Run Pass Options (RPO's)

Chase Franks

The option on me or RPO play calls has started to become very popular, especially with better athletes starting to play QB. Since I coach at the high school level I am going to talk a little bit about how this trend has affected our program and what we have installed.



The RPO system that we use allows our QB to make a simple read based on the number of players in the box and the overhang player to the strong side. Ideally we have a QB that is capable of running this system, but it is hard to find a QB that can not only be accurate in the quick game, run effectively and stay healthy all on top of trying to read a defense to to the way we want. The options are QB will have when going to the line of scrimmage will be to hand the ball off on a off tackle run, pull it and keep it himself or hit one our of quick game routes. If you have a QB that can run a option on me or RPO system the pros outweigh the cons, but you need to have complete trust in your QB and his ability to make the right read. We have built in verbiage and signals that we use to help our QB make these calls, however that does slow down some of the tempo that we like to play with. I think the bigger con to these systems is the pressure and amount of hits it can put on a QB. In order to be effective in our system you need to be accurate in the quick game and we have found that QBs who have that often to not possess the body type that can take blow after blow.