THE COUNTER SERIES FLEXIBILITY PAR EXCELLENCE.

OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, East Grand Forks Senior High has become predominantly an inside zone, outside zone, counter, and power scheme offense.

The series that has been most productive for us is our counter series. It includes the counter running play, play-action counter passes, and a counter screen. This series has given us a lot of flexibility, both running and passing, against all the defenses we have faced.

The Linemen

We run our counter from different formations and motions, as well as different blocking schemes. Depending upon what we see, we may pull our guard-tackle in combination, or guard-tight end, or tackle-tight end.

We also have the capability of blocking the play by pulling one lineman and an offset fullback, or an extra tight end, although we haven't used this scheme extensively.

The advantage of using a fullback or a second tight end as the puller is that they usually possess more speed and athleticism than an interior linemen, which is beneficial whenever the second puller has to block a defender in the open field.

Our line takes "subway" splits -- the width of a Subway sandwich -- meaning 6 to 12 inches. This gets our linemen close enough to cover for each other on pulls, and it eliminates any penetration by defensive linemen.

Diag. 1 shows our counter from a two tight-end set vs a 50 front with the guard and tight end pulling. The play-side linemen's rule is to block inside gap.

If covered by a down defender, take a 6-inch drop step with the inside foot, to get proper position on the defender, and block his inside number.

If uncovered, take a short "pull step" with the inside foot and block the outside number of the first down defender inside you.

We call our first puller the "kicker" because it is his job to kick the defensive end out. We call the second puller the "wrapper" because it is his job to wrap around on the play-side LB. Since the wrapper must pull slightly deeper than the "kicker," he can make many adjustments necessary should the first puller be wrong-armed by the defender being kicked out, or the play-side LB comes on a run through.

Coaching point: Although the second puller must wrap on the play-side LB, he must keep his eyes on him as he is pulling in case the LB runs through.

If the play-side LB runs through, the wrapper must block him on the run through so that he doesn't penetrate the LOS. The center and play-side guard are responsible for any backside LB run through.

Diag. 2 shows the counter run to the three-man side vs a Cover 2 look. Because we are pulling both the backside guard and tackle, the center will block back for the guard and the fullback will fill for the second puller. If there is no fullback, the QB is responsible for the EOL.

Vs a Cover 3 look, we will adjust the tight end's block. He has basically three options:

He may make a call to arc release on the SS, which will keep the rules for the puller the same (Diag. 3).

He may make a call to drive at the inside LB, which will tell the second puller to look to the outside for an alley player or stacked LB.

He may make a "Solid" call to block the EOL, which will tell the pullers to read his block and adjust, depending on what the EOL is doing.

If the EOL is squeezing down, we will turn the play into a sweep. If he is widening, we will cut it up inside of him (Diag. 4).

If we run the play to the two-man side, we will treat the EOL the same as we do vs a 40 front to the three-man side. We may release our tackle to the inside LB, we may block the EOL solid, or we may arc release the tackle to the alley to influence the EOL to widen.

One difference to the two-man side is that at times we will call a predetermined counter sweep by logging the EOL with the first puller, or blocking the EOL solid and pulling up the alley (Diag. 5).

The Backs

The fullback's heels are at 5 yards and the tailback's toes at 7 yards. These landmarks can be adjusted to the personnel. The backfield mechanics are as follows:

Quarterback: Take ball from center and open to 6 o'clock play-side. Get ball to TB on third step and "ole" hand-off with left hand. Put your empty hand at your bellybutton. If there is no fullback, you are responsible for backside EOL.

Coaching point: In the "ole" move, keep empty hand extended and in sight of the defense after handing off to TB. This will slow defenders down and set up the counter pass.

Tailback: Wait for QB to bring you ball. Follow the second puller, read his block. Don't get ahead of the wrapper. Be patient before you explode through the hole. Don't bounce outside if the first puller kicked EOL out.

Coaching point: Have your TB take a small slide step backside, keeping his shoulders parallel to LOS. He must be careful not to slide so far as to close the distance between the hand-off exchange and the backside EOL, or the play will get chased down from the backside.

Fullback: Fill inside-out for the second puller.

Counter Pass

We run the counter pass to the three-man and two-man sides. We run it naked and with a bootleg (Diags. 6-7). We normally use a three-receiver pattern, as you can see in the diagrams.

The No. 1 receiver playside runs a "slow and go" or a post-corner route. A backside receiver runs a 20-25 yard crossing route to the opposite sideline and a third receiver runs what we call "slam and slide," blocking the DE and getting to the flat area late.

Sometimes the "slam and slide" receiver will be the tight end, and sometimes the fullback.

When we run the pass to the two-man side, we use the fullback as the "slam and slide" receiver and get him to the flat quickly.

If we get the free safety jumping the crosser in Cover 3, we will run a second backside receiver in behind and play high-low off him.

The other route we run off counter action is a throwback. The difference here is that the QB will carry out his counter fake for two steps before throwing to the backside receiver on a post-corner route (Diag. 7).

The other adjustment we make is to block this solid most of the time. We pull no lineman and rely solely on the backfield action for the fake.

Counter Screen

The next complementary play we run is the counter screen (Diag. 8). We run the play exactly as we do the counter running play, only we do not hand the ball back to the tailback.

We do not want a great fake by the QB. We tell him and the tailback to "hurry the play" and be somewhat sloppy.

We want the defenders to know the tailback hasn't gotten the ball on the hand-off. We have our two pullers run by the BOL and set up on a landmark, usually the numbers or the hash mark, depending on where the ball is on the field. After the fake, the QB takes about four steps, turns, and throws the ball to the tailback. Our receivers run routes as though running the counter pass.

This has been a very productive series for us. It gives the defense the same look, yet allows the offense to attack different areas by adjusting to the defensive coverages and fronts.

Hopefully, the counter package, or some parts of it, will help your offense "counter" up more points on the scoreboard.