Mumme/Leach Air Raid

The Mesh Series

The Shallow Series

The Screens

The Mesh Series

The Shallow Series

Hal Mumme SE Louisiana Clinic

Notes on the Shallow Series

Take from Gary Goff WR Coach SE Louisiana.

General Reminders1. The player running the shallow cross runs through the heels of the DLine men

2. The player that runs the complementary route (Hunt/Dig) is always the 1st WR opposite theShallow Cross. He must always outside release so he does not turn the LB back into theshallow cross. At 10 yards vs Zone he runs a Hunt route and settles in the 1st open hole.Versus Man coverage he runs a Dig. Versus a blitz by the defender over him he runs a speedout as a Hot adjustment.

3. The QB takes a 3 step drop in the Shotgun. He usually hits the Shallow crosser vs man orpress coverage.

Y Shallow/ HShallow

Z Shallow/XShallow

F ShallowFrom Empty

Y Shallow (X Post)/HShallow (Z Post)

Y Shallow (Z Curl)/HShallow (X Curl)

The SE Louisiana staff got 2 Shallow Cross variations from Mike Shanahan of the Bronco'swhen they visited him this past Spring. Shanahan invented the Shallow Cross Series.

Y ShallowDenver/FShallow Denver

The Screens

This season turned out to be one of themost productive years in quite some

time for the Texas Tech Red Raiders.Offensive production was at an all-timehigh in an offense that has been highly suc-cessful at all levels of football. Our mainoffensive objective is to get the ball to allfive skill positions as many times as possi-ble throughout the course of the game. Wefeel that if we evenly distribute the ball to allskill players, this will stress the defenseand force them to account for the entirefield. We keep a close eye on how we aredistributing the ball both during the gameand throughout the season.

Our quarterback is also well aware of theimportance of proper ball distribution and isinformed of how we are doing. The five skillpositions in our offense are as follows:

“F” Runningback“H” Inside receiver/H-back “Y” Inside receiver/Tight end“X” Wide receiver“Z” Wide receiver

The Three Main Categories We Focus On Are

1. Total To u c h e s : The amount of timesthe entire position touched the ballthroughout the course of the game eitherby rushing the ball or catching the ball.Naturally the “F” position will handle theball the most because the majority of therushes will come from this position. Also, itis easier to get him the ball because he iscloser to the quarterback. The “H” and “Y”positions typically will touch the ball a littlemore than the “X” and “Z” positionsbecause of proximity to the quarterback.During the course of a game, it is importantthat we sustain drives and get first downs.The most devastating thing is to go threeand out. We also want to get between 60-65 touches in a game spread out betweenthe five positions. Our quarterbackaccounted for 6.6 touches a game which is11 percent of the total touches due tosacks, scrambles and sneaks. The othersa r e :

F – This position averaged 21.5 touchesa game and accounted for 34 percent ofthe total touches over the course of thirteengames.

H – This position averaged 10.6 touchesa game and accounted for 16.5 percent ofthe total touches.

Y – This position averaged 7.3 touchesa game and accounted for 11 percent of thetotal touches.

X – This position averaged 8.5 touchesa game and accounted for 14 percent ofthe total touches.

Z – This position averaged 7.6 touchesa game and accounted for 13.5 percent ofthe total touches.

2. Total Ya r d a g e : The amount ofyardage the entire position accounted foreither by rushing the ball or receptions.Here, again we want the yardage distribu-tion to be as evenly as possible with “F”getting a few more yards due to the prox-imity to the quarterback. Also the widereceivers, “X” and “Z,” should get moreyards as they are more of a deep threatthan the inside receivers. Due to the factthat we got sacked only 26 times in 806attempted passes, our quarterback endedup with positive rushing yards accountingfor two percent of the total yards.

F – This position averaged 148 yards agame and accounted for 25.5 percent ofthe total yardage over the course of thir-teen games.

H – This position averaged 104.1 yardsa game and accounted for 18 percent ofthe total yardage.

Y – This position averaged 86.7 yards agame and accounted for 14.5 percent ofthe total yardage.

X – This position averaged 122.3 yardsa game and accounted for 21 percent ofthe total yardage.

Z – This starter averaged 111 yards agame and accounted for 19 percent of thetotal touches.

3. Total Touchdowns: We want to keeptrack of who scores our touchdowns andmake it as competitive as possible. We tryto teach our players to know where the endzone is in proximity to where they are at onthe field. Our quarterback accounted forfive touchdowns on quarterback sneaks.We feel we can always get a yard from thequarterback.

F – This position scored 21 touchdownsand accounted for 29 percent of the totaltouchdowns over the course of thirteengames.

H – This position scored 11 touchdownsand accounted for 15 percent of the totaltouchdowns.

Y – This position scored 12 touchdownsand accounted for 16.5 percent of the totaltouchdowns.

X – This position scored 14 touchdownsand accounted for 19 percent of the totaltouchdowns.

Z – This position scored 10 touchdowns

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and accounted for 13.5 percent of the totaltouchdowns.

Vertical GameOne of the most effective plays that we

have at Texas Tech is the all vertical route.We choose to talk about this because it is aroute that everyone in all levels of footballhave and use. There might be some slightdifferences in scheme and technique, butwe feel like the biggest difference is howcommitted we are to both working thisroute and calling this route.

The biggest coaching point from ascheme standpoint is teaching landmarks.We break the field down into four sections:left numbers, left hash, right hash and rightnumbers. We want our four receivers to beat these landmarks as the routes are beingrun. We can run this play out of all our setsand teach the skill players to recognizehow many receivers are outside of themwhich tells them which landmark to go to.

In a 2x2 set, all receivers basically gostraight up field (Diagram 1). In a 3x1 set,

the No. 3 inside receiver knows there aretwo receivers outside of him and now mustwork across the field (Diagram 2). A gen-eral rule for all receivers is to outsiderelease all routes both in man coverageand zone coverage. This puts little doubt in

the quarterbacks mind to where the receiv-er is headed. It also widens the gaps incoverage when the defense is dropping

into zone coverage. After the receivers gettheir outside release, each of them will getto their respective landmarks. We workhard on our receivers being able to recog-nize man coverage or zone coverage.

If they read man coverage, we encour-age them to get up field as fast as they pos-sibly can on their landmark and expect theball. If they read zone coverage, they nowhave the option to sit in zones as they seefit (Diagram 3). We would like for them to

be at least 10 yards up field before they sitdown. A lot of times it ends up being 15yards because of the depth of the defend-ers drop. A key coaching point to install inall of your receivers minds is to look for theball at all times and to sit in the hole in zonecoverage.

Blitz should trigger this as mostreceivers should understand that if thedefense is blitzing, the quarterback willmore than likely have to get rid of the ball,but even if there are no blitzing defendersthey need to get their path and get theireyes on the quarterback. We tell the quar-terback to use this route to attack man-blitz, especially in press coverage. Wehave enough confidence in both throwingthis ball quickly and running these routescorrectly to complete enough to be suc-cessful. Coincidently, it also has becomeone of our better zone beaters as well.

Quarterback and Receiver Drills in the Vertical Scheme

One of the main drills we do on a dailybasis, regardless of what type of practicewe are having is the Pat-N-Go drill. This isa 10-minute drill at the beginning of eachpractice that accomplishes a number ofthings. We use this drill as a warm up forthe rest of practice. We want to get theplayers ready for full speed drills while wework at improving some aspect of thegame of football. We are believers that thebest way to improve technique is to worktechnically sound drills. Stretching andrunning for 15 minutes a day might do the

body some good, but it does not make youbetter fundamentally.

The quarterbacks and all skill playerssplit in half facing each other, 25 yardsapart. The quarterbacks are on the hashmark and skill players are half way betweenthe hash and the numbers (Diagram 4).Every other day we switch which side we

work, either right side or left side throws.During the first five minutes of the drill, thequarterback pats the ball to put it in play andtakes a one-step drop. At this time, the skillplayer works their proper stance and startscoming off the ball with his eyes on thequarterback. This works quick throws thatmight happen in a game during hot throwsor uncovered looks as well as slant throwsto outside receivers. The second five min-utes, we are working more downfield verti-cal throws. The quarterbacks now take athree-step drop and work on putting the ball25-30 yards downfield with plenty of airunder the ball, half way between the num-bers and the sidelines. The skill players,who are now aligned at the top of the num-bers, will work a detailed release on adefender or stand up dummy from a properstance (Diagram 5).

One key coaching point we focus on atthis point is for the skill players to get backto the top of the numbers by squeezing thedefender after working the outside release.This leaves plenty of room to separate from

Diagram 1

Diagram 2

Diagram 3

Diagram 4

Diagram 5

the pinned defender and catch the ball onthe outside shoulder. By doing this, it real-ly does not matter how tight the coverageis, he uses his body to protect the ball fromthe defender.

It takes a lot of time and practice to getgood at the skill of catching the ball overthe shoulder, which is why we came up withthe Over-the-Shoulder drill. If quarterbacksare available, it benefits them to get used tothe concept of ball placement, but a coachcan do the same for the receivers. We getthe receivers in close proximity to wherethere are at on the field, such as outsidereceivers on the numbers and insidereceivers on the hash mark and get themrunning in place around 15-20 yards upfield. The quarterback will be in the middleof the field and will place the ball over thereceiver’s outside shoulder a few yards infront of them (Diagram 6). This gets

receivers used to keeping their body insideand adjusting to the ball being outside. Youcan get a lot of repetitions in because thereis not much running involved.

The one individual drill we work with thequarterbacks is the bucket drill. The firstpart of this drill is working on fade throws. Aregular sized trash can is placed approxi-mately 25 yards up field, half way betweenthe numbers and the hash marks. T h equarterbacks will take a three-step drop andtry to place the ball into the trash can(Diagram 7). This forces them to put airunder the football, otherwise the ball has no

chance to get in the bucket. We want thisthrow in a game because it reduces howaccurate the throw needs to be. By puttingthe ball up in the air, it gives the receiver achance to adjust to the ball to make thecatch. The second part of this drill is on thegoaline. We adjust the quarterbacks toaround the five yard line and the bucket tothe back corner of the end zone. The quar-terback now takes a one step drop andagain throws the ball with enough air tomake the ball go into the bucket (Diagram8). Typically after practice, all the quarter-

backs will get together and compete againsteach other to see who can make the mostthrows into the bucket.

Most of the practices we have willinvolve a 10-minute, one-on-one periodwith the defensive backs. For the first fiveminutes, we work open field routes in whichwe encourage as much vertical routes aspossible. The receivers align as close asthey can to where they will be aligning in agame to get them comfortable with theirsurroundings (Diagram 9). The second five

minutes, we move the entire drill to the fiveyard line to work on goaline routes. Theroutes typically stay the same, we just wanteveryone to get used to a shorter field.Again we encourage as many verticalroutes as possible.

Runningbacks Role in the Vertical Scheme

The runningback at Texas Tech has tohave the ability to effectively block (pass

protect), catch the ball and run the ball. On95 percent of our pass plays, including thefour verticals, our back has a protectionassignment and route assignment. Themost important thing to our offense fromthe back position is that he be able to iden-tify fronts, recognize blitz and use propertechnique to pick up the blitzing linebackeror defensive back. The back also has tohave the ability to see whether the defensewill blitz very quickly. The quicker he rec-ognizes that there is no blitz, the quicker hecan release and stretch the defense. Onour four vertical passing game, the backwill first check his assignment and thenrelease and run a five-yard option route.

Since we are a team that throws theball, our back has to excel in pass protec-tion. Our runningbacks use almost thesame principles and techniques that ouroffensive linemen are taught. If a runningback uses the proper technique, it does notmatter how big he is, he can get the jobdone. There are five things that have to bedone in order to ensure that our runningback can pick up the blitz.

1. Step up and get inside leverage. 2. Keep head up.3. Use your hands.4. Keep a base.5. Move feet.If our running back can execute these

five techniques, we feel that he can be suc-cessful in picking up the blitz.

On the four vertical routes, if the backgets no blitz, he will release to a five-yardoption route. There are basically threethings that can happen when the backreleases. The defense will drop into zone,play loose man, or play tight man. Theback has to recognize what the defense isplaying because in each of the differentcoverage’s, the back has to make slightadjustments to the route. If the back recog-nizes zone coverage, he will release to fiveyards, turn back to the quarterback and sitdown. If he stays uncovered, he will notmove and wait for the quarterback to throwthe ball. If the quarterback throws him theball, he will tuck the ball and get straight upfield (Diagram 10).

If the back recognizes man coverage (orthe backer just sits), he will run right at thedefender and try and step on his toes. Hewants to make the defender think that hewill run by him and hopefully this will loosenhim. As he breaks the cushion of thedefender, he will stick his toe in the groundand break either in or out. The back needs

Diagram 6

Diagram 7

Diagram 8

Diagram 9

to make sure that he does not round off theroute. He wants to stay at five yards. Afterhe catches the ball, he needs to turnstraight up field (Diagram 11).

If the back recognizes tight man (or thebacker jumps him and tries to grab him), heneeds to run right at the defender, try to gethis hands off of him and then get up field tofive yards. Once he gets to five yards, hewill stick his toe in the ground and breakaway from the defender (Diagram 12).

The four vertical routes has been a verye ffective way for us to get the ball downfieldor to get the ball to the back in space. T h erunning back has to be able to recognizethe blitz and be able to use proper tech-nique to pick it up. If he gets no blitz, he willrelease to a five-yard option route. After hisrelease, he must make the right decision onwhether to sit down or keep running basedon the coverage that is being played.

Offensive Line Protection in theVertical Passing Game vs.

Defensive Line TwistsWe believe that to be successful on

o ffense, you need to focus on developingyour players to be good fundamentally. Wealso believe that any success on off e n s estarts with the offensive line. The attitudetowards practice, the intensity of a game,

and the offensive tempo starts with the line.Pass protection is the key to any successfulpassing offense. The two main areas wework on daily in practice is: 1) How to getthe offensive line to play together at a highlevel, and 2) Pass protection fundamentals.

How to get the offensive line to playtogether at a high level?

Paramount to any offensive scheme’ssuccess is to be good up front. To do this,your offensive line must be able to consis-tently play at a high level. So the questionis, how do you get the offensive line to playwell together on a consistent basis? I don’tknow that there is a clear cut answer to thisquestion that fits all situations. All I can dois share with you what has helped us atTech.

1 . Keeping the group together under oneroof. Don’t fragment this group. Keep thegroup together and make them strongt o g e t h e r. They need to rise to challengestogether rather than as individuals. My goalis to foster the mentality that “group produc-tivity” is more important than any individ-u a l ’s achievement. The challenge with theo ffensive line is that you succeed or fail asa group. All it takes is one guy to break-down and the whole play could possibly beruined. Challenge the guys as a group,reward them as a group and discipline themas a group. By keeping them as a group,they will grow and strengthen as a group.

2. Another thing we do at Tech to get ouroffensive line to play at a high level is tofind and play the best guys. I try to findseven to eight guys that we can win with.Find these guys and rotate them. If theyhave earned their way, don’t keep them offthe field. Two benefits here first, if youaverage close to 90 plays per game, youneed a rotation to keep guys fresh andplaying at a high level. Secondly, you aregoing to have injuries throughout the year.This helps you suffer through those injurieswithout much loss of production.

3. Grade and challenge them. Gradeevery play in the game. Let them see theirgrades. Make their grades easy to evalu-ate (A, B, C, D, and F). Grade their prac-tice. Let them know if they have let downthe group in practice. Set goals forimprovement in the off-season, spring balland summer workouts.

4 . Develop a sense of pride in the group.Pride and identity are things that come fromthe offensive coordinator and the headcoach. If this group is treated right, they canassess great pride and tradition. Don’t

make the mistake of using the offensive lineas a whipping boy for the off e n s e .Challenge the group, be tough with thegroup, but in the end, this group must havea huge sense of pride and identity.

I believe that two of the most importantfundamentals on offense are blocking andball security. Both of these are primeresponsibilities of both the offensive lineand the entire offense. Each play startswith a center-quarterback exchange. Thisis the first area of ball security that youneed to be sound. On most offensiveplays, three different players touch the foot-ball and all three are responsible for thesecurity of the football. The Center needsto secure the snap, the quarterback needsto secure the hand-off or direct the throw,the runningback or wide receiver needs tosecure the gain.

Blocking is the other basic offensive fun-damental. Because of time, I will focus theremainder of my remarks to pass blockingfundamentals. I believe the first fundamen-tal of pass protection is to stay between thedefender and the quarterback. As youleverage yourself between the defense andthe quarterback the next step is to offerenough resistance to form a pocket.Centers and guards keep the pocket tightto the line of scrimmage. Tackles keep thepocket wide to the quarterback. Pad leveland a powerful punch are the tools used tooffer resistance to the defense.

In the course of doing this, there areoccasions in which you need to switchguys. It is our approach that all first levelguys that twist should be switched-off .When picking up the twist, you use thesame fundamentals you would if you wereblocking individually up until that pointwhere you bump hips, then simply switchguys and continue to protect.

The basic idea of picking up the twist isthat you have to set the drive guy first.Once you have set the drive guy, the freed-up lineman needs to trap his helmet intothe drive guy. This force alerts the linemannext to him that he needs to switch.

There are basically three types of twists.Two-man, three-man and four-man twists.Everyday, we work on picking up the twistsduring individual period. We later go on topass rush with the defensive line and workon picking up the twist also. We view pick-ing up the twists as fundamental as passblocking an individual rusher. If you are tobe successful in picking up the twists, youmust devote practice time.

Diagram 10

Diagram 11

Diagram 12