Designing Pre-Snap Movement Verbiage in Tempo Offenses

By Mike Kuchar
Senior Research Manager
X&O Labs
Twitter: @MikekKuchar

Introduction

It’s clear why more offensive coordinators are implementing pre-snap shifts and motions this season. Pre-snap movement not only puts a defensive unit on its heels, but also distorts its eye discipline, producing the anxiety needed to slow them down by the time the ball is snapped. But, offensively, the challenge lies in keeping verbiage concise to not confuse players and correlating with what player is moving. We were curious to see how coaches were packaging their movements and concepts into one-word calls. So, to explore how coaches were designing their pre-snap movement verbiage for this coming fall, we reached out to seven offensive coaches- many of them no-huddle advocates- to ask them the following questions:

1. What is the signal or verbiage you use for perimeter (receivers and tight ends) motions in your system? Give an example of how is it tied into a play call.
2. What is the signal or verbiage your use for perimeter (receiver and tight ends) shifts in your system? Give an example of how is it tied into a play call.
3. What is the signal or verbiage your use for backfield motions in your system? Give an example of how is it tied into a play call.

Although their responses are posted anonymously, the contributor list is below:

Contributors (In Alphabetical Order):

• Andrew Coverdale, offensive coordinator, Trinity High School (KY)
• Eric Davis, head football coach, Mankato East High School (MN)
• Dan Ellis, head football coach, Great Valley High School (PA)
• Gabe Fertitta, offensive coordinator, Catholic High School (LA)
• Matt Kerstetter, offensive coordinator, Westfield High School (TX)
• Jeff Russell, offensive coordinator, Wethersfield High School (CT)
• Steve Steele, head football coach, T.F. Riggs High School (SD)

What is the signal or verbiage you use for perimeter (receivers and tight ends) motions in your system? Give an example of how is it tied into a play call.

Source 1:

“We are a no-Huddle Team and most of our motions are verbal. I do not care if the defense knows that motion is coming. We use what we call ‘In’, ‘Across’, and ‘Orbit’ motion. The positions that can in motion are our Slot Receiver (H), our Tight End (Y), or our Tailback (T).

H:  Hip, Hack, Hop

Y:  Yin, Yankee, Yo

B:  Bing, Bang, Bomb

T:  Tick, Tack, Toe

For example, if we wanted to motion our Y across into a 2 x 2 set (Race) and run Power Right into the Boundary, we would call / signal ‘Yankee Race Power Right’.  We can motion into or out of formations.”

Source 2:

“For speed sweep motions, we tag a 5 or 6 and the receiver that is coming in speed sweep already knows who he is based on the call. For example, 26 is our power play to the right. 526 is power to the right with a speed sweep underneath as a diversion. 5 means the motion comes from the left to the right. 6 means the motion come from the right to the left. 7 and 8 are used for speed sweeps when we will actually mesh or hand off to the speed sweeper. For instance, 28 is our buck sweep play. If we want to hand it off to a WR on speed sweep, we will call 728. Other motions are just tagged as ‘y move’ ‘x move’ and the WR knows the kind of motion that is required.”

Source 3:

“We use the following pre-snap movements on the perimeter: