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Wallace goes to offense's source
Quincy High School football coach Stephen Wallace has been running a version of the flexbone offense for several years now, dating back to his time with Bridgeport High School.
Wallace brought the novelty offense to Quincy last season, his first at the helm of the Jackrabbits, and saw modest success as the team won three games, more than it had in the previous two years combined.
But Wallace, a football junkie and a true student of the game, wasn't satisfied. He felt as though he didn't know enough about the offense - the intricacies, the nuances, the fine details.
Instead of relying on third-hand accounts to improve his knowledge, he went right to the source.
Wallace attended George Tech's spring football practice and spring inter-squad game in Atlanta from April 7 to 12. Paul Johnson, the Yellow Jackets' head coach, has been running the flexbone offense for several years and is considered to be one of its pioneers in the college game.
"I looked up when Georgia Tech was having their spring game and later I decided to call coach Johnson's secretary and asked if there was any possibility of me being able to watch their spring football practices," Wallace told Jack Tracks. "As valuable as it is to see how they make game-time adjustments to what the opposing defense is doing to try and stop their offense, I thought it would be more beneficial to our coaching staff and team to witness how they organized their practices and what types of drills they ran that were specific to the uniqueness of our offense."
For several days, Wallace intensely observed the Yellow Jackets' practices. He took notes. He asked questions. He immersed himself in the offense. He learned things that he didn't know before.
"I learned how their coaching staff organized their offensive practices and how they progressed from drill to drill, constantly focusing on building upon prior knowledge every day," he said. "For instance, how the quarterbacks and running backs slowly progressed through all option drills — beginning at a very basic level, in which they were simply focused on footwork and hand-eye relationship, and then slowly added new variable to the drill, such as one read at half-speed, then two reads until they were going at game speed. It impressed me to see these talented athletes and college coaches taking such pride in the basics every day in practice."
The flexbone typically uses a quarterback, five offensive linemen, three running backs, and varying numbers of tight ends and wide receivers. The flexbone is a predominant running formation derived from the wishbone formation, and it features a quarterback under center with a fullback lined up directly behind the quarterback. There are two smaller running backs called slotbacks aligned behind the line of scrimmage on each side of the offensive line.
Wallace's version of the offense can vary a bit at times, but last year he found success with senior fullback Breck Webley taking the majority of the rushing load, running for over 800 yards. Tailback Manny Ybarra had over 400 yards, and the quarterback, Jackson Hodges, ran for over 350.
This year, Ybarra will take over the fullback position and Hodges returns as the four-year varsity starting signal-caller, but Wallace is hoping for a more balanced attack that features Ybarra, Hodges andthe slotbacks, Cai Yamamoto and Kevin Rincon.
"Last year our offense was very basic, only running three to five plays, with very little ability to counter defensive adjustments, partly because of a rotating offensive line that was never the same for back-to-back games and partly because it just takes time for players to learn and feel comfortable in this style of offense," Wallace said. "The most important thing I believe I got from coach Johnson and his staff was how to focus on and take pride in the basics. Secondly, they did a great job of showing me how to counter various defensive adjustments without making dramatic changes in the offense. Their coaching staff walked me through several of their plays and how they would modify them to fit with our level of athletes."
Contact Doug Flanagan at reporter@qvpr.com or through Facebook:
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