My guest writer has contributed another piece:
Since Coach Hoover is too busy to
make updates, I thought I would contribute another piece.
I can’t take
credit for its invention, but I can take credit for being smart enough to steal
other people’s great ideas. I want to share with you some of my thoughts on
combination plays- that is, plays that combine multiple concepts into a single
play. For example, you could have a run with a quick screen, a quick screen
with a slow screen, a drop-back pass with a slow screen, a quick pass with a
draw, and so on. The possibilities are endless. I believe that this is the next
hot thing in offensive football. A few years ago, you could line up in 4-wide
and that itself was revolutionary (at least where I was coaching). Then you had
the read-option incorporated into the spread, and that was the cool thing to
do. Next it was fast tempo. Now, teams like West Virginia are leading the way
into the next craze, which is combining different plays into a single play-call
that greatly increases a coach’s chance of being “right.” I have been and still
like the idea of lining up and scanning the defense before making a play-call,
but sometimes alignment doesn’t tell the whole story. Coaches have long been
using post-snap reads to isolate single defenders (or multiple defenders) for
option plays or pass patterns. Now, a troublesome defender can be isolated, and
his post-snap action will tell the QB what to do. The following example is
something I saw Dana Holgorsen talk about a few years ago when he was at
Oklahoma State. It combines a basic Stick concept out of a 3 x 1 formation with
a draw play to the RB.