(Originally posted on July 16th, 2008)
Lately I have been receiving some very good questions via email, and for some reason there seems to be a resurgence of interest in the Wing-T as an offensive system. Whether it has to do with the mighty Bellevue Wolverines and the hammerings they’ve been doling out or some other factor, I think it’s a good thing.
Most of the questions I’ve been asked tend to revolve around blocking schemes for the system. This is the aspect of offensive football that most youth coaches have trouble with, because it’s the most complex, and also the least covered by network TV analysts and professional camera angles. (Another reason I find NFL football boring, since the offensive line, and not the ball, is the most fun for me to watch.)
I got the following via email, and I think it’s a good question:
Hi Coach Wade.
You have some great articles on your site. I'm an experienced basketball and flag football coach, but have been asked to be the OC for 13-14 year old team this year. Many of our players have played in the wing-T for a few years, and I have a decent laymans understanding of the plays/concepts. That said, my understanding of the blocking rules & techniques is poor. As I try to learn more I see a lot of incomplete or inconsistent info available on blocking rules. Do you have a summary of the blocking rules for the base wing-T series? I have seen the playbook download on the site, but this does not address changing fronts. Any other advice would be great also.
There’s a lot of ground to cover when we’re talking about blocking rules, especially when we’re talking about blocking rules for the Wing-T. At last count there were two dozen potential series available for the basic Wing-T, and coaches are developing new ways to use the common formations to attack the defense all the time.
The Wing-T can be a very complex offense to use, not least because it's so damn versatile. An example is Gene Cox's Multiple Offense (ISBN: 0966967208) from his book by the same name. His 'basic' terminology alone takes up four full pages. Sometimes the same play is blocked three or four ways against the same front, with no real explanation as to why.
Thanks to a decade or more of coaching experience, much of it under the patient and expert tutelage of Leon Feliciano at Tomales high school, I can now figure out that what these alternative blocking schemes give you is a different way to attack stud players in various positions. A stud defensive tackle, for example, can be charlie blocked. A stud outside linebacker can be kicked out, and the ultimate target is still the same point of the defensive line.
This is way too complex for youth coaches. It's too complex for most high school coaches (but they would never admit it in a million years). I have no idea at all how Gene Cox won 323 games with that system, but he's a better coach than me, that's for sure.
I talk a great deal about the Wing-T, but I choose not to run it myself. There are some very valid reasons for that, in my opinion. I'm a Double Wing guy, through and through. I think the Double Wing is a little further down the evolutionary road from the Wing-T. I would run the Wing-T as an offense by itself for two main reasons: I wanted to throw the ball more than I do (because I had an awesome in-space receiver I wanted to split as an end) or if I wanted to run the option. Other than that, I think the Double Wing answers a lot of the questions that the Wing-T asks, like line splits. What's the most effective distance for my age group? Who knows? The Wing-T can demand specific splits because of the timing of the plays, and finding the exact distance for your age level is as much trial and error as "book learnin'" from the playbook.
The Wing-T is a very precise offense, and tightening the line splits too much can have deleterious effects on certain things. For example, it will help you with the sweep, because the perimeter is closer, but it interferes with the trap because the FB is deeper-- the hole can open and close before he gets there instead of opening AS he gets there. (By the way, I'm not trash-talking the Wing-T. It's my third place offense I would run behind the Double Wing and the Veer. When I say that it's not as 'evolved' as the Double Wing I mean that the Double Wing went in one direction and the Wing-T went in another, and I prefer the angle that the Double Wing takes.)
But we want to talk about specific blocking schemes. Unfortunately, since there are no restrictions on defensive alignment (unless you’re in one of those miserable leagues that mandates a specific defense, in which case I encourage you to find another place to coach as soon as possible), we need to consider schemes whose rules allow for various defensive fronts, or our plays will fail for the worst of all possible reasons: because we failed to teach our players who to block.
When it comes to developing a playbook suitable for changing fronts, you need to start with a good scouting report and then give your players a base set of rules for each play. You can do this yourself if you find a playbook that has stuff left out of it. (Except when I do it, all my blocking schemes look like the Double Wing. I think I'm over trained.)
To keep things simple, I want to talk mostly about the most basic play in any offensive arsenal: the straight-up-the-pipe to the fullback. There are several ways to block this, as you can see from the diagram.
1) Base block - everyone fires out low and hammers the guy in front of them. If no one, continue in a path until you hit someone. This is typical youth blocking and as a result is rarely useful. (It can be, if you call it on occasion and catch the defense unaware, thinking you were going to angle block or something.) It relies on surprise as much as pure power.
2) Counter trap - Backside guard pulls through the center's hips and lays out the defensive tackle. For this you need two sets of basic rules; one has to be for the odd fronts you see, and the other has to be for the evens. You also might need some kind of call from guard to guard. (I use inlaw and outlaw. Inlaw means that the guy on my playside guard is inside, so he's going to be blocked by the playside guard. Outlaw means that the guy on the playside guard is outside him, and is the trap victim.) the basic rule here is: No one outside the trap touches a man on the line, period. EVERYONE goes to second level.
3) Charlie - This looks similar to the trap, except that we're not sending anyone to second level. Everyone base blocks except, in this case, the center and playside guard. Usually the outside man goes first, and he earholes anyone over center. The center delays for a heartbeat (gives him time to snap) and then, when the guard passes in front of him, he whacks the man over the guard. This gives both players inside leverage, but, it sacrifices speed because the punch is delayed. (You can even consider this a short trap. It works well on draw plays, too, BECAUSE of the slight delay.)
What you need to do is take a find a decent playbook with rules already in place. However if you're looking for some basic stuff to match what your kids already know, look at the series you run and consider this:
1) When attacking outside, there are two main blocking schemes: down block and reach block. Reach blocking only works with proper technique and when the defense has seen enough down blocks that they try to fight hard to the inside to beat that particular block. Then reach them.
2) Apply two points of leverage at every hole: inside and outside. So, for example, if you wanted to run a power with the halfback carrying off tackle, you need to apply leverage to the inside (down block) and to the outside (kickout with the FB) to pry the hole open. This is Hugh Wyatt's Jaws of Life blocking scheme and is employed in almost all Double Wing plays.
3) Trap on misdirection plays. Series are groups of interconnected plays that look similar (preferably identical)at the start of the play and immediately following the snap. A Buck series, for example, uses the dive, sweep, and a QB keep/rollout pass in the opposite direction from the sweep. This is prime time for the trap to the FB (dive) when the defense sees sweep and the lixbnebackers start to chase.
4) Charlie blocking only works when it is quick and the players stay low. If the center pops up, he's going to miss his block and the fullback will get buried.
I hope this helps.
~D.
Lately I have been receiving some very good questions via email, and for some reason there seems to be a resurgence of interest in the Wing-T as an offensive system. Whether it has to do with the mighty Bellevue Wolverines and the hammerings they’ve been doling out or some other factor, I think it’s a good thing.
Most of the questions I’ve been asked tend to revolve around blocking schemes for the system. This is the aspect of offensive football that most youth coaches have trouble with, because it’s the most complex, and also the least covered by network TV analysts and professional camera angles. (Another reason I find NFL football boring, since the offensive line, and not the ball, is the most fun for me to watch.)
I got the following via email, and I think it’s a good question:
Hi Coach Wade.
You have some great articles on your site. I'm an experienced basketball and flag football coach, but have been asked to be the OC for 13-14 year old team this year. Many of our players have played in the wing-T for a few years, and I have a decent laymans understanding of the plays/concepts. That said, my understanding of the blocking rules & techniques is poor. As I try to learn more I see a lot of incomplete or inconsistent info available on blocking rules. Do you have a summary of the blocking rules for the base wing-T series? I have seen the playbook download on the site, but this does not address changing fronts. Any other advice would be great also.
There’s a lot of ground to cover when we’re talking about blocking rules, especially when we’re talking about blocking rules for the Wing-T. At last count there were two dozen potential series available for the basic Wing-T, and coaches are developing new ways to use the common formations to attack the defense all the time.
The Wing-T can be a very complex offense to use, not least because it's so damn versatile. An example is Gene Cox's Multiple Offense (ISBN: 0966967208) from his book by the same name. His 'basic' terminology alone takes up four full pages. Sometimes the same play is blocked three or four ways against the same front, with no real explanation as to why.
Thanks to a decade or more of coaching experience, much of it under the patient and expert tutelage of Leon Feliciano at Tomales high school, I can now figure out that what these alternative blocking schemes give you is a different way to attack stud players in various positions. A stud defensive tackle, for example, can be charlie blocked. A stud outside linebacker can be kicked out, and the ultimate target is still the same point of the defensive line.
This is way too complex for youth coaches. It's too complex for most high school coaches (but they would never admit it in a million years). I have no idea at all how Gene Cox won 323 games with that system, but he's a better coach than me, that's for sure.
I talk a great deal about the Wing-T, but I choose not to run it myself. There are some very valid reasons for that, in my opinion. I'm a Double Wing guy, through and through. I think the Double Wing is a little further down the evolutionary road from the Wing-T. I would run the Wing-T as an offense by itself for two main reasons: I wanted to throw the ball more than I do (because I had an awesome in-space receiver I wanted to split as an end) or if I wanted to run the option. Other than that, I think the Double Wing answers a lot of the questions that the Wing-T asks, like line splits. What's the most effective distance for my age group? Who knows? The Wing-T can demand specific splits because of the timing of the plays, and finding the exact distance for your age level is as much trial and error as "book learnin'" from the playbook.
The Wing-T is a very precise offense, and tightening the line splits too much can have deleterious effects on certain things. For example, it will help you with the sweep, because the perimeter is closer, but it interferes with the trap because the FB is deeper-- the hole can open and close before he gets there instead of opening AS he gets there. (By the way, I'm not trash-talking the Wing-T. It's my third place offense I would run behind the Double Wing and the Veer. When I say that it's not as 'evolved' as the Double Wing I mean that the Double Wing went in one direction and the Wing-T went in another, and I prefer the angle that the Double Wing takes.)
But we want to talk about specific blocking schemes. Unfortunately, since there are no restrictions on defensive alignment (unless you’re in one of those miserable leagues that mandates a specific defense, in which case I encourage you to find another place to coach as soon as possible), we need to consider schemes whose rules allow for various defensive fronts, or our plays will fail for the worst of all possible reasons: because we failed to teach our players who to block.
When it comes to developing a playbook suitable for changing fronts, you need to start with a good scouting report and then give your players a base set of rules for each play. You can do this yourself if you find a playbook that has stuff left out of it. (Except when I do it, all my blocking schemes look like the Double Wing. I think I'm over trained.)
To keep things simple, I want to talk mostly about the most basic play in any offensive arsenal: the straight-up-the-pipe to the fullback. There are several ways to block this, as you can see from the diagram.
1) Base block - everyone fires out low and hammers the guy in front of them. If no one, continue in a path until you hit someone. This is typical youth blocking and as a result is rarely useful. (It can be, if you call it on occasion and catch the defense unaware, thinking you were going to angle block or something.) It relies on surprise as much as pure power.
2) Counter trap - Backside guard pulls through the center's hips and lays out the defensive tackle. For this you need two sets of basic rules; one has to be for the odd fronts you see, and the other has to be for the evens. You also might need some kind of call from guard to guard. (I use inlaw and outlaw. Inlaw means that the guy on my playside guard is inside, so he's going to be blocked by the playside guard. Outlaw means that the guy on the playside guard is outside him, and is the trap victim.) the basic rule here is: No one outside the trap touches a man on the line, period. EVERYONE goes to second level.
3) Charlie - This looks similar to the trap, except that we're not sending anyone to second level. Everyone base blocks except, in this case, the center and playside guard. Usually the outside man goes first, and he earholes anyone over center. The center delays for a heartbeat (gives him time to snap) and then, when the guard passes in front of him, he whacks the man over the guard. This gives both players inside leverage, but, it sacrifices speed because the punch is delayed. (You can even consider this a short trap. It works well on draw plays, too, BECAUSE of the slight delay.)
What you need to do is take a find a decent playbook with rules already in place. However if you're looking for some basic stuff to match what your kids already know, look at the series you run and consider this:
1) When attacking outside, there are two main blocking schemes: down block and reach block. Reach blocking only works with proper technique and when the defense has seen enough down blocks that they try to fight hard to the inside to beat that particular block. Then reach them.
2) Apply two points of leverage at every hole: inside and outside. So, for example, if you wanted to run a power with the halfback carrying off tackle, you need to apply leverage to the inside (down block) and to the outside (kickout with the FB) to pry the hole open. This is Hugh Wyatt's Jaws of Life blocking scheme and is employed in almost all Double Wing plays.
3) Trap on misdirection plays. Series are groups of interconnected plays that look similar (preferably identical)at the start of the play and immediately following the snap. A Buck series, for example, uses the dive, sweep, and a QB keep/rollout pass in the opposite direction from the sweep. This is prime time for the trap to the FB (dive) when the defense sees sweep and the lixbnebackers start to chase.
4) Charlie blocking only works when it is quick and the players stay low. If the center pops up, he's going to miss his block and the fullback will get buried.
I hope this helps.
~D.
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