Why I like… The
Wing-T Trap Play
As a player I’m sure you had one play that got your skin
tingling when it got called in the huddle.
In High School we ran the traditional Delaware Wing-T, my play was the
Trap Play. Finally, my chance to rise up
and shine, and I wasn’t even the ball carrier, I was the guard. The play call for us was Red 34 Guard Trap.
Something I here from a lot of coaches on Twitter: “The
Wing-T is BORING” by pretty much every Spread Coach ever. Well, as a High School player who was
grateful for a chance to get on the field no matter what I loved playing in the
Wing-T offense. I’ll be totally honest
and say that at the time I had no idea that our offense was Wing-T, I really didn’t
care and most kids don’t.
Now as a coach who is researching various offenses I have a
whole new appreciation for the Trap. My
plan is to profile this play in different offensive formations, but today I’m
focusing on the Wing-T Trap.
http://image.slideserve.com/246137/124-guard-trap-l.jpg
If you are unfamiliar with the Wing-T Buck Series I suggest
that you check out some of the many Wing-T coaches on Twitter. Once you have done this come back and finish
reading. For those of you who are familiar
with the Buck Series you will know what I am talking about. The Buck series usually consists of four
plays (Buck Sweep, Trap, Counter and Waggle).
In the Wing-T we are looking to misdirect the defense by having a series
of plays that look like the same thing but have different outcomes. The backfield action in the Buck Series is
the same for all three plays, the major difference between each is who gets the
ball and where are the guards going.
Someone is pulling off the line on all four plays, which is why many
defensive coaches teach their linebackers to read pulling guards when playing
the Wing-T.
That being said, I don’t believe defending the Wing-T is as
easy as reading a pulling guard. 1st,
any Wing-T coach worth his salt will have an answer to whatever your defense
does. 2nd, we are talking
about teenage boys, not full grown men.
Teenagers are impulsive, emotionally driven creatures who forget
everything they are taught when in pressure situations. You may pound “follow the guards” all week,
but eventually they will begin to watch the backfield which is when they get
really confused.
So why does all this matter?
Well, let’s say that as an offensive coach who runs the Buck series I am
most likely going to start by running Buck Sweep at least 5-6 times before I
call another run play. Why? I want those linebackers to start to flow
over to stop the sweep play, I want them following my guards. Once I know that they are going to flow, that
is when I hit them with something else, most likely Guard Trap.
Contributed by Coach Bruce Eien @bruceeien
Trap from UC is probably one of the fastest hitting run
plays there is, besides maybe Wedge.
Most of the time if you see a trap play hit for big yards it’s because
the defensive line is flying up field too fast and the linebackers are flowing
to the sweep action. In the Wing-T Trap
play, you don’t block the DE’s, have your tackles release to the 2nd
level and pick up a linebacker. The
fullback is following the same action path as Buck Sweep but will receive the
ball and follow the pulling guard into the 4 gap. As a OG myself I always looked to have a devastating
block on this play because the DT never expects it. That being said, it is not a requirement that
the pulling guard gets a big hit, all he really needs to do is get himself
between the defender and the ball carrier.
Just a little wing clip will do in most situations.
Now, what about those situations where the defense is
obviously reading pulling guards? Would
they not sniff this play out? Well here
is my answer: Influence Trap. Most trap
plays don’t pull both guards, just the trapping guard. But on influence trap, you pull both guards:
PSG pulls and blocks Buck Sweep path, BSG (trap guard) pulls and traps DT. I’m a big believer in the saying “One good
fake equals two good blocks”.
https://www.xandolabs.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Slide12.jpg
If you have any questions, please comment down below. For my next article I plan on profiling the
Trap play out of Spread Gun formations.
Stay Obsessed.
Comments
Post a Comment