The Single-Wing Offense (15 pages, PDF)

This is a digitised edition of the printed Gridiron Strategies Special Coaching Report on the single-wing offense — 15 pages with a searchable text layer, delivered as a PDF. It solves exactly the problem Mike Rude opens the report by describing: as a 22-year-old head coach in 1970 he tried to run the single wing as his primary offense, went 0-8, and admits he did not understand the intricacies — the proper footwork for the spinner series, and above all the blocking schemes and how to attack various defensive fronts. The five articles collected here are that missing detail, written by three high school head coaches who run the offense: back alignments and footwork spelled out step by step, a hole-and-series numbering system you can call from the huddle, and play after play drawn against the specific defensive fronts these staffs actually see. Rude's own note on why it is worth the trouble: the single wing helped his team win numerous games in which it was physically and athletically overmatched.

What's inside

• Running the Single Wing in the 21st Century, Part 1: "The 20 Series" — by Michael W. Rude, head football coach, Johnston City High School, Johnston City, Ill. The unbalanced-line formation and the three-number calling system (series, ball carrier, area attacked), the snap toward the tailback's right knee and his one-quarter pivot, the fullback's short 6-inch step back and balanced up-step to open a lane for the wingback, wingback motion parallel to the line of scrimmage with no bowing back, and why defenses that fear being outflanked keep opening the 3-hole and the 7-hole. The full series — 247, 233, 221, 232, 244, 245, 20-8 end across, 2-end across, the BB screen and the FB screen — with 247, 233 and 221 each diagrammed against all five fronts his players see in their league: 4-4, 5-2, 4-3, 6-2 and 5-3. Rude also points out that the fashionable Jet Sweep series is doing what Carl Snavely at North Carolina, Robert Neyland at Tennessee and Jock Sutherland at Pittsburgh were doing with the 20 series over 75 years ago.
• Sidebar: "Unbalanced-Line Formations Survive Over the Years" — where the offense came from (its foundation first appeared on the gridiron in 1906) and six labelled formation diagrams: the unbalanced single wing, the Y-formation, Glenn "Pop" Warner's double wing popularised at Stanford in the 1920s, the TCU double tailback, and Steve Owen's A-formation, used by the New York Giants into the early 1950s. Includes Hugh Wyatt on why the right reply to "somebody is running the single wing" is "what version?", the work of the National Single Wing Coaches Association, and Sutherland's 30-17-1 NFL record with the offense at Pittsburgh.
• Part 2: "The 40 Tailback Series" — the series Rude calls the bread and butter of his attack, designed to put named defenders in a conflict mode and let their reaction pick the point of attack. Tailback at 4.5 yards with his left foot over the ball, fullback at the same depth over the outside leg of the inside tackle. Ten plays including 421, 423, 423 Wham, 45 Decoy, 47 Power, 48, 48 Power, 49 and 49 Option, diagrammed against the 50 defense, with the coaching detail behind each: the blocking back and fullback approaching the strong safety shoulder-to-shoulder so he cannot read seal from kickout, moving inside the defensive end with 47 Power once he has taken a strong dose of double-teams, the "Solid" call that keeps the weak-side guard home, the "you"/"me" guard call on the 421 weak-side reverse, 45 Decoy Opposite, and 49 FB Wide.
• Part 3: "The 30 Fullback Series" — the fullback quarter spin, and the decision that comes before it: whether you want a bruiser who blocks for the tailback or a runner with feet and ball-handling skills, and what that choice does to the rest of your offense. Rude's staff chose the tailback type, and his fullbacks rushed for over 2,280 yards and 26 touchdowns across two seasons, 14 of those scores from more than 40 yards out. Covers the double-wing formation he prefers for this series and three ways into it including the T1 tailback-motion call, fullback alignment and pivot mechanics, the crouched carriage that hides the ball, and who is responsible for the fake. Diagrams 4 to 33 on pages 7 and 8 show 335, 334, 321, 321 T-Reverse and 321 Pass against 4-4, 5-2, 4-2, 6-3, 6-2 and 5-3.
• "Old-School Single-Wing Spinner Series Still Sizzles" — by Donnie Kiefer, head football coach, Roanoke High School, Robersonville, N.C., written after his team went solely to the single wing and finished 11-3, reaching the state semifinals (a 54-52 loss in four overtimes), scoring 617 points and rushing for well over 5,000 yards, with both tailback and fullback first-team all-state. The article focuses on the fullback spinner: a base formation with all eleven positions labelled, then an eight-point checklist of the rules that make the series work — the tailback leaving no daylight as he runs through the fullback's near hip, the wingback aiming at that same hip knowing the spin has moved it, and every back covering the ball or selling the fake and sprinting full speed whether he has it or not. Plays: fullback trap (with the "2" call against a hard 2-technique), fullback off-tackle strong, tailback sweep, wingback reverse with a kickout, wingback reverse with a log block, and the play-action pass off sweep action.
• "The Single-Wing 'Fat Formation'" — by Bruce Eien, head coach, Brethren Christian High School, Huntington Beach, Calif., on the compressed three-back direct-snap set he built in 2001 when he had no true running back and needed a goal-line answer for a spread team. He explains how it ended up resembling the Notre Dame Box and the UCLA balanced single-wing set without being either. Terminology, 6-inch line splits, alignment, position names and the numbering system; the four quarterback runs that hit all four areas — blast up the middle, power off tackle, sweep outside, counter to the weak side — each with its blocking rules; then the fullback and wingback plays, and the entire passing game he folded into the formation in 2002, the year his junior quarterback threw for 2,100 yards and 21 touchdowns and rushed for 1,100 yards and 19 more in 12 games. A list of the formation's advantages makes the installation case plainly: the linemen block the same way every play, so the backs and tight ends carry the scheme, and the offense was practised effectively with only 17 players. The diagrams on pages 13 to 15 add 14 Throwback, 22 Pass, 22 Keeper, 24, 26, 31, 33 Pass, 33 Throwback, 34, 34 Pass, 34 Throwback and 36.

Who it is for

High school head coaches and offensive coordinators thinking about installing the single wing, or already running it and looking for more series to lean on. All three contributors are high school head coaches writing about their own programs, so the material is pitched at that level and at the practical questions that decide whether an install survives — what type of athlete each backfield spot needs, how much blocking complexity your linemen can absorb in year one, and which series to put in first. Rude is explicit that he started with the 30 series quarter spin rather than the full spin or buck lateral precisely because the added blocking assignments were too much for his line to handle in the first season.

• Coaches whose teams are regularly outsized or outmatched and need deception, misdirection and angles rather than a physical advantage.
• Small-roster programs — the Fat Formation article was developed and practised with 17 players.
• Spread and shotgun coaches who want a compressed power and short-yardage package that keeps the direct snap and the existing passing game.
• Coaches who have to defend the single wing and want to see how its own coaches think about putting the strong safety, the defensive end and the linebackers in conflict.

Note what this is, honestly: a 15-page collection of five magazine-length articles from three programs, not one team's complete playbook. Every play discussed is diagrammed, but the report is a set of series installs and coaching points rather than a start-to-finish system manual, and it contains no video.