Strategies to Structure an Offense

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The full text of “Strategies to Structure an Offense” by Matt Drinkall, from the Vol 2 — Fall 2018 issue.

By Matt Drinkall, Head Coach Kansas Wesleyan Introduction This time of year is always challenging as a coordinator. Your mind runs wild with the seemingly limitless possibili - ties of great schemes people are running across the nation. The purpose of this article is to present ideas and concepts to consider when building your offensive package while provid - ing strategies to structure any offense. Offensive Design The most important question to ask is: What do you need to do to win?

This can be dictated by several variables but I be - lieve the most critical variable to consider is your own person - nel. Who are your best eleven players and what do they do well? Does the staff have the knowl - edge and time to teach it? This is extremely important because the staff should be masters of their schemes. To truly under - stand schematic strengths and weaknesses is critical to the problem-solving that goes into running a successful offense. Staff can vary in size, knowl - edge base, and experience.

Adapting to the strengths of your staff is no different than doing so with your own on-field personnel. Strategies to Structure an Another component I believe helps any offense be successful is simplicity. I constantly fight an internal battle of appearing complex to defenses while remaining simple to our players. I believe it is advantageous to show many looks, but run limited play concepts.

University Make sure everyone in the pro - gram understands your identity. Alignment is paramount to sus - tained success. Coaches and play - ers must all understand who you are as an offense, what you are going to do, and what must be done in order to win. Every person associated with the football pro - gram must embrace this and be pulling the rope in the same direc - tion. This is the responsibility of the head coach and coordinators ense working to ensure the correct culture is built and maintained.

The last component to con - sider is flexibility and adapt - ability. I researched a great deal of military books related to strategic warfare. An overly - ing theme is the concept that both sides enter a war with a winning battle plan. The side that most effectively adapts to the situation once the fighting has commenced is the side that is victorious. The U.S. Marine Corps addresses the concept of “uncertainty” in their Warf - ighting Handbook.

“Because we can never eliminate uncer - tainty, we must learn to fight effectively despite it. We can do this by developing simple, flexible plans; planning for like - ly contingencies; developing standing operating procedures; and fostering initiative among subordinates.” That passage is indicative of the challenges that must be considered when designing and implementing a sound and sustainable offen - sive plan of attack.

Structuring an Offense This section is some personal thoughts and ideas in regards to building an offense. I do not claim to have the answers nor am I trying to influence any - one reading this into running something specific. The goal is this section is to foster thought and spark new ways of thinking in regards to how you analyze your own offense. Have the ability to be balanced. You DO NOT need to be bal - anced, simply have the ability to be.

I believe this is one of the most misunderstood areas of offensive football. You do not need to be balanced simply for the sake of saying you are balanced. Each one of us will continue to run the plays that

6 are successful based on the situation. You can achieve having the ability to be balanced by asking your - self a few simple questions: Are you able to run and pass from each personnel group and formation? Do you have runs and passes for each game situation? Do you carry complimentary plays? Do you make the defense defend as much of the field as possible? Another component I believe helps any offense be successful is simplicity.

I constantly fight an internal battle of appearing complex to defenses while remaining simple to our players. I believe it is advanta - geous to show many looks, but run limited play concepts. Carrying variance within play concepts can stretch the mileage you are able to get out of certain play families. I make sure simplicity flows through every vein of our offense. Simplicity should apply to your teaching concepts, offensive terminology, de - fensive recognition, coaching points, rules, and assignments.

Finding the Right Tempo Tempo, and how to most effectively use it, is an evolving element of football right now. Tempo is an ex - tension of your offense and should be utilized the same way you would use personnel, formations, and plays.

The communication process of getting the play to your players weighs heavily on the types of tempo you will be able to install. I have tried to quantify common communication processes used in football right now and have grouped them in to seven different styles of communication.

• Huddle (Standard) • Huddle (Sugar) • Huddle (Quick) • No Huddle (Signal) • No Huddle (Wristband) • No Huddle (Verbal) • Look/Glance Selecting your style(s) of communication will essentially dictated the types of tempo you will be able to utilize. In regards to tempo, I believe varying tempo is extremely difficult to prepare for. In my opinion, when some - one uses one tempo, all the time, this provides an opportunity for an opponent to plan and adapt at a much more efficient rate.

I use six criteria to determine how tempo can aid in our offensive production. Complex defenses Pressure packages Best personnel are out of the game After big plays Sudden change Multiple two-way players (generally applicable to the high school level) Play Concept Selection I have found concept selection to be the most challenging aspect of running an offense. How do I know what to carry? How much is too much? Do I have something for each situation?

There are so many interesting, effective and innovative things happening in football right now that it is extremely enticing to want to do too much. However, we all operate with a finite amount of snaps. It is important to be realistic as to how many concepts you will be able to run in games and more so, how many concepts you can practice leading up to that game. Review the previous season and obtain as much quantifiable data as possible. This will aid in justifying the decision-making process.

Using means, medians, and modes to assist in finding the right amount of concepts to carry. The packages you carry should be heavily influenced by common play series and adjusted for game situations and occurrences. Starting on a macro level, it is easy to categorize an offense, followed by breaking down each concept on a micro scale. The three categories I use are as follows:

Pre-Snap Tempo Personnel Formations Movements Motions Miscellaneous Run Game Zone Gap Option QB Runs Alternates Pass Game Quick Drop Back Play Action Sprint Out Screen Protections Calculate the amount of snaps you average per game and take each of your concepts and fit them to the corresponding category. This will give you a fairly specific idea of what you are carrying and if you can justify the volume of what you carry based on the frequency it is called in a game.

For example, if you only Sprint Out pass 2.6 times per game, it would be hard to rationalize carrying seven or eight Sprint Out concepts. Once you have categorized your offense, take the play frequency and apply it to down and distance, as well as field zones. This will provide you an all-encompassing way to justify what concepts you need to carry. Conclusion I hope this article was able to give you at least one new idea or thought to consider when it comes to structuring your offense.

Review and analysis of offensive systems aid in your preparation for a great 2018 season. Confucius said, “Study the past if you would define the future.” I find that sentiment holds true in our profession to this day.

O ver the years, our offense has evolved from the wishbone to the spread. The roots of our offense are grounded in the old Odessa Permian wing T, which our Head Coach Gary Grubbs learned while working for Gary Gaines during the “Friday Night Lights” era. We have implemented the power running game of the wing T and wishbone into our spread and combined it with the common drop-back, screen, and quick concepts of air raid offenses.

Therefore, we refer to our offense as the “bone and shoot.” I began my career coaching primarily defensive line and linebackers. As a defensive coach, I hated to face option teams because it really limited what we could do defensively, specifically stunting, without changing option responsibilities. When I moved to the offensive side of the ball, I made it a point to include as much option as I could into our offense. Because of that, all five of our base run schemes can be run with or without pass-run options.

By J.J. Guidry Assistant Head Football Coach and Offensive Coordinator Buffalo High School (TX) Use the Mesh Drill to Incorporate the Option Game into Your Offense Photos by Lea Ann Cain Buffalo Bison quarterback Colton Green (center) rides running back Hector Dominguez (34) with his eyes on the handoff key as he makes his read. The dynamic duo has combined for 5,154 rushing yards and 70 touchdowns in J.J. Guidry’s Bone and Shoot offense. Both have earned all-state honors.