Option from the Wing T

Very quickly...

Over the past month or so, I have had the opportunity to discuss running the option from a true Wing -T formation and from splitbacks with a TE and wing combo. While I don't own the video, I did notice on www.coacheschoice.com the following item:



Link

Two things caught my attention concerning this: first, it mentiond wing T and Option together, and second, it mentioned Permian, TX.

If anyone has seen this video and would like to evaluate it, please feel free to do so.

Coach Smith


***26 Apr 05***

Coach Ed Cook was kind enough to email me some comments concerning the Permian video...

"Coach I couldnt post on your site, but maybe you can throw this on
there...The Permian wing-t video is a waste I took nothing away from
the video...I know the coach used to coach there but he is at
Kingsford or something close to that during the filming...the game
cut-ups are very poor and out of order...complete waste of money..."

Edward K. Cook

So it sounds like the video unfortunately might be pretty aweful. Too bad - I had hoped this would be a good 'un. Thanks again to Coach Cook for giving his opinion.

Coach Smith

17 Jan 05

I ran across an article recently concerning running option from the Wing-T set and wanted to make mention of it. The article is written by a coach who is running outside veer from a Wing-T set. It has nice play diagrams and is well written. If you're into this sort of thing, it is definitely worth the time to read.

Link



New (21 Feb 05): More Splitbacks/Wing-T material from the old B.C.Warrior website-

Link

11Apr05 : Video Cuts

Here are the game cuts from the 1998 State Champs. I am emphasing the plays which were ran either from a wing set or can be found in any Wing-T playbook.

Cut One and Two: OSV to the Wing

First, we always stay in our splitback alignment. We never go to a FB and a HB like a true Wing-T team might choose. The main reason is not to mess with our mesh points. Another might be that you can't get quite as good an angle on the OSV with a true FB as you can with splitbacks. You guys that only see 4-fronts might not care so much about this, but to those of us that see a lot of 5-2 and 5-3 defenses and run a lot of OSV, it's important.

Personnel: After viewing the '98 video and our 2004 cuts where we ran with a wing set, I've come to the conclusion that for the most part, you should sub a true running back in for the wing player. While a reciever can arc to second level on OSV and not cause any problems, he might not have enought meat on his bones to down-block a defensive end on the sweep.

OSV to the Wing, Cut One:

OSV to the Wing, Cut Two:


Inside Veer Weak.

One of the things many Wing-T teams are guilty of are being Tight End oriented in play selection. They stay in a 100 or 900 set and run sweeps strong and the gut strong and only hit the weak side with the crossblock or the waggle. Sometimes they will motion the wing across and toss weak to the FB. Teams I've coached for have been pretty successful loading up the strong side, making sure you get guys in the hip pocket of the guards, put a big guy in a 6 and keep the TE off the ILBs and bring the OLb hard off the butt of the wing. I usually had OLBs key the HB and react accordingly. Flat motion across the formation always brought an outside blitz into the motion... the DB's played a loose-man coverage so we could get a man running with the TE on the waggle... you know the plays that can hurt ya from the T!

Anyway, the ISV weak is a GREAT way to take advantage of guys like me who load up the strong side and dare you to run weak. the last man on the line is the dive read and the OLB will be your pitch... split end stalks and the FS is assumed to have rotated over to the TE/Wing side.

ISV Weak, Cut One:

ISV Weak, Cut Two:



Power Sweep to the Wing.

Think about what the strong side defensive end has seen so far- Option, option, and more option. He's probably not as worried about getting down-blocked by the WB as he might have been initially. I still say that you should put a thicker kid in at the WB if you plan on running the Sweep. It might be a HB, of a FB, or maybe even the other TE. In 2 of the 3 Sweep Cuts, you'll see theWB has a hard time handling the DE (unfortunately you won't see the circus-catch he makes later in the game).

Power Sweep, Cut One:

Power Sweep, Cut Two:

Power Sweep, Cut Three:



The Gut Trap

The last series of clips deals with another play you'll find in any Wing-T playbook, the Gut (or inside) Trap. You don't have to have a true FB lined up straight behind the QB in order to run it, of course. We keep our splitback alignment whether we break the formation or not. We can still run our options from sets, but like many other coaches have discovered, you can run off OLBs or get them to shift by breaking the formation. Or not . ..whatever works the best.

Gut Trap, Cut One:

Gut Trap, Cut Two:

Gut Trap, Cut Three:



Well, that wraps up tonight's post. So while we are without a doubt a Veer team, Coach Roark has effectively borrowed from the Wing T to enhance and supplement our option attack. Of course, any time you are in a three-back set, you have great possibilities for misdirection. Without giving away any family secrets, there's a great potential for using the WB for that misdirection... so use your imaginiation and remember that the sky's the limit!


Coach Smith