Triple Option Blocking versus the 4-3

The 4-3/6-1 is the most common defensive alignment seen by college Triple Option teams.

At the high school level, this alignment is less prevalent, but still seen.

Because of a lack of parity at the high school level, Paul Johnson recommends “Ace” blocking the A-gap defender on Triple Option.  This is time-tested and infallible at the high school level.

Triple Option Offensive Line Blocking Rules

Playside Tackle- Veer (Outside UNLESS “Ace” call… “Ace” call=Inside)

Playside Guard- Base (UNLESS 1, 2i, 2… if that is the case, the Center and Guard “Ace”)

Center- Veer (Veer playside UNLESS 1, 2i, 2… if that is the case, the Center and Guard “Ace”)

Backside Guard and Tackle- Scoop (Crash in front of the defender within the inside gap)

In 2011, Triple Option Football Academy Owner, Lou Cella wrote about the “Slip” call.  Paul Johnson and his disciples do this to get the Playside Tackle on the Mike Linebacker.  At the college level, many defenses align their Mike Linebacker six yards off the ball, and run him over the top of the 1-technique side to tackle the pitch.  Often, the Playside Tackle was missing the Mike linebacker and there was a 3-on-3 situation for the defense.

So, what transpired was the Playside Tackle would Veer Outside (even outside of a 5-technique) and Slip up the field to wall the Mike.

The tradeoff… and this is a HUGE tradeoff… is that the Center has to Reach the 1… and if he cannot… the B-back simply bends back.

You cannot “Ace” the 1 because a B-gap runthrough by the Mike could run through B-gap and blow up the dive.

So there’s two ways to block the 4-3/6-1 defense.  The “Ace” situation is a more effective situation at the high school level based on the way high school defense play the Triple.

Often, high school defenses play the Triple with a lot of JUNK alignments and assignments.

That’s ok… because when you apply the system in it’s root form, the system accounts for all alignments and assignments.

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