Correlating Pin/Pull with Zone Read Mesh

By Mike Kuchar with Joe Spagnolo
Head Coach
Iona Prepatory School (NY)
Twitter: @Joespags12

Coach Spagnolo got fed up with defenses scrape exchanging the backside of zone read and leveraging his quarterback run. So, when he installed the read off his Pin and Pull scheme he made a conscious choice to make the mesh look exactly like zone read. Which means that he wasn’t a flat mesh. Instead, the quarterback opens on a 45 degree angle- as he would on zone read- to read the backside C gap defender.

“Now the linebacker can’t look at our mesh point and tell the difference between either,” he said. “The linebacker has to play honest on zone read so now the quarterback can get to the backdoor. It became our own solution to the play,” he said.

If linebackers are not flowing with pin and pull run action, the backside defensive end can be read. With two false pulls, the quarterback works out the backdoor. If they don’t flow, the Tackle can work to the play side LB on his block.

Now, the linebacker can’t look at mesh point to see zone vs. pin and pull. “To him, it looks like zone,” said Coach Spagnolo. The backside Tackle is drive stepping his footwork, so it looks like it would against a 3-technique in tight zone.”

It’s important to note that Iona Prep runs two variations of the concept. They will lock the backside defensive end and read the play side linebacker. And he will also tell the backside Tackle to block B gap and read the defensive end.