Friday, May 2, 2008

Using the Running Back as a Receiving Threat in The Spread Offense


The running back in today’s spread offenses is meant to be more than just a running threat; he must also be a threat out of the backfield and spread out wide as a receiving weapon as well. This gives the quarterback another viable option in the passing game and will likely give the defense different problems that may alter what they do, which is the whole point.

To read more about this spread offense article with diagrams, go to:

2 comments:

RJHOVE said...

My uncle seems to think the spread offense won't work at Michigan because of the big ten weather. What is your response to this?

The Coach said...

The only reason that the spread offense won't work at Michigan is because Michigan does not have the players right now to run that style of offense. Once Rodriguez has the opportunity to recruit his type of players, the offense will become more successful.

In many of today's top spread offenses, a lot of the passes that are thrown are short, quick passes that are very similar to the result of a handoff giving the offense two to four yards gain. However, it is important to tell your uncle that just because a team runs the spread offense, it does not mean that they cannot run the football. Tell him to watch Appalachian State. The creativity of coordinators running the ball out of the spread is growing all the time, so look for Michigan to maintain its running attack concept and adding more talent at RB, WR, and QB to run Rodriguez's quick attack style.

Hope this helps answer your question. Feel free to post again if you have any further questions.

GM