Personnel

Personnel

If you are like most high school coaches you have what you have as far as personnel. It seems that you are always missing a player here for this position or a player there for that position. We have to make the best of what we have. That is what drew me to the wing-t because it is an offense that can utilize so many different styles of kids. If you want to maul people and have a big strong line you can easily do so. If your line is smaller but athletic and have speed in the backfield the angle blocking schemes allow the smaller lineman to use the defensive lineman’s aggressiveness against them and block effectively just as good as a big 300-pounder would have. I will list some attributes I like in certain positions and what I am looking for. Remember you know your kids better than anyone and you know what they can do. Depending on your “style” in the Spread Wing-T you have to figure out what works best for your team and will help you win ball games.

Personnel Qualities:

Quarterback- In the Spread I want my best running/passing athlete I have. The smarter the player the better off you will be to make adjustments on the run.

3-Back- The 3-back is your fullback. I have had speed fullbacks and power fullbacks in the past. In the spread the 3-back needs to have good speed, good hands, can block, and get the tough yards.

4-Back- The 4-back is my wingback in my old traditional wing-t. I usually like my second best, most explosive athlete at that position. He will carry the sweeps, double counters, and traps off of the fullback fakes so he needs to be explosive and be able to hit the hole at full speed. Also the 4-back needs to have good hands because being in the slot he will have many mismatches with his athleticism and get many opportunities for catches.

2-Back- The 2-back is a clone of the 4-back. He will have all the same opportunities as the 4-back and needs to be a similar athlete. Now if you have kids who are more receiver types than dual threat (runner/receiver) you may want to put him at this position and limit his carries and make him more of a receiving threat.

*Note= I do not flip my 2-back and 4-back. You can do what ever you wish. Like I mentioned if you have one kid who is just a flat out better ball carrier than you may want to flip to give that player more carries going both directions.*


Split End- The split end would be your best receiver. He must be able to obviously catch the ball but also gain yards after the catch (YAC). He also needs to be a good blocker and he will carry the ball on reverses occasionally so it helps if he has some shake-n-bake.

*Note= I do flip my offensive line. The reason for this is so that the same player is always doing the same block on the same play. If I am a strong tackle I know if the down run is called I am blocking the defender to the inside of me know matter what side of the line I am on. This way the lineman get plenty of repetitions doing the same thing in practice and there is less thinking for him.

Tight End- The key tot the tight end position is versatility. The player must be able to block well and also catch the ball. I don’t expect this player to be a deep threat in the passing game. He is however a primary target on many high percentage passing plays where we want to keep the drive alive my moving the chains.

Strong Tackle- I want my biggest strongest lineman at this position. Most teams are going to run to the strength of their formation a high percentage of the time. I want this big strong lineman to be able to cave down the defensive line to his inside.

Strong Guard- At this position you need a strong kid who can move well on short pulls. Occasionally he will pull long so he needs to be athletic enough for that as well. He also needs to be taught to play in space when pulling on the sweeps.

Center- Size does not matter at center in my estimation. In the traditional wing-t I had a small, quicker, center because of all the crazy defensive looks. The biggest thing is he must be able to MOVE know matter what his size is!

Weak Guard- Your weak guard needs to be an athlete. In the past I would at times take second string wingbacks and use them at guard do to their athletic ability and their ability to play in space. He will make a lot of pulls and needs to be able to get on a defender in space and stay on him.

Weak Tackle- This tackle needs be able to move better than your strong tackle. He will pull much more than the strong tackle. If you have to, you can get by with a smaller tackle at this position, a more of a finesse player if you will. The key is his ability to pull!

Once again you know your kids and what they can do. If you want to run the Spread Wing-T you must tailor it to your kids ability and what gives you the biggest chance for success.