I just recently completed part III of “How to Run Single Back Power”, and you’ll find college football teams like Oklahoma and UCF making this one play their bread and butter.
This is a great play in the Spread Offense because it has a variety of downhill running, stretching the defense horizontally, and equating numbers in the run game by reading a defender.
Part III of How to Run Single Back Power
Here’s what I discuss in the video:
- Blocking rules for OL
- Blocking responsibilities for play-side WR’s
- Packaging WR screen on the backside
- QB pre-snap & post-snap reads
- Alignment & technique for QB & RB
Watch How to Run Single Back Power (Part III) Below:
Transcript:
Hey coach, thanks for joining me today on the third edition of how to run single back power. I’m coach Besaw from spreadoffensefootball.com and I cover pretty much anything and everything related to the spread offense, whether that’s run game schemes, pass game schemes, X’s and O’s, RPOs, uptempo, no huddle offense, how to attack different fronts and coverages and a whole lot more. So before I get into today’s edition, make sure you subscribe so you can stay up to date on all the videos that I release. Now if you haven’t seen part one and part two I cover single back power RPO and then also a little wrinkle in the read scheme of midline. So check those two out. And then also today I’m going to be covering another little wrinkle of being able to run power pulling a backside guard and changing up the read scheme and the overall way we are attacking the defense. So let’s check it out.
Alright coach. So we’re going to keep everything the same. We’re still going to go power to the left versus the even front and two high safety. So first thing I’m going to talk to you about is the blocking rules for the linemen, then we’ll get into the responsibilities for the receivers, and then lastly we’ll talk about the quarterback running back responsibilities.
So for the play side here, basically for us, this is inverted veer. So we’re going to be reading the play side end man on the line of scrimmage or in this case the defensive end. So our left tackle, left guard are going to combo block this defensive tackle, and then they’re going to work for the backside linebacker. Our center is going to be responsible for the first down lineman to his backside, which is the three technique. And then our backside guard is going to be pulling and we want him to pull real tight around this left tackle, left guard, and he’s going to work for the play side linebacker. So he should be coming right off their butt cheeks to the play-side linebacker. And then our right tackle, his responsibility stay the same. So he’s going to make sure that no one penetrates the B gap and crosses his face inside. So that’s the way we’re blocking this thing. We have five guys, they have six, which means we’re going to read one of them and that’s going to be the play side defensive end here. And I’ll get into the read for that in just a second.
For the play-side here with the responsibilities of the receivers we’re going to use these guys to block for us because this is where we are going to be running the football. So we’re going to be one for one on the outside with X, and then A being in the slot, If he doesn’t have any immediate threat over him, so no apex or overhang defender, then he’s going to come off the ball and he’s going to look inside for the play-side linebacker to flow to him. So if the linebacker flows to him then he’s going to pick him up and block him. If he doesn’t, then he’s going to keep working for the safety who’s playing over the top. So that’s the responsibilities for the slot on the play side. On the backside, this is where we’re going to package this thing. So Z is going to run a quick screen for us. So that’s one hard step off of the ball and then come right back to the line of scrimmage expecting the football. And then Y we’re gonna use our slot, He’s going to push the overhang because we want to occupy this guy just for short period of time, anywhere between two to four steps here and then we’re going to get flat and get in position to stock the corner. The idea here is that we occupied this guy just long enough so the quarterback can get the ball out and get it into the hands of our receiver for him to be able to make one move and then get down field. So that’s the way we’re blocking this thing. Those are the responsibilities for the receivers, packaging the backside and then using our play side guys to be able to block for us because we need them to. So now let’s get into the responsibilities of the backfield.
So we’re reading the play-side defensive end here. Our alignment is going to be quarterback toes at five. I always have my quarterback toes at five and then I adjust my running back based on the run or the call. And so for this we are going to put our running back heels at five yards. So he should be just a hair in front of the quarterback here and he’s going to line up on the tackle. So he’s going to be right behind that tackle there head up on him. At the snap of the ball we want our running back to cross the quarterback’s face and we want him running down his toes. So his toes are at five, his heels are at five. We want him running down the quarterbacks toes, stretching this thing horizontally and trying to get to the numbers if he can, If the ball is in the middle of the field. And then our quarterback is going to take one shuffle, he gets no more than one shuffle in this read and we are reading this play-side defensive end here.
So the read for the quarterback is that if this defensive end at the snap the ball, if once he sees the the running back crossing the face of the quarterback and getting outside, if the defensive end chases the running back or he plays wide to keep contained, then our quarterback is going to rip the ball out of the belly of the back and he is going to follow his backside guard and run power for himself. You can see that big window that’s opened up because the defensive end played wide. If the defensive end does anything other than that, so the ball snapped, he comes across the line of scrimmage, he sits there, he squeezes it down or he gets up field and attacks the mesh, then our quarterback is going to give the ball to the running back and we’re going to stretch this thing horizontally.
So obviously the idea here is that we want this play-side defensive end being in two spots at once and we really want to stretch him horizontally or side to side. And so just a little technique and fundamentals here for the quarterback. I said that there’s no more than one shuffle. So when the ball, when the quarterback gets the snap and the ball is in his hands, his eyes immediately go to the play-side defensive end and he puts the ball on his backside leg, so his right leg in this example. And then at that point it’s what I call ride and decide. So the ball is on the backside leg, his eyes are on the defensive end and he’s gonna ride the mesh point until the ball gets to his play-side leg or his left leg. By the time the ball gets to his left leg, the quarterback has to make a decision.
He’s either going to give the ball to the running back or he’s going to rip that thing out and he’s going to run power for himself. He cannot ride that mesh too long to where the ball is passed his left leg now and then he tries to rip it. Bad things happen. That’s how the ball gets on the turf because there’s a disconnect at the mesh. The running back thinks he’s getting it. The quarterback may be trying to rip it out, comes off the hip and it’s usually never a good situation. So ride and decide from the back leg to the front leg. That’s what I tell my quarterbacks there. So you can see that we’re blocking this thing a little bit different upfront, and we’re going to be tagging this power just to alert our lineman of who we are reading. So for us this would just be power left read and so that tells our lineman that in this run scheme out of power, we’re going to be reading the play side defensive end.
In the previous video I talked to you about midline. And so we’re reading the interior tackle and so we tagged it with power left mid. And then in the first video I talked about RPO and the backside linebacker. and for us that was just straight up power left. And so that told the lineman we’re reading the backside linebacker. So that’s three different ways to run power and three different ways to call it up so everyone knows exactly who we’re reading. Also we’re reading three different players on defense now, backside line backer to the interior tackle and then to play-side defensive end so that you can see how difficult it is for a defense to be able to account for that when trying to prepare for your offense in one week’s time. So that’s just a little added wrinkle in the power run game inverted veer, being able to stretch the field horizontally and uh, adding another layer of who you are reading in the run game. And then lastly, also packaging this thing with the Quick Screen on the perimeter if you have it.
Alright coach, So there’s another way to run single back power out of 10 personnel in the spread offense. I hope that you found it useful and that you’re able to take something from here and use it in your own style of offense. If you do it differently than please let me know. Either drop a comment below or send me an email because I love hearing from other coaches and how they’re doing things as well. And then lastly, make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel so you can get up to date on all videos, just like the one that you saw here. And if you liked this video, give it a thumbs up. I’d really appreciate it guys. Again, thanks for joining me in part three of how to run single back power in the spread offense. I’m coach Besaw from spreadoffensefootball.com thanks again and I will see you on the next one.