Over the past few articles I have covered the inside zone blocking scheme against the most common defensive fronts in the NCAA Football series. Now that we understand how to block the inside zone scheme I will cover the play mechanics from under center and will also include plays that should be added to the game.
Inside zone is designed to be a no loss play. If the back hits the hole hard, the number of double teams on the line of scrimmage should result in vertical running lanes and a consistent running game. Depending on the defensive stunts, the inside zone will often end up being a cut-back play.
At the snap of the ball the quarterback will open to the play side, either at five or seven o’clock depending on which direction the inside zone is going and hand the ball off at about four yards deep. After the handoff he will run a full speed bootleg action away from the play side. The bootleg action will hold the back side defensive end and/or safety, and setup the bootleg play action pass game.
The ball carrier will take a pre-snap look to locate the “bubble,” which is the gap not defended by a down lineman in the defensive front. After the ball is snapped the ball carrier’s first step is flat and lateral with the play side foot, the second step must crossover and slightly gain ground, and the third step will square the ball carrier to start up field. His aiming point will depend on where the “bubble” is located. If the bubble is over the offensive guard he will aim for the inside hip of the offensive tackle. If the bubble is over the offensive tackle or center, he will aim for the outside hip of the offensive guard.
The ball carrier will then read the first down linemen outside the center and make his cut on their side of the line of scrimmage. If the down linemen’s helmet goes inside, run up field just outside of him. If his helmet goes outside, the ball carrier should cut the ball up field inside of him. If there is daylight in the B-gap, attack the B-gap, otherwise if the down lineman goes out the ball carrier will cut inside and vice versa.
The ball carrier is only allowed to make one cut and then he must get up field at full speed. He again should not cut until he reaches the line of scrimmage and he should not dance in the hole. By not making his cut until he replaces the heels of the offensive lineman, he will force the linebackers to commit to a gap and the offensive linemen can seal them away from the cutback lane. Again, always press the B-gap if there is any daylight, even inches. If the B-gap is closed, look for a cutback to the backside, but only make one cut.
Under center there are three basic inside zone plays: a fullback dive, inside zone and sprint draw and some complementary plays utilizing the inside zone blocking scheme: the reverse off of inside zone action and the wham series. There are other complementary running plays off inside zone however since I will cover them in later articles I will leave them out.
Depending on the teams style of play the fullback dive can come off of dive option action, a straight dive action where the quarterback then fakes a pitch back side or off of toss sweep action.
Off dive option action the fullback will take a one-step roll and aims at the butt of the play side guard. This play will stay onside some, but can also develop into a cutback.
Most option oriented teams have started to prefer this play rather than trying to read the give to the fullback on the dive option.
Another play that has become popular as of late from pro-style team is where the quarterback will open play side handing the ball to the fullback then will take one step back side and fake a pitch to another player be it the tailback, wingback or wide receiver.
Yet another fullback play that has been used over the years is a curl play coming off of pitch sweep action. The fullback will curl to the outside leg of the play side guard, giving him the option of staying onside or possibly getting the cutback.
On all three fullback plays, you want to run into the strength of the defense. If you run into a reduction defense, you won’t have the means to block the play side linebacker.
The Ace and Ace Slot sets from NCAA Football pose some problems for reduction defenses. In the ace set, the quarterback will have the option of checking the inside zone either way. If the defense does reduce, the quarterback will go away from the reduction.
The tight end will block the back side cutback man in the ace set, which makes the cutback more secure. From a spread set, if you are concerned with having problems on the cutback, because the back side rush defender is closing, you can utilize motion to ensure the cutback. The man in motion will aim high, with his hat up field on the defender. A roll-out over the top by the defender will hurt the play.
Another formation the inside zone play is commonly run from is I-Formation. Here the fullback will account for the cutback defender in the same manner the motion man did in the last diagram.
In order to use the inside zone scheme on a play that goes into, rather than away from a reduction defense, you must use the fullback as an extra blocker. This play is commonly referred to as the sprint draw.
If the play side guard is covered, the fullback is responsible for the play side linebacker.
The sprint draw can also be run to a tight end side as well, however sometimes the fullback will be an extra blocker.
When the front side guard is uncovered to a split end side, the fullback is now responsible for someone showing outside the tackle area.
If there would happen to be a 3-man side to the split end, the fullback would take the man in the defensive end position.
By running the sprint draw with the fullback as a blocker, you now have an inside zone play that can be run to the split end side, versus almost any defense.
Complementing the inside zone is the reverse and wham series. Both plays help the offense deal with problems a defense can present the inside zone.
The reverse solves the problem when the rush end continues to crash hard off of the offensive tackle’s down block not allowing the blocker assigned to him to reach his play side or up field shoulder, thus allowing the defender to roll out over the top and continue to pursue the ball carrier. To counter this the blocker assigned to him will bypass the block on the rush end and release vertical on a level block first to seal the second level inside, if no second level defenders show, he will release to the safety. If there is a defender outside of the rush end the blocker will kick him out. Now, instead of handing the ball off to the running back the quarterback will fake the handoff and give the ball or a receiver that has come in motion.
The wham provides a solution to the problem caused by defenses attacking the A-gaps with a shaded nose guard or 1 technique by trapping the man over the center or first man on the line of scrimmage opposite the point of attack while still retaining pure zone blocking on the front side to part the defense.
If the man over the center is head up or on a play side shade of the center the center’s block the next defender on the line of scrimmage to the back side. He will aim high, with his hat up field on the defender he is pinning. Here a roll-out over the top by the defender will hurt the play.
If the man on the center is in a back side 1-technique the center will release vertically to the play side.
The blocker assigned to block the man over the center will also aim high, with his hat up field on the defender. Again a roll-out over the top by the defender will hurt the play. The wham blocker can come from anywhere on the play side of the formation, you typically want him to be either a fullback, tight end or H-back due to the size of the defender he is being asked to block.
Wham versus the Even Front
Wham versus the Even Stack Front
Wham versus the Odd Front
Wham versus the Odd Stack Front
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