Defending the Double Wing T
Defending The Double Wing Part I
Rules for every player on the defense
By Clay Kallam, Contributing Editor
In 1994, coach Don Markham’s Bloomington High (Calif.) Bruins had a pretty good season. They went 14-0 and scored 880 points.
Let’s review: 880 points. In one year.
How did Markham do it...with an offense he devised that was a modern version of the Double Wing. It’s a highly effective offense featuring two tight ends, one fullback (right behind the quarterback) and two wingbacks…as in 880 points in 14 games effective.
Dick Bruich coached in the same league as Markham, at Kaiser High School in Fontana, Calif., and it didn’t take a nuclear physicist to figure out that if his squad was going to win the league, they were going to have figure out how to stop Markham’s Double Wing offense— and they did.
Of course, Markham’s success with the formation did not go unnoticed, and now there are high schools all over the country running the system, which is difficult to stop for a variety of reasons.
First, it’s not something teams see every week, so preparation is difficult. Second, rather than spreading the field, it tightens it. The linemen play toe-to-toe with no splits and the wingbacks are right off the tight end. But most important, the Double Wing attacks defenses in a unique way.
The Double Wing is designed to do is lure defenders across the line of scrimmage while simultaneously knocking others back to the second level, creating “vertical space” that the running backs take advantage of. So, instead of trying to create holes by pushing defenders apart, the Double Wing is designed to create holes by separating them vertically.
DIAGRAM 1: The Double Wing. The offense almost always begins with motion from one of the wingbacks (started from a snap-count call) and most plays run in the direction of the motion — and though most plays are running plays, the Double Wing also has just enough passing options to keep it from being totally predictable.
So how to
Rules for every player on the defense
By Clay Kallam, Contributing Editor
In 1994, coach Don Markham’s Bloomington High (Calif.) Bruins had a pretty good season. They went 14-0 and scored 880 points.
Let’s review: 880 points. In one year.
How did Markham do it...with an offense he devised that was a modern version of the Double Wing. It’s a highly effective offense featuring two tight ends, one fullback (right behind the quarterback) and two wingbacks…as in 880 points in 14 games effective.
Dick Bruich coached in the same league as Markham, at Kaiser High School in Fontana, Calif., and it didn’t take a nuclear physicist to figure out that if his squad was going to win the league, they were going to have figure out how to stop Markham’s Double Wing offense— and they did.
Of course, Markham’s success with the formation did not go unnoticed, and now there are high schools all over the country running the system, which is difficult to stop for a variety of reasons.
First, it’s not something teams see every week, so preparation is difficult. Second, rather than spreading the field, it tightens it. The linemen play toe-to-toe with no splits and the wingbacks are right off the tight end. But most important, the Double Wing attacks defenses in a unique way.
The Double Wing is designed to do is lure defenders across the line of scrimmage while simultaneously knocking others back to the second level, creating “vertical space” that the running backs take advantage of. So, instead of trying to create holes by pushing defenders apart, the Double Wing is designed to create holes by separating them vertically.
DIAGRAM 1: The Double Wing. The offense almost always begins with motion from one of the wingbacks (started from a snap-count call) and most plays run in the direction of the motion — and though most plays are running plays, the Double Wing also has just enough passing options to keep it from being totally predictable.
So how to