Pioneers look for progress in spread offense
The spread offense is football’s new top trend, with teams from the professional, collegiate and even the high school ranks implementing the complex offense.
And for the second straight year, the spread offense will be one of the weapons that West Greene coach John Coss will use to get the Pioneers over the hump in the Tri-County South Conference.
Coss learned how to run the spread offense from a coaching session at South Carolina University, under veteran coach Lou Holtz, a couple of years ago.
“We went down south to learn the offense,” Coss said. “I completely loved the rhythm and all of the little things with the spread offense.
“I first learned it from Coach Holtz and his son Skip (the offensive coordinator of the Gamecocks at the time). I also learned some things from the spread by working with coaches such as Dave Serra (former Waynesburg Central coach) and George Messich from Mapletown.”
Despite the notion that most spread offenses are pass-oriented, some, like Coss’s, are primarily based around garnering an offensive balance with both the pass and the run.
“Just like in any type of offense, it is key to have a balanced attack in the spread,” Coss said.
“If you complete more passes, then you will open up the running game. Last year, we relied too much on the run and didn’t have that consistency with the passing game.”
“The passing game in the spread isn’t all about throwing the ball 20 to 25 times a game and getting huge chunk of yards. It’s about completing the easy passes such as screen passes to the running backs or bubble screens to your flankers on the outside. Those quick hitters and slant patterns are helpful for the quarterback because it’s a high percentage pass play.”
One of the main components to running the spread that most people don’t realize is the importance of the offensive line and the timing they have with the many pulls and counters that are entailed in the spread playbook.
“You have to have an athletic line,” Coss said. “There’s a lot of movement by those big guys and they have to watch their steps and splits when they line up. We run a lot of zone and option runs and each lineman has to know the guy he is supposed to block and the area in which to block that defender.”
In 2011, the Pioneers will be looking to spread out the opposing defense and get more points in conference action.