Spread Offense in Youth Football

Spread Offense in Youth Football

Introduction

The heart and core of this paper is to critically analyze the concept of spread offense in Youth Football. The implications and implementation of spread offense will also be critically evaluated. Tom Luginbill at ESPN/Scout makes an interesting argument that the proliferation of the spread offense throughout high school and college football has hurt the development of quarterbacks. Specifically, Luginbill believes that operating out of the shotgun, instead of under center, hurts the ability of QBs to develop the fundamental footwork needed in three, five, and seven-step drops. Luginbill argues that playing in a spread offense hurts the development of QBs at every level, but especially the high school, college, and professional level. Luginbill states:

However, the essential principles of productive quarterback play (footwork, balance, transfer of weight and timing) are often compromised in the spread.

However, I disagree with this statement for several reasons, most specifically because I think the spread concentrates on the essential principle of quarterback play, which is reading the defense.

Star-Divide

Spread quarterbacks are required to read the secondary box before they do anything else on the field, and reading the secondary is one of the primary skills needed to play quarterback professionally. Luginbill says:

The thing is, if a player has hopes of eventually playing in the NFL, it is not going to be beneficial for the prospect to be 21 years old and having to learn footwork and progression reads from under center that he should have started developing at 14. The shotgun is the easy part. Working from under center is the hard part, and should always be the foundation by which QB prospects learn and blossom.

Well, the vast majority of kids who play QB in youth football, high school, and college are not going to play QB in the NFL, so isn't it somewhat asinine to insist all QBs be developed for that League? The purpose of teaching quarterbacks offensive schemes in youth, high school, and college football should be to teach them scheme that will allow them to score the most points in a manner that will win them the most games. The purpose of playing football games is to win them, not to hopefully develop someone for a possible professional career.

My other problem with Luginbill's article is that his grasp on the history of the game is rudimentary, at best. The professional ranks were dominated by QBs playing in the shotgun in the early 20th century; ever heard of Steve Owen and the A-formation? It wasn't until the T-formation became the standard for every NFL team following the 1947 season that it became a requirement for every NFL quarterback to take an indirect snap, i.e. play from under center. There is also the fact that every NFL team has their QB in the shotgun at least part of the time, especially when running the two-minute drill.

The original spread offense of the modern era, the BYU spread which was run during Lavell Edwards' tenure, who used West Coast ...