101 Pistol Option Plays review and other Pistol thoughts

I’m always looking to expand my library with worthwhile resources. One key for me is that I can reference the material more than once. I have experience running the Gun Option Run game for the last 10 years. I have seen it evolve a lot over this period of time. Zone Read, Veer Option, Midline Option, and now Dash Option. My favorite is the Veer Option, well actually it is Midline but it always seems to get my QB beat up too much…


 My first exposure to the Gun Offense taught me that the tailback’s alignment in the Gun Offense started at even depth with the Quarterback.

 

Next. the tailback moved back so to provide a better mesh. The problem is that it is a presnap key for the Defense. If the defender is aligned away from the RB, they would key the RB running ZONE. If the defender is aligned TO the RB, they would key the QB running ZONE READ or SPEED OPTION. So put the RB behind the QB and NO PRESNAP KEY! 

I had thought of this idea about six years and then discovered it was Nevada’s base offense. I referred to it as Power I Gun (PIG for short). Here are some old school clips from that “Era” (Coaching sophomore football…Forgive me for the crude film job).

POWER I GUN

from John Maurek on Vimeo.

I decided to buy the eBook version and am glad I did! I am able to read it on my Laptop and my iPhone (The iPad mini is a near future purchase). For the teams I have coached, the Pistol formation has provided us with a more downhill path for our tailback. When we are in a one back set, it doesn’t give a presnap key to the Defense.

 

Coach Vint’s book is well laid out and easy to read.

The book contains sections on:

• MIDLINE CONCEPTS
• MIDLINE COMPLEMENTS
• VEER CONCEPTS
• LOAD and LEAD OPTIONS
• ZONE READ GAME
• TRAP READ CONCEPTS\
• COUNTER READ CONCEPTS\
• SHOVEL OPTION CONCEPTS
• FRONTSIDE READ CONCEPTS

At first glance I thought I found a grammatical error, complement. But I learned something new from our friends at Google. Complement

I am verbiage junkie. I love to see how other teams call their formations and plays. Coach Vint uses a number to set his Fullback. It is easy to learn and flexible. I may look into incorporating this into our offense next year. Plus the tags are great too! (Boss,Cobra,Cowboy, and Hoss)

Coach Vint uses a phonetic system for his motions. I have always been torn how to name motions.

Only one name for the motion and tag the player.

Examples: H Zip, X Zip, S Zip

Motions that are specific to players.

Examples: GLIDE is only used by the HB, JET is only used by the SLOT

Use a Phonetic system.

Zip = Z into formation

Fip = F into formation

Yip = Y into the formation

Tip = T into formation

This is still been a challenge for me. Could the players confuse ZIP,FIP,YIP and TIP?

Coach Vint answered
"Never had an issue with it. We rarely have two guys go in motion, and they did a good job of remembering what the ips,aps, and ops meant."
He continued
"I built the system to be simple. The goal was for our athletes to be able to play fast. Our verbage was simple and allowed them to play fast without thinking."

I would have like to see Coach Vint go into more detail about QB and RB steps for the base plays. However, I did understand all the plays and know that when you are in the gun, you can over-coach the footwork. For a more detailed look, check out an old article.

 VEER and MIDLINE form the GUN

We are a big two back team, the problem was the backfield set would give a presnap key. So we decided to try putting both back behind the QB. I only have one clip…hopefully I will get myself into gear and breakdown our whole season.

Here are my some of my favorites from the book, for the rest... you gotta buy the book!

I would highly recommend buying this book. Coach Vint did an excellent job and he is very accessible…

Twitter account @coachvint

GREAT JOB Coach Vint! I’m jealous!