1995-1996 Florida Offense - Steve Spurrier

The Florida offense under Head Coach Steve Spurrier was undoubtedly one of the most exciting offenses in recent history, putting up lots of points and throwing the ball around as few teams had done up to that point in time.  Coach Spurrier's Fun and Gun attack helped to end the run-first era and to usher in the Spread offense era of multiple WRs and the ability to throw the football to win.  The remarkable thing about Spurrier and his offenses was how easy they made it look to score points and how wide open his receivers always seemed to be.

There were plenty of highlights in the Spurrier era during the 1990s.  The 1995 game vs. Tennessee with Peyton Manning at QB saw the Gators down 30-14.  Then there was a torrential downpour that was only exceeded by what Danny Wuerffel and the Gator offense did to pour on 48 straight points in a 62-37 beat down (also fueled by one of the biggest hits of all-time).  I'm not sure I can ever remember a team being up by so much like Tennessee was that ended up getting avalanched and absolutely destroyed the way they did.  The Gators pulverized FSU 52-20 for their first national championship in 1996 to get revenge for a 24-21 regular season defeat.  The upset of a great FSU team in 1997 that was ranked #1 in the country is still the greatest game ever played at Florida Field (my favorite game of all-time along with the 1985 Miami Dolphins 38-24 win over the Chicago Bears in the most-watched game ever on Monday Night Football to keep the Bears from going undefeated). 

The other game that stood out for me for the raw fury of offensive explosion and opposing its will on a defense was Spurrier’s last game at Florida vs. Maryland in the 2002 Orange Bowl.  Rex Grossman did not start the game for missing curfew and Brock Berlin came and the Gators had a shaky 14-10 lead in the 2nd Qtr.  Spurrier, being a former Heisman winner, was ever the demanding perfectionist at coaching the QB position.  After Berlin threw his 2nd interception, Spurrier yanked him for Grossman, who came in and took over, obliterating Maryland’s 3 deep coverage for six straight TDs in a 56-23 rout.  If there was ever a clinic video made of how to destroy Cover 3 with the passing game, this game tape would have to be it.

I recently got a hold of some vintage cut-ups of all of the 1995-96 Florida TD passes.  The Gator offense under Heisman Trophy winning QB Danny Wuerffel, RB Fred Taylor, and WRs Reidel Anthony, Ike Hilliard, Jacquez Green, and Chris Doering led them to two appearances in the national championship game.  There were three concepts that the Gator offense was synonymous for that showed up repeatedly in the cut-ups that I want to show and talk about: the Fade route, the Corner route, and the Mills concept.

Fade

The Faderoute in the Florida offense was a devastating weapon.  DBs could be in almost perfect coverage but the route always allowed the Florida WRs plenty of grass to run to and the ability to see the ball and to jump and grab it before the DB could turn around and react quick enough.  I got coached up recently on the Fade route by former Gator great, Jacquez Green.  He explained it simply as a foot fire, hard stick inside, and run to the back corner of the end zone.  Green was only 5-9, but ran the route better than anyone else at Florida because his feet were so quick.  He was great at the foot fire and the deadly jab step inside to free him from tight man coverage.

Football is certainly a science with all of the X's and O's and fundamental techniques that we coaches can spend a lifetime studying and tweaking, but it is also an art form.  I believe that the Fade route, especially in slow-motion, is quite possibly the most beautiful play in all of football.  I tried to slow-motion the film in the cut-ups but the video is too old to do so.

Fade Route - 1995-1996 Florida Offense - Steve Spurrier from Barry Hoover on Vimeo.

Corner Route

Florida saw a lot of Cover 2 and they used the Corner route to score numerous TDs back in the day.  Spurrier liked to get to the opponent's 30-40 yard line and throw TDs from there rather than drive down deep in the red zone and let the field compress him and limit what he could do.  There were multiple concepts that utilized the Corner route in Spurrier's offense.  Corkers is basically the Smash concept mirrored to both sides.  Righty/Lefty was Smash to the playside with a Post from the backside.  Ralph/Lonnie was a concept made famous by Spurrier in which the #1 WR's rule was to run a Curl route and to adjust that route to an inside release Corner route vs. Cover 2.  Chris Brown at Smart Football and Grantland says Ralph/Lonnieallowed Spurrier’s offense and his QB to always be right: “You play him in Cover 2, he throws the corner, you play him in Cover 3, he throws the curl.   Finally, in the cut-ups they also hit the Corner route once out of the Snagconcept (#1 – Snag, #2 – Corner, #3 – Flat or Swing) that is quite popular today.

Corner Route - 1995-1996 Florida Offense - Steve Spurrier from Barry Hoover on Vimeo.

Mills

Millswas a Play-Action concept named after former Florida WR, Ernie Mills, and was responsible for many big TD passes during the 1990s.  Spurrier’s first SEC victory in 1990 vs. Alabama was one of the biggest wins in school history according to Spurrier and was made possible by a 70 yard pass to Ernie Mills on this very play.  This play is great vs. Quarters coverage that is prevalent today.  The #2 WR runs a Dig route to get the Safety to jump him and the #1 WR runs a Post route over top of the Safety.  The QB will read the Safety to see if he will come up to play the Dig or stay back to play the Post.  The single side WR to the opposite side runs an inside release Corner to occupy the backside Safety.

Mills - 1995-1996 Florida Offense - Steve Spurrier from Barry Hoover on Vimeo.

Great Links

Coach Vint with The Little Things are the Biggest Things and Leverage, Numbers, and Green Grass.

Blitzology is back again with Torch: Lighting Up the Offense with the Read Twist and Equipment Review.

Coach CP at Strong Football with 3 Reasons to Use the TE at the H.S. Level, Cover 2 Trap Zone Blitz, the Smash Concept, and Beating Press Coverage with Bunch Formations and Motion.

Coach Mac with Practicing Your Tempo and Power.

DaCoachMo at Spread Football features Dub Maddox in Question: Want to Be a Great Coach? and he also shares Clinic Notes.

Compete In All Things with Shallow Cross: Why Is He Always Open?

Coach Holst with notes on the Nevada Spring Game.

Chris Brown at Smart Football and Grantland with What Drafting Matt Barkley Means for Chip Kelly's Plans for the Eagles.

Duece has some motivation material with Today's the Big Day and talks coverage with Split Field Coverage - The Underneath Players.

Dan Gonzalez with Assembling a Game Plan: Parts One, Two, and Three.

Coach Grabowski with lots of TE Resources.

2013 Virginia Tech Helmet Safety Study

Coach Burk with Stick-Draw Concept.

Brophy with Gunter Brewer video on Snag & Scat Revisited and Western Michigan Special Teams Circuit.

Coach B Dud with Installing R4 For the First Time, Using an H Back to Enhance Your Inside Zone Package, Game Planning, and R4 in Spring Ball.

Coach Fore with Three Essentials to Building a Booster Club - Part 2.

The 4-3 Scream and Splatter

I came across this defense, by sheer accident (which you may download here) several years ago while helping a friend.  I had a phone call one evening from an old college friend who was the head coach (HC) and offensive coordinator (OC) at a small school in Southwest Florida (SWFL) and was facing a team that had an ultra-aggressive 4-3 defense.  He sent me some film on them, and was trying to figure out how to attack them with the split-back veer.  After watching several films on this opponent I was very intrigued to see the radicalness of the defense.  The interior tackles sat in 2I's most of the time, and the defensive ends (DE's) were in a radical tilt, almost ninety degrees to the traditional way of aligning.  The DE's looked right down the line of scrimmage (LOS) to the ball.  The outside linebackers (OLB's) were stacked right behind these ends at about four to five yards off the LOS.  The middle linebacker (MLB) was the same depth and directly over the center.  The DE's were the kicker though, they came off the LOS like missiles, and simple put, wrecked everything in their path.  It was quite astonishing to watch, and I could see why my friend was calling, as they were a very rambuncious bunch to try and move the football against.  The secondary seemed to be playing some sort of two deep man under coverage, maybe even a version of quarters.  The corners appeared to be in man with the safeties twelve to fifteen yards deep, and rocking back on the snap.  They would rotate the secondary into cover 3 when they got trips or twins, they never broke the box, always keeping their 4-3 intact.  The defense was aggressive and attacking in nature and they, simply put, got after your ass! 

The conversation, and films led me to try and research the defense, however, information was not easily obtained.  One day when posting on the Huey board, I had a coach, from Wisconsin respond to me and tell me about a "tilted 4-3" in their area that was similar to the defense I had been describing in my posts.  He told me to check out Lancaster High School, in Lancaster WI.  So I gave their head coach a call, and he directed me to their defensive coordinator (DC) who was very helpful.  He sent me information on the defense, and told me they got it from somebody out in California.  He did not elaborate but we spoke several times about his defense, the pros, the cons etc.  Over the years, from my first post about the defense, people have contacted me and asked me about it.  I wanted to put a post out here that some may use, to get a first-hand look at this defense.  I want to preface, I did not run this defense, I merely took some things out of it, that I will discuss later.  I am going to break down the defense from the ground up, and then go into what I used out of each section.  Hopefully this will shed light on a very aggressive and attacking 4-3, that some have never seen.  Shall we?

Defensive Line
In the Scream and Splatter (S&S) defense, all 4 of the down linemen are tilted at a forty-five degree angle to the LOS.  The basic shades are your standard over front shades with a one and five techniques to the weakside, and a three and nine technique to the strong side.  The defense I saw on film, did not do this, they had 2I's in the interior, and the strong end played a seven technique (inside shade of the tight end).  The reasoning behind the tilt is to better facilitate our old friend, block down, step down (BDSD).  The author of the defense explains that this allows them to execute the "splatter" technique against gap blocking schemes.  As far as defensive line manuals go, this one is not much different except for the tilt.  I got some film on Lancaster, and they are not your "war-daddy's" by any means, but they do get after it.  The main reason is the simplicity in the teaching of the defensive linemen (DL).  They key their "trigger" as it is called and react from there.  After that, they have the normal reactions to the blocking schemes that you see most four man front defenses doing these days. 

The other key for the DL is the actual "splatter" technique.  This is practiced daily, and there is a diagram in the packet they sent me of how to set up the splatter drill.  The interesting thing is they do not talk about depth or angle, they simply talk about getting off the ball, and coming down the LOS and attacking the upfield armpit of the blocker.  The diagrams basically speak for themselves, so I will not elaborate further.

I did not tilt all four of our linemen, the number one reason is that we were seeing so many zone teams, I felt it would allow our inside guys to be reached too easily.  I did tilt our DE's, but not radically like the SWFL team mentioned earlier.  We simply put our inside had down, and then turned our body inside enough to see the football.  I actually changed our term wrong arm to Lancaster's term splatter and it's quite a funny story.  In my first year as a DC at my last gig we were teaching kids the wrong arm technique when I overheard one young player tell another "why are we learning this, if it's the wrong way to do it".  Ahh, the teenage mind!  So, after that, we decided to call our wrong arm, the splatter.  The kids liked it, it made sense to them, and the rest is history!




"Gnarly dude"


Linebackers
The linebacker play in the S&S defense is what really caught my attention.  The way they taught it, seems overly aggressive, yet there was an effectiveness to it, that I bought in to.  All three linebackers (LB's) read the fullback, or near back in offset backfield sets.  The LB's had but one read, intersect the path of the FB.  That's it!  All they had to do, was to intersect that path, and leave the rest to the safeties behind them (we'll talk of that later).  This made for a defense that looked as though it was blitzing every down.  The LB's seemed almost a step ahead of the opposing offenses on film.  It was quite a sight to watch.  Now, I know what you are thinking, "Why not just run counter?".  You would be right, but the safety play behind it, made this nearly impossible.  The LB section shows the drill on how to teach the LB's to intersect the path of the fullback.  They set up trash cans and ran through all the various series of plays, and how the LB's should react to these (they called it the "Barrel Drill").  The other interesting thing is that they involved the safeties in this drill as well.  As you will see in their run fit section, this safety involvement is critical to the defense.

We took the basics of this read system and used it, however we added a few other things to it to help us with the counter runs and bootlegs.  Our MLB, had these exact reads, but our OLB's had a few other things added to it.  I also started using our safeties in run fit drills, and in inside run drill.  This payed huge dividends as it allowed the safeties to see just where they should fit, with out having to worry about the pass threatening them. 

Defensive Backs
The safeties were the crux of the S&S defense.  They were the "clean up" guys.  Basically, they made the LB's underneath of them "right" by fitting where needed.  Now, the S&S isn't for the faint of heart, as they sit in cover 0 all the time.  Yep, that's it, one coverage!   As you can see, they wanted to keep things simple.  So, back to the safeties and how they "fit" into the defense.  The safety on the action side of a run play, was no different than your quarters or 2 read safety in that he was the force player.  The backside safety was the kicker, he had to clean up all counter, bootleg, and reverses.  The backside safety made the LB furthest away from action, be able to "scream" to the football without fear of the cutback or the counter.  This was important because it led to the defense outnumbering the offense at the point of attack (POA).  This is exactly how I played it out of my 2 read/Blue coverage scheme as we've read before (go here if you haven't already). 

The corners in this defense are primarily man to man guys.  In the playbook you can see that they gave the corner 6 basic reads and worked those to death.  I've often had this philosophy myself, corners have a tough enough job, no need in worrying them about the run.  Well, the S&S is perfect for your cover corner. 

The S&S in Recent Years
I have not had the luxury of talking to Lancaster's coaches in over 3 years now, however the last time I talked to them, they were having some problems with spread formations, most notably 2x2 teams that ran zone read.  I have no doubt that they have come up with  a scheme to defeat these offensive tactics in the recent years, as many on the Huey board have said they still remain an elite team in Wisconsin. 

In Florida, my buddy tells me nobody runs the defense that got my interest started all those years ago.  It's a shame, as the coach that ran it, according to my friend had a very impressive record to go along with his defense.  Nonetheless, the defense has gone the way of the Dodo bird in that particular area.

I hope this was insightful to those who have been asking about the defense.  I think the S&S has excellent merits, and is a sound system that seems very simple to install.  I know it caught my eye when I first saw it, and I definitely stole all I could from the information I gathered on the S&S.  Please feel free to email me about this topic, however, please remember I did not run this defense in its entirety, only select portions.  Here is some footage I got from Lancaster, sorry about the cutup quality, I had to cut it myself.  Enjoy!

Other Happenings
Coach Hoover has a GREAT article on "How Much to Install".  He's a man after my own heart, especially linking to the great Tony DeMeo.

Football-Defense has a very good article on the basics of Turning a Program Around.  Very good read, and a very good site, I must say.

Over signing won't ruin the SEC, writes Chris Low in his ESPN blog.  Something tells me he's right, and I love Steve Spurrier's quote at the end of the article.  The Ol' Ball Coach is still a hoot!

Duece

2 Read/Blue Coverage Revisited

Ok, I know I said my next post was on the 4-3 Scream and Splatter, but I have had a TON of emails over the past few weeks asking me questions about some route combos giving Blue coverage some troubles.  Since there has been so many questions, I felt I would answer them on here and see if I could help out as many as possible.  So here goes.

Out by 2, Vertical by 1
This is the age old cover 2 beater.  Again, it's all in how you play it.  I'm going to described some things I've done in the past, you can take if from there.



1. It's all in the technique- The corner is the key here.  He HAS to squeeze #1's route to the safety, and not be concerned with the route by #2.  The corner will only come off of 1, when he sees the ball thrown to 2.  After he squeezes 1's route, he should be in a trail mode, with eyes on the QB, looking for the the throw to 2, or a wheel route by 2 (remember the corner in Blue is swing deep of 2, so he has the wheel route).  The curl/flat player, is also critical, in he needs to work to get to the throwing lane on the out by 2.  This can discourage the throw on the out, and allow the corner to carry the vertical of 1.  The other technique issue is the safeties alignment.  If he's too far inside, he cannot get to #1.  I have played the safeties as close as 2 yards outside #2 (I'm talking as if #2 is attached to the formation) to as wide as 5 yards.  Keep these things in mind before doing any of the following.
2. "Me" call- The me call tells the corner, that it's basically man and the corner will take the vertical and out by 1, and the safety will take the vertical and out by 2.  Anything else and they just zone their 1/4 of the field.  This still puts you in a bind, but is very sound if your safety is having trouble getting to #1's vertical route.  Also helps with any confusion you might have in the depth of routes (this happens quite often to the youngsters when installing Blue coverage).

3. Play true Quarters- If you do this, be prepared to adjust your front if you are a traditional Miami 4-3 Over front guy.  The curl/flat/swing deep of 2 player must have leverage on #2, so he must be in an outside alignment on #2.  If you are in the Under, no problem, same as if you run a 7 technique defensive end (DE) then you are ok.  Otherwise you are going to be changing your front to cover 1 possible route combo...not recommended.

Good Technique vs. Fade/Arrow route combo, corner must reroute #1 to SS.



Blue "Me" call



Quarters vs. Fade/Arrow Combo

 

Curl by 2, Post by 1
This is an old Quarters coverage beater, and can work on Blue coverage if not properly repped.  How I handle this is with repetitions in practice.  The corner has got to be communicating to the safety "IN, IN, IN" on the post route by #1.  The corner will high shoulder the post the entire time, as he does not have leverage to undercut it.  The safety will pedal out, and upon hearing the "IN" call by the corner will continue to pedal out, looking to work under the post, and still attempting to maintain over-the-top leverage on the curl route by #2.  The curl/flat player is your man here, as well as the inside hook player.  Their drops and angles must discourage the throw to #2. 




Post/Curl


Scissors
I saw this early in my career as a defensive back's (DB's) coach, and haven't seen it in a while.  Scissors is where #2 runs a corner route at the same depth that #1 runs a post route.  There are 2 trains of thought here, and neither are incorrect so long as you are consistent in your teaching.  The base rule for my Blue coverage is that the corner and safety NEVER cross, so when the safety communicates the "out" and the corner communicates the "in", we executed what we called a "banjo" technique where the safety broke and took the post, and the corner worked to take the corner route, basically switching men.  This was easy to teach, because we told them, yes both were vertical, but when they crossed 1 became 2 and 2 became 1 and your rules still hold true (safety= 2 is vertical, man 2, corner= 2 is vertical man 1). 
The other thing we did, when guys were struggling with banjo, was to tell them once it's man, it's man...STAY WITH YOUR DUDE!  That was even simpler than the above, and most kids I coached preferred it.  However, you need to be very careful with people trying to run pick or rub routes as this can turn into 6 quickly!




Banjo Technique

Man Technique



Smash
I have had a lot of questions on smash, and to be honest I'm not sure why.  I've not had a lot of problems over the years with the smash game, guess I'm just lucky.  Smash to me, is a corner route by 2, and a hitch or quick out by #1.  The safety here is obvious, he's man on 2 since 2 went vertical.  Now he's got some leverage issues, but not like you would if you were playing Robber where he's inside #2.  Remember the safety, in Blue coverage is OUTSIDE the #2 receiver.  The corner is the kicker here, he has to see 2 vertical, and when he hears the "out" call by the safety, he now knows it's smash and must cushion off #1 to a point where he has leverage on both throws.  This does 2 things, puts indecision in the QB's mind as to who the corner is playing, and gives the curl/flat player a chance to get his read and expand into the throwing window.  Again, it comes down to technique and how the routes are distributed and played.




Smash


Wheel by 2, Post by 1
This is no different than Scissors in my opinion, however I don't like the "Me" (man) call to this route combination.  If you run the me call, the safety has got to be schooled to keep inside leverage on the wheel, and I have found this to be difficult, especially if a team likes to run a lot of out routes by #2 (especially arrow routes).  Again, this comes down to "banjoing" the routes.  The corner sees the out by 2, reroutes 1 and continues to trail.  The corner is the swing deep of 2 player and must keep his eyes and leverage on this route.  Once 2 turns upfield, the corner MUST leave 1 and work for leverage on 2.  The safety, upon seeing the out by 2, is now flying to work to inside leverage on 1 thinking "fade, fade, fade" (worse case scenario), so when 1 runs his post, he's actually running right into the teeth of the defense, the safety will have excellent leverage on the post route at this point, and it now all turns into man coverage again. 
If you get caught in a "me" call, work your safeties in staying over the top of #2's route.  They cannot try and get in the throwing window here, that's what the curl/flat player's job is.  Remember all "me" is doing, is telling the corner, that the safety has the vertical and out of 2, which includes the wheel, so your safety must maintain his leverage to be able to turn and run with the wheel route once 2 turns upfield. 




Blue vs. Post/Wheel Combo



Blue Me vs. Post/Wheel Combo

I'm sure there are more ways to skin cat here, and probably more route combinations that need to be worked on.  Remember, rep your technique and your reads, DAILY.  This is so important, I cannot stress this enough.  If you are going to play pattern read coverage, you can't just work the reads 1 day a week, these must be done daily.  Hope this helps, now back to the Scream and Splatter!

Guys, some very good reading, check out these links below:

Stever Spurrier proposes a new way to pay athletes- Really?  How about when those athletes leave early for the draft, can they then "owe" the University they were at?  Just sayin'!

Brophy's been active with 2 great posts, the newest on coverages, and a great piece with a ton of Saban information, including Alabama's 2008 playbook!

School's about out for the summer for most, pound those weights men, Fall will be here before you know it!




Hit that weight room boys!


Duece

Coaches by the Numbers take on Ron Zook



"I'm not sure how I got this rich...but I look good doing it...right?

This is the BEST analysis of a truly terrible coach (go here to read it)!  I totally think the read is worth it, and the numbers don't lie.  I'm very much like the author though, how has this guy been able to earn the money he has in the time he's been a head coach.  For you Florida fans, Zook was not the instigator of the "dark years" (as many Gator fans call it), yet it was good ol' non-Spurrier re-hiring Athletic Director Jeremy Foley.  Foley is the one who thought Zook was such a "great hire", when he was basically unproven, and had been demoted and then fired under then head coach Steve Spurrier.  Anyhow, enough of my Ron Zook/Jeremey Foley rant, for more, check out Coaches by the Numbers, this has been a very insightful website.




This guy got things done!


Other News
I have had a lot of emails about the 4-2-5 and blue coverage and so forth, some being very specific.  The topic that stands out the most is how this defense attacks the flexbone offense.  I'm working some stuff up now addressing this very topic, so keep your shorts on! 

Also, have had a lot of questions about the 4-3 Scream and Splatter defense.  I'm working on getting things scanned, but don't expect much outta me for either topic prior to Memorial Day...remember, I'm on hiatus baby!

For those finishing up spring ball and starting summer workouts, don't let the grass grow under your feet, now is when championships are made!!!




Eyes on the prize...eyes on the prize...


Duece