to get the 35-3 lead (and score 38 for the game to send it into

overtime). Maybe the offense failed to prepare the defense -- that was a common meme foryears, but seems to have receded when spread offense teams like theFlorida Gatorsor theNewEngland Patriots comebine great offenses and defenses.

And it's true,no NFL team runs the pure 'shootanymore (though some high school and smallcolleges do, and of course June Jones does at SMU). But the concepts live on, and the "spread

'em and shred 'em" philosophy the 'shoot engendered has found more and more converts over the

last two decades. But the offense is not particularly well understood; it is still considered an

outlaw approach. And true, the dedication the offense requires to be run well also requiressomething approaching exclusivity: not much time is left to devote to doing other things.

But, I am a big believer that the 'shoot both can be a very viable offense in and of itself (helloJune Jones!), and, even more than that, I think that understanding the offense is one of the best

ways to really understand passing offense generally. This is evidenced by the fact that the

offense'sconceptslive on in the playbooks of every NFL team and a great swath of college and

high school ones.

So, this offseason I am starting a multi-part series on a "Simple Approach to the Run and Shoot."

The series' purpose a few-fold: (1) to explain what makes the Run and Shoot distinct from thelarger umbrella of "spread offenses" (includingMike Leach's Airraid,with which it is often

compared and confused with); (2) to explain the offense's core tenets in a way could provide

insight into all passing offenses; and (3) to provide a possible real-world system that distills the

run and shoot's major points (and combines them with some of the best of the modern passinggame) into something that could be used at the high school or small college level.

In this introduction, I will begin with some of the offense's core philosophy. In future posts I willaddress some of the specifics.

Philosophy and tenets

There are four major points that make the 'shoot the 'shoot, and then a few ancillary ones that

have come into play over the years.

Pass-first offense.Not all spread offenses are pass-first, and not all teams that use run andshoot concepts are pass-first, but if you're going to commit to the offense, you begin with the

past (and often end there too). When the Hawai'i coaching staff under Junes Jones gave a clinictalk to other coaches at the AFCA convention a few years back, they named their talk "For those

who like to throw the ball." One of the major reasons for this is just practice time: you can only

do so many things well. By specializing as pass-happy team they get an incredible amount of

repetitions doing the things they do over and over and doing them well.
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Four wide-receiver commitment.Now there's much debatewithin coaching circles if you can be a "run and shoot" team without being a four-wide receiver

team. (Ironically, the Bills who beat the Oilers in that game and helped drive out the pure shootwere themselves a team that used primarily run and shoot concepts but with a tight-end, hencetheir nickname, the "K-Gun.") Moreover, run and shoot teams are actually far less multiple by

formation than the typical spread team. They typically use a two-by-two spread look or a "trips"

spread look with a single backside receiver and three to the other side. And they rarely go five-wides. There are many reasons for this -- including specialization of players -- but a big

motivator is that their receivers and quarterback do so much reading after the snap they want to

keep it simple before it; they want to see where the defense lines up and attack that. If you have

fixed assignments, you are more concerned with moving the defense around to open those up; ifyou can adjust on the fly, that doesn't matter as much.

Receivers read the defense on the fly.This is probably thebiggest difference between the modern "spread" and the 'shoot. Some of that distinction is a

matter of shades of gray, but in other cases it is quite dramatic. The point about formations was

made above, but the basic theory behind the offense goes back to the originator,Tiger Ellison.

As the story goes, he wanted an offense that emulated what was most natural, so he observedplayground and backyard football. He said you didn't see highly formalized lines and alignments

or wedge plays and all that. Instead you saw a kid, on the run, tossing passes to receivers who

would keep moving until they found open spots. To Ellison, if you didn't coach the kids toomuch they began "run and shooting" on their own, so he thought this was how people really want

to play. Hence, his receivers would read and react on the fly to get open.

As Mouse Davis, who did as much to develop the modern 'shoot as any human could, has
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explained:"We are always going to adjust on the run to the defensive coverage," he said. "If the

defense sets in one look, we are going to make one route adjustment. If the defense sets in

another look, we are going to make another route adjustment."

There are a few ancillary points that have been part of the offense, but to a varying degree. For

my purpose in this series they are important but not imperative.

Quarterback movement.In Ellison's original shoot and the versions used by Mouse Davis andin the NFL, the quarterback always began with a "half-roll"or semi-"sprint out," where he

moved the pocket and attacked the corner. If you watch the video below of Portland State (nowcoached by run and shoot veterans Jerry Glanville and Mouse Davis; Portland State is in white

and black), you'll clearly see what this looks like. This comported with Ellison's original vision

of the runand shoot, and the fact that pass defenders had to contend with the threat of the

quarterback running at them distorted the coverage. Nevertheless, some teams now have evolvedto more of a dropback look, and June Jones now at SMU uses something of a hybrid. Moreover,

whatpass protection schemesyou want to use will influence how you have your quarterback

drop back.

Motion.This is probably one of the bigger changes with the 'shoot. In the original days, the

idea was to have motion on every play, constantly moving from twins to balanced and back and

forth. Now, however, defenses are better at disguising their reactions to motion and not giving

away whether they are man or zone, so most teams have just disregarded it and just chosen to

play. Nevertheless it is still a good tool to reveal certain techniques, and never underestimate

how much it can affect a defense to change the strength of a formation.

Wrap-up

This is enough for now. In future parts of the series I will address topics like adjusting pass

patterns on the fly, the basic run and shoot concepts like "switch," "go," and "choice," pass

protection, marrying other pass concepts with the shoots, and quick passes and screens. Below

are a few more run and shoot clips.

CHRIS BROWNS RUN AND SHOOT SERIES (PT2)

John Jenkins, one of the run and shoot's pioneers and most prolific prophets, is a biteccentric.Jenkins became famous during his time at the University of Houston as offensive coordinator

and eventually head coach, where he coached Andre Ware to a Heisman trophy and DavidKlinger to ridiculous statistics, including the outrageous (in several senses) eleventouchdown

passes Klingler threw against Division I-AA Eastern Washington. According toSports

Illustrated,former Texas A&M Coach R.C. Slocum once said of Jenkins: "For somebody who is

really a pretty good guy, John has managed to piss off coaches all over the country."
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And some of this brashness was intrinsically tied up with his role as run and shoot maven. As

discussed previously,Ellison and Mouse Davis (as well as Red Faught) innovated the offense,

but Jenkins was there at least from the time it took off. He coached quarterbacks under JackPardee and Mouse Davis with the USFL's Houston Gamblers back in 1984 (their quarterback

was some guy named Jim Kelly), followed Pardee to the University of Houston, and stayed as

head coach after Pardee became head coach of the Houston Oilers. Of course, Jenkins'spersonality wound up doing him in as much as anything (burning playbooks and refusing toshare ideas with other coaches, though to be fair some of these stories are anecdotal). But, when

it came to the run and shoot concepts, the man is an encyclopedia.

The Seam Read and Adjusting Pass Patterns

This part of the R&S series is intended to break down the "seam read" (or "middle read") route

as a way of introducing the offense's most fundamental principle: that receivers adjust theirroutes on the fly. Jenkins explained this principle in the manual (maybe more of a manifesto) he

gave out to the USFL Houston Gamblers quarterbacks back in the mid-1980s (again, Jim Kelly):

"Any conversation on any type of offensive theory without the acknowledgment, consideration,

and complete understanding of defensive opposition is entirely useless. This statement certainly

applies to our situation more so than any other team in football today. For with our repeatedroute altering and adjusting dependent upon the recognition of coverage categories, it is obvious

that we must be capable of reading and reacting to coverages properly. When reacting properly,

we place the defenses into an impossible state leaving them rendered helpless. In simpler terms,whatever the defense throws up at us should be wrong. Naturally this is due to our own proper

decisions in reacting to the specific coverages revealed."

I will at once agree and break slightly with this approach. Again, the run and shoot is all about

adjusting pass patternsbased on the defensive coverage. Yet these adjustments were largely

decided upon by fitting all defensive coverages into five categories and having everyone identifywhich category the coverage fell into. As June Jones explained back when he was with the

Detroit Lions: "The defense may think it has many coverages, but we will fit them all into one of

our five categories." I don't think this particular approach can be done as effectively now as itonce was, particularly considering how much time that approach takes.

But I do agree that (a) offenses -- coaches, quarterbacks, receivers -- must understanddefenses,

and (b) that converting and adjusting patterns based on coverage is important. The onlydifference is a matter of degree: the receiver will adjust his pattern based on certain "keys" given

by one or two defenders, and the quarterback will similarly look for keys and "open grass" (the

empty spots in the defense), but will not get hung up in knowing exactlywhat the coverage is.Does this mean he would not be able to explain the difference between Tampa Two and Cover 5(Cover two man)? Of course not: he better know that. But it doesn't mean that, when dropping

back, the quarterback's first thought needs to be "Oh, they are in Cover 3 invert!"

To see what I mean, let's look at the seam read route itself, and then I will talk about the "Go"

pattern, one of the offense's (in my view) three or four most important concepts, and maybe the

most.
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The inside vertical releasing receiver is the seam reader. He might run a seam route (release

straight up the field and catch the ball between 16-20 yards deep between the deep coverage), hemight break for the post (split the deep defenders and catch the ball between 18-22 yards

downfield), or curl or run a square-in (catch the ball about 12 yards deep underneath the deep

coverage).

There's been a number of ways to teach this route, and to many it appears intimidating. Indeed, a

number of times I havedemonstrated on this site two-way choices,but so many? Here's how it is

easiest taught:

#1: Identify the safeties, which can be done pre-snap. How are they aligned? Going to be one-high (single free safety down the middle)? Or two-high (Two deep down the middle)? Identifythe safety closest to you.

#2: Post-snap, release downfield, attacking the near safety (even if it is the strong safety rolled

up, as shown below). Make a decision at 8-10 yards on what you will do.

#2A: If there is a single high safety, can he get to you? If not, continue up the seam looking forthe ball between 16-20 yards.

If the single-high safety plays too deep and shaded to make the seam effective, come underneathhim on a square-in (keep running against man coverage, settle in the hole on a curl against zone).
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If the single-safety overreacts to the formation or your route, cross him. (Sometimes this is

communicated in the run and shoot by having the quarterback do a pump-fake, which releases

receivers into their "secondary routes.")

#2B: If there are two-deep safeties, cross the near safety to attack the middle of the field. This

is not a "bomb" throw, expect it on a line between 18-20 or 22 yards deep.

But if the two safeties play so far deep that the receiver can't effectively split them, he must run a

square-in underneath them.
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during any team drills the quarterbacks are told not to throw the ball to the seam reader unless he

gives them a very clear read and route -- the QB must see what he's trying to do. This gives the

receiver lots of incentive to get it right and to be decisive.

Now, onto the "Go" concept.

The Run and Shoot "Go"

The Go is actually relatively simple, and is based all around the seam reader's route. Even

without it, it's a nice little hitter in the flat, but with it, it becomes the foundation from which youcan build an offense.

It is a "trips" formation play -- in the 'shoot, the concepts are typically designed around whether

you are in "doubles" (two receivers to each side) or trips, three to one side and a single receiveron the other. The routes are fairly simple. The outside man to the trips side runs a mandatory

"go" or "streak" -- he releases outside and takes his man deep. (Update: A helpful reader points

out how important it is that the receiver take a "mandatory outside release" -- i.e. if the corner isrolled up and tries to force the receiver inside, he still must do all he can to release outside and

get up the sideline. This is imperative for many reasons, among them to keep the near safety

stretched and to widen the defenders to open the flat route.)

The middle slot runs the seam read, outlined above. The inside receiver runs a quick flat or

"sweep" route: he takes a jab step upfield and then rolls his route to five yards in the flat. An

important coaching point is that this player must come right off the seam reader's hip; you're

looking for a rub against man to man.

On the backside, the receiver runs a streak but if he cannot beat the defender deep, he will stop at15-16 yards and come back down the line of his route to the outside. The runningback is usually

in the protection, but if not needed, he will leak out to the weakside.

The quarterback's read begins with the near safety: where is he? Tied up in this is what kind of

coverage are they playing on the outside receiver? If there is no safety help on him, he can throw

the ball to that guy one on one deep. But that's considered a "peek" or "alert" (in Bill Walsh's
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Finally, below are a few variations on the Go. It should be noted that the most obvious ones just

switches the assignment of #2 and #3, the seam reader and the flat runner. Sometimes the

defense tries to wall a guy off and by switching assignments you suddenly get a free release

downfield and an easy path to the flat. It's all about breaking tendencies.

But below are a few others. One is "Go curl," which adds a curl route to the go concept creating

a kind ofcurl/flat read.

The other creates a kind of "vertical flood" concept by tagging the seam reader with a corner or

"sail" route.

Conclusion

So that's the seam read and the Go -- two foundations of the run and shoot. There's plenty more

to say, but in many ways it's all down hill from here: this is the tough stuff. The offense works

because this stuff is practiced over and over again to perfection, and it provides answers against

any coverage. And again, my "simplified" approach here does not require that the quarterback

and receivers identify all coverages and fit them into neat boxes because I do not think that is

tenable or productive anymore. (I also am ignoring certain other R&S principles like "secondary

routes" triggered when the quarterback makes a pump fake.) But you can get the same variable
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effect -- and the same production -- without identifying fixed coverage categories; indeed, in

today's game I think that is asking too much. Instead, I think the best approach is to talk about

finding the open spots and running away from coverage. The rest is academic.

CHRIS BROWN RUN AND SHOOT SERIES (PT3)

Theprevious postshave cleared away much of the heavy lifting: we know about thebasic

principlesbehind the offense, and we know about that most important of routes, theseam read.

But the route that maybe most exemplifies the offense's variable, adapting approach to attack

defenses, is probably the Choice route. And it is a concept that is used by many, many teams -- inone form or another -- across the football spectrum.

It is another trips play, and is intended to be used as a counter to the Go when the defense

overplays to the three-receiver side. The "choice" in the route belongs to the singled up backsidereceiver -- often the "X" receiver. The idea is that you put your stud there and make the defense

wrong every time, until they overshift to that side, thus opening up the three receiver side foreasy plays or big ones. The base form of the route is shown below.

To the three receiver side, it is simple and familiar to what was done with the Go: the outside

receiver runs a "streak read" (burst on a vertical route, but if you can't beat the defender, break

down at 14-15 yards and come back down towards the line of scrimmage); the middle slot runstheseam read (attack the near safety and then have a multiple way go depending on the coverage

-- explained in depth here); and the inside slot runs a five-yard drag route (explode to five yards,

then drumroll the feet and head across the field; may settle down in a hole in the zone once onthe opposite side of the field).

The single-side "choice" receiver, typically, has three options: run an out at 10-12 yards (or acomeback at 15); run a glance or skinny post (cut on the seventh step at a skinny angle, nevercrossing the near hashmark); or run a vertical go route. How does he know what to run? And

how does the quarterback know what he's running?

The Choice Route Itself

So how do you handle the choice route itself? The R&S guys themselves -- Mouse Davis, Jones,
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Voila. But how do they communicate this? Well, it ain't rocket surgery, but it can be done either

verbally or by hand signal. One way is to use very specific ones, just with the quarterback

making his signal behind his back. The other is to do something as follows:

The quarterback, before the snap, will hold his hands in the usual ready position, but with subtle

variations:

Outside hand slightly higher than inside hand = Speed out

Inside hand slightly higher = post glance (in breaking route)

Hands slightly higher than normal = go/fade

There's tons of other variations. If you (for some reason) keep the choice between one of two

routes, then the "signal" can just be eye contact between the quarterback and receiver pre-snap.

Finally, another twist is to let the receiver make the decision, and signal the route by switchinghis feet in his stance and then back, or by where he places his hands -- the list goes on.

The obvious downside, however, with doing it all pre-snap is that the defense can sometimes

fake you out: the corner can play way off and then come up at the snap to play a press technique,

or vice versa. But those kinds of fears vary depending what level you're at. If you're in the pros,

where they do all that stuff on every play and Ed Reed will play the deep half of the field while

lining up in the guard-tackle gap faking a blitz, then you ought to be able to teach people to read

on the fly. If you're in high school (or college really too), then the pre-snap stuff should be more

than sufficient.

So that's the Choice. It's a great route, especially if you put your best receiver there, as most

teams do. Yet, if you're too much of a wuss to do even the pre-snap decisions, you can always

"lock" the route and just signal it in from the sideline. That's permissible too, because you still

get a one-on-one with great backside capabilities. Let's turn to the backside now.

Backside and variations


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As we can see, the backside has lots of options. The two most important are the drag and the

seam-read.

First, if the weakside linebacker or flat defender tries to widen out to stop either the speed out or

glance, then the drag route should come wide open in that voided territory. See below.

Similarly, in the above diagram, if both the choice route and the drag are taken away, the

quarterback will look to the free safety -- he is probably cheating too far to the single receiver

side and therefore the backside seam should be open. As an example, see the below clip from

Mike Drake again, this time against Cover 3. The defense brings the ever popular "Magic Blitz"

or overload zone-blitz with three-deep behind it. They don't block it quite right, but the

quarterback moves his feet. (They also put their TE on a kind of "climb" route to help draw the

free-safety, which is exactly what he does below.)

To better clarify, here is a diagram of what the receivers were doing and the free-safety's

movement where his taking the tight-end opened up the seam reader.
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Against a cover two, the calculus changes slightly but the basic progression and read is the same.

See below, and then watch the clip again just paying attention (as best you can) to the free-

safety.

To stop both the go route by the single receiver and the drag by the slot, the linebackers, corner,and safety have to overreact to the single-receiver side. As a result, the quarterback should be

able to work the deep hash safety to the three-receiver side, who has a two-on-one with the seam-

read (now running a post) and the backside streak. If the middle linebacker tries to retreat to take

away the post (common with the so-called "Tampa Two" defense) the quarterback still has both

the drag runner who has settled into an open spot and the running back that he can drop the ball

to underneath for a catch and run. (Keep throwing those check-downs until the defense comes up

for them; that's when you gash them for the big play.)

So that's the basic framework. Really, you can just teach the quarterback to read: (1) choice, (2)

drag, (3) seam-read, (4) backside streak-read, and (5) (outlet) the runningback on a "leak-out"

route.

Below are a few variations to the backside. The two most common just switch assignments. In

the first, we switch the two-slots so you can get a "rub" for the drag receiver's man.
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difficult time covering. This is a great response to teams who think the way to play you on

choice is to go to man coverage. And if they stay in zone, well you have all the good zone-

stretches I outlined above.

The final variant is the most different, but also the one most increasingly popular: "levels." I

havedescribed previously how the Indianapolis Colts use this concept, but June Jones has really

used this route ever since he got to Hawaii. (Note they will do all the same switching of receiver

assignments I outlined above in it.)

Here you get both a rub and a high/low typestretchon the inside defenders, typically

linebackers. Jones has liked this because it is easy for the quarterback to read, he really just must

progression sequentially from the single-receiver and scan across the field. It's not a perfect

visual, but below is a version of "levels" with from trips #1 running the deep-in and #2 and #3

running the quick ins.

Conclusion

And that's the choice concept. It highlights much of what drives the run and shoot: a well-

designed route intended to set up a receiver with many options, combined with a great basic

combination with equally as many options.

As a final note, the run and shoot is a four wide-receiver offense. That is how it was designed,

and how it is run when one commits to it fully. If you don't use four wides -- for example, by

substituting in a tight-end -- many of the purists would say you aren't a run and shoot team

anymore. I will leave that debate for a later day. I just want to point out that it wouldn't be too

difficult to imagine the Choice where the drag runner is actually a tight-end instead of a slot

receiver. Indeed, many pro teams would agree with you.
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CHRIS BROWN RUN AND SHOOT SERIES (PT4)

It's been a bit since my last installment, but I'm not quite done, as there are two concepts left in

the fearsome foursome of the'shoot.This foursome includes:go,choice,and now streak and

switch.

These two plays really do not involve any new learning, and although considered separate plays,

they really are two sides of the same coin:four verticals,which Ianalyzed recentlywith Dan

Gonzalez. I begin with "streak." The switch will come in the next installment.

Streak

At core, streak is just what the run and shoot guys call "four verticals." And four-verticals is a

very simple concept that is so powerful because well designed pass plays boil down to

elementary math:geometry and arithmetic. Four receivers bolt down the field, and if they keep

the proper spacing between them -- by staying on their "landmarks" -- the defense will beoutnumbered and can't properly defend the play. Against Cover Two, well, the defense only has

two deep (hence the name) while the offense has four receivers deep. With cover three, well the

offense still has a man advantage. And, again, if the spacing is correct, the offense can even

whittle it down so that they know who they are operating against, namely, the deep free safety.

But this doesn't mean that the defense is without options. They can disguise coverage, play

different techniques, or quite simple play four deep -- four on four gives the advantage to thedefense. (Contra Ron Jaworski, creating favorably one-on-one matchups lags far behind creating

favorable numbers advantages, i.e. two on one defend.) In response, the run and shoot,as usual,

gives them freedom. Hence, the "seam read"all over again.

As the diagram above shows, the four receivers all release vertically. But the coaching points are

critical:

The outside receivers will release on go routes. The "frontside" one (in the diagram, the one on

the offense's right) has a mandatory outside release: he will keep pushing to the defender's
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outside hip. That said, he still wants to keep five yards between him and the sideline, to give the

quarterback a place to drop the ball into.

The slot receivers release up the seams. But they must be more precise than that: in college,they must be two yards outside the hashes; in highschool (where the hashmarks are wider), theymust be on them. This spacing is the most critical element of the entire play: it is what makes it

geometrically difficult for the deep secondary to cover. The runningback might be in the protection, but if he releases he will run either a drag across

the field or a little option route underneath. He looks for an open spot in the zones as an outlet if

the undercoverage releases for all the receivers, and against man he will cut in or out. He should

be working against a linebacker and can't let that guy cover him.

The outside receivers, if they can't get deep, will break the route down and "come down the

stem" -- retrace their steps -- to get open later. The QB, if the initial reads are not there, will hitch

up and throw them the ball on the outside.

But the key to this play, as it has been for all four of these "core" run and shoot plays, is the seam

read. I previouslydescribed this route in detail,but in sum: against a defense with the deepmiddle of the field "open" (cover two), the receiver will split the two safeties on a post route;

against middle of the field closed (cover 3, cover 1), with a single deep middle safety, the

receiver will stay away from him and continue up the seam. In that sense the route is a lot like

the divide route I've discussed before. But the route is more dynamic: if the safeties stay very

deep, or any defender crosses the receiver's face, he will cut inside or underneath those defenders

to get open.
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MANNY MATSAKIS TRIPLE SHOOT SERIES (PART 1) FROM SMART FOOTBALL

Part 1 - Historical Perspective

It all started with a fascination of the 3 distinctly different offenses the Wing-T,Run & Shootand the

Georgia Southern Hambone. From there it evolved with specific influence and personal contact with the

following coaches, Ben Griffith (Inventor of the Hambone),Glenn Tiger Ellison, Darrell Mouse DavisandBill Walsh.As an additional note,Leo Dutch Meyers book, Spread Formation Footballgave me an

idea on how to create an explosive rushing attack (albeit, it was not the purpose of his book). Having

started American Football Quarterly in 1993, while waiting to take a job at Kansas State University, gave

me access to all of the aforementioned individuals, except Coach Meyer.

In the early 1990s, I was working on my Ph.D. and while finishing my coursework I began a research

project, which evolved into the Triple Shoot Offense. The title of the dissertation project was, The

History and Evolution of the Run & Shoot Offense in American Football.

Development of the Offense

Researching the state of football and developing axioms and creating postulates based on those

axioms created this offense. My initial axioms of the game were as follows:

1. The game of football has freedoms, purposes and barriers that give spread formation

attacks a distinct advantage.

2. A systems approach to football has the greatest potential for success over a period of

time.

3. When players are more knowledgeable about their system than the opponent is theirsthey have the greatest potential for success.

4. A balanced approach to offensive strategy has the greatest potential for success over aperiod of time.

5. A system that appears complex, yet is simple to execute will stand the test of time.

These following postulates were the results of analyzing the previous axioms:

1. Spreading the field with offensive personnel creates mis-matches and distinct angles toattack the defense.

2. Utilizing a no-huddle attack enables an offense to control the clock and give theplayers a better understanding of the defense they are attacking.

3. A 2-point stance by offensive linemen gives them better recognition and a lower

center of gravity at thepoint of attack.
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4. A protection based on the principle of firm: front-side & soft: backside enables an

offense to take advantage of any defensive front by keeping them off balance.

5. Run blocking schemes that combine Veer, Zone and Trap blocking enables an offense

to run the ball versus any defensive front.

6. Pass schemes that adjust routes based on coverage on the run will open up holes in the

secondary.

7. Quarterback decisions based on looks & reads give the offense the ability to release the

ball anywhere from 1 to 5 steps. This will minimize the amount of time necessary forpass protection.

Triple Shoot Offense Defined

The Triple Shoot Offense is a systems oriented, no-huddle, four receiver, one back attack that isbalanced in its ability to run or pass the ball at any time during a game. It is predicated on

spreading the field and attacking a pre-ordered defense with blocking and route adjustments after

the play begins.

Ordering Up The Defense

The concept of ordering up the defense is one that I learned from Tiger Ellison. His concept

was to place a label on each defensive man (numbering), and from that to designate a specific

defender that would tell his players what to do, either by the place he lined up before the ball was

snapped or by his movement after the snap.

The Triple Shoot Offense took that information and decided to look at defensive alignments

based on the way they matched up to a 4 receiver, one-back formation and designated defenses

as either Nickel, Dime, Blitz or they were considered unsound. Nickel looks are based on six

men in the box with one free safety, Dime looks have five men in the box with two safeties and

Blitz is recognized when there are seven defenders in the box and no safety over the top.

Anything else is an unsound defense that we hope a team is willing to attempt.

In order to keep defenses in these alignments we utilize a variety of concepts, from widening our

inside receivers to calling specific plays that put a bind on any defender that tries to play both the

front and the coverage. When we get to the point where we can do this, the offense is at its most

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MANNY MATSAKISS TRIPLE SHOOT OFFENSE (PT2)

Part 2 - Run Game and Play passes

The general makeup of the offense includes a run game, play passes, drop-back passing attack and

exotics. The following is an overview of each area of the offense:

Run Game

This aspect of the offense is broken up into the Belly series, Trap series and Dive series. Our linemen

work daily on their zone, veer, trap and double team blocks in order to maximize our consistency in

rushing the ball.

The primary series of the offense is the Belly series, which is influenced by triple option (Hambone) and

zone blocking. This was also complimented by a backfield action that I was able to glean fromDutch

Meyers book, Spread Formation Football(albeit, he did this out of the shotgun) and some basic Wing-Tconcepts. The Belly series consists of the Pop Out (I have heard it also called the Jet or Fly Sweep) and

the following dive plays, Veer and Zone as well as the change-up plays of the Option and Reverse. The

key in executing each of these aspects of the Belly series is in the actual ride of the motion receiver by

the QB and the subsequent fake or hand-off to the Superback, in order to draw attention to the

potential Pop Out around the edge or the dive play to the back. Ideally, our Pop Out and dive plays will

look the same for the first 3 steps and then become the actual play called prior to the snap of the ball.

The change-up plays of Option and Reverse are designed to take advantage of fast flowing linebackers

and defensive line slants.

Pop Out
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Our base play passes are executed off of our top run series, the Belly series. We practice two primary

play passes, one to the front side (Wheel) and one to the backside (Switch). Regarding play pass

protection, we put the Superback on the front side linebacker as we fake the Pop Out play and all the

other linemen are aggressive in their execution of selling the run play.

Even Wheel

The Wheel is run out of our Even (balanced) formation and this play is good versus Nickel or Dime

coverage. The play begins with the inside receiver coming in motion, the QB will then ride the receiver

on a Pop Out fake as he turns to the oncoming receiver. The action will continue with a fake to the

Superback. The QB will then set up just outside the play-side Guard and throw the Wheel combination.

The QB will look to throw the ball to the Post first, then to the Wheel up the boundary. Often times the

Wheel is thrown to the back shoulder of the receiver.

Receivers will take their first 3 steps (as if stalk blocking) and then break into their routes. The outside

play-side receiver will break on a Post (5th Step) while the inside receiver will run through the

breakpoint of the Post route.

Load Switch

The Switch route is run out of one of our trips formations (Rip or Load) and this play is also good versusNickel or Dime coverage. The play begins with the number 3 receiver backside coming in motion for the

Pop Out fake. The QB will simulate the same action as he did in Wheel. This time he will look backside to

the Stretch route, which is running up inside the backside hash mark.

The two backside receivers will run the Switch combination on the backside in the following manner.

The outside receiver backside will come first and get inside the hash mark at a point 7 yards up field
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while the number 2 receiver will run through the point where the outside receiver crossed his face and

he will continue up the sideline. The outside receiver is responsible to read the deep zone defender over

him. If that man is a Cover 3 safety, that defender may run downhill to tackle the Pop Out and if he does

that, the receiver will continue on a thin post. If he stays high over the top, then the receiver will break

his route flat at a depth of 12 yards to get open underneath the free safety. The Cover 2 conversion is

predicated on the action of the backside safety. If he rolls to Cover 3, then the receiver will apply his

Cover 3 rules. If he stays on the hash mark, the receiver will break it flat at 12 yards.

The QB will look to the backside Stretch route adjustment first and then to the route up the boundary.

The boundary route is often times a back shoulder throw.

Play passes are often adjusted as we get through the season to take advantage of how defenses are

geared up to slow down our Belly series.
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MANNY MATSAKIS TRIPLE SHOOT OFFENSE (PART 3)

The drop-back passing game is initiated by our QB taking his drop to the inside hip of the play side

Tackle (6 yards deep) while receivers are running route adjustments based on the coverage they are

going against. We throw the ball out of a normal snap formation or a shotgun alignment. Throws are

made to the receivers based either on looks or reads. A look is a progression from one receiver tothe next, based on who should be open in sequential order. A read is the process of a QB reading the

reaction of a specific defensive player (depending on the scheme that has been called), which in turn he

will throw off of that defenders movement.

Our drop back passes are all scheme-based as opposed to receivers running a passing tree. When a

scheme is in synchronicity receivers will break on their adjustments as they are moving on the stem of

their routes. Our receivers are trained to know what coverage they are facing by the time they are into

the third step of their route. In the past, we would make a pre-snap determination of the type of

coverage and execute routes accordingly. The benefit of our current system is that it is impossible to

disguise coverage this late into the play. Regarding coverage recognition, this is taught by quicklyassessing which family of coverage the defense is playing and then feeling our way to the appropriate

breakpoint. This sounds much more difficult than it really is and we have developed specific drills that

make this as easy as playing sandlot football.

Pass Schemes

There are six primary passing schemes which all route adjust based on the coverage we are facing. We

can run many of these out of Even or Trips formations and we can even motion to Trips to change up the

look we give defenses. The base schemes are called, Slide, Scat, Choice, Hook, Curl and Outside. Each

scheme is named after the route run by the outside play side receiver. In every practice, we work onevery scheme versus all coverage adjustments. Tiger Ellison once told me, If you cant practice the

whole offense in a single session, you are doing too much. Since the day he told me this in 1989 I have

followed his advice to never add something without taking something away.

To write about all these schemes and adjustments would take a book or an instructional video. To give

you a taste of the offense, let me share with you the top two schemes we most enjoy running, Slide &

Choice! Slide has evolved from what Tiger Ellison called the Frontside Gangster and Choice comes

from what was originally called the Backside Gangster.

Slide

The Slide scheme is the basis for all the passing game, in that we use this as a drill to teach 80% of our

passing attack. The reason for this is that the route adjustments in Slide are executed at some point in

the other schemes to a great degree as the QB rolls to the three-receiver side of the formation.


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It all begins with the Slide route (In trips) versus a Nickel look (Cover 3 or Man-free). This route starts off

with an outside release for 3 steps and from that point the receiver will read the coverage of the

defender over him (Cornerback). If the defender bails out, the receiver will execute a Post on his 7thstep. If he is playing a man look, the receiver will proceed to run a fade on this man to beat his man

deep.

The #2 receiver will run a bubble route around the numbers on the field, making sure to look inside at

the QB at a distance of 1 yard behind the line of scrimmage. The #3 receiver then executes a Pick route.

The Pick route is designed to get over top of the outside linebacker that is covering the inside receiver.

As he gets over the top of that linebacker, the receiver gets to a depth of 12-14 yards before he applies

his downfield zone rule. The downfield zone rule is applied on the free safety in the following

manner, if the man in the zone is high over the top, the receiver will raise his outside arm and set it

down to find the passing lane to the QB. If the man in the zone crosses the face of the receiver, thereceiver will then run a thin post and expect to score.

The QB will read the Slide route and throw it if it is open, if not, he can then check to the bubble and

finally look to the Pick route, which has had the time to get open.

Choice

The Choice scheme is the way that we attack the single receiver side of the formation. The QB starts a

roll toward the single receiver and the key to this route is that the stepping pattern of the QB must

match up precisely with that of the receiver. The single receiver will release off the line of scrimmage

and read the man over him (Cornerback) on the receivers 5th step. On that 5th step, if the man over

him has bailed out he will run a speed cut Out on his 7th step. If the receiver has closed the cushion

and the cornerback is outside leverage on the receiver, he will run a post and if he is inside leverage he

will adjust his route to a fade.
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On the backside of Choice, the three receivers will spread the backside of the field. We run a Go route

by the #1 receiver (up the sideline) the #2 receiver will run a backside stretch inside the hash mark and

the #3 receiver will run a control route at a depth of 5 yards to find a passing lane to the QB.

The QB will read the front side of Choice and throw it if his man is open, if not, he will look backside to

the Stretch, then the Go and finally to the Control.

The Choice scheme is a great way to spread the field with our receivers and get the ball into the open

seams on the backside, especially if the front side is cloudy.

[Ed. Note: For more on the "choice" concept, seehere.]

Exotics

The Exotic plays are of two types, either a Screen to the Superback or a Convoy to one of our receivers.

They are both set up with a pass protection simulation and we generally leak out three offensive

linemen to block up field as the QB will influence the defense with his pass-action roll before throwing

the ball to the back or the receiver.

Super Screen

This screen is a pass thrown to the back out of the backfield. Our line blocking is as follows: The frontside tackle will influence the Defensive End for a 2-count before coming up field to block the first

linebacker he sees inside. The play side guard will step to the direction of the screen and then release to

block the support player while the Center will snap the ball and go down the line to block the first threat

he sees, if there is no threat, he will turn around and block any defender that may be chasing down the

screen.
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The Superback must really sell this play by engaging the Defensive End momentarily before settling up in

a passing lane behind the line of scrimmage. Our QB will either shovel the ball to him or pop it over the

top of a defender depending on the rush of the defensive line.

Convoy

Our Convoy has been successful because the action of the QB is rolling away from the direction that he

ultimately throws towards. The blocking scheme for Convoy works in the following manner: Our

backside tackle will use a draw technique on the Defensive End and stay on him all the way in order to

clear out a passing lane backside. The backside Guard will step to the direction of the QB roll and then

release backside to block the support player. Our Center steps to the side ofthe QBs roll and then

releases backside to block the first linebacker he sees on the backside. The front side Guard will step to

the QB roll before releasing backside to get the first man he sees, if there is no threat, he will turn in to

block anyone that may be chasing down the receiver carrying the ball.
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A convoy receiver will take two steps up field before coming behind the line of scrimmage and down the

line into the passing lane for the QB. He will catch the ball and get up field to gain yardage through his

linemens blocks.

MANNY MATSAKISS TRIPLE SHOOT OFFENSE (PT 4)

The Triple Shoot Offense started out as a pass-happy offense at Hofstra University (NY) in an attempt to

compete versus scholarship schools during our Division III to I-AA transition. We were able to put up

some gaudy numbers (42 ppg and 405 ypg passing) and a rather impressive winning percentage. At

Emporia State University (KS) we realized that putting up the big numbers was not that big of a deal,

what was more important was winning games. In order to do so, we researched and developed an

explosive running game (Belly Series) to compliment the pass attack. The results speak for themselves,

as we led the competitive MIAA in Rushing, Passing and scoring during the same season and were able

to get our Superback to rush for nearly 2,000 yards or more three years in a row (Brian Shay broke

Johnny Baileys all-time collegiate rushing record in this offense). Not only were our players able to

achieve this in a team-oriented setting but our two inside receivers (Pobolish & Vito combined with Shay

to garner over 15,000 yards during their careers together, the NCAA doesnt keep records like that but

we have yet to see career production like that in college football).

After making a go of it at the small college ranks, we tested the concept at the Division I level at the

University of Wyoming. In a single season, we were able to go from last to first in total offense in the

Mountain West Conference versus conference opponents. As my good friend Tony Demeo (University of

Charleston, WV Head Coach) said, You put the Ferrari in the garage after that year. I got out of running

this offense for 3 years as I spent some quality time with Mike Leach (Texas Tech University).

After the stint with the Red Raiders, I took the head coaching position at Texas State University to onceagain coach this system. In a single season, we were able to go from one of the worst offenses in the

Southland Conference to a single season finish of #1 in total offense and were ranked #7 in the nation

with this balanced attack. I was relieved of my duties after that season for not taking full responsibility

of all aspects of my program and at that point chose to leave the coaching profession.

For the next four years I went into private business to develop regional football magazines. During this

time, I also spent time reflecting on my career and the Triple Shoot Offense while consulting with

coaches from high school to the professional ranks. On one visit to see my friend Hal Mumme, he made

a statement that I should at least start to clinic the offense again and see if it would inspire me to coach

again, I did and it worked. I am excited to coach the offense again (Capital University in Columbus, Ohio)and look forward to taking the next step with the Triple Shoot. The offense has since been simplified,

codified and developed to a point whereby I really feel that the system can be replicated by underdog

teams anywhere in the country.

At this point, I have put together an online coaching clinic to help coaches throughout the country in

implementing this system. All the video is in there, the teaching progressions, cut-ups, drills and even


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The concept is, at core, a two man concept. Two receivers release and "switch": The outside guys

angle inside for 5-6 yards before pushing vertical, while the inside guy runs a "wheel route"

under the outside guy, rubs right off of his hip, and then turns up the sideline. That's when theyplay gets interesting.

In the original R&S, each receiver had the five delineated options depending on what coveragehe saw. They could break it quick on slants, run vertical routes, post routes, curls or in cuts.When it worked it was beautiful. But sometimes, to borrow Yeats's phrase, "things fall apart." Or

simply it took immense practice time for receivers to get good at running the play.

Indeed, it is simpler to teach this kind of thinking when all of your routes adjust. But it's not quite

so simple if you runcurl-flatas your bread and butter play, with no reading, as many teams do.

And yet. the play thrives.

The Reads

Some coaches have installed the switch and simply eliminated the reads entirely. This is a soundapproach, and it captures the initial beauty of the play: the "rub" the two switching receivers

create against man. And it still works as a kind of "vertical stretch" where the two receivers can

put deep defenders in a bind with one down the sideline and another in the seam, especially if a

backside receiver runs in the seam as well.

But the play's potency is in its variance. And you can be variant without overly complex reads.

How? Here is how I suggest running the play, as dithered from the best College, Pro, and HighSchool minds who use this concept.

The Routes

Below is a basic diagram of the route.
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The reads are as follows:

Inside Receiver: The inside receiver will come under the outside guy on his route, and wheel upthe sideline. All he is looking for is whether there is someone deeper than him in the deep one-

third of the field. Or, if the guy on him is playing him in man, he just asks: "He's even? I'm

leaving! (Running deep) He goin? I'm stayin." It's as simple as deciding whether you could getopen deep or not. If the defender stays deep, the receiver will stop at 10-12 yards and settle andcurl back to the Quarterback.

Outside Receiver: The outside guy will stem his route inside and then push up the seam. His readis simple:

- Middle of the Field Closed (I.e. Is there a single deep safety in the middle of the field, like in

Cover 3?) - Run a seam.

- Middle of the Field Open (I.e. Are there two deep safeties with no one deep down the middle?)

- Run a square in at 12 yards.

I have previously described the nuances of thisMOFO/MOFC read.Now, this might sound a bit

tricky, but this is the one, core "reading" principle that any receiver can quickly identify both

before and after the snap, and in most cases it is quite intuitive: don't run into coverage.

Below is the route against a few coverages to show how it would play out.

Cover 3

And Cover 2
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QB Read:

The QB's read is not difficult. It is a pure progression read, though pre-snap and post-snap he

will identify 2-high and 1-high so he knows what he's looking for. Against 1-high he will look atthe F/S (deep middle safety's) movement. He will peek for the backside seam but read (1) inside

switcher, (2) outside switcher, and (3) outlet to running back.

Final Concerns

One of the purposes of this article was to show that this concept, native to the Run and Shoot,

can be run in many offenses. I have shown it so far in a very Shoot friendly formation. But donot be fooled: this route can be run by any two line of scrimmage receivers, in nearly any

offense. See the diagram below with the Switch with play-action from the I formation. Again,you can run this from any formation you like.
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And finally, if one did adopt to their offense (or you begin to notice it on television), there are

further adjustments you can make. One of the long-time best has been the "Switch-Smash,"shown below.

On this route the outside receiver stems inside and then pushes to 12 yards before running acorner route, while the inside receiver "wheels" out and pushes to 5-6 and then hitches back. He

then delays briefly, and if the QB does not immediately deliver the ball, he will work to find theopposite spot or burst and lose his man to man defender. This is a great change up, particular

against a team that runs Cover 2.

Grab-Bag
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As a final parting shot, I will show you a few more variations with what you can do with this

play. The concept is simple, so you can build on it or combo it as you like.
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horizontally in order to turn zone coverage into man coverage by stretching each zone to the

point that it really was a one on one situation

Because of this, the 90 2x2 packages in his version of the offense were much more developed

than they were in Mouse's. Streak, Read, Switch, and Swap all had secondary and tertiary

variations. He also like running Choice and Slide more from 2x2 as well.

So, this is a start. Lets have a good talk.

This is a good start. I will respond in more detail tonight. But I want to head one thing off at thepass before we get started. No offense to belebuch, but the more refined the question the better. I

have no interest in talking in generalities, especially about this topic, because the devil is in the

details.

Just a brief word in response to tog and mclaine: If you watch UH tape from the period what you

will notice is a much greater commitment to 2x2, even when on the hash. You would thinkbecause of the hashes that UH would run primarily out of 3x1, but not so. Clearly much of this is

because of the major role that Switch played in Jenkins offense. But Jenkins wanted to make thefield side of Switch live as well. If you recall, the front side in Switch is generally dead in terms

of read unless there is a botch in alignment.

So, to cut to the chase, they ran Streak on the front side, but a keen eye for leverage, as well as

the ability to tag certain receivers. This is what Jones started to do at Hawai'i. Jenkins was not as

much into coverage recognition as leverage recognition; he realized that shells were deceptive

and that it was more important to teach receivers how to attack individual leverage as played

within overall shell.

Post by rip60zgo on Apr 24, 2011 at 11:19pm

2x2 Choice -- "Choice Even" -- keeps the same route structure as base Choice from 3x1. Instead

of backside #3 running the drag/cross, he will run a whip as the frontside #2. Puts him in roughly

the same position he would be if he was coming across the field from 3x1. You must control theinterior short defender so you get a true 1-v-1 vs. the CB.

In terms of adjusting routes, Jenkins started teaching reading leverage, and Jones has continuedthat trend, rather than identifying and categorizing coverage. Essentially, you are teaching each

guy to read their portion of the coverage. Yes, you still get indicators from shells and rotation,

but I can make a much faster decision if I am only concerned about my portion of the coveragerather than the entire coverage structure. A side benefit to this is the ability to correctly diagnose

split-field coverages (i.e., TCU) and attack them correctly.

Post by hemlock on Apr 25, 2011 at 7:29am

Great job rip60zgo! That's exactly the point and why John was so far ahead of everybody else at

the time. It also explains his move away from motion. Jenkins at an early point recognized that


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motion could lead to problems and that it would not necessarily give you a true key as to what

the coverage was, be it man or zone, two, three, 0, what have you. It was better to attack

leverage.

I'll talk about seam read later today as it pertains to Streak.

Good stuff. One question I'm interested in was how Jenkins practiced all of this. One

disadvantage of the shoot seems to me how much time you have to spend walking throughspecific looks and correcting bad receiver/QB reads on adjusting routes, rather than getting to thenext play. Also seems like you have to spend lots of that time in full skelly rather than individual

drills, etc.

That said, I could see something like routes on Air but with coaches/scout teamers giving the

look and moving around as being useful.

Can't speak to how Jenkins does it but heard Dan Morrison from SMU talk about it. Basically JJ

stands at about the free safety, they have a QB throwing for every receiver and they rep it on air,

with 2 wrinkles: JJ calls out a look and each receiver has to make his proper adjustment picturingthe coverage, and they try to get the balls in the air every 10-15 seconds for up to an hour.

Mostly we used cones and i would be the FS so i could change the read.

ok

it sounds rather expensive---for someone not truly interested in as dg1694 puts it---making it the

one thing we master

what would be the "cheap" way to do this, and with what concept?

someone was gonna ask anyhow

might as well be me

lol

Tog,

It's expensive early... Think spring/two a days. But honestly we don't spend more than 20

minutes. We use it in place of a traditional 7 on 7 period. Then we go 7 on 7 for 10/12 plays.

Post by dg1694 on Apr 26, 2011 at 5:13pm

I have heard a lot of Run and Shoot guys (or those who claim to be) read the leverage (inside or

outside) of the corner to determine the choice receiver's read. But I know (from sitting inmeetings) the Gibride had the receiver going off of the DEPTH of the corner -- if he was bailing


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the out was run; if the cushion was eaten up he ran the skinny post.

How did Jenkins teach it? Why?

Post by hemlock on Apr 26, 2011 at 10:43pm

dq's point about how Gilbride taught leverage is correct. And this still holds true today. But thisis really just the beginning. If you listen to how Kevin taught (at least back then) it was not an

agressive technique. It was basically he do me do. What Houston did, and what Franklin today

teaches, is to attack the leverage of the defender; that is to say, to attack his alignment and thento make your move based on his reaction. It may sound like nothing, but its really a significant

change in technique, because what you as a receiver are now, in effect, doing is treating

everything like man. This is what allowed Houston to become so vertical in their approach. The

point was not to accept the cushion, but rather to break it down, if possible, by attacking thedefenders technique and posting off of that. And this is essentially how SMU deals with match

zone teams today, such as TCU. When SMU played TCU this year they approached they like aman team; they were not concerned with the overall coverage they were playing, because it wasall about attacking technique and turning everything into man. And for what it's worth, Jenkins

explicitly states this in his QB manual, which, by the way, is mandatory reading for anybody

who is seriously interested in attacking coverage.

Yeah, that manual is one of the best things about offense I've ever read and it's not exactly

recent.

My question is how this applies to how they teach that middle read/seam read route, which I lookat as the key to the whole offense (someone tell me if I'm wrong about this). I feel like you could

run some pretty serious R&S stuff if the only route you converted was this one, but included it inmost of your pass plays.

Post by belebuch1 on Apr 27, 2011 at 2:27pm

I told my guys something similiar. If the FS is inside of you,widen and go past him into a post.If

he is outside of you throttle down and dig inside.

So tog, I'll let the experts talk but I feel like if I wanted to run the "John Jenkins R&S principles"

but bring it up to date and maybe focus on one or two things, I'd basically build my pass game

around that route (four verts, switch, choice, maybe curl/flat/seam read, smash with the seamread or switch backside, etc) and then kind of go from there.

I could imagine a pretty solid offense with only like 5-8 pass plays where you had the seam readbuilt into every play.

Last question, has anyone ever run the seam read from a single receiver backside? I.e. he stems


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inside like switch and runs the seam read. I'm thinking of say running a trips combo like flood to

one side and have the single receiver run the seam read. Curious of thoughts.

The inside seam read is, for all intent purposes, the guts of the offense. And spreadattackcorrectly noted that the offense is premised off of these six plays: Streak; Read; Switch; Smash

(Swap in UH's terminology); Choice; Slide. And if you take the time to doodle a bit you will seethat at the center of each concept is a vertical inside read that begins either from inside, as in

Streak, Smash, and Choice, or from the outside, as in Switch and Slide. And from these baseconcepts, other secondary concepts evolved, such as Sucker, Rails, and Switch Corner, all ofwhich could be taught off the stems of the core packages.

The other thing to keep in mind, and this is clearly something that June is doing today, is tags.

Don Coryell was a big influence on Jenkins; from the very beginning he wanted to push to ball

down the field. Jenkins began to tag routes, especially during the last two years. Streak lends

itself to tagging quite nicely, for obvious reasons. Tagging enabled them to isolate and pick on aparticular defender. Similar to Jones, Jenkins has uncanny field vision. This did not mean that

they were not reading, just that they had the ability to tag a receiver if and when they wanted to,or by gameplan.

In respons to morris' question, Mouse, up until he got back into the college game, had his slots

pretty much a yard off the hip of the tackle. What he had was really a double wing offense rather

than a spread, four hot look. This was the residue left over from the Tiger Ellison stuff, as well asearly run game, which used a lot of Delaware principles. Jenkins had no real interest in this stuff;

especially after he scrapped motion. He boiled the run game down to trap, draw, and zone. And

to run more effectively, he kicked his receivers out so as to displace defenders. But that really

was not the main thrust behind his thinking on this matter. As I've written earlier, his aim was tostretch defenses to the point that defenders were, regardless of call, playing man one way or

another.

Here is my question(mostly for Hemlock)...With all this talk about Jenkin's version, why is thereno Go Concept. I have watched cutups of Houston from this era and his favorite 3x1 concept is

slide. Jenkins never runs much 60 Go. Mouse Davis and June Jones make a living off this

concept. Jones has recently tweaked it into more of a flood route. Anyways, is there a reason for

this?

Well, I would say that Jones only runs Go in the traditional sense inside the the 5, or on short

yardage, and many times, especially down by the goal line, it's usually with a sucker tag. What

he runs now, which you correctly identified, is what used to be called Go Flag.

The reason for the change, and this will help with my explanation of Jenkins, is that the Go is a

downhill route. For the go to really effective it needs to be run with a hard half role by the QB

from under-center. The role is what put the flat defender in a real bind. Without the role its notnearly as effective.

Jenkins got away from GO because he pretty had the QB setting up behind the tackle. The rolewas taken out. Also, Slide, from trips, especially the way he ran it, created two viable vertical


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It's all about how you teach technique. Just because the guy over you is better doe

Run and Shoot Resource v1

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Transcript of Run and Shoot Resource v1