Post by Coach Campbell on Nov 11, 2023 14:38:45 GMT
The air raid offense is becoming one of the biggest buzzwords in football. The old-school style of ground and pound is slowly fading out, and the air raid is taking over. What is the new style of air raid offense?
The Air Raid offense is a system that focuses primarily on passing plays rather than running plays. Air raid formations have 4-5 receivers on the field at all times.
In this article, we will show you exactly what the Air Raid offense is and how it came to be.
What Is The Air Raid Offense?
The Air Raid offense works by having 4 or 5 wide receivers on the field. The quarterback is responsible for throwing the ball to these receivers.
Coaches have designed route concepts and patterns to take advantage of defenses playing both man and zone coverage.
The offense will run a shotgun formation, with 2 or 3 receivers to one side and 2 receivers to the other side. The whole point of the Air Raid offense is to stretch the field horizontally and vertically, making the defense cover all areas.
Teams that run the Air Raid offense often have superior athletic talent and a smart quarterback who can process reads quickly. Also, teams that run the Air Raid offense tend to score a lot of points quickly, as they often have to catch the football and make only 1 or 2 people miss. Deep throws and crossing patterns are a staple in the Air Raid offense.
The one downside of running the Air Raid offense is the time of possession. Teams that throw the football often score quickly or can’t control the clock. This means the defense is on the field longer and will tire out more quickly.
Who Invented The Air Raid System?
The Air raid offense was started by college football offensive coordinator Mike Leach and head coach Hal Mumme. At both Iowa Wesleyan College and Valdosta State University, these men started to craft this revolutionary offense.
The shortened story goes that they both traveled to Florida for a coaches clinic when they talked to a coach who was running his two-minute offense with a high tempo and high speed. The two coaches looked at each other and asked, “Why can’t we do this full-time?”.
Taking influence from LaVell Edwards at BYU, Leach, and Mumme designed the offense to throw the football 80-85% of the time. This offense put the best athletes on the field and used spacing to get players open. No longer could teams sit in zone coverage, as concepts were implemented to take advantage of it.
Once Leach and Mumme launched the offense at the Division 1 level at Kentucky, the offense has never been the same.
After the first year at Kentucky, the sophomore quarterback started to attract some eyeballs with his arm talent, and the Air Raid offense was born on a mainstream platform.
Mike Leach still continued to run the system at when he made stops at Washington State, Texas Tech, and Mississippi State.