option on me

Jason Hylland

The option on me works by giving the quarterback the ability to put the offensive line in the best blocking scheme possible for a more successful play. The goal is to keep the quarterback's reads simple. The play call is predicated on the number of defensive players vs offensive players based on the location of outside inverts and end man on the line of scrimmage. For example, if there is no invert outside the open side (opposite the TE), then the quarterback will take the best option that way. The defense is outnumbered 4 to 3 on that side. If the quarterback sees an invert to the open side, he would want to take the best option towards the TE because he has better numbers to that side (5 to 4). The three options the quarterback can check into on the line of scrimmage based upon defensive alignment are inside veer, midline, and load option. You only run the veer to the open ended side, the midline to the TE versus a 2 or 3 technique, and the load option to or outside the TE.

The pros of giving the quarterback the ability and freedom to call best option on the line of scrimmage is that if he makes the right call, the offense always has a numbers advantage and the defense is always wrong while forcing them to cover the entire field. The quarterback can also check out of plays on late shifts by the defense. The cons to giving the quarterback the ability and freedom to call best option on the line of scrimmage is indecisiveness that could lead to more negative yardage plays or the defense toying with the offensive coordinator and baiting him into calling a play and then they shift late. So for example, a DT that shows a 3 technique early could shift to a 1 technique late and you are now running midline into a 1 instead of 3.

Where I was recently coaching, we had a similar system with the QB but in a 4 wide spread uptempo scheme. We would always call two plays, typically a run and a pass and the quarterback would pick the best play based on leverage and numbers. For example, if we got a five man box, we would run it since we outnumbered the defense 6-5 (5 offensive linemen plus 1 running back). If the defense was adamant of keeping 6 in the box, we would throw it as we always believed our 4 receivers can beat their 5 DB's trying to cover sideline to sideline and down the field.

Austin Pink

I am a big fan of reading defenses and putting defenders in conflict. The "Option of Me" strategy provides the Quarterback with three options. He could choose the Inside Veer away from the TE side, the Midline Option to the TE side, or the Load option to or outside of the TE. This type of offensive strategy is the new age triple option in my opinion. The pros to this would be being able to have a correct option to choose on each and every play. If you have a QB you can trust it could be very dynamic for your offense. The cons would be that it may take quite awhile for your QB to feel comfortable making these quick decisions. Making sure you rep it out in practice is very important. I too like the Zone Read game, where our QB reads the backside DE, and if he crashes the QB will pull and get his eyes on the 2nd level defender, reading him will determine if the QB keeps and runs, or throws it out to a receiver on a quick bubble or flat route.

The Quarterback has three options according to the Option on Me principle. He can call the inside veer and read 5 tech to the open end side, he can run midline to the TE side and read a 2 or 3 tech, or call Load option and read outside towards TE side. This is all determined by reading the inverts and how many guys are in the box. By reading the inverts, he will know which side to go to. For example, if he has two inverts outside the tackle box, he will want to run to the tight end side. His options are midline or load option. If there is not an invert to the open end side, then he would want to call inside veer to that side. By reading the inverts on option on me, you will always have the best play called at the line of scrimmage.

Reggie 
Option football is awesome! A perfectly executed triple option play is one, if not the prettiest plays in football. It can put a lot of stress on the Defense by taking what they give them and potentially leaving 2 players completely unblocked, allowing them to make a decision that can always be wrong. One of the best ways to stay ahead of a defense is by putting the play calling duties on the QB. The coach can call plays, but they are calling plays on the previous information that they were given, such as the previous play. By putting play calling duties on the QB, it allows the offense to stay ahead of the defense by always being in the correct play call and not wasting a play by running a play to an incorrect look. This takes a lot of film study and a very smart/confident QB to do, but it can be done and it is extremely successful. In fact, my senior year of high school when we were fortunate enough to win a state title, our QB called 90% of our plays at the line of scrimmage. Our coach really only ever called the pass plays for when we wanted to take a shot down field.



The "Option on Me' slide talks about the 2 backs, 2 WRs, and a TE to be the best way to run option by providing an unbalanced formation. While I think that can effective, I prefer a flexbone look with 2 halfbacks, 1 fullback, and either 2 TEs or 2 WRs. When we want to go unbalanced, we keep the backfield set the same and move one of the WRs to the other side as in ineligible TE which gets our numbers to 6 and a half to 4 and a half. Unbalanced is a great way to attack 8 man fronts as the defense is forced to break their defensive stacks to get their numbers correct. When playing a 7 man front, I prefer the balanced formation as I think it is easier for the QB to read and assignments stay almost the same for the offensive lineman.



In our option on me package, the QB will have 3 plays that they can call into any look. Sometimes we give the choice of just 2. The plays we can run out of 2 tight are midline, triple option, and toss.



We want to run midline to a 2 or 3 technique (preferably 3 tech). Running it to a 3 technique will allow our guard to inside release to the second level while providing some space for the QB to make a read.



We want to run triple option to a 2I technique. This will allow a good angle for the C and G to double team the 2i and work up to the next level while we read the next player outside the guard.



Toss is a play for us to get the ball outside at any time in to virtually any look. We like running toss with a WR so we can crack the first linebacker and flare the corner with the lead halfback.