Football 101

Hello class, and welcome to your first day of Football 101.  I am your professor, Ohio Vol.  Needless to say, that’s not my real name, but you don’t need to know what it actually is.

Since this is the first day of class, I’ll tell you a little about myself.  As the name suggests, I’m an Ohio native and currently reside in that state.  I did attend UT and am a longtime Vols fan.  Being stuck in central Ohio is a lot like being in Knoxville right now: what passes for good football locally on a Saturday isn’t good football.  The real difference is that the SEC is strong and the Big MAC is feeble, and UT’s fan base doesn’t believe their team to be invincible and everyone else to be “haters”.

As for my playing career, I can’t honestly say that I was any good.  I am the embodiment of the adage that “Those who can play, play; those who can’t, coach.”  I began my coaching career at age 19, but it wasn’t until I began closely looking at the game more as an economic model than a bunch of X’s and O’s that I really began to blossom strategically and from an interactive standpoint.  I am thankful to have been exposed to high levels of play in Ohio.  Had I been a more valuable player at a lesser school, I probably would have the minimal knowledge that I once did and wouldn’t have ever progressed.  But enough about me.

In this series, we’re going to start at the most basic level.  Don’t feel like I’m talking down to you; this is actually something that I’ve done during summer camps.  I believe it’s a lot better for everyone to start on the same page rather than assume that there’s a requisite knowledge and risk anyone getting caught behind from Day One.  I’m in good company; Vince Lombardi liked to start the first day of camp by holding up a ball and saying, “Gentlemen, this is a football.”  Of course, one year Max McGee followed that with, “Slow down coach, you’re going too fast.”

This particular installment is 101 – Offensive Positions.  Understand first that there is a difference between a position by technique and a position by alignment.  Position by technique means that a player possesses a requisite skill set and normally lines up a certain way.  Position by alignment means that a player is aligned in a particular spot in relation to the rest of his team.  For example, Jason Witten (now with Dallas) is listed as a tight end.  Tight end is his technical position.  In reality, he routinely lines up in the backfield, split out to one side, or grouped with a receiver toward the sidelines.  None of these spots actually matches where a tight end would line up, which is “right next to the outermost lineman”.  We’ll focus more on what you want to look for in a position in a later course; this one focuses strictly on alignment.

Okay, let’s begin.

At any given time, a team can have 11 players on the field.  How they align before the ball is snapped and the play begins is referred to as the “formation”.  To be legal, a formation must have no fewer than seven men lined up on the line of scrimmage (the sideline-to-sideline imaginary line that intersects the ball).  Really the only constant is that the offense will have someone to snap the ball to another player.  He generally is referred to as the center, although it’s possible for him to be aligned on the outside of the formation.  But since it’s a lot more unwieldy to refer to him as “the guy that snaps the ball” regardless of where he lines up, we’ll just call him the center.

On either side of the center are two more blockers, known as the guards.  The name is a perfect fit; their job is to guard the ballcarrier from getting splattered by the defense.  Outside of the guards (toward the sidelines) are the tackles.  Their job is pretty much the same as the guards, although the name is a misnomer.  In spite of what it may suggest, the offensive tackles can’t tackle a defender.  I’ll pause briefly here to mention that in football, “outside” means “toward the sidelines” and “inside” means “toward the middle of the formation or field”.

There are two more players that must be aligned on the line of scrimmage at a time.  If the player is set up just outside of the tackle, he is a tight end.  If he splits out to one side, normally 10 yards or more, he’s referred to as a split end.  If Terrell Owens sets up just outside of the tackle, he’s aligned as a tight end, even though most tight ends need to block and I just can’t see Owens getting his pretty little hands dirty.  Some offenses use two tight ends, some use none, and most use one to one side of the field and a split end to the other.  It depends on the team, the personnel, and who’s coaching.

So that’s seven players on the line, which leaves four more to get set.  The next most constant player is the quarterback, who normally sets up directly behind the center.  To receive the snap from the center, he puts his hands in a fairly sensitive area of the center’s body.  Oh, did I mention that the center normally doesn’t wear a protective cup?  Yeah….spandex pants and hands in groins…..it’s almost as disturbing as beach volleyball mixed with “Top Gun”.  Where was I?  Oh right.  The quarterback is the one who (normally) passes the ball or hands it off; in an option offense he’ll be a primary ballcarrier as well.  If you don’t believe me, consider this.  I distinctly remember an Army-Navy game where Navy QB Chris Madden carried the ball 42 times.

There is usually one player anywhere from three to seven yards behind the quarterback whose job it is to run the ball.  He’s normally referred to as the halfback or the tailback.  A number of teams still run offenses with a second running back who is normally used to block for the other.  Although it’s really a misnomer, the blocking back is normally referred to as the fullback (who lines up in front of the halfback.  Go figure).  Very rarely you can see a team with a quarterback and three running backs in a variety of formations.

So we’ve got our line, the quarterback, and two backs. Assuming it’s a one tight end formation, that would leave one man left to set up.  If he sets up on the tight end side slightly outside and slightly behind (normally 1 yard by 1 yard) the tight end, he’s referred to as a wingback.  If he sets up away from the tight end outside and behind the tackle, he’s referred to as a slotback.  If he sets in the power I, he’s referred to as a powerback.  (The power I is the only formation where such a position exists).

Now, there are a couple of positions that aren’t based on alignment.  Nebraska used to call their halfback the “I-back”, because he was the primary runner in their I-formation.  Most pro teams and some colleges have what’s generally referred to as an “H-back”, which is someone that lines up pretty much anywhere in the backfield as a blocker or as a tight end.  Frank Wycheck from the Titans was a good example.  The H-back is a technical position and not one of alignment, in much the same way that “stomach flu” refers to technically having digestive distress without identifying the actual underlying cause.

Notice that I haven’t touched on the most common terms, which is “receiver” and “running back”.  Both names are catch-alls for a much larger group.  “Running back” encompasses the halfback/tailback and fullback in addition to whoever else is lined up in the backfield; if there’s a powerback or a left and right halfback, they’re all classified as running backs.  “Receiver” includes split ends, flankers, slot receivers, and slotbacks.  Wingbacks normally are referred to do by their actual name, but for some reason slotbacks are normally grouped in with receivers.  I really have no idea why this is.

IMPORTANT CONCEPT: Offensive strength

Knowing what “offensive strength” is is vital to understanding of both the offensive and defensive mentalities.  The strong side is the one that the tight end is set up to, and the weakside is the one that is away from the tight end.  If there are two tight ends or none, the next level would usually be the direction of the outermost running back.  If that’s balanced, then it would be to the side of the field that has a receiver on the line.  If that’s balanced, then it would usually be to the wider side of the field.

So what’s sometimes referred to as a “strong I” or “offset I to strength” means that the fullback is aligned toward the tight end side instead of behind the quarterback; a “weak I” or “offset I away from strength” means the the fullback is aligned away from the tight end side.

IMPORTANT CONCEPT: Eligible receivers

Games have been won or lost based on a team having an ineligible receiver downfield.  In the rules of football, a team must have at least seven and as many as ten players on the line of scrimmage.  The reason that no one actually uses more than seven is because only the two outermost players are eligible receivers, meaning that they alone are allowed to go downfield before the ball is thrown.  If ten men line up on the line of scrimmage, only those two outermost ones could go downfield.  A defense could easily counter that, resulting in negative yards every time that formation is run.

There are a series of what’s referred to as “tackle-eligible” plays.  What this means is that there is a tight end and a split end on the same side of the formation, meaning that a tackle is the outermost player and therefore an eligible receiver.  But in order to be eligible, he must first notify the referee, who will announce that player’s pass eligibility to the defense.

This concludes our lesson in Football 101 – Offensive Positions.  Of course, there’s a lot more to learn, so make sure to check out the rest of this series.

The lesson plan in this track is as follows:

101 – offensive positions

102 – defensive positions

103 – basic offensive responsibilities

104 – basic defensive responsibilities

Additional tracks in the 100 series include:

110 – offensive positional play

120 – defensive positional play

130 – building an offense

140 – building a defense