Designing a Run Game at the Youth Level

Quick note that I know my posting has been erratic. I've got lots of material that needs to go up soon. Some of it is more exposition while I really want to lay out a lot of one-back offense stuff I have and I've outlined articles on breaking down and reading coverages, but just haven't had the time. Sorry.

Anyway:

At the youth level I think there are three keys to designing an effective run game (arguably these are all just as important at the higher levels too), and many youth teams don't do any of them:

1. Don't ask your players to move defenders where they don't want to go. This is hard for anyone, but especially for youth players who aren't exactly doing squats and power cleans all week. Most teams seem to pick a hole and just try to run at it no matter what. One of the ideas behind zone blocking is trying to avoid this by letting the line combo block and let the running back pick his lane.

2. More blockers at the point of attack. At higher levels pulling guards and power at the POA is deterred by the defenses' overall team speed and their ability to read keys like pulling linemen. Most youth defenses are a) not that fast, and b) not that sophisticated. Therefore, I like pulling guards and tackles and getting numbers at the point of attack. The other added bonus is allowing your linemen (particularly those linemen who are only on the line because they were just over the weight limit) to move and block on the run.

3. Misdirection and faking - This is just way underutilized. Again, some faking is less effective at higher levels because of speed and their ability to read. Also, remember when you watch a college or pro game that the pass is a much bigger threat so many runs look like play action passes, many play action passes look like runs, etc. Most youth teams' passing attacks are not so sophisticated or two-dimensional. Thus, good run fakes by multiple backs, maybe even jet sweeps are just plain necessary. This is a big problem with I-offenses at the youth level (or even one back and many poorly designed two-back ones) where all runs are obvious in where they are going.