Triple Option Football Out of the Spread Offense

At John Marshall High School, we run a spread offense. Our base set is a 2 X 2, four wide receiver set, with the quarterback in the sahotgun five yards from the ball. A running back is set to either his right or left, stacked behind the offensive tackle. Like most spread teams, our base run play is the zone read. In the zone read, the quarterback receives the shotgun snap and, staying square to the LOS, takes a slight lateral step and extends the ball to his running back, riding him across his body, just past his pre-snap home position. He reads the play of the backside defensive end and either gives the ball or keeps it, based on whether the defensive end attacks down the LOS, seems ‘unsure’ or feathers upfield to play contain (See Diagram 1). As teams began to work to limit and contain this play, planning various stunts and disguises to bait the quarterback into making a false