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OK, I'm asking for your advice fellow coaches. This year we're playing 10 & under, 5-on-5. I've been talking about incorporating the option into my offense for three years now and I think this year they can do it. In the past I didn't feel that they got the concept well enough to be effective (mainly the spacing and the pitch). But I've practiced this with my son and he picked it up immediately. Anyhow, let me describe to you how I'll run it and you tell me as a defensive coach if you'd think it would be effective and how you'd defend against it.

Shotgun formation, 1 wideout left, 1 wideout right. Running back standing shoulder to shoulder with qb. Qb takes the snap and immediately hands off to running back. Running back runs towards the outside (left or right depending on the call). The qb sprints 5 yards to the outside of the running back and slightly behind. The ball carrier heads up the lane and if the defender comes at him he pitches it outside.

* My hope is that it will get outside quickly and force the corner to get the ball carrier who then pitches outside. If the defender anticipates the pitch, the ball carrier keeps it. I'm not going to have them cross over each other so they will run in the direction of the qb on the play.

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we tried the option last season, worked pretty well. however, in our i9 league you had to make sure the pitch occured behind the los. couldn't have a pitch of any kind once you passed the los.

CRob

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we tried the option last season, worked pretty well. however, in our i9 league you had to make sure the pitch occured behind the los. couldn't have a pitch of any kind once you passed the los.

CRob

Good point. We can lateral anywhere on the field.

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I like this idea and I run a variation of this offense myself. My RB takes the snap in shotgun then hands off to my QB immediately who usually has the option to pass or run. Last year in my league any pitches were prohibited so I couldn't run the option. However this year we are now able to pitch the ball only behind the LOS though. So I myself am considering incorporating the option in our playbook down the road here.

I think if you find the right pair(s) of kids to do this and practice and teach it... it can be very very very dangerous and lethal. I like the idea....

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OK, I'm asking for your advice fellow coaches. This year we're playing 10 & under, 5-on-5. I've been talking about incorporating the option into my offense for three years now and I think this year they can do it. In the past I didn't feel that they got the concept well enough to be effective (mainly the spacing and the pitch). But I've practiced this with my son and he picked it up immediately. Anyhow, let me describe to you how I'll run it and you tell me as a defensive coach if you'd think it would be effective and how you'd defend against it.

Shotgun formation, 1 wideout left, 1 wideout right. Running back standing shoulder to shoulder with qb. Qb takes the snap and immediately hands off to running back. Running back runs towards the outside (left or right depending on the call). The qb sprints 5 yards to the outside of the running back and slightly behind. The ball carrier heads up the lane and if the defender comes at him he pitches it outside.

* My hope is that it will get outside quickly and force the corner to get the ball carrier who then pitches outside. If the defender anticipates the pitch, the ball carrier keeps it. I'm not going to have them cross over each other so they will run in the direction of the qb on the play.

Are you playing NFL Flag? B/c I didn't think you could pitch the ball at all in that league.

Anyway, in thinking about your proposed play, the RB is going to be moving to receive the handoff, and undoubtedly will have pressure once he gets to the line of scrimmage. It seems like there will be a delay while the handoff is occurring, and then the QB will have to be significantly faster than the RB to catch up, put the 3-4 yard required spacing for the pitch AND go outside wider than the RB. If the RB allows the QB to get his spacing first, he most likely will have allowed the defense to collapse on him. So, my biggest question would be how is the QB going to get to where he needs to be, assuming that the RB is running to gain yards.

Other issue I would think might be a struggle is the pitch. My HS football team's QB had trouble with it, so I would imagine it would take a lot of work for 10 y/o's to be able to do it proficiently.

One way I look at new plays is how hard would it be to defend? I typically play a LB over center, with my corners about 3-4 yards off of the ball. The front LB (over center) has the RB, so once that handoff occurred, that LB would be going at the RB, who would be about 3-4 yards behind the LOS. My rushing LB would be seeing the play going to the side and since he/she is responsible for the QB, would be heading them off on the outside. So, even if you had a good handoff and the front LB was pursuing the RB, the other LB would be running wide w/QB. In my experience (albeit limited), direct handoffs to RBs who started in the backfield only worked when that RB had very good moves and/or the front LB wasn't very athletic.

Lot of rambling, but just some of my thoughts.

PF

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My RB takes the snap in shotgun then hands off to my QB immediately who usually has the option to pass or run.

I'm not being facetious, but if the RB takes the snap, aren't they the QB and vice versa? Or are you saying your players have set positions and that for this play you just switch their responsibilities so that QBplayer can throw the ball?

Personally, I think for 10 and under this will be a difficult play to execute. I coached 10-12 and was amazed at the number of fumbled snaps when the QB was under center. Now you're are going to have shotgun snap, handoff and a pitch all in one play. That's a lot of room for mishandling the ball, IMO.

But, I see the glass half full a lot of times! :)

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Are you playing NFL Flag? B/c I didn't think you could pitch the ball at all in that league.

Anyway, in thinking about your proposed play, the RB is going to be moving to receive the handoff, and undoubtedly will have pressure once he gets to the line of scrimmage. It seems like there will be a delay while the handoff is occurring, and then the QB will have to be significantly faster than the RB to catch up, put the 3-4 yard required spacing for the pitch AND go outside wider than the RB. If the RB allows the QB to get his spacing first, he most likely will have allowed the defense to collapse on him. So, my biggest question would be how is the QB going to get to where he needs to be, assuming that the RB is running to gain yards.

Other issue I would think might be a struggle is the pitch. My HS football team's QB had trouble with it, so I would imagine it would take a lot of work for 10 y/o's to be able to do it proficiently.

One way I look at new plays is how hard would it be to defend? I typically play a LB over center, with my corners about 3-4 yards off of the ball. The front LB (over center) has the RB, so once that handoff occurred, that LB would be going at the RB, who would be about 3-4 yards behind the LOS. My rushing LB would be seeing the play going to the side and since he/she is responsible for the QB, would be heading them off on the outside. So, even if you had a good handoff and the front LB was pursuing the RB, the other LB would be running wide w/QB. In my experience (albeit limited), direct handoffs to RBs who started in the backfield only worked when that RB had very good moves and/or the front LB wasn't very athletic.

Lot of rambling, but just some of my thoughts.

PF

All good points, this is the kind of analysis I'm looking for.

We are playing I-9. From our rulebook: "There is no limit to the number of laterals that may occur during a given play and they may occur whether behind or beyond the line of scrimmage."

First off my running back and qb are in shotgun shoulder to shoulder. When the qb takes the snap he simply hands the ball to the running back right next to him. It's a very simple and quick exchange that I used last year (although not with the option). My experience was that the defenses didn't react right away but eventually would begin sending a defender immediately from the los. That will make things a little hairy but that pitch will give the play a chance. What we did last year with some success was flare the qb towards a side and throw to him.

The pitch and spacing are what kept me from implementing this play the past several years. Each season I begin by trying it and I tried it again this weekend with my son. He picked up the pitch and the spacing immediately. That's why I think now is the time. Of course he didn't have a defender in his face but we'll scrimmage it. Personnel-wise I have kids who can do this I think. I'll try to teach a few of them tonight in practice.

To clear up the execution:

The qb hands the ball to the running back and immediately sprints outside. I'm going to give the running back a lane to head for which will be towards the outside also. I'm not sure but it will be either towards the slot or the wideout position or maybe in between. The running back has to make a read on what the defense is doing. If he has an open lane he hits it. If they come after him he makes the pitch. If the running back can get outside and force the corner to commit to him then the qb can take the pitch and gain big yards. In the worst case scenario the pitch is dropped and we lose a couple of yards. A middle scenario is that the defender on the los gets in fast and makes the running back pitch immediately. To me that's not all that bad because now I have my qb in stride forcing the corner to make a flag pull in the open field. I realize the middle rusher is probably coming and then you have the safety on that side but still the chances are decent. I might have the wideout on that side run a flag and if the safety comes up we could throw it over him. Also, if we can get them to respect this play it will open up other plays from this formation.

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A team ran this against us 3 times and we shut this down...

If the other team is man to man coverage should be pretty easy to beat that

We run a 2-1-2 defense and flex it to a 2-3 defense.

Deep passes & running doesnt work on it at all.We shut it down.The only thing teams have been able to do is go short & quick stuff.

Again if a team is running a man to man defense you should eat it up...

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My RB takes the snap in shotgun then hands off to my QB immediately who usually has the option to pass or run.

I'm not being facetious, but if the RB takes the snap, aren't they the QB and vice versa? Or are you saying your players have set positions and that for this play you just switch their responsibilities so that QBplayer can throw the ball?

Personally, I think for 10 and under this will be a difficult play to execute. I coached 10-12 and was amazed at the number of fumbled snaps when the QB was under center. Now you're are going to have shotgun snap, handoff and a pitch all in one play. That's a lot of room for mishandling the ball, IMO.

But, I see the glass half full a lot of times! :)

I know the naming is confusing. Technically the player receiving the snap is the qb yes. That's the proper naming. He will immediately hand it to the running back. I could probably say qb1 and qb2 but that might be more confusing. I guess I messed up there because in my mind I will use my real qbs to run the option and do the pitching.

One of the things I practice and emphasize is the center/ qb exchange. When I began coaching 6-7 year olds I saw how many dropped snaps there were and devised a simple effective technique. I have almost zero dropped snaps as a result. Now, as for shotgun that is more challenging of course. We'll run a third of our plays out of shotgun so I will definitely have a very reliable center. I'm not worried about the qb catching the snap as much as I am about the center making a bad snap. And as I said the handoff is effortless. Picture this: Two kids stand next to each other, shoulder to shoulder both facing the los. The qb simply sticks his hands out in front of him and a little towards the running back who grabs the ball. Easy. I'm hoping the pitch will work. In essence it's a simple lateral, although they will be running. That's the kind of pass play my qbs have been running in my offense for 3 years now. I'm pretty sure they can execute it. But yes, I realize we're combining three exchanges in one play. That ups the stakes but I'm thinking if we hit a couple of big gains it will be worth it.

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A team ran this against us 3 times and we shut this down...

If the other team is man to man coverage should be pretty easy to beat that

We run a 2-1-2 defense and flex it to a 2-3 defense.

Deep passes & running doesnt work on it at all.We shut it down.The only thing teams have been able to do is go short & quick stuff.

Again if a team is running a man to man defense you should eat it up...

How? Did you make them pitch it quickly and then the corner made a good play? How was their execution?

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Orange,

We saw them run it against another team and they other team had no answer for it...

Basically with our 2-1-2 / 2-3 Flex Defense we forced them to pitch the ball and by the time they did we had 4 guys at least there.Our Middle LB was just amazing at reading run plays.Anytime she sees the QB sprint out she would rush.We gave her the option to rush or stay in coverage.She had the skills for it.

My suggestion would be if a team is running man defense with 1 blitzer have both WR on 1 side then run the option to the opposite side of the WR's.

That way the only person who has the chance to get there is the bltizer and then the QB can just pitch it.

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I understand now. It all will depend, in my humble opinion, on the opposing defense. If the LBs are very good, it could be tough to beat, unless you have two extremely talented players for RB/QB. Should it work just one play, it really will open up a lot of other things, such as pass deep when corners/safety come up, play action pass, pass back to QB going the other direction.

I think the best thing is to teach it to the two you most have in mind and then let them run it against your defense, see how it works out.

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I understand now. It all will depend, in my humble opinion, on the opposing defense. If the LBs are very good, it could be tough to beat, unless you have two extremely talented players for RB/QB. Should it work just one play, it really will open up a lot of other things, such as pass deep when corners/safety come up, play action pass, pass back to QB going the other direction.

I think the best thing is to teach it to the two you most have in mind and then let them run it against your defense, see how it works out.

That's what I'm thinking too. The problem you get is that my defense will see it over and over so they'll get good at defending it.

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I understand now. It all will depend, in my humble opinion, on the opposing defense. If the LBs are very good, it could be tough to beat, unless you have two extremely talented players for RB/QB. Should it work just one play, it really will open up a lot of other things, such as pass deep when corners/safety come up, play action pass, pass back to QB going the other direction.

I think the best thing is to teach it to the two you most have in mind and then let them run it against your defense, see how it works out.

That's what I'm thinking too. The problem you get is that my defense will see it over and over so they'll get good at defending it.

True but you can switch sides,Obviously change it up with the WR's being different and doing them split also.I would start off with them on 1 side tho

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I'd run that option play, then run an end around the next play going the opposite direction. A lot of times I'll waste a play (especially on 1st down) to set up the next play.

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We had our first practice last night and I tried the option. I spent about 10 minutes teaching it to my son and our fastest kid. It worked fairly well against our 2 1 2 zone. The thing that I liked was that it gets the runner to the outside very quickly. Of the three times we tried it, one broke long but it was hard to say because our field has no lines, so he may have run wide. One was stopped for a short 5 yard gain and another got about 10 yards.

My assistant quickly devised an alternative option where the qb under center sprints right and looks to read. The hb trails just like a normal option and the qb can pitch or throw. Of course he cannot run so that limits us a little but it's nice that it gets the play to the outside. And as Coach Rob mentioned both options can give a handoff to the wideout going the other way for misdirection.

Also, with very little practice my boys were able to pitch and catch the ball on the run very well. One of the plays was close to being a forward lateral but it was close and none of the coaches had a good angle.

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I coached 10-12 and was amazed at the number of fumbled snaps when the QB was under center.

This really caught my eye last season (k-2nd grade). Every team we played had at least a few muffed snaps. One game it got so bad the team had to do that weird thing where the Center is on one knee and handed the ball to the QB. We were extremely fortunate we did not muff a single snap all season. Of course my Center and QB played the same position all season so no doubt they developed some chemistry.

Regarding the Option play, I say go for it. Especially if you have the players to pull it off and it will open up other plays. Let us know how it turns out. Our league does allow pitches behing the LOS, but the only play we've used it for is the flea-flicker, which for us did not work that well.

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We had our first practice last night and I tried the option. I spent about 10 minutes teaching it to my son and our fastest kid. It worked fairly well against our 2 1 2 zone. The thing that I liked was that it gets the runner to the outside very quickly. Of the three times we tried it, one broke long but it was hard to say because our field has no lines, so he may have run wide. One was stopped for a short 5 yard gain and another got about 10 yards.

Sounds like it went quite well, considering it was the first time you practiced. If nothing else, it's introduced a different play and if the boys continue their "career" in football, they'll be somewhat familiar with a portion of the inner workings of the option play.

As to the defense starting to pick up and be able to defend it well, you will most likely be adding follow-on plays to the basic option (pass, reverse, etc.). That will keep them honest.

Good luck,

PF

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I coached 10-12 and was amazed at the number of fumbled snaps when the QB was under center.

This really caught my eye last season (k-2nd grade). Every team we played had at least a few muffed snaps. One game it got so bad the team had to do that weird thing where the Center is on one knee and handed the ball to the QB. We were extremely fortunate we did not muff a single snap all season. Of course my Center and QB played the same position all season so no doubt they developed some chemistry.

Regarding the Option play, I say go for it. Especially if you have the players to pull it off and it will open up other plays. Let us know how it turns out. Our league does allow pitches behing the LOS, but the only play we've used it for is the flea-flicker, which for us did not work that well.

I will typically have 3-4 qbs and at least that many centers in any given game so I teach all my kids how to snap. It's a very simple concept. If you watch when they muff a simple under the center snap it is because the center tries to place it into the qbs hands and then lets go. What I have the center do is different and very easy. He simply places the ball between his legs and holds it there. The qb then reaches down and snatches it. The result is zero dropped snaps. Shotgun is harder of course and we're beginning to run that more as we get older.

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With the Center position (which is dear to my heart as I fortunately/unfortunately played it for 11 years) I try to teach the attributes of the position (quick release, proper progression into post-snap, upright stance, etc.). He is also tasked with calling the huddle, and is the offensive line captain. In "real" football, his job is "snap and block", but I tell them the cool thing about flag football is everyone gets to go out for a pass, including the Center. :-) I made a HUGE deal out of our Center this year not muffing a snap this season. I told him how is old ball coach was a Center, and that my eye would be on him all season, as it's my favorite position. (Really it's not, just the only one I know how to play. ;-).

In fact, I gave our Center a special award at the End of Season Party for not missing a snap. I went through the math of how teams we played averaged two muffed snaps. Multiply that by the number of games we played, and that was how many plays he saved for our team. That's how many opportunities his teammates had to make an impact due to his perfection.

I was impressed with it.

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My option is coming along fine. I have gotten it to a point where my qbs can run it with anyone on the team. Also, I've introduced another option off of my end around. Here it is:

Balanced formation, 2 wideouts, qb and hb in I-formation. Wideout comes in motion and ball is snapped when he's halfway there. HB heads in same direction but he's ahead and further back. Wideout takes the handoff and speeds down the los. I'm emphasizing that he needs to go outside and he has the HB as the trailer for the option pitch.

I ran the end around option and it worked pretty well with most of my players. I have not scrimmaged it yet so I've yet to see it in action.

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Orange...Awesome

That sounds great...We can pitch it but not past the LOS so that wont work for me :( but I have an Idea to get mine to work

Honestly we almost always pitch the ball behind the los, especially in our shotgun option. Typically a defender will penetrate quickly and force the pitch. So I'm thinking you could probably run the option out of the shotgun, just as long as the QB knows to pitch behind the los or tuck and run.

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Orange...Awesome

That sounds great...We can pitch it but not past the LOS so that wont work for me :( but I have an Idea to get mine to work

Honestly we almost always pitch the ball behind the los, especially in our shotgun option. Typically a defender will penetrate quickly and force the pitch. So I'm thinking you could probably run the option out of the shotgun, just as long as the QB knows to pitch behind the los or tuck and run.

Our QB's cant run either lol

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