Using a Dual Player Pre-Snap Check System

Jul 1, 2020 | Offense, Tempo and Communications, Game Planning

By Cameron Andersen
Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator
Gooding High School (ID)
Twitter: @SenatorCoach

Introduction:

First of all, just like all successful coaches, this stuff comes from the concepts of great football minds and we adjust them to fit our scheme, philosophy, and athletes. That being said, our “win” concept, was one of the more effective tools we had to combat a variety of situations. It helped us against adjustments to our top wide receivers, a loaded box, a blitz happy team, and most importantly, matchups where we felt we had better athletes.

In the end, we found this concept more than acquitted itself on the field. This season we had enjoyed a 2nd place state finish. In the playoffs we averaged just over 40 points per game, and in the game where we used this concept the most, we scored 87 points. The “win” concept never resulted in negative yards, and scored a touchdown in all but 2 of our 11 games.

The win concept is based on getting the ball to your guys as quickly as possible in a check situation. It is never an original call, it is an audible to defensive adjustments on the fly. First, I must say that this works better with tempo, especially fast tempo, because you can catch defenses in a predictable repeat look. To master the concept, you must rep it every day in practice; the quarterback and his receiving options have to be on the same page with what they see in front of them.

When to Use “WIN”:

This being a concept that is used as an audible and not an organized play, the only people on the field aware of it happening is the QB and whatever receiver he or I have signaled. In time, the running back and receivers in the area will hear the call and even adjust or check to blocking the MDM, but we tell them to stick to the play called unless they see the ball in flight to the “win.” We can use either a verbal call, literally yelling out “Y win” or give a hand signal that we have predetermined for each game.

We call it a “win” because we want to rapidly defeat all space and man-to-man situations where we feel we have a superior athlete. We first look for uncovered defenders, we then look toward the slot defender’s alignment (usually the SS or OLB) and last we check the alignment of the FS. These factors help us determine when to use this audible, and are outlined below. As seen in Diagram 1, the Y is in a position where he is uncovered, being walled by the linebacker and checked deep by the safety. We tell him in that situation to treat it like a “hot” off a blitz look. Show hands immediately and move toward space.

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