Hands or shoulders?

Domonic Cruz 

I believe that it has everything to do with personnel. But can you constantly change the offensive scheme from year to year? I think this is where the idea of a program is very important. This is why I like the man blocking scheme. From my playing days in high school and then watching what the program had become in the years after, we used a man blocking scheme where at it's peak, produced 3, thousand yard running backs in a single season. This type of success continued for another 5 years. We never left the sweep, trap, counter, or boot. Most of the linemen were "tweeners". They weren't the 6 foot and above crew and they didn't physically dominate you, but they were quick and they were smart. There weren't very many double teams, they were low and explosive. From their freshman year - learning the single wing concepts of seal, scoop, and pull - jobs were simplified and the offense was efficient. They played up tempo and their confidence came from the years of drilling the same scheme over and over. It was very similar to Lombardi's Full house as they sweep over and over and branched out from there. Their JV yea,r they were introduced to the double wing where the opponent could get hit with the same four plays but now there was the weak side sweep and trap. In a matter of 10 years our program had experienced 7 CIF championships and won 4 of them. When the coaching staff left and the scheme changed that same success hasn't been matched.



So just based off observation and seeing it work it's way up through the program, I think that the man blocking scheme is what I prefer. Jobs are easier to teach and with the right mixture of coaching and personnel, it's pretty fun to watch. I'm from San Diego and one team down here that runs it very well throughout their program is a private school called Cathedral Catholic. Every year, except for last, they've done prety well and have put up a lot of points using the man blocking scheme.