Designing RPO’s from 12 and 13 Personnel Groupings

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

Editor’s Note: The information presented in this report is from our latest special report, 2018 RPO Evolution. The 3 new trends revealed in this report will bring a new wave of RPO production next fall. Continue reading this special report for more information.  

When the RPO craze hit the football industry back in 2014, many of the concepts being developed were designed from open, one back personnel groupings. Concepts were devised from 10, 11, 20 personnel from doubles and trips formations. This made sense at the time because many RPO advocates were spread coaches by nature. These formations and personnel groupings were already part of their offensive play menu. So, they were constructing ways to protect their top runs from these structures. 

But the paradigm has started to shift now into how to present these same run/pass conflicts to defenders using heavier personnel sets. Programs with able-bodied full backs and tight ends (that can both block and stretch the field vertically) are creating pass conflicts from their base runs to affect defenders. In this report, we present our research on how a small group of coaches are keeping heavier personnel groupings on the field not just to run the ball on third and short, but to create manipulations in the RPO game by affecting dual read defenders.? 

Editor’s Note: The personnel groupings included in this report include the following: 

12 Personnel: one back, two tight ends 

13 Personnel: one back, three tight ends 

21 Personnel: two backs, one tight end 

22 Personnel: two backs, two tight ends