Adding Empty as a Mid Season Wrinkle

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Adding Empty as a Mid Season Wrinkle

Published on Saturday, 13 September 2014 19:21

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By Chris Parker, Head Coach, Pickens High School (GA)

Coach Parker shares the concepts behind his empty package that is averaging 10.4 yds/play out of 3x2 sets and 9.4 yds/play out of his 4x1 formations.

Editor’s Note: At this point in the season, everyone is looking for a new edge. Some are looking to keep their struggling teams

engaged and competitive while others are focused on adding wrinkles that can push their team over the edge into post season play.

either case, adding the empty formation, along with a few complimentary plays is a simple way to create such wrinkles without having

completely c hange your teams offensive philosophy. The following article gives a great overview of the simplicities and possibilities th

can come with the empty formation and will provide you will multiple ways to use as part of your offense starting this week. – Sam

Nichols, X&O Labs Managing Editor

Adding Empty to Create Mid Season Wrinkles

By Chris Parker

Head Coach

Pickens High School (GA)

Empty creates matchup problems for the defense. They must remove defenders from the box in order to cover all receivers or the

must keep the box sound and leave a defender uncovered. If the defense keeps 2 high Safeties, a receiver is always uncovered. If

there is only one linebacker on our 2 inside receivers on the Trips side, one of them is uncovered. Diagram 1 shows a 2 high look

where the #3 receiver is uncovered. Diagram 2 shows a look where #2 is uncovered.

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Diagram 3 shows the weak side inside receiver uncovered. We get this a lot on the hash. In order for them to leave only the weak #2

receiver uncovered, they have to roll to 1 high which can create some passing matchups and an uncovered receiver underneath.







Inside Run

Empty formations force the defense to make decisions on how they are going to defend the box. If they defend the box with five or

fewer defenders, we should be able to have a positive play. The key to making your Empty plays work is you must be good at inside

run with the QB if the numbers allow for it. It is a misconception that the QB has to be a great runner to make this work. He just need

to be tough enough to get four yards if the box is open.

Inside Run plays can be Draw, Zone, Trap or any other variation that your team can do. We usually block our Zone rules with both

Tackles blocking the DE. You can make the Quarterback attack the box on the snap or have him pass set and run a Draw.

Diagram 5 shows our basic Inside Run play in Empty. We have our Receivers run a screen play.

Screens





If there are more defenders in the box than you can block it creates an uncovered receiver. We usually package this play with our

draw. We can call one play and the OL blocks draw while the Receivers block screen and the QB can decide which to run. Diagram

shows our Fast Screen to the #1 Receiver. Diagram 7 shows Fast screen to the #2 receiver on the Trips Side and Diagram 8 shows o

Bubble Screen to #3. All of the Screens are great when receivers are uncovered.





Quick Game

The Quick Game is essential to any Empty package. The Quick Game is the best way to take advantage of overhang players. The

better teams are going to attempt to play people “in” and “out” of the box at the same time by placing them as close to both as possibl

You have to make these overhang players pay by getting the ball to the flats or up the seam as fast as possible.

Our Quick Game usually consist of Hitch (diagram 9), Stick (diagram 10), and Choice (diagram 11). These three pass plays put

overhang defenders in a bind and create easy throwing lanes out of empty sets.







Drop Pass

If you get productivity out of your Draws, Screens, and Quick Game you will rarely, if ever, see any six man pressures. This gives you

good chance of making a 5 step game effective. Our primary five step Empty play is Curl/Flat with a Vertical push by #3. We throw

underneath and run the ball so much that we can sometimes hit the vertical for a big play. If we get the safety covering the vertical, it

creates throwing lanes for the curl or the out.





Unique Empty Sets

Our main Empty formations are just Trips Right or Left with Twins to the other side. We will run some Four and Five man sides that a

still empty but create unique matchups and confuse the defense. We can still run our Draws, Screens, and Quick game out of these

sets. We call our four man sides “Quads” (Diagram 13) and our Five man sides “Pentagon” (Diagram 14).








Conclusion

Our offensive philosophy at Pickens is to give our players a great chance for success on each play. When utilized properly, Empty

formations can create great matchups for your players and give them a chance for success regardless of how the defense aligns.

Author’s Biography: Coach Parker is the Head Coach at Pickens High School in Jasper, GA. He has taken over two different

programs that have struggled and turned them around. He is entering his 2nd season at Pickens. In 2012, Pickens set school record

for points per game and yards per game in Coach Parker’s first season. Previously he was the Head Coach at Chapel Hill. He was

named the top new coach in the state by the Atlanta Journal Constitution in 2008 after taking Chapel Hill from 0-10 to 9-3 in his first

season.

Category: Offense

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Adding Empty as a Mid Season Wrinkle