DOUBLE DIVE/INSIDE BELLY

Glaze,

What specifically are you looking for? Blocking rules? Why run it?

Just let me know.

Coach Easton,

Any coaching points for the QB you would be willing to share?

-Scott

Coach,

How's this for a "good start"

Here's some "cut and paste" postes I've done on the subject.

"Double Dive" is a generic term for what we call the "Belly Series" (NOT the wing-t "Belly") or what Augustana (Rob Reade) calls the "Inside Belly."

It basically is a play that threatens 3 separate points of attack all to the same side of the defense, very similar to the triple option, except without the pitch read issues.

Out of any 2-back formation (or any formation where you can motion to 2 RB's, like flexbone, DW, etc.):

The first back (closest to playside) dives straight ahead, usually off center or guard depending on his alignment. The QB sticks the ball in his gut and rides it in either a give or a fake (we make this as a pre-determined call). The second back (furthest from playside) drives laterally for a step, then drives hard to the offtackle hole, coming downhill. The QB will ride him with either a give or fake as well. Finally, when the QB has disengaged from the second back he will fake or run keeper around the end. All 3 points of attack are on the same side of the defense.

Some teams run it as an option, like midline or veer with the first ride. We primarily run it as a predetermined call. The advantages of it are as follows:

1. Very difficult play to defend because finding the football is difficult

2. Puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the defense to the playside

3. Relatively easy to install and teach (much more simple than triple option, with the same benefits)

4. Involves all 3 backfield players as possible ballcarriers

5. Base plays can be blocked multiple ways

6. Can be run out of a ton of different looks, formations, and motions

7. There are a ton of possibilities for complimentary rushing and playaction plays


We run this play as a series concept, and it represents the primary series in our offense.

The rushing plays in the series are as follows:

BELLY- Base play, pre-determined give to either the first back or second back
BELLY KEEPER-Fakes first and second back, with QB keeper around the end, playside G pulls
BELLY COUNTER-Fake first man, hand outside to WB running backside counter (trap blocked), fake 2nd man
BELLY OPTION- Midline or IV blocking scheme, with option as to who gets the ball (1st or 2nd man)
BELLY HANDBACK- A crossbuck, fakes the first man one side, hands back to the second man opposite side
BELLY TOSS- Fakes the first man, then option pitch toss to the second back following a pulling guard to the outside.

We then have a variety of playaction passes off of the base play.

We use man and inside zone blocking for the base "Belly" (depending on whether or not we are being shaded, etc.) to either back.

We can use a variety of blocking modifiers from there to change up the way we are blocking the base play:

Belly "Trap" tells our OL to block the 1st man play like FB trap to the backside, so it's like a FB counter

Belly "G" tells our OL to block the 2nd man play as diagramed above, with the playside TE and tackle in a down scheme, and the G kicking out EMOLS.

Belly "Zap" is a play we use against defenses with 3 ILB's (43, or any stack look). We block it like "iso" and have the Z in the WB position loop through C gap (like in the 26 Blast diagram above) and block the SILB for the second back.

Belly "Bingo" is crossblocked between the playside OT and TE

We will run it out of as many different formations and motions as we possibly can, but there are generally 2 schools of thought: first back hitting the "A" gap and first back hitting the "B" gap (with either a fake or give). Both have their purposes. We, for example, will never run the first man in A gap against a 4-4 defense on the base play. It's just not good numbers. We'll try to get outside the 3 technique.

But, I digress...From a formation standpoint, we are very multiple, so we run off of the following rules:

1st man- you will run directly to the playside hip of the OL directly in front of you. If we are in a set where the 1st man is on the midline (I FB, etc.), then this is the C's playside hip. If we are in an "offset" position (splitbacks, offset I, etc.), then it is the outside hip of the guard.

2nd man- you will always take a timing step to the playside and drive off of that step to the outside leg of the OT, reading the blocking scheme and hitting it as downhill as possible.

We run Belly from the following backfield sets:
I
split backs
offset I
offset HB (think wing-t 100 and 900 formations)

We run Belly from the following receiver formations:

2 TE and "sniffer Z"
2 TE and "wing Z"
2 TE and "flanker Z"
1 TE and same Z alignments
SE 'over' unbalanced with X split out on same side as Y and Z

We are probably 40% give to the first back and 60% to the second back. We have found that the first back can be a devistating play if the defense is over committed to stoping the second man. We don't run a lot of Keeper, because we've had a fairly immobile Qb the last few years. However, our counter and handback are very good.

We used to not really focus on the first back fake up till about 2001. I mention this because another coach mentioned using the "proximity fake" that wing-t teams use to the FB in their buck series. In 2001, we changed our QB steps and dictated a long ride fake in the belly of the 1st back, much like an option fake...very patient and very deadly. It was a HUGE factor in the productivity of the play. We are very VERY big on teaching, timing, and selling that first back fake now. I would say that if you have the time and resources to devote to it, it is worth every second.

Here's what we do for our "counter" play:

BELLY COUNTER: (run from a wing-t formation for example, to the SE side...but can be run from I, splitbacks, etc.)


----X---------O-O-C-O-O-Y
-------------------Q----------Z

--------------H----F


We dive the FB through the A-gap and have him fake as the first man. The HB takes his steps and begins flow as he would for the second man play. The Z (WB) open steps and comes down the line of scrimmage, between the QB and the backfield.

QB fakes first back, gives outside handoff to the Z, and fakes the HB offtackle on the "second man" play. We trap with the backside G, usually the DE, but also could be the DT in an odd look (like a 30 or 50 front). Play has been very successful for us, but you need a good runner at the WB position to make it go.

As for the handback, we will line up and fake the FB in the A gap. The HB takes one step toward the FB, just as he would if he was going to be the second man. He then squares his shoulders to the A gap and heads straight up the field. The QB fakes the FB, then "hands back" to the HB on the opposite side. You can block it straight up or just like the counter play with a trap block.

Chuck's "handback" play is very effective. I believe he runs his more from double TE's, which I think is the better way to run it. For consistency purpose, we are almost always running ours toward an open surface (no TE), so it is not as explosive. It is usually still good for decent yardage. Works best against defenses with 2 ILB's.

Running it to a motion back:

We have gotten into it more heavily the last few years. We've had some exceptional Z-backs (as we call them...kind of our multiple flanker dude) and we wanted to find some creative ways to get them the football in the run game other than the standard counters and reverses.

With Belly (double dive) being a key play for us, we took a nod from the wing-t folks with their 3-to-4 step "orbit style" motion to get him into position to run any of the normal plays our RB's would run. We motion him to about 5 yards depth at the backside B-gap on the snap of the ball. We then fake the first man up the gut on Belly 1. The motion back squares his shoulders to the playside offtackle hole, and comes downhill for Belly 2.

It takes a bit of timing to make sure the motion back isn't rushing the QB through a great fake to the first back, but it comes rather quickly.

We've been fortunate enough where our Z's have been some pretty special athletes over the last 3 years, and they are typically very dangerous and explosive, especially on this kind of play. We have found that some of our opponents will focus on them so much, particularly if we put them in this kind of motion, that we can use it as a decoy and pretty much run ANYTHING to the backside and have it be like a misdirection play. We just have him motion and at the snap, he rolls his arms like he is getting a handoff (we don't even fake to him!) and I swear he always has SOME kind of effect on the LB's.

It's good stuff.

Good posts! The first book on the subject of the Inside Belly Series & the Outside Belly Series was written by Jordan Olivar (Yale Coach). It was a GREAT book - we used these in the early 1960's. You can purchase the book on ABEBOOKS.COM Here is their listing:

Offensive Football: The "Belly Series"
Olivar, Jordan
Bookseller: Books on High/Tri-Village Book Company
(Columbus, OH, U.S.A.) Price: US$ 49.50
[Convert Currency]
Quantity: 1 Shipping within U.S.A.:
US$ 4.00
[Rates & Speeds] Add Book to Shopping Basket

Book Description: Ronald Press, NY, 1958. Hardcover, 99 pages. Tips from the head football coach at Yale. Olivar coached at Yale from 1952 to 1962, compiling a 61-32-6 record in his 11 seasons. His 1956 and 1960 teams won the Ivy League championship. The 1960 squad finished 9-0, earning a share of the Lambert Trophy, symbolizing the East's top team. Photos and diagrams. An ex-library copy rebound in a tough and sturdy buckram cloth, VERY GOOD. Bookseller Inventory # 27218

[Bookseller & Payment Information] [More Books from this Seller] [Ask Bookseller a Question] Offensive football: (the Belly series) (The Barnes sports library) (The...
Olivar Jordan
Bookseller: Griffin Books
(Stamford, CT, U.S.A.) Price: US$ 145.00
[Convert Currency]
Quantity: 1 Shipping within U.S.A.:
US$ 4.00
[Rates & Speeds] Add Book to Shopping Basket

Book Description: Ronald Press Co 1/1/1958, 1958. Binding is Unknown Binding. Book Condition: Used-Very Good. Hardcover no jacket gift note flyleaf 1958 Ronald Press NY 8vo 99 pages illustrated throughout. Light wear to cloth base of spine. Bookseller Inventory # SKU-034892


PS: Here is a great article about Jordan Olivar's "Belly Series". If you go onto GOOGLE & type in DECOO JORDAN OLIVAR BELLY SERIES - YOU CAN SEE GREAT DIAGRAMS OF THE PLAYS:

What a great Christmas surprise! A couple of days before Christmas, I opened a large envelope from a college classmate and teammate named Harry Olivar. He's an attorney in Los Angeles, and his dad was Jordan Olivar, our head coach at Yale. Coach Olivar (his friends called him "Ollie" but I never had that privilege) died in 1991. He was a wonderful man and a heckuva football coach, and I asked Harry when I saw him at a team reunion back in October if he'd be good enough to furnish me with some biographical info about his dad. He agreed, but he's a busy man and couldn't commit to a deadline, so when I started to open his envelope, I didn't know what to expect. Once I saw what Harry had sent, though, it was obvious that I was on to something. It was a treasury of information, including some rather humorous stories involving a man I'd only known as rather olympian, very composed and professional in everything he said and did. Soon enough, thanks to the generosity of a son whose love for his dad is obvious, I hope to share with you a side of a remarkable man that I'd never seen.

Now, just to let you know a little something about Jordan Olivar and his brand of football, here is a sampling of his Belly Series...



A young coach who'd been hearing the term "belly" used and didn't know what it referred to, had the guts to ask me recently what it meant. (I guess it takes a certain amount of guts, because it's amazing how many guys won't ask these questions because they're afraid they'll look stupid.) This was an easy one for me, because this is what we ran in college. I wish I'd paid better attention back then, but I did save a lot of my game plans, and I do have the book my coach published.

The word "Belly Series" or "Belly-T" or "Belly Option" came about during the 1950's, when people began running an offense in which the QB would place the ball in the fullback's belly but hang onto it while the fullback cradled it for a few steps; then, he would either give it to the fullback - and then either fake to the opposite halfback off tackle or, occasionally, an fake an option - or pull it out of the fullback's gut and hand it to the opposite halfback (or run an option, or play-action pass, or counter) while the defense ganged up on the fullback, who no longer had the ball.

In the sense that the Belly was series football, with one play setting up another, it was not unlike what we do. A simple illustration of this series concept is shown above against a 50 defense, popular even then.

Shown on the LEFT is the basic Inside Fullback Belly play, whose purpose was to make the inside linebackers and playside tackle so fullback-conscious that they would begin to tackle him even when he didn't have the ball.

There were several ways of blocking the basic fullback belly, and it was the responsibility of the offensive tackles to recognize the defenses and call the most effective blocking against it. (The backside tackle made a "dummy" call to keep defenses guessing.)

Once the threat of the fullback was established, a great complement to it was the halfback off-tackle (RIGHT). Notice how this took advantage of a "50" defense whose inside LBer and playside tackle had begun to overplay the fullback.

The Belly Series was a very deceptive offensive innovation and in its early stages, until officials became accustomed to seeing it, there were a lot of touchdowns called back because officials blew the whistle thinking that they'd seen the man with the ball being tackled, while the real ball carrier was way upfield.

Coaches Bobby Dodd at Georgia Tech and Jordan Olivar at Yale were considered among the leading proponents of the Belly-T. Both wrote books that would be very helpful to anyone interested in learning more about the offense.

The Belly Series is by no means dead; the inside and outside Belly are key components in the Delaware Wing-T, and around the country you can still find people who drive opponents nuts with it. I have a book of AFCA clinic notes from 1975 which contains an article by Coach Vince O'Connor of St. Francis Prep in Brooklyn, New York. It was entitled, "Twenty Years With the Belly Offense." I read an article in USA Today this past fall about Coach O'Connor, who is still coaching, still at St. Francis Prep, and still running the Belly. The winningest active coach in the state of Oregon is Dewey Sullivan, of Dayton. He is still going strong and still running the Belly-T. I played him a couple of times several years ago, and I can tell you that his teams were very hard to defend against. He bought a copy of my tape a few years back and paid me one of the highest compliments I've ever received: he told me that if he didn't run the offense he was running, he would run mine.

Bill: Thanks for that. The so-called "double dive" is a slightly modernized Inside Belly series, often without the true ride to the FB; the modern Wing-T Belly series is the Outside Belly that Bobby Dodd ran so well...

Regards,

Ted Seay
Vienna, Austria