News — X's and O's

The stick concept is a simple play design that allows quarterbacks to have success in any down and distance situation because of its ability to let the quarterback determine leverage and make pre-snap reads. By doing so, the quarterback is able to create easy pitch and catch opportunities based on his analysis of the defense. This is why Mike Budzisewski of Carroll University says it's one of his most frequently called plays which nets his team an average of 10.3 yards per catch. In an effort to protect his team’s best play, Carroll University’s Mike Budzisewski has implemented 4 specific variations...

Has your offense experienced problems creating running lanes against really talented or extremely physical tite fronts?If so, take a page from Michigan Co-Offensive Coordinator Sherrone Moore, and learn how to use gadgets and wrinkles to get your playmakers on the edge using simple formations and blocking schemes. These change-ups force defensive coordinators to stay up at night and add another layer to your offensive playbook. These types of plays can be incorporated as add-ons into any offense and will help counteract defensive fronts and keep them unbalanced. After all, there’s no better way to change the opponent’s defensive look than...

No play has annoyed and frustrated defensive coordinators more in the past decade than the run-pass option (RPO). The ability of the offense to seemingly always have an answer no matter what is one thing that a lot of coaches have struggled to find solutions for on the defensive side of the ball. Jacob Gill is the defensive coordinator at Shiloh Christian School in Arkansas, where the team has had a lot of success on defense, and as a team.  In this article we're going to be exploring concepts from Coach Gill's presentation on the 3-Safety Defense HERE. Watch the...

I don't always have time to watch a lot of college ball on the weekends since we're so busy preparing for our opponents, but during the week I like to get on YouTube or the ESPN3 website and find what I missed. Here's a play that I absolutely loved: Illinois needed just one yard in the 3rd quarter, just on the edge of the red zone, to keep the drive alive. You can see the video in the tweet below: Very tricky play from the Illini on 3rd and 1. QB gives a look like he's getting under center to...

Brennan Marion's "GoGo" offense presents defenses with a lot of challenges. For instance, the offense may have a split-back backfield but then have trips to the field as well. In order to be in trips while at the same time having two eligible players in the backfield means that one receiver will be “covered,” meaning that he cannot go downfield for a pass. While this may sound like a disadvantage at first, there are a handful of benefits for running unbalanced formations. For one, defenses are not used to seeing such formations. Unbalanced formations can cause a lot of confusion...