The spread offense begins as a no-huddle approach with the quarterback in the shotgun position and anywhere from three to five wide receivers stretching the length of the football field. The fundamental nature of the scheme involves stretching the offense horizontally across the field creating any number of seams in the defense that the offense can exploit with the running or passing game. The defense, being forced to stretch themselves to cover the wide outs, leaves much of the field open for slant routes or a quarterback draw.
Forms of the Spread Offense
There are a number of different forms of the spread, all with the same basic formation, but it's what happens after the ball is snapped that changes from one form to the next.
One is the "air raid" scheme that relies heavily on the passing game to exploit the defense. In this scheme it is crucial that the quarterback and coach are communicating to the best of their abilities to call the right plays at the line of scrimmage.
The other form is the "spread option" form, that relies heavily on the running game. This scheme requires a speedy quarterback that is comfortable running the ball as well as wideouts that can carry the football as well. It is crucial that the offense in question has wide recievers that can hold their blocks in this scheme.
The final, and least carried out, scheme is the "pistol spread," that employs the run, primarily, and a quarterback that stands two to three yards behind the center to catch a short shotgun snap before each offensive play.
History of the Spread Offense
The spread offense originated in Texas at the Forth Worth Masonic Home and School for Orphans. Rusty Russell created the formation in 1927 because his players were outmatched by his larger and better shape opponents. To level the playing field Russell spread his players out and helped his team to "book worthy" status in the 1930s with his great success running the system. Jim Dent wrote a book about the team in 2007.
The spread offense, as it is known today did not happen until the late 1980s to early 1990s but were limited compared to some of the coaches that run the offenses today. Mike Leach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders has pushed the system to the limit with his "air raid" scheme.
The Spread Offense at Different Levels
The spread offense is used in a variety of levels of football today. In college it is most notably used by Georgia Tech, Texas Tech, Purdue, Central Michigan, University of Michigan, Oregon and Florida, to varying levels of success.
In the National Football League no team uses the spread offense only but most all of the teams deploy the spread at some time in their offensive drives to mix up their plays and confuse the defense they are trying to beat.
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