The QB G Lead: The Answer to Odd Quarters Defense

By Mike Kuchar with Hayden Mace
Offensive Line Coach
Central Michigan University
@CoachHaydenMace

“I would build my offense around the QB G Lead. It’s been our best quarterback run scheme for the last three years.”
- Hayden Mace, offensive line coach/run game coordinator, Central Michigan University

When Matt Drinkall took the post at Central Michigan, it was a foregone conclusion that he would build his offense around gap schemes. It’s what he’s done his entire career at with a great deal of success. And when he poached Jim Chapin and Hayden Mace from Eastern Washington, the trio found a way to blend Drinkall’s gap schemes with EWU’s QB run game. The concoction became the QB G Lead play, the Chippewas' most efficient QB run this season. Chapin and Mace brought the scheme over from Eastern Washington and fine-tuned it for QB Angel Flores, who produced over 64 yards on the ground for Central Michigan this season before getting hurt.

While it was a solid concept for any front, it became a routine check against Odd Quarters looks and against defenses like Michigan and Eastern Michigan, who would continually crush the front and try to push the ball to the perimeter. It allowed the offensive line to wall everything off and gain a blocker for the force defender. With the QB run element, you had a hat for every defender. It was particularly inviting against quarters defenses from 3x1, where the free hitter becomes the boundary safety.

In this exclusive report, we’re going to reveal the rules of the play, how it gets adjusted with a grounded tight end, and what Coach Mace did to prepare against movement fronts that would try to spill the play.