Installing Passing Concepts In Your Offense

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n behalf of the coaches at Reedley College, I‘d like to thank Coach Teaff and the AFCAfor the honor of being named Community College Coach of the Year by the newly formed American Community College Football Coaches Association. We all understand that this recognition is to be shared by the entire staff, our fine academic support personnel and administration at our institution. We were lucky to go 12-0 with a collection of fine athletes who bonded from the point they moved into the dorms in August to the final tick of the clock at the California State Championship game in December. I write this article in honor of their efforts in 2002. My attempt here is to explain how we might install any pass concept in our playbook. I will use the very simple curl-flat (“Delta”) concept as an example only. The first phase of our “whole-part-whole” teaching progression is to sit down in a classroom with all of the skill players and put pen to paper. We teach, very simply, that we are attacking the curl-flat defender in cover three. Oftentimes, we explain, we will be in a 3x1 formation when we play Cover Three teams to outnumber our opponent or create “Boss” (backers strong) or “Bow” (backers weak) displacement. We may further the discussion with some concepts that attack this defensive displacement to trips. As coaches we may have decided to install a play action pass using this concept as well. Again, we explain that the very same curl-flat defender is also run support and is “between a rock and a hard place”. As we work further into this lesson, we now describe a Cover 2/4 shell and the various defensive assignments in these coverages. Again, the purpose of this paper is to explain our teaching progression, so we will be very superficial here. In summary, we explain to the quarterbacks in particular that we must tie up the two safeties in this defensive structure with vertical stems. We are therefore in a lot more 2x2 formations when we face cover 2/4 defenses. We would like to drive the No. 2 receiver curl routes to 14 yards or more and, perhaps, have the No. 1 receivers run post routes. I know this is very simplistic, but we are not going to assume that our guys are experienced in the passing game, or have remembered these teaching points from the previous season if they are sophomores.

Once we have thoroughly explained the delta concept we are ready to take the practice field and break down the Delta concept into manageable parts! Our wide receiver coach will take his players to the “grid” (Diagram 1) to begin work on the fun-

Diagram 1

damental breaks involved in delta concept. The grid is a 15 by 15 yard square divided into nine equal five-yard cells. We use the grid in all aspects of our offensive teaching to maximize repetitions and provide landmarks for our players. In this drill we will divide the receivers into four groups on the outside corners of the grid with two receivers and two quarterbacks taking reps at one time. Here we will teach the comeback break at the top of the curl route. (For clarity sake, Diagram 2 depicts only one player.) We are actually teaching the three-step hitch, as well as many other routes requiring such a break.

Diagram 2

With the inside foot up, our receiver will climb the outside foot of the cover corner on his second outside footstep (step 3), creating space for himself on the inside break. We try to create “word pictures” by asking the receiver to set his hips on the fourth and fifth steps without gearing down too early. The young guys will “reach for the break,” by planting on the heel of their fifth “pigeon-toed” step, rather than giving us a “full foot” break by squatting with the outside knee forward of the toes. We’ll ask him to “bang the drum” (pump his arms) with his hands at the top of the break rather than “carrying suitcases” (arms down and

I nstalling Pa ssing Concepts In Your Offens e

to the side), which we see a lot from our “pups.” Note that this may very well be a daily warm up drill for the quarterback. He takes a crossover-plant drop (from under center) or a rocker drop (as if gun) and delivers the ball to the outside number of the receiver. We are much more concerned about ball placement in this drill, rather than timing. The receiver should have crossed the first horizontal line at about six yards and comes back to the quarterback in this drill with the catch on or about the horizontal five-yard line marker. We obviously want the elbows slightly bent as the receiver “high fives” the quarterback, ensuring the catch with extension rather than having the ball “beat up” his chest! Once the ball is caught, the receiver uses his “dip and rip” skill to get vertical immediately after the catch. We look for the ball to be transferred to the outside arm, a dip of the inside shoulder and simultaneous rip action (just like a defensive lineman would use to rush the passer.) All of this hopefully happens as tight to the vertical line nearest the catch. (Here again is the importance of the landmarks provided by the grid.) Later we will emphasize the head turn, or “nod” to the inside after the catch to help with the dip and rip, and eventually we’ll work the opposite “nod” for the tight inside turn and run after the catch. The receivers at the bottom of diagram two will ready themselves as those two at the top take reps. The ball is brought to the opposing quarterback within your column and rotated back and forth for maximum reps. The quarterback’s control the tempo of this drill in early practice and will work hard to get as many warm-up throws as possible in a couple of minutes. On the coaches command, the receivers move to the inside column of the grid, as do the quarterbacks (Diagram 3).

break, which is the same basic fundamental of the flat control in our delta concept. We emphasize the “pigeon-toed” fourth step as the receiver sets his hips and rolls outside to a depth of six yards. The receiver should rub the elbow of his outside arm on his ribcage as he runs through the break. We want to see a “gunshot” reaction with his head (The kind of reaction one might have when surprised by the sound of a gunshot!) on that same fourth step. Again, with the emphasis on ball placement, we expect the quarterback to put the ball out front at hip level. We do this because in a game setting this ball is thrown downhill from the crown of the field to the outside. We want the receiver to catch the ball before it crosses his own nose. We preach this notion in all of our catches, but it is particularly important to reach out for the horizontal catch. We tell our receivers that it is much more likely to lose the visual track on the ball when the ball crosses your face. Again, we want to emphasize the violent yards after the catch. We tell the receivers to “tap and turn” on a dime immediately after the catch. This means we expect a rapid chopping of the feet after the catch and a burst up the field for the extra yards. He should get all of this done before running “out of bounds” on the grid. As we move from the “gridwork” individual period to a self-serve group period, the coaches will now progress to the next phase of our whole-part-whole teaching progression. We explain how to read the “triangle” as receivers before the ball is snapped and during the route development. Each receiver’s “triangle” is created by the man on, first inside cover and nearest safety (Diagram 4).

places his attention on the B as the curl/flat defender. With experience, the flanker will learn to make slight adjustments (either behind or outside) at the top of the route. But at this point in the learning progression, we want our guys to at least understand who threatens the success of their respective routes! Likewise, the tight end in our example identifies the B linebacker as the curl/flat defender that he must leverage to the outside. He cannot be pinned to the inside of this defender, and may have to make adjustments as he climbs and presses the outside shoulder of the B linebacker. We now include the running back in this drill (By the way, he has worked the same comeback break on the grid and now applies it to his “stop” route at 3x3 yards.) The quarterbacks have already been coached to “hitch through” their progression of curl-out -stop and know see “the big picture!” This is the point at which we emphasize the “five big” footwork in our drop back scheme. We include a movement key (usually a coach) as the curl/flat defender in a line drill. We want a “hitch throw” to the curl, a second hitch to the out and yet another hitch to the stop route. If we must take a sack, we say, lets have it be a four yard loss and not a seven-yard loss! Finally, we are ready to make the Delta concept whole again for everyone, as we throw the ball “verses air,” skelly and finally “pup” (pass under pressure) in an 11 on 11 setting.

Diagram 5

Diagram 4

Diagram 3

We will work the 90-degree speed out

In this example the flanker “triangle” is “tall” with the corner off at 7x1 yards, the B linebacker in a walk-away alignment of 4x3 yards and a free safety at 12 yards in the middle of the field. This helps our flanker identify the cover as three-deep zone and

I know that nothing I have said here is revolutionary! My focus is on the teaching process, which includes the “grid” as a teaching modality and the whole-partwhole teaching progression. Perhaps you can apply one of these teaching methodologies to your own program. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to e-mail me at [email protected]. Best of luck and GO TIGERS!!