Complimenting The Zone With Traps And Counters

Complimenting the Zone With Traps and Counters

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am grateful to the AFCA to be given an opportunity to speak at this convention. After attending my first convention many years ago, I went away with a feeling of pride in our profession because of the quality of coaches I met and listened to. I believe that we have reached a new level in our coaching career once we see ourselves as true professionals in a very unique profession. In a coaching career, we can serve others in a way like no other profession. Being raised on a farm in South Dakota with three brothers and three sisters, I am very proud of my roots and the work ethic that I learned in that environment. I learned early in my career that “Success Starts With Service.” I have heard a lot of the great coaches speak over the years about building team unity by teaching young men the concepts of service to others. Whether it is service to our community, our country, our families, our teammates, or most of all, service to God, the concept of service remains constant and is based upon love and respect. I have observed coaches who have built quality programs with great tradition by drawing upon the inner desires of man to feel important and have self-worth. Learning how to serve others nurtures these characteristics and qualities. As you can tell by now, I do believe strongly in developing servant leadership in our program. It is very rewarding to see the results in the lives of athletes and coaches that learn what this means. I once heard that being called “Coach” is like being called “Dad.” We have the opportunities to influence lives as coaches much the same as Dads do! When I started coaching high school football in Arizona, Frank Kush was at Arizona State and the middle trap was one of the key plays for them. I remember the emphasis that was placed on hitting it with great quickness, and how few defensive linemen had to be blocked when it was hit quickly. Anyone who coaches offense in our program better understand and be willing to run the middle trap! We run a lot of inside and outside zone in our offense. Defenses can cause problems in the zone blocking rules by getting up field aggressively and working to get penetration. This is why I feel strongly about defensive linemen having to worry about being trapped. Most of our running game blocking rules fall into two categories (zone and man blocking). Traps and counters fall into

the man blocking rules, and must be taught against several different defensive fronts. The two traps we run I will refer to as the middle trap and the “G” trap. Diagrams 1-3 are used to show the blocking for our middle trap.

Diagram 1: vs. Base 4-3

Diagram 2: vs. Okie 5-2

Diagram 3: vs. Eagle

Note: We usually do not want to run the trap vs. eight-man fronts like a 4-4 or a Bear Front. Basic Rules for the Middle Trap Center: On-Away Playside Guard: Influence if covered (two or three technique). If uncovered (4I, 4 or 5), combo a zero to backside linebacker or just first linebacker inside. Playside Tackle: Same rules as playside guard if covered (4I or 4). If uncovered, first linebacker inside. Tight End: First linebacker inside or safety. Backside Guard: Pull — keeping shoulders square to line of scrimmage and hit defender with outside shoulder. If defender follows influence, turn up field to block linebacker to safety. Backside Tackle: Secure “B” gap and up field to linebacker to safety — may need to cut a wide three technique. Center should have a backside two technique.

Quarterback: Opens away from playside and gets ball back to runningback as deep and quickly as possible. Runningback: (4-4-1/2 yds. deep) Step with play-side foot in front of backside foot and on second step prepare to cut into hole behind trapping guard. Wide Receivers: Safeties Key Teaching Techniques 1. Don’t block defensive linemen on either side of the hole unless it is a linebacker moved up on the line of scrimmage. 2. The trapping guard and Influence Man should both use similar techniques keeping shoulders square to line of scrimmage, gain ground up-field on pull and hit with outside shoulder. If a defender crosses your face to the inside, block him aggressively. If a defender penetrates into the backfield, turn up field to linebacker or safety. 3. In most cases if the play is hit quick enough, the backside four or five cannot catch it from behind the backside tackle. Note: Several concepts that we teach in zone blocking are utilized here: 1. Don’t crowd the line of scrimmage so you can have momentum up field when you pull. 2. Keep your shoulders square to line of scrimmage as you pull. 3. When a man in the area (zone) you are to trap is not there (over penetrates), go to the next level.

Diagram 6

Diagram 9

Key Teaching Techniques 1. We will block the Mike linebacker past the hole if we can’t get him cut off. Runningback must read this. 2. We want the trapping guard to keep his shoulders square and get momentum headed up field to handle a defensive end following the tight end down. 3. We use the “G” Trap with our “G” option package.

Key Teaching Techniques for the Counter 1. Pulling technique for backside is a very solid drop step with the outside foot when pulling. 2. Keep shoulders square to line of scrimmage. 3. Know who you intend to block before pulling. 4. Be prepared to trap a blitzing linebacker when pulling. We do feel that we must include play action off the counter in various ways to help keep the defense honest. We usually are pulling one guard to help protect for the quarterback. Diagram 10 gives one such example of this play action.

“G” Trap The other trap used in our offense we call our “G” Trap. Diagrams 4-6 show this run against a seven technique:

The Counter The counter is the last play I would like to discuss that has become vital to our running game. Blocking or controlling the backside defensive end on the open-side is the main key to running the play out of a one back set. We do this by a fly fake under center or pump fake out of gun. We will run this play out of formations with two tight ends, one tight end, or no tight ends and anywhere on the field. We may pull either one or two backside linemen. On the front-side we want a very solid double team on a 4I or three technique if we have a tight end on that side, or we will base block the five and one or 2I to an open-side. Diagrams 7-9 show some examples of the counter run out of various formations:

Diagram 4

Diagram 7

Diagram 5

Diagram 8

Diagram 10: Counter Play Action With One Back

Using traps and counters has certainly given us more variety in our offense and has contributed some very big plays in key situations. It has complimented our inside/outside zone package that most people use these days. Using some of the fundamentals in zone blocking saves us teaching time as well. It has been a pleasure sharing some ideas with you as many have done with me over the years. We have a great profession, and I encourage you to make it even better in the future years. You can make a difference in many young people’s lives.

Keep football a safe game with concentrated efforts toward proper techniques.