flexbone or the I?

Coach,
Have run both the bone and the "I" with success over a long coaching career. My personal preference is the I. But, your statement that you don't have many real skill posiiton guys, would make that choice applicable for you as well. I ran the bone on the HS level and no matter what folks tell you, you have to have a great QB, big backs, and linemen that are flat strong and quick in order to be successful. Any good bone team is going to run complimentary power plays, as well as, the triple,ISV,OSV,etc. They will align in double tights and smack it down your throat with wham action, power, counters, Iso's, etc. and then have the scat back that can beat you all night long on the perimeters with the outside veer and power sweeps. The good I teams are going to feature a great TB over the power house FB as in the bone. It becomes a personal preference thing, actually, but I just like the I. A bone team, true option team, is only going to throw the ball 10 times a game or so. If you are light in the skill department, that would make you think bone. But, 90 % of all options that break big, break in the outer one third of the field and your wideouts have the most crucial blocks of them all, imo. Finding receivers who want to block first of all, and then that can be trained to stalk properly is also a challenge. Never met a receiver in my life who really liked to stalk block! Had one once who loved to crack, but not stalk. I've coached kids who are big name receivers in the NFL today, (Rod Gardner of the Redskins, Jabar Gaffney of the Texans) and are great receivers and football players in general. But, neither liked to block. At any rate, you will end up going in the way you feel best, just remember to build your choice around those guys who will be doing the playing and their strengths, as well as, their weaknesses. Good luck in the process. Where do you coach, and at what level?

JC