Question for Spread Coaches

Coach

How would they align verse Trips with a Tight Slot and Running back aligned away from the Trips side? Are you talking about a 4-4 front or a 4-3 front?

Do you think it would help running this play out of a trips formation, so your tight slot and playside OT could Combo up to the playside ILB (verse 4-4). You will out man them at the Running backs point of attack. Create a call that tells the QB it is an automatic give.

We refer to this zone play that you are talking about as the Zone/Read. We only ran the Zone/Read a few times, so not many teams were geared up to stop it verse us. We are a spread team, but we found ourself mostly under the center. Unfortunately the problem that you are encountering is an effective way toward defending the Zone/Read. I'm guessing that your RB is a better runner than your QB. If defenses are worried more about your RB than your QB, this gives them a really good chance to put a smackdown on your QB with one of their inside LBs.

If you are looking to run your Zone/Read from a spread 2x2 formation, another thought is to shuffle motion your running back. In order for defenses to play the Zone/Read the way that you are mentioning here, I would think that they need to teach their ILBs and DEs some alignment concepts, such as when back is aligned to you or away from you. Example, if RB is aligned to your side - DE= Get ready to step down hard because they can only run the Zone/Read away from you, ILB=Get ready to come over the top because verse Zone/Read you have QB. If you shuffle motion your RB this might help. I know this would mess up our kids heads a little, especially if we hadn't prepared for shuffle motion. I don't know how much shuffle motion you have showed out of the gun. But if you haven't showed it, I wouldn't prepare for it if I were a defensive coordinator, and if I did, it would be very minimal.

Hope this helps
DJTrap2

The best way to deal with all this is to put a hat on every defender in the box! Then you don't have to sweat it!