Evolution of Formations

Steve - from my understanding (don't quote me on this) it was all flying wedge in the old days. Then they made a rule allowing a minimum of 7 players on the line of scrimmage to eliminate the concetration of men (because it was pretty much just rugby). So whats the next best thing? The T formation. With the very basic half back dive play, the option off of that and the misdirection grew Wing T. From there it sort of branced off into two different directions: the Wing T with a flanker and the split wing (creating the pro formation) and the other way: where someone got the bright idea to put the quarterback in a shot gun and do all the same things as a Wing T. From the pro formation grew the I formation because some coaches wanted the ball to go to a certain back on either side of the ball (which the pro doesn't do all that well), this back wouldn't have to block like he would have to do in the pro formation. People then started to spread the single wing out more with receivers (you see Single Wing all the time with the quarterback faking to one tail back and then keeping it on a counter, they just don't call it single wing...). From then on formations went all over the place! I'm pretty sure I'm right on most of this, could be off on the order of some, but thats how I understand it.
-andrew

Coach: Before the rules changes of 1905, something resembling the T formation was very popular, although often with tackles, ends or guards back in the backfield and running forward as the ball was snapped. The center, BTW, used his heel to deliver the ball to the quarterback on the ground. After the rules were changed to prevent, well, death, the single wing became the first "modern" formation: its 7 linemen were immobile before the snap. Pop Warner is generally credited with its invention, but Gil Dobie always claimed he invented it separately and at the same time as Warner. Warner's direct-snap double wing was in use as early as 1912, as was the Notre Dame Box. I'm not sure about the Short Punt formation, but I believe it may predate 1906.

The T, meanwhile, remained the offense of choice for a small group of coaches, but fell far behind the direct-snap formations in popularity and versatility until the creation of the man-in-motion T by Halas, Jones and Shaughnessy in the late 1930's.

Coaches like Lou Little of Columbia were experimenting with a winged T formation in the 1940's, before Forrest Evashevski and Davey Nelson created their celebrated version we now know as the Delaware Wing-T. Similarly, attempts at I formations, both 2-back and 3-back, were made for many decades before the formation burst into national prominence in the 1960's.

The one undeniable fact about football formations is that there is nothing new under the sun. I have a picture of a perfect Bunch formation from a 1938 textbook, and I have been told Rockne used something similar during his coaching days...


Wild Bunch/2LD Football Forum

when does the wishbone formation was introduced ?