The Single Wing Offense, Hottest Thing Going Now Even in the NFL

The Single Wing Offense is the Hottest Thing InMissouri; They call it Rucker right and Rucker left,
Football Right Nowgetting the ball to Tight End Martin Rucker. Missouri did
Single Wing Football is growing by leaps and bounds atthe same with Wide Out Jeremy Maclin.
the youth level, but how about all the buzz about itNebraska- They call it the "Joker" with running back
now at the High School, College and even NFL level?Marlon Lucky taking snaps, He has even thrown a
What's this all about? Sports Illustrated even did a veryJump pass for a TD this season.
flattering piece on the Single Wing in their DecemberPitt: They call it the Wildcat with running back LeSean
2008 Issue.McCoy taking snaps.
Why Now?California: Running back Justin Forsett taking direct
Much of this newfound attention can probably besnaps including 2 for touchdowns against Arizona.
attributed to the "TV" factor. Most coaches areColorado- Rack-Luck is what they call it, with running
copycat innovators, they see something that works,back Demetrius Snyder taking direct snaps.
the modify it a bit to what they are doing now or theGeorgia Tech- Running back Tashard Choice taking
personnel they have in place and viola a new "Singledirect snaps.
Wing" series is born. Ten years ago the only SingleMiami- Running back Graig Cooper taking direct snaps.
Wing teams you would ever see on TV were in HighTexas A&M- The J-Train, with running back
School State Championship games on local TV. If youJavorskie Lane taking snaps.
were real lucky you could get a coveted VHS copy ofMississippi- Houston Nutt calls his the "Wild Rebel"
a youth team running the offense in some far awaySo having just two teams, Florida and Arkansas
land. Thank goodness those days are gone. Now werunning the Single Wing in 2008 has spawned an entire
have u-tube and message boards where you can seeflock of college teams utilizing the Single Wing offense
lots of youth and High School teams running the Singleat least part of the time just one year later.
Wing offense. But what is more important than theEven the NFL Follows
proliferation of successful High School and YouthBut the biggest proliferator of the Single Wing probably
teams running the Single Wing is thehas to go to the former hapless Miami Dolphins. After
"Saturday-Sunday" factor.a 1-15 season last year, the Dolphins are just one
The "Saturday Sunday Effect"game out of the lead in their Division this season. More
Many coaches, parents and players don't think animportantly, the Dolphins unveiled their version of the
offense is "legitimate" until they see their favoriteSingle Wing offense to break the New England
College or NFL teams running the offense. It's aPatriots 15 game regular season win streak. Putting
"gimmick" offense until they see it on TV. Todaysrunning back Ronnie Brown at the Single Wing
offensive guru/mad scientist of college football is a"Quarterback" position and putting Quarterback
man by the name of Urban Meyer. If you look at thePennington in the Slot. Brown ran for 4 touchdowns
interviews he has given about his offense he's anoff of direct snaps and even threw for a touchdown
unabashed Single Wing man from his early days atpass against the befuddled Patriot defense.
Bowling Green. At Bowling Green he had a player byThis didn't turn out to be a one hit wonder, as the
the name of Josh Harris, a tailback Meyer moved toDolphins have continued to use their "Wildcat" series in
"QB" in his Senior season. Harris lead the country inevery game since unveiling it against the mighty
scoring for most of that season.Patriots. What did we see in coming weeks out of
Well now coach Meyer has significantly more talent asother NFL teams? More Single Wing series plays from
the Head coach of the Florida Gators and what is hethe Ravens, Bears and Jets to name just a few.
doing? He's running the Single Wing with his HeismanThe Youth Football Implications
Trophy winner Tim Tebow at the controls evenWhat does this mean to you as a youth coach? The
resurrecting a few old time Single Wing favoritesSingle Wing is still a niche offense, used by less than
including the Jump pass.3% of youth football teams across the country. While
The Single Wing got huge TV exposure last year withyou still have the advantage of running something
the Heisman race, It came down to two players thatmost teams don't see very often, expect to see more
were both classic Single Wing Tailbacks, Tim Tebowof it since it has been "blessed" by the
and Darren McFadden from Arkansas.Saturday-Sunday phenomenon.
Who Has Joined the Mini Band Wagon?It also means maybe us back-to-the-future Single
Some other college teams using the Single Wing thisWingers were a bit ahead of our time. It also means
year:those that decide to follow will have to deal with
Clemson: The call it the "Stallion" with running backsfewer of those odd looks from non savvy on-lookers.
James Davis and CJ Spiller taking snaps.