Zone

Patrick Montgomery

I think that zone and man blocking schemes can be incorporated into an offensive system and both are needed for variety and success of a running system. The offense that we currently run is a primary man blocking scheme, but it does have some aspects of zone blocking for a few of our schemes. I think for running backs and offensive linemen, at the high school level, it is easier to teach the fundamentals of man blocking. The opportunity will be there later to expand into some zone blocking schemes. It is easier for linemen to play faster and with confidence when they know who they have when approaching the ball and where they will be going. But, as defenses have adapted and started moving and stemming line fronts, it has resulted in a lot more moving parts and a lot of “at the line” communication. This is where I believe zone blocking can become beneficial because everyone is working in unison going one way or another and can take the first person that crosses their face.



In my offense (and the offense that I coach in currently) we incorporate more man blocking schemes and we call it “GOL” blocking. “GOL” stands for Gap-Over-Linebacker. This tells the offensive lineman that when they break the huddle, they will take the man in their gap or over them and if no one is there then they work to the near linebacker. This means every lineman is responsible for a certain player on the defense and we are telling the running back where the hole is going to be. This is very easy for them to understand and to see and it allows them to play fast and downhill in this scheme. We want our offensive lineman to attack and be the aggressor in our scheme and we want them to know that when they get set who the person is that they are responsible for. We also do a lot of trapping in our run game and man blocking is needed for this so that we know who we are trapping and each lineman is responsible for a different player on the defense. We have to be a man blocking team when we trap or run power because we have a certain player on the other side that we are kicking out or isolating on and that player cannot be blocked by the lineman over them. Now, we do have certain tags such as “red” and “white” off of our GOL blocking scheme that call for double teams with the Guard and Center or Guard and Tackle, but that is only for certain defensive fronts and it is called by the lineman on the field depending on where a player lines up.



Now, as more teams are running inside and outside zone plays we have incorporated a zone blocking scheme with man rules to help fit with some of our players’ abilities. It also helps us match up with defensive weaknesses. We have an inside and outside zone run game that is very successful because of our player personnel. Also, we have created a variation of the zone blocking scheme to fit our man rules. We tell our players that they are taking their 90 or 91 blocking steps which tells the line that they are all stepping the same direction, which is a zone idea, but once they step they have a man that they engage and stay on and we drive block on. This allows the running back to read where the hole is and make a cut. We also have a read player in this scheme for our quarterback who is very mobile and athletic. In our inside zone scheme, we do not block the play side defensive end and the running back is reading the Mike line backer to see if he gets over the top and if he does then he cuts it back. In our outside zone scheme, we are reading the last linebacker in the box and our qb and rb will shuffle flat down the line reading the linebacker and if he acts downhill it is a give or sits, if the backer flies out then the qb pulls and goes downhill and is our inside runner.



I do think that once you get to the college level and further that you start seeing more zone schemes in the offensive run game. They have such athletic and big lineman that they want them out in space moving and the running backs have such good vision it lets them feel the hole and know where to cut. I see more and more college teams, especially those that are heavy pass teams or shot gun teams, going to zone blocking inside of man blocking because they like to move the point of attack. Now, you will still see many teams that line up and man block and get downhill, but I think that is starting to change more in the last 10 years than ever before. I think this mainly has to do with player speed and ability. Linemen are much more agile today and move so well on their feet that a zone scheme fits them perfectly. I know some teams that have gone to zone schemes, but still incorporate power into this and pull and are physical in their zone blocking schemes