Option Pass Football.

[yurirdgz 1]

I had some spare time between games on Saturday and I stop and watched last year’s 12-14 age group champ team, I know from one of the players on this team (played for me last year) that they use option pass routes, for one play they have two ore even three variations on the same play according to D reading (zone or man) and defenders depth standing, now these variations are set in action in the pre snap reading not on the next play. So I saw this in action and wow this blew me away, really advanced football, of course they killed their opponent, half time score was 32-0, good thing I’m not facing them, I´m light years away from that type of football.

So question is:

How do you build a killer offense like this?

Anybody on this forum is doing something like it?

If so how do I get started, what are de D reading queues and receiver routs based on pre reading?

Probably not much stuff in this forum since the main focus is on younger age groups, but if anybody got something it would be great.

[rushbuster70 16]

Answers

How do you build a killer offense like this?

Its all about the type of kids you have and there abilities.Obviously they have to the basics down.You limit formations because of option routes that the WR's have.

Anybody on this forum is doing something like it?

Probably not because most coaches here coach younger kids.

If so how do I get started, what are de D reading queues and receiver routs based on pre reading?

I never did anything specifically like this offense.However I did have a stud team a couple years ago & we put in option routes for our WR's.All depends on the type of defense they give you & how they are spaced out.To be honest its very easy to teach.Players just have to remember it.Man to man we would always audible to our money plays that were just crossing routes.If teams were in zone.Depends on what they were in.We also saw a 2-1-2, 3-2, 2-3.

Here is what we did when we saw these defenses and in any formation.Different formations we would do different things.

2-1-2- If the middle guy blitzed our center automatically would run a 10 yard hitch.

3-2-We loved this.Easy defense to beat.WR run 12 yard hitches.Center runs fly.We must have threw 15 TD's to the center just off that play.

2-3-If middle guy blitzed our center automatically would run a 10 yard hitch.We would audible to our flood play here.So we would go trips to the Right.Center would run post to the left.Inside WR would run a fly.middle WR would run post to the right.Outside guy would run a 10 yard hitch.Post was always wide open.

^those are just a few things we would put in.We only did it with that specific team because they were just so talented and were very very smart players.You have to teach your kids what kind of defense they will see.Walk through what you want them to do first before you actually have them run the play.Luckily we had 4 coaches on our staff so we would be the defense and show them what a defense would do.We also had a QB who could read the field like no kid i've had since.So obviously you have to put a smart kid (not necessarily the best kid at qb)

Good luck!

[yurirdgz 1]

Its all about the type of kids you have and there abilities.Obviously they have to the basics down.

So you think that option passing won’t give you an edge if the player is not a good athlete? Or are you specifically talking of his knowledge, awareness and sharpness, in other word if he is a smart athlete?

What comes first for option routs a good athlete or smart athlete?, having both in one guy is jackpot, I do have one with both qualities, but is one out of 11 players I have in total.

So option routs won’t compensate lack of speed and agility players?

All depends on the type of defense they give you & how they are spaced out.

One of the main problems at this age group is that D´s are disguised; all D players start out at 7 yds out of Los in a straight line, you don´t actually know what type of cover they are playing until the play develops.

I´ve been doing some internet search and found no information regarding option routs, I did found some interesting stuff you may already know like D player stance and his eye contact.

[ifly8o8 1]

I coach 10U I9 Rules. 5 on 5 QB cant run. I run a option read offense with my sons team. Your QB is THE most important person in this offense. He is the one that needs to read the defense and react to it. He needs to be smart in order to make the reads and make the right decision he doesnt need to be the most athletic just very football savy It takes some time because there are alot of reads that the QB needs to make. The only reason I run it is because my son is the QB so I have a lot of time to groom him.

Basically I run the same play out of the same formation. What we do is determined on the guy we are attacking. For example. We have a play called Duck Read as the Oregon ducks ran something like it. Basically we have shotgun formation with the RB on his Left side or non throwing side of ur QB. The other two players are split wide.

WR. Center. WR

X X X

X X

RB QB

That's the formation.

So the wide out on the left is running a five and out. The center is runnig a hook either where the middle defender is or where the void is from the blitzer. This is ur second best athlete. It catches alot of teams off guard as the teams in our league has the weaker kids at center where we have a playmaker the right wide out is running a streak. Best WR here. QB and RB are the option read. My running back is the best athlete. Quick and can cut. This is ur playmaker. They both run to the right together and the QB will hand off or drop to pass depending on his read. I don't run a pure pass read like u said as I can run or pass depending on what the other team is doing on defense.

If it's a 3-2, 2-1-2, 2-3 Were gonna attack the front 3 or front 2 and middle defender The wides are split wide so the defense needs to split there front three or 2. If not my qb has a quick pass to the flat WR has 1 on 1 with safety, beats the safety he's gone. From there were attacking the middle man. He is our read. So the QB and RB run right. If the middle man doesn't crash (playing zone, or man on center) on the run we hand off the ball and theres usually a big void between the front 3. This us where ur playmake takes over. Option 2. Is if the middle defender crashes on the RB the center is running into the void left by the middle man. He sits right where the middle defender was. Pass to him and he has the middle open. Most teams compensate by bringing in their safety to close the gap and now u have a man on man on the outside with ur best WR. Another way they tried to stop it was squeezing the cb on the snap and having the safety come on top of my WR. To cover that I told my WR to yell hot and he would sit in the flat. My QB then throws to the flat.

We also ran this very uptempo. No huddling. Everyone did the same thing over and over, it was like clockwork. Run the play, give it to the ref, line up and run it again. The only thing that changed was how we attacked them.

[Johnp2 21]

This is an interesting topic, and I commend you coaches on challenging your players to assume complex assignments. I agree it really depends on the personnel you have.

I started teaching the concept of option routes to my son (QB) when he was 8. This because we had a stud receiver on our team who could catch anything and was extremely intelligent. I noticed teams would start to roll coverage his way quite a bit, so I taught him the concept to keep his options (pun intended) open. At that time, he was the only receiver whom I felt could handle such routes. It's one thing to draw it out at practice, but another thing when facing a real defense.

My recommendation would be to find the player(s) who you feel can be reliable in executing it. If you are coaching 12-14, I'd assume the vast majority of them should be able to pick it up. I'd also suggest only executing a few plays that incorporate this and only give two options. Begin with your best passing play, and incorporate the option route into that. Where I think it is effective at younger ages (9-10) is that you can really set a defense up for it. Run the play a few times completely a successful out, and soon the CB will sit and the safety will over-commit to rolling that---while your receiver runs a post. ;-)

I think ifly808 provided a great example play. If you'd like another I can give you the few we execute. This season, although my players will still be 9-10, I'm revamping my playbook quite a bit and will institue more option routes.