Like most spread coaches I have been using simple Run/Pass/Options for awhile. Most coaches I talk to have been using the bubble screen and inside zone to conflict the defensive read of the overhang defender (Diagram 1). In the last two years there has been a huge movement into 2nd and 3rd level reads in the Run/Pass/Option or RPO offensive game. This past season my program ran 500 RPOs and had enough success to make it to the State Semi-Finals in Minnesota. If you follow twitter chats www.txhsfbchat.com has had some epic conversations on running RPOs and how defenses like to defend them. If you are planning on learning more about RPOs I recommend you read my eBook. RPOs in the Spartan Spread Offense.
Diagram 1 Inside Zone Bubble
Route Reading
One of the areas that I see developing over the course of the next season is having athletes read the single route concept so that they are always able to take the low hanging fruit that the defense gives them. We toyed with this idea in our State Semi-Final game this year. We have a 6'7 wide receiver who is a tremendous match up problem. We would use him to to make teams decide if they wanted to play him one on one, or keep a safety over the top to help. Because this was his first year of football we wanted to keep things very simple. When we wanted him to run a hitch or slant we would tag that to the run play. As the season went on we found he was able to understand defenses much better so we gave him and the quarterback the freedom to change the route concept based on the defense. In Diagram 2 you will see that the defense has elected to play a two high safety look. The conflict play is the Will linebacker. If the Will chases the outside zone or stretch play then the quarterback will pull and throw the the backside route. Because the defense is in a two high look and the corner is playing tight the receiver has decided to run a skinny slant route into the vacated area.
Diagram 2-Slant Adjust
In Diagram 3 the safeties are going to rotate pre-snap leaving the corner in a one on one situations. When our receiver sees this he is going to run a skinny post because we want to create the most explosive play possible on each snap. The Will backer chases the outside zone run leaving a nice clean throwing window for the quarterback. Because my team was not able to run this look in the playoff game I used a sample clip from my RPO Library.
Diagram-3 Single high safety Post Adjustment
In this example Indiana runs Outside Zone to the single receiver side because Duke was rotating their defense to the 3x1 side. Because of this Indiana was able to run a skinny post. This was a very explosive play by Indiana that eventually lead to a TD for the Hoosiers.
Below is a drill the we use to practice QB footwork and linebacker reads. You can see more drill in last weeks post.
Conclusion
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These are just a few examples of what I see happening in the development of RPOs over the next year. Stay tuned as I write about QB run game RPOs next time.
Our program has had a lot of success making it to 4 section finals and 3 state and a state title in the last 5 years. You can find all of our running and pass play diagrams and video that we run in my Spartan Spread System. I also have made an eBook that shows all of our RPOs that we run in the unbalanced formations that I have shared with you. If you would like the eBook and the 1,000 clip Hudl video library click RPO LIBRARY. If you are just interested in the book and it's 50 diagrams click RPO eBook.
Our program has had a lot of success making it to 4 section finals and 3 state and a state title in the last 5 years. You can find all of our running and pass play diagrams and video that we run in my Spartan Spread System. I also have made an eBook that shows all of our RPOs that we run in the unbalanced formations that I have shared with you. If you would like the eBook and the 1,000 clip Hudl video library click RPO LIBRARY. If you are just interested in the book and it's 50 diagrams click RPO eBook.