Running the Read Option

with Tom Lombardo,
St. Edward (OH) High School Head Coach; 2015 Ohio Division 1 Champions

Getting a defense to play the entire field can be a hard task for an offense. Coach Tom Lombardo of St. Edward High School shows you how his team's read option offense led them to becoming one of the most highly ranked high school programs in the country.

The read option forces defenses to play disciplined football. You will see how Lombardo uses the read option to give his team four different places to go with the ball. In addition to the rules and philosophy of the read option, you'll learn the blocking scheme that's used based on the defensive front, as well as the QB read option, power read and jet power read that help complement the offense.

4 Options

Learn the four options that make up the zone read offense, which include gives, keeps, bubble action and gift action. You will also see:

• How to get everyone to run as if they are getting the ball
• How to attack a Cover 3 team with a quick hitch
• How each action is blocked and read by the QB
• How to get the QB and RB to act as one in the backfield

Blocking Scheme

Coach Lombardo breaks down how to block a stack, odd, 4 by 1 or 4 by 2 box to effectively block for the read option offense. He covers the blocking basics with and without the use of a tight end. Identifying the point and dot linebackers ensure lineman are clear on how to identify the most dangerous five defenders. You will also see how to identify the five most dangerous players within a defensive front.

Complements

Once you have the fundamentals of the read option down, you can add the complements to the offense. You will be able to use concepts such as QB zone read, power read, jet power read and power read option to eliminate dominate defensive lineman and linebackers.

Game footage is used to show you how to run each phase of the read option.

Coach Lombardo gives you a wealth of knowledge to run the zone read effectively. This offense gets multiple players involved and forces your opponents to guard the entire length and width of the field. This video is a must-have for any coach looking to introduce the zone read into their program!

80 minutes. 2017.