Everyone knows that in order to have a successful football season, you have to install your offense efficiently and effectively at the start of every year.
In this article, David Weathersby, offensive coordinator of Triton High School (NC) breaks down how he’s mastered installing the traditional Wing-T offense that he’s been running for over a decade and has set school records with as a result of its productivity.
This is taken directly from Coach Weathersby's incredible presentation on the Traditional Wing-T 101.
Watch the video below or scroll down to learn more about the installation process.
Wing-T Installation: Day 1
For coach Weathersby, it all starts on day one. Triton loves implementing the Buck series into their offense, so that’s what they start with (They refer to this as the 20 series).
Another reason that they choose to start with the Buck series is because it is the most expensive series that they run.
They begin by teaching the procedures that everyone needs to know in order to run the plays. For them, this means starting by teaching 100 & 900 formation.
From there, they install their first two pass plays and three run plays. The pass concepts that they focus on first are Buck Pass and Waggle. The runs are Buck, Trap, and Scissors.
On the first day, every back gets to hold the ball. This is to keep players like the wing back engaged in the offense so they don’t get bored blocking if the entire first day comes and goes and the ball is never given to their position. Give the players a bone, it will pay off later.
For planning purposes, the offense is allocated about an hour and 15 minutes on day one of camp. This means that they only have this much time to install these 5 plays so this is why it’s most realistic to keep it to this number.
Wing-T Installation: Day 2
Day 2 the offense introduces the 80 series. This means adding two formations (200 & 800) and extending the work that was done the day prior in the passing game.
Triton will return to Waggle and work it from the two new formations as well as introducing Belly Pass which was not addressed on day 1.
After working on the pass game, the offense will transition to the run game.
During this period they will install Belly, Down, and Belly Sweep. Just like day 1, the coaches will give a ball to the wing back every play after the responsibilities are explained.
The wing back in this offense is a pretty unique position for a player with a slot build, so they want to reward him and keep him as engaged as possible at practice because during games he will likely be doing a lot of dirty work that won’t show up in the stat sheet.
Later on in the season, the coaching staff won’t continue letting him take reps as if he’s going to get the ball every time, but again this is to peak his interest in the position during the learning period.
Monday/Tuesday Fall Camp Schedule (NC)
This practice plan is roughly an hour and 15 minute schedule that starts in August for Triton’s program.
On the first day of practice everybody except for the receivers and the QB learn how to down block because they will all need to do it frequently throughout the season.
Since Triton isn’t able to be padded up on day 1, they have to mainly focus on footwork and using blocking shields to keep their players safe and follow the state contact regulations, but they get after it early and often.
Next they go to their first group period and work meshes while the offensive line works Indys for the 20 series.
During this window there’s more time than usual for pass skelly because being unpadded, they can’t hit anybody and have the opportunity to get some real work done with the passing game and improve that area quickly since they can devote more time to it.
Wing-T Installation - Roster Management
As far as roster management and personnel utilization is concerned, coach Weathersby doesn’t consider Triton’s program to be a 1 platoon or 2 platoon team. Rather, they consider themselves a 1 and a half platoon team.
The reason that they aren’t 2 platoon is because they don’t have the numbers on their roster or their coaching staff to spread themselves out that deep.
What makes them more 1 and a half platoon than a one platoon team is that they try to keep the offensive line going one way as much as possible. They need those guys fresh and that’s why you’ll see some extra Indy time for them.
This means that because the Varsity and JV units take turns going at various points in the schedule, that the days where Varsity offense starts practice are that much more valuable.
On these days, the players are fresh and have their full attention span to get after practice. As a coach you need to take advantage of this.
On days where the varsity offense does not go first and they’re coming from an hour and a half of defense, expect some slightly sloppier play and relaxed focus which can be problematic if you aren’t prepared for it.
Back to the schedule, as far as Tuesday is concerned, the Varsity offense is going to get to the Belly series. The JV however, will go a bit slower and spend extra time working the team’s bread and butter which is the 20 series.
This will prepare them to have more success down the road if they can master the core plays of the offense.
Want More?
Watch more clips from Coach Weathersby's incredible presentation on The Traditional Wing-T 101 HERE.