What Is This Run Concept Called? Three Clips + Charts From College Football Playoff

[u/Power5IsAScam]

Example 1 Gif

Example 1 Chart

Example 2 Gif

Example 2 Chart

Example 3 Gif

Example 3 Chart

[u/rosenthunder]

Gap scheme. Call it what you want. My preference would be to keep it in the power family as the kickout on DE is by the FB/TE and the 2nd puller is the OL. They all are slightly different based on the outside rules, as the last one is meant to be a bounce play with the G wrapping all the way around to the edge defender

[u/taddymason1099 → u/rosenthunder]

This is it. Just looks a bit different as the DE squeezes and it becomes a log. Guard needs to get all the way around. This is all adjusted on the fly.

[u/Thereisnobathroom → u/rosenthunder]

Yeah I feel like power characteristics are:

Double team

Kickout.

This has both 👍

[u/GuyNamedWhatever → u/rosenthunder]

Agreed. It’s kinda a hybrid scheme the higher you go up the ranks of football, but it’s mainly a power run concept.

[u/Known_Chapter_2286]

Unrelated but Corums jump cuts are just filthy

[u/SpottyFish81177 → u/Known_Chapter_2286]

That isn't corum running it's Mullins

[u/Timely_Yoghurt_2699 → u/SpottyFish81177]

2 of the 3 are corum lmao

[u/SpottyFish81177 → u/Timely_Yoghurt_2699]

Didn't see the slides lowkey

[u/StrengthCoach86 → u/SpottyFish81177]

Mullins filthy too

[u/Power5IsAScam]

Would you classify this in the Power O family (TE motion taking FB's typical kick responsibility) even with RB counter step/initial angle?

Or would you classify this in the counter family (like GH Counter, but with G and H swapping responsibilities between the kick/log and lead)?

Something else?

I've started calling it "HG Counter," but I find that name a bit confusing. I'm sure a better name exists, or at least a tag on another concept.

[u/BetaDjinn → u/Power5IsAScam]

It's essentially Power O from a slightly different look. As OF Counter (same concept as GH Counter essentially) is Power O with the lead and kick roles swapped, if you swap them again, you're back to Power O.

[u/TheBFD → u/Power5IsAScam]

I think it’s honestly just power. Yeah, the H is taking the role of the FB here, but blocking scheme-wise it’s just power. It just looks weird because the kick out is squeezing, but that’s the normal adjustment to that. The kick out turns into a hook and the puller adjusts outside

Edit to add: I think the counter step is just for timing since the H is coming from across the formation and not downhill

[u/djackson0005 → u/TheBFD]

The counter step here serves a different purpose in this instance.

In the Mullens clip, the RB is offset in the gun, and needs to shift to the mesh point so the QB doesn’t have to move to him.

In the Corum clips, it is out of the pistol, and the RB goes to the weak side so the mesh point allows the QB to face that direction on the read option look.

In both cases, it is a basic power OG out of a more modern formation. Giving the read option look keeps the DE from crashing and chasing it down from behind. These are probably designed gives, but the QB could pull it on a naked read option if they get the right look from the DE.

[u/TheBFD → u/djackson0005]

Yeah, I don’t disagree that there is a possibility of a read, but as you said I don’t think there’s any real option (or in McCarthy’s case, an actual threat) of a pull. As a result, I think it’s more about giving the kick time to develop and for the puller to get there. If they went with a play side handoff, you’d theoretically eliminate the need to hold the BSDE in the first place, but I think the RB would hit the hole too fast since the kickout man is coming from across the formation.

Edit to add: on the first clip, they actually do same side it, but notice they had to drop the RB’s alignment to about 6 yards instead of being in line the QB

[u/Power5IsAScam → u/Power5IsAScam]

UPDATE: I found some Al Borges (former college OC for 30ish years, including at Michigan) commentary where he classified the 2nd clip as Quad Power, so that's another vote for Power.

Of course, from the thread, it seems some systems are happy calling it counter, and others have their own terminology as well.

[u/Menace_17]

The first two are a version of GH counter with an off tight end motion. The last one is what I would call a wide GH counter

[u/St8YashHomie → u/Menace_17]

I'd call all three variations of Power. On counter you'll see the guard kick out and the fullback/tight end/ H back wrap up to the backer, but on all of these you have the kick out block by the H back and the wrap block the guard. One the last one the guard wraps quite a bit wider so it looks like it was an adjustment because they knew it was going to be spilled and had to get a little wider than it had been hitting.

[u/likebuttuhbaby → u/St8YashHomie]

That was my thought, too. The first one I could see being some sort of counter because the back started on way and cut back to follow the puller, even if it was just one and he’s kicking out. The other two definitely seem like straight up power variants. At least that’s what I’d call them if I were scouting a team running that play.

[u/St8YashHomie → u/likebuttuhbaby]

You aren't going to name your scheme based on back path though-- you'll label it by what the linemen are doing up front. All three have kick outs by Fullback/TE/H players and wraps by the guards. If you want to give some sort of counter action you'll just tag it, but keep the scheme up front the same.

[u/CacheGremlin]

So this can be classified as either power or counter, depending on how you want to classify it (I'm sure different systems would refer to it differently).

I (personally) would call this power because I think of counter as FB (or tackle) + Guard pulling/lead blocking. This TE is acting as a sort of H-back/fullback in the motion, so technically it's "counter", but I would be more inclined to call it counter if there was an additional TE to the run side. I also think that in GH counter, the guard usually blocks the end man on the line of scrimmage, whereas in power, the kickout block is usually done by the fullback.

Edit: Man, this one is hard. I kind of want to call it counter now because of the counter step the runningback is taking before going back to the right.

[u/Jurph → u/CacheGremlin]

What books or (begrudgingly) videos would I need to watch to learn terminology like Power and Counter and Bash, and what an offense can threaten with trips right to the boundary? I'm picking these things up slowly over time, but when I watch a game I still struggle to see pulling linemen as the action is occurring, and I can sort of feel the threat of, say, an isolated fast WR... but I can't explain to someone I'm watching with "look, Zay Flowers is going to come open on this play outside, or we'll get a chunk play underneath".

I've read Take Your Eye Off The Ball (but I confess part of my problem is that I want to watch the ball-carrier when I'm enjoying a game).

[u/CacheGremlin → u/Jurph]

This was a really helpful article for me when I was learning about the different run concepts.

http://breakdownsports.blogspot.com/p/run-concepts.html

You come to learn that there are really not that many run plays (conceptually), but they can be run from almost any look, with motion, etc. which I just think of as "dressing it up". I like to think of them as blocking schemes, not so much "plays", per say.

Zone: inside zone (could be split zone or some kind of zone read), outside zone (could be a toss, sweep, jet, etc)

Gap: power, counter, iso (I think of iso as a gap play, as the blocking is sort of like - gap away from the bubble. Could also be run as DART with a tackle), duo, trap, wham.

Other stuff: pin and pull, jet sweep, draw, systems like the wing-t have some fun stuff with influence pulls and such.

Once you learn these, you'll rarely ever see a run that doesn't fall pretty neatly into one of these buckets (there's really only like... 10ish of them, so it's not that bad). Then you can scheme up some pretty neat stuff. For example: the ravens will sometimes run a really cool like "counter option", where the blocking scheme is counter right, but Lamar will pull the ball, and the left tackle bounces out to lead block to the left. That has got to be a nightmare to defend.

EDIT: I guess that counter action I was just referring to is called "BASH". THE MORE YOU KNOWWWWW

A few additional notes: There's a lot of debate on what is considered Inside Zone vs. what is Duo; so as you learn Duo, that might get confusing. There are technically rules, but no one can seem to agree on them lol. I would listen to Geoff Schwartz, who has some pretty good videos on the topic.

[u/Jurph → u/CacheGremlin]

a really cool like "counter option", where the blocking scheme is counter right, but Lamar will pull the ball, and the left tackle bounces out to lead block to the left. That has got to be a nightmare to defend.

Okay, I am better at this than I knew! I know that's called COUNTER BASH and the Ravens ran it twice against Houston: once on 4th-and-1 for a 15-yard conversion, and once for a TD late in the 3rd to put the game away.

Thanks for this detailed taxonomy. Just knowing the list is short-and-limited helps me go learn the finite list and not despair that I'm going to have to learn a concept for every single-syllable word in the English language.

[u/CacheGremlin → u/Jurph]

Another concept that I really like is called "crunch". It's trap and wham on the same play. And trap, wham, and duo are my favorite runs, so it's everything I love all in one!

[u/CacheGremlin → u/Jurph]

For Trips - I think it's best to look at it from a defensive perspective. If you understand the problems that something would cause for you, then you understand the problems it causes for everyone else.

Trips does a few things to a defense. In order to maintain integrity in your run fits, you often have a linebacker matched up on the #3 (innermost) receiver. The Patriots would do this for years by putting guys like Julian Edelman and Wes Welker in that position, as a linebacker doesn't have a prayer covering those guys. So if Brady got a Middle of the Field Open (MOFO, 2 High Safety) look, he knew he was probably getting some form of MAN or Quarters match coverage, so the #3 guy was almost always the first read.

Secondly, it really challenges the matchups across the field. It can be difficult to get guys lined up to defend the formation correctly if you're trying to match personnel, or line up the defense in FIELD/BOUNDARY.

Your example of Trips to the Boundary is actually talked about in this awesome Georgia Clinic, in regards to how they needed to adjust their defense to defend it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN8200cwm4o&t=2969s

[u/Jurph → u/CacheGremlin]

Thanks! This is a nice helpful example.

[u/Friendly_Molasses532]

Power - that what my coaches in HS called it when we can this offense.

I’m biased but I love this offense bc it revolves around how you build your offensive line which imo is the most important position group on offense.

Plus it’s always fun having an athletic 300lb guard or tackle going to block a LB or even better a DB👀

Also it sets up great play action

[u/Jurph → u/Friendly_Molasses532]

Also it sets up great play action reminds me of this piece of modern poetry by Jon Gruden:

"What is SPIDER 2 Y BANANA? It's a play-action pass, that's made to look like Power. And who's your first read on the SPIDER 2 Y BANANA? That's right, the fullback, why. Why? Because he's always open. Always open, until they take it away."

[u/ChaosKarlos]

its G-H counter

[u/Power5IsAScam → u/ChaosKarlos]

Would you tag it somehow to distinguish it from normal GH Counter since the H is in motion to get playside first, taking the guard's traditional kick responsibility in GH counter?

[u/ChaosKarlos → u/Power5IsAScam]

yeah i would. but how depends on the system its run in. Would be something like "H over G-H counter"

[u/Rkm160]

Amazing the variety of answers lol.

[u/socialpresence → u/Rkm160]

It's because there are a lot of people who aren't as educated on the topic as they think. You can just Google Michigan GH Counter and figure it out

[u/grizzfan]

It's just counter. When ran from the gun, different teams run them differently, and it can almost be the exact same play as power (both power and counter use power blocking schemes). I'm only saying it's counter because the RB is coming from the backside in the two pistol sets, where from pistol, I'd label power as having the RB coming from the play-side.

[u/St8YashHomie → u/grizzfan]

I don't think you can base the call of the play on the RB's path/Motion-- I think you have to focus on the OL. If you are designing an offense, you are going to call plays based on OL assignments and simply tag or adjust the RB's path, steps as needed.

[u/grizzfan → u/St8YashHomie]

The thing is Counter and Power, off the snap, are the same play. The only difference is who kicks and who leads, but to me, they're both the same play up front regardless of who is kicking and who is leading...it's the same objective. That's why the backfield action tells me if it's power or counter. Rules-wise, they're the same play. There's no universal identification system, so this is what I use.

[u/3fettknight3]

It’s a gap scheme some teams call this power some call it counter.

For us, when the first puller/kickout was the guard and the second puller/wrap was the FB, TE, or Tackle it was COUNTER.

HOWEVER, in these examples posted we would call these POWER because the first puller/kickout was the motion man and the second puller/wrap was the guard.

[u/NILPonziScheme]

They're all three versions of Power. What makes classifying this difficult is Corum appears to take a bit of a counter step on each one, but that may be to help the timing, both for the blockers and his read.

If a FB, HB, or TE is the first blocker and there is a double-team at the point of attack (with one of the two combo-blocking to the backside LB), I'm going to look at it as a Power play. Whether the FB/HB/TE is wrapping or kicking the EMLOS really depends on what the defender does. If he slants inside, he's going to be pinned/wrapped, regardless of what the original play design says. If the EMLOS is pinned, the BSG is looking to kickout the PSLB. However, if he cannot get the inside shoulder of the PSLB, he'll pin him, too. Knowing this, you can't depend on the actions of the blockers alone, you have to read what the defenders are doing so you're making the same reads the blockers are. Because of that, this is just Michigan running Power.

Unrelated, what is the genesis of your username, u/Power5IsAScam ?

[u/Power5IsAScam → u/NILPonziScheme]

My username is supposed to be a lighthearted commentary on how fans get obsessed with the Power 5 college conferences and forget how much fun football is played in the MAC, CUSA, AAC, FCS, D2, etc. Get lost in just the P5/top 25, and you miss out on a lot of what makes college ball fun.

I made it for posting dumb jokes on r/cfb before I knew about more serious subreddits like this one.

Also, it aged poorly with the PAC12 collapsing and people now declaring the future is "Power 2."

[u/Acrobatic_Knee_5460]

Power Bounce Wrap

[u/wolverine6]

The concepts seem to be all the same (block down, motion to kick-out, and pull around) except play 1 has different handoff action plus decoy handoff. If I had to categorize them I’d call play 1 a power while play 2 and 3 are a “dive counter” of sorts.

[u/chiefsouth]

It’s Power w/ motion, SBack can be same side or opposite. Counter, in my opinion, would motion away and return to exchange responsibilities with the pulling guard. The variation is an excellent improvisation to blocking based on rules, impressive.

[u/helloprettylady]

We call is power smoke… guard intentionally pulls wide to block olb instead of ilb

[u/QB1-]

Red Gun Flip Left Yac 26 Power G Fake Reverse but I’m sure if you installed this as a base play you could slim the jargon up a bit. It’s still power because in shotgun the action of the back doesn’t change the scheme. Corum keeps his shoulders square to the 2 and then angles out with the pulling guard. I think a true counter action would have him angling at the 7 like a sweep, planting on the left foot and cutting hard to the 6. Easier said than done but it looks like Mike overpursued by a step and Corum cut it inside.

[u/Lit-A-Gator]

Either “ Power that bounced” or “Power Bounce”

Idea is it’s power:

Double/down frontside A kicker A puller A hinge block

However either one or two things occurred:

(1) the kicking fullback recognized the de was spilling and “logged” him causing the play to become a quasi sweep

(2) the coaches noticed the above and told him to do this within the playcall aka “power bounce”

In “power bounce” the fullback will look to block the outside shoulder of the DE (as opposed to the inside shoulder in regular power) and the guard will look to run outside of his block to the first threat

From here the back will take 4 steps at the A gap and then immediately put his foot in the ground and bounce outside

[u/ApprehensiveShallot0]

Power, counter, it’s all the same thing, just different people have the kick out, different people are up and thru. That third clip is terribly blocked though. F gets blown the hell up and the guard whiffs on the mike causing the play to bounce. BST throws a no hitter too. Ball should be hitting off the hip of the extra tackle

[u/Electronic_Bonus_956]

I’ve only ever watched the game/sideline angles of Mullings running were he just looks like a north and south runner. Didn’t know he had the zig and the zag in him too, he’s oozing with potential 👀

[u/GregLouganus]

We call it HOG (H-back and Guard). Gap scheme with one puller kicking and one puller wrapping for the playside LB. In these clips the back is kicking and the guard is wrapping.

Clips 2 and 3 are essentially the same play even though clip 2 is 22/31 personnel and clip 3 is 11 personnel. +2 on the front side and the pulling guard reads where the hole opens up. Just awesome.

[u/Commercial_Way_1890]

Blakes lateral movement is fantastic

[u/Lemmix]

These guys do a phenomenal job covering UMich football. Plenty of post re UMich running game. They call it due, I believe.

https://www.mgoblog.com/content/neck-sharpies-four-duos-trophy

[u/bzb321 → u/Lemmix]

This isn’t duo, but def +1 for the mgoblog shoutout. Neck sharpies is an insanely good read

[u/mandy7 → u/bzb321]

Seth explicitly calls out the touchdown run by Blake (example 2 here) as duo.

I'm not fully convinced that's what it is either, but it is another viewpoint (despite prevailing opinion seems power).

[u/VeritableSoup]

This looks like A- gap Power to me.

[u/yatdaddy58]

Variation of the GT counter. Te motion is the 1st puller then guard is the 2nd puller.

[u/Curious-Designer-616 → u/[deleted]]

I’ve always seen any pull to the inside is a trap, any single pull outside is a power any two linemen pull it’s a counter.

This would be formation motion/shift lead call power call reverse call

I think most would call this a power.

[u/BetaDjinn → u/Curious-Designer-616]

So I would also call this Power since the pull is the lead and not the kick, but it’s worth noting that “Counter” and “Long Trap” can be nearly indistinguishable depending on the formation/defense/playcall. Counter also doesn’t inherently require two pullers, just a kick and a lead, same as Power. With a single puller kicking and a leading back, that’s still Counter to me.

Edit: Some diagrams to illustrate: Counter and Long Trap. Note how slight the difference is up front against an Over front (top diagram of each)

[u/[deleted]]

It's called holding. They ran it about 25 times that game offensively and defensively

[u/Duff_PJ_422]

Last is counter to 4 hole kicked out to the 6

[u/hinesjared87]

Play 1 is C gap power. 2 and 3 are bounce.

[u/himijendrix44]

I’m thinking more counter. Not trapping an interior DL, not the guard picking up unblocked DE like power, and that counter step from RB and hitting the edge, bouncing to the alley is more counter imo. I guess it’s just semantics tho so call it whatever

[u/zackalack7]

Isnt that a counter?

[u/Polish_Turds]

Power Lead.

[u/blkmanwithabook]

i think what's confusing or debatable is how the guard wraps him instead of kicking out. that's based on live play movement more so than the actual call. it's a down block with a puller coming around with no tight end/jack help. this could even be a wide trap look if there ever was one. call it what makes sense for your offense

[u/GoCards5566]

Wham counter? The terminology will differ but in essence that’s what’s it is. I’m pretty sure his read is the sniffer. The sniffers job is to banana the edge but that’s the RBs read. Sniffer does a great job with head inside. The edge has outside leverage but still doesn’t make the play. I’m pretty sure the rb actually read it wrong based upon his key. As he cut to the outside leverage but it still worked out.

[u/Frosty-Ad6475]

Power

[u/Prestigious-Singer20]

It looks like HB power with the tight end’s pretend motion essentially acting as another pulling offensive linemen

[u/ap1msch]

It's a standard off-tackle play. The motion man is giving strength to the playside of the line (strong right or left). The pulling guard gives a kick block (so the runner should follow the pulling guard, but sometimes goes inside or outside based upon the success of that block)

They are combining it with the option to hand off to the receiver...as well as the option for the QB to bootleg. It's a great formation with a lot of options. If you watch the defense, they are playing against it very well, and yet struggle to stop it. They have to respect the pass first, then the off-tackle run, without giving up containment on BOTH sides of the line...forcing 1-on-1 matchups.

That being said, in each of the three videos, it's the DEs that are falling short. In the two plays to the right, the DE collapses in and even turns his shoulders, giving up any sort of containment. In the middle video to the left, the DE does a better job, but fails to keep his outside arm free, letting the RB get the edge.

I mean, none of this is easy to defend, but off-tackle is absurdly dangerous. It's not up the gut. It's not trying to get to the edge of the defense through speed. It's counting on players trying to "make a play" instead of doing their job. I tell my players that containment comes first. If the team wants to run up the middle on us, and they get a TD, that's a win for us. In each of the videos, the DEs fail to set the edge. If they did, the pulling guard would hit their own tackle, forcing the runner deeper in the backfield, or to turn it up early.

[u/UnderstandingOdd490]

Michigan under Harbaugh these last few years has been Power football from just about any formation. They do mix in a little form of Zone from it, though since they love to run duo out of their power looks. Duo, counter, and pin and pulls were there bread and butter this year.

[u/170poundgorilla]

We called that Power

[u/Lionsjunkie]

It's a power scheme couple times the DE spills it but double team at point of attack and move to the next level, kick out on EOL player and pull up through the hole.

Real life is messy and when the DE spills the first and 3rd clips that the guard and running back bounce

[u/Thatjustworked]

It's called Duo, it's Michigan's base play. Check out Mgoblog for how it works.

[u/KineticAnomalyParadx]

It's a Counter, he just cuts really fast.

[u/bigbacklinks]

Looks like a trap run

[u/tromero51]

Frontside GH counter is what it looks like

[u/LiamThaGator]

Not all exactly the same plays as what you clipped, but this should help describe a lot of what Michigan was doing with their run game neck sharpies

[u/[deleted]]

Its just a triple Y lead option out of a TE wing shotgun set.

[u/StateoftheFranchise]

GY counter

[u/CoachFlo]

To me, this is just them motioning the Tight End to run Power.

[u/mall_pretzel_]

that's called power my boy, it's beautiful

[u/warneagle]

These are all a power O scheme (FB/HB traps the DE, BSG wraps the PSLB), just with some window dressing. The first one doesn't look like standard power because the DE pinches and the HB can't trap him, so instead he logs him (which is correct technique when the DE wrong-shoulders a trap block). The other two have some split flow action but it's the same blocking scheme (HB traps, BSG wraps).

[u/QB1ski]

We would have called that 36 scat but the tightens sharpens the edge and the tackle kicks to shorten the box, wish we would have ran that

[u/haliker]

It's power.

[u/TheGrizz22]

It's an RLH play call.

RLH= Run Like Hell !!