January 20, 2015 • Football

Football: Two passing plays from Urban Meyer

The Ohio State coach opened his playbook for Coach & Athletic Director

Urban Meyer, head coach of the 2015 national champion Ohio State Buckeyes, was featured as the cover story in the August 2012 edition of Coach & Athletic Director magazine. He provided insight into how he’s built programs into championship winners, what he does when he first takes over a new team and some practice tips on getting the most from every player.

On the Xs and Os side, he opened his playbook and provided these two plays to get a small glimpse into his spread offense, which has been successful everyplace he’s run it.

Field Drive

The Field Drive sends five receivers down the field at various depths, which spreads the defense and allows the quarterback to pick and choose the best option.

Field Drive

DIAGRAM 1: Field Drive. From an open backfield, start with two receivers to the left and three to the right. On the left the outside receiver runs an out pattern at a 10-yard depth. The left slot runs a go route to 20 yards. The inside receiver on the right side works to a depth of 15 yards (moving slightly outside first) before coming across the middle. The middle receiver on the left side runs strong across the middle at a five- to seven-yard depth. The outside receiver runs an in at a five-yard depth.

An alternative (show with the dotted lines) is to have the left outside receiver run the go route and have the slot run a post, breaking toward the post at a 15-yard depth.

Smash Concept

The Smash Concept also is run from an open backfield with five receivers spaced. Instead of the receivers on the right side working toward the middle as in the Field Drive, in this instance all five receivers appear to be moving in different directions to further confuse the defense.

Smash Concept

DIAGRAM 2: Smash Concept. The outside left receiver runs to a shade less than a 10-yard depth, then cuts hard toward the ball. The slot left receiver progresses to 10 yards then gains more yardage while moving toward the sideline. The outside right receiver runs a go route beyond 20 yards. The middle right receiver moves to a 10-yard depth, then crosses. The inside right receiver starts in, then moves straight down the field before crossing at a 15-yard depth and finishes up the field.

As an alternative, the inside right receiver cuts off the route just below 15 yards and comes across the field.


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