Power Spread Offense: Zone/Gap Run Game & Variations

with Matt Drinkall,
Army Black Knights Tight Ends Coach;
former Kansas Wesleyan University Head Coach;
2018 KCAC Coach of the Year;
KCAC Regular Season Champions (perfect 10-0 conference record)

In just his second year as head coach (2015), Coach Drinkall led Kansas Wesleyan to its best season in school history. Coming off a 2-9 season the year before, the Coyotes racked up a school-record 10 wins and earned a berth in the NAIA Football Championship Series for the first time since 2002. Coach Drinkall's offense ranked fifth in the NAIA in total offense and pass offense per game and was seventh in the country in scoring. Coach Drinkall served as offensive coordinator at Saint Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa for two seasons, guiding an offense that ranked No. 4 in the NAIA in scoring offense (44.2 points per game), total offense (505.9 yards per game), passing offense (326.3 yards per game) in 2013. He helped SAU reach the NAIA Football Championship Series three times (`08, `12 and `13).

Offenses in football are constantly changing, always looking for advantages. In today's football, offenses are spreading out to give their playmakers more room. However, sometimes an offense needs to be able to have a power running game. Coach Matt Drinkall explains how he runs a power run offense from a spread concept in this video.

Coach Drinkall explains his terminology and philosophy as he talks about his bread and butter plays: the power and the trap. He describes his terminology as a simplified process to make it easy for his players to understand. This allows his running game to be successful without a lot of confusion.

As with any offense, you cannot live on only two plays. Coach Drinkall illustrates with charts and video the blocking schemes for several other plays that are built off the power and trap run plays. In this offense, any of the skill players can run the ball and the offensive line will still know their blocking assignments. One weapon Coach Drinkall likes to use is the running quarterback, as it creates many problems with the defense. He has designed powers and traps for the quarterback to make plays.

Coach Drinkall also illustrates his "man" blocking scheme to create a zone-style blocking scheme. From this scheme, he is able to run all the same plays, plus it allows for variations of runs to be implemented.

If your team needs a power running game in its spread offense, this video featuring Coach Drinkall is a must!

84 minutes. 2017.