Zone Lock (Zombie)

I posted a clip on twitter recently of Zone Lock from 2 Backs and commented that it seems to be the most effective run scheme on film for 2019 that I have seen so far.  The Zone Lock concept, also known as Zombie (Zone frontside, Man Backside) has been around for a while.  Here is a diagram from the 2008 Destin Glazier Clinic with former Florida OL Coach, Steve Addazio.

The play is designed to go frontside but it usually cuts back behind the Sniffer.  The Back must work playside first before cutting it back and he must read it because it can still hit frontside.  The diagram shows how an Alley is built by the blocks of the BST and the Sniffer, making a nice cutback play the majority of the time.

Here is a recent playbook diagram:

Read Tags in the Shotgun Run Game

There is often confusion about the different types of reads in the Shotgun Running game that I wanted to talk about and clarify.  I will be talking about Zone, Power, and Counter and these four primary read tags off of those concepts: Read, Flash, Bash, and Toss.

Read

"Read" by definition means that the QB will be reading the backside DE or EMLOS (end man on line of scrimmage) to the play.  So, "Zone Left Read" means I am reading the DE on the right.  Read is used so much as a tag on the Zone play that many coaches don't even use the tag anymore.  So when I call "Zone Left," it is an automatic read.  The Double Teams are so gorgeous on these two clips.

Origin of Power Read

The topic of the origin of the Power Read play came up recently and I will investigate the beginnings of this play that has become a powerful weapon in the Spread Offense this past decade.  Brandon Lechtenberg was a recent guest on USA Football's podcast, Deep Dive on Defense with Chris Vasseur (if you haven't checked this out yet, you are really missing out with my man Coach Vass killing it).  Coach Lech told the story of how his brother, Adam Lechtenberg, was the first one to suggest the idea to run Power Read while he was a G.A. at TCU in 2009.  TCU unveiled the play in a stunning win vs. Clemson early in the 2009 season.  QB Andy Dalton was the leading rusher for TCU in that game with 19 carries for 86 yards and he had a lot of key 3rd Down conversions with the Power Read play.   TCU also featured this play in their epic Rose Bowl win over Wisconsin that year.

Power Read

2017 UCF Clinic - Scott Frost notes

I didn't know much about Scott Frost until I got to hear him in person at the UCF Clinic last March.  I knew that he ran the Chip Kelly offense that I have always been a fan of, so I made the trip to Orlando.  There were some audio-visual technical difficulties after the first speaker, so he went off the script and just starting talking ball and fielding questions.  You can tell when someone has complete mastery of what they are talking about, and I was really blown away.  Here are the notes:

4-3 vs. the Oregon Spread - Defending Bash and Midline

Introduction

Bash and Midline are two plays in the Oregon Spread offense that are giving a lot of Defensive Coordinators headaches.  Both plays have recently burst onto the scene, but they both have actually been around for some time.  I saw Texas A & M run a form of Bash in their 2006 bowl game (Editors note: I found out in 2019 that it actually was Bash) and North Alabama ran the Midline from Gun as far back as 2003.  I will talk about Bash and Midline, but I will talk about defending Midline only.