Coach ,

The RPO has come into its own as a dynamic way to attack any defense from any offensive system. There’s no shortage of ideas in how to utilize the run pass options.  

The defense certainly has become better at stopping them, but like Nick Saban says in this video to offensive coaches everywhere, “You guys are all part of the Taliban. You are part of Al Qaeda. You have changed our game and made it so hard to play defense.” (Click the image for video of this gem from Coach Saban).

These three RPO’s certainly are tough enough to defend that Coach Saban would start shaking when thinking about how to stop them. 

#1 Formation into the boundary/single RPO

Temple offensive coordinator Mike Uremovich likes putting formation into the boundary because it immediately forces a defense to declare how they will defend the strength of the formation.  

Putting numbers into the boundary creates a lot of space to the field which they like to attack with a skull or glance route. He points out that hashes at the HS level create even more space to play with. As Uremovich says in this video below, it becomes “backyard football.” (Click on images for videos):

#2 Tight End Dump

Now the offensive coordinator at Kansas, Andy Kotelnicki likes to utilize formations and space to distort the defense.  

In this RPO the QB will read the safety and based on rotation he can hit the Glance to the field or the dump to the boundary. Both create big play opportunities. He explains the concept in this video:

#3 Route Behind

I’ve spent some time studying what Wake Forest does with their offense, and it is truly unique.  

The first thing that almost anyone will notice is that the quarterback and running back literally walk to the line of scrimmage on inside runs as they make the decision of who is getting the ball and where it is going. 

A typical zone read mesh takes about 1.3 seconds from snap to decision. Charting a game full of plays of the Deacons shows an average of 2.06 seconds from snap to decision, with the mesh taking as long as 2.5 seconds on some plays. For reference, 2.5 seconds in the drop-back game allows a quarterback to get through three receivers in his progression, allowing for one or two hitch steps before throwing the ball and making intermediate routes like digs and comebacks a possibility.

The slower mesh is utilized on their RPO’s with the quarterback spending extra time riding the mesh with the running back to be able to see his key pull and throw the ball for a big play.

The outside zone with a crack route by the receiver makes this a very difficult play to defend. Head Coach Dave Clawson illustrates the play in this video.

Maybe you won’t adopt these concepts wholesale, but as you have seen, they present some unique ideas that will have defensive coordinators (and Nick Saban) quaking in their boots.

Always be growing!

Coach Grabowski

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