Learn the RPO of the Year from LSU, Ole Miss, Army, Kansas, and Akron
Feb 02, 2023 6:01 pm
Coach ,
XFL Houston Offensive Coordinator Austin James Smith was the guest for OC Office Hour on Coach and Coordinator. He discussed some trends he was seeing as he “worked forward” in preparation for the beginning of XFL season.
One of the trends he identified was with the RPO and the play that he identified as “The RPO of the Year” because he’s seen many teams using it in 2022.
The play is an inside zone from either 2x2 or 3x1 with an off-the-ball tight end running behind the line of scrimmage flat route to the read side of the play. The twins receivers on that side are blocking downfield. The quarterback will read the end for give-keep, and if he keeps, he reads the inside linebacker for keep-throw.
This play is not new. Noel Mazzone spoke on this play at the Glazier Clinic in 2015, and he called the concept “Bolt,” so the concept is not new to the game, but the extensive use of 11 personnel across both college and high school football has made this RPO popular.
With the lack of a universal language for football, it has taken on many names and is used by many teams at every level. In the videos, it will be called “Arrow,” “Y-flat,” “Jettison,” and “Skip.”
Andy Kotelnick, Offensive Coordinator, Kansas likes how the play distorts the defense. For him, it’s a nice possession throw. For the outside receivers, it is no different than blocking the bubble but it does present a different look for the defense. While on Bubble, a defensive back may have to retreat to cover the Bubble Go, his initial reaction is to prepare to take on the block on the receiver. The key tells him to do so. With the tight end running flat and the stem of the route upfield, the initial key is pass and the reaction to the block will come a split second later.
He points out the variations of where the ball can go based on the “stimulus-response” of the defense, and in the final example, the QB is able to walk into the end zone. It gives the offense the ability to run a single play and attack the defense in three different places depending on how they react.
Kotelnicki notes that the play has a lot of multiplicity in the formations, motions, and personnel that can be used, but for the quarterback, it is “same as” teaching. His reads and keys remain the same.
Likewise, it is a play that Offensive Coordinator at Ole Miss Charles Weis, Jr. will create variations of, like the flat coming either from the same side or all the way across. He similarly notes that the QB and WR rules remain the same but it does give the defense different presentations.
The coaching points get reiterated again and again like those in Weis’s terminology, “cha-cha-cha” footwork, M-D-M (most dangerous man), and happy hour. The default rule and preference is that the Safety is blocked and the corner is left for the ball carrier, with the premise being that the corner is the worst tackler on the defense.
Take a look at the Rebels’ variations of this RPO in the videos below:
Joe Moorhead has been using this play all the way back to his time as the offensive coordinator at Penn State. He likes the play in the Red Zone as it is good against both man and zone coverages. It creates two “two-on-ones” and what becomes a true triple option play having a give-keep-and pitch (throw) component.
Mike Denbrock loves tight-end RPO and used them extensively at Cincinnati. Now the offensive coordinator at LSU uses the Skip RPO as part of the Tigers' attack.
Matt Drinkall used this while he was the head coach at Kansas Wesleyan. Now the CO-OC coach at Army, he still spends his time during clinic season sharing his RPO ideas and maybe those will show up on game day in 2023. He likes his “Jettison” RPO because the throw is an easy one for the QB. He notes that the tight end should ooze into the flat rather than get out there too fast.
One aspect of the RPO is it takes the pressure off of the signal caller to be right, and the “RPO of the Year” does so evenmore because it as three possibilities for how it will attack the defense. Will it make it’s way into the XFL as part of Coach Smith’s offense? We will have to wait and see.
Always be growing!
Coach Grabowski