FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[PurpleSuit]

Sounds like the author has a little man crush on Pierre.    

he's not the only one.....wait, what?

[Blutarsky]

We had a kid in high school who had a letter jacket with "MGR" on the letter.  He used to tell the girls that it stood for "Middle Guard--Returning". 

[SaintsFAN]

Our Strong Safety was called a Monster back when we played a Cover-3 (Green) when I was in HS.  He would play the flat on the strong side.  We played a 5-2 and our normal Cover-3 would roll to the strength, the corner on the play side would play the flat, free safety would play deep outside 3rd, SS in the Middle 3rd and other Corner would have deep outside 3rd on the weak side.  SS and FS were pretty much interchangeable on our team.  DE on the non-play side would drop and be responsible for the weak side flat.

Kirasdad,

Thats exactly the defense we played too.  When I got to college, we didn't have a monster back because it was a straight 43 defense.  It took me some getting used to.  My coach, as realitycheck can confirm, was an old school guy.  We played the 5-2.. with personel it was like the 44 defense (cover 3) but the ends had their hands in the dirt.  When teams beat us in HS (we didn't lose very much under Terry Malone), it was because they threw the ball downfield... taking advantage of our DB's, who even in zone coverage were put on an island.  We also ran the full house formation with two tight ends.  When I audibled to a pass (new for my senior year, as audibles weren't possible my first three years) the TE to that side would split out and we'd run a one or two man route.  It was a simple offense, lots of cross bucks, traps and powers... with alot of option/QB keepers mixed in.  It was definitely a big change for me going to play at Thomas More in the pro-set and spread formations. 

[Knightstalker]

Our Strong Safety was called a Monster back when we played a Cover-3 (Green) when I was in HS.  He would play the flat on the strong side.  We played a 5-2 and our normal Cover-3 would roll to the strength, the corner on the play side would play the flat, free safety would play deep outside 3rd, SS in the Middle 3rd and other Corner would have deep outside 3rd on the weak side.  SS and FS were pretty much interchangeable on our team.  DE on the non-play side would drop and be responsible for the weak side flat.

Kirasdad,

Thats exactly the defense we played too.  When I got to college, we didn't have a monster back because it was a straight 43 defense.  It took me some getting used to.  My coach, as realitycheck can confirm, was an old school guy.  We played the 5-2.. with personel it was like the 44 defense (cover 3) but the ends had their hands in the dirt.  When teams beat us in HS (we didn't lose very much under Terry Malone), it was because they threw the ball downfield... taking advantage of our DB's, who even in zone coverage were put on an island.  We also ran the full house formation with two tight ends.  When I audibled to a pass (new for my senior year, as audibles weren't possible my first three years) the TE to that side would split out and we'd run a one or two man route.  It was a simple offense, lots of cross bucks, traps and powers... with alot of option/QB keepers mixed in.  It was definitely a big change for me going to play at Thomas More in the pro-set and spread formations. 

That sounds like our defense, it was a mix of anything from a 5-3 to a 4-4.  The Monster backer did move around alot.  I also played some DE that year and would drop to cover the tight end if he ran, sometimes I would change sides depending on where the TE lined up.  I was a soph and us and the jrs would play every position on both sides of the line, especially in JV games.  Good experience and got us all some good PT.  They changed the D to 4-4-3 my jr year to take advantage of a bunch of linebacker types we had.

We ran the Veer on Offense, we were undersized and the coaches were good at utilizing our quickness and speed against bigger teams.  I was the biggest lineman at 6'1 and 205.

[HScoach]

That sounds like our defense, it was a mix of anything from a 5-3 to a 4-4.  The Monster backer did move around alot.  I also played some DE that year and would drop to cover the tight end if he ran, sometimes I would change sides depending on where the TE lined up.  I was a soph and us and the jrs would play every position on both sides of the line, especially in JV games.  Good experience and got us all some good PT.  They changed the D to 4-4-3 my jr year to take advantage of a bunch of linebacker types we had.

We ran the Veer on Offense, we were undersized and the coaches were good at utilizing our quickness and speed against bigger teams.  I was the biggest lineman at 6'1 and 205.

Sounds like my HS time.  We ran a stunting 5-2 on defense and an unbalanced veer on offense with a ton of traps and inside counters.  And I was the biggest lineman at 5'-11", 220 lbs. 

The unbalanced alignment was different than what anyone else ran in our area and we'd cause some real headaches in the years we had smarter teams by flipping unbalanced right and left from one play to the next.  We'd even run a little balanced formation too just to keep them guessing.  It was like a chinese fire drill watching the defense line up sometimes. 

[reality check]

This talk about size is funny because at 6'2", 197 lbs I was the smallest O-Lineman not only on our starting o-line but also the smallest lineman that started in the GCL my senior season.  I was 50 lbs lighter than anyone else on my line alone.

When I went up to ONU, Kaz told me he'd like to see me about 60-70 lbs heavier to play on the line.  I laughed and asked him what I could play at my current size and he said outside backer and so that's what I became.  I didn't play a down of defense in high school so it was a bit of a challenge learning to be a defensive player at the college level.

[JK]

I agree with that HS Coach.  The Lynn Molen Minerva teams ran the weirdest offense in the Alliance area.  I think we did pretty well at WB defending the unbalanced sets.  Once you identified who was the key, it was easy.  We did, however, have to adjust our defensive schemes the week we played you guys because we ran a 5-2 that was really more like a 4-3.  We had 5 guys up on the line, but one was a stand-up end we called the "warrior" who always lined up over the TE and was essentially a 3rd LB (OLB) as opposed to a DE.  You made us shift our D to the strong side and the Warrior was on the wrong side of the D than usual.

On offense, our HC was known to be more innovative and adjusted his offense to fit his personnel as opposed to forcing us into a pre-determined system.  Ultimately, the plays were basically the same and the same as we ran in little league and Jr. High, but with added formations and wrinkles.  My Frosh year (I was not on varsity), they had a very athletic QB but not a great thrower.  Ran a lot of boots and plays where he had a lot of run-pass options.  My Soph and Jr year we really were pro-set and I, with some 3-WR looks because we had three really good running backs, a good throwing but not real mobile QB, two tall and good WRs, and a TE with good hands.  My Sr year we ran a lot more split back veer stuff because we had an athletic QB and two really good RB's, but our WR's were young and inexperienced.  The year after was more of the same, but with a new QB (Jeff Morris, who many of you know from his Muskingum days) who was a better passer and the WR's were a year better.  The next year (1994) is the year WB won the state championship, and that was a true run and shoot offense with one back and 3 WR/ 1 TE or 4 WR looks all the time.

This is a fun discussion.  Brings back memories.

[Kira & Jaxon's Dad]

I don't even know what we called our main offense.  FB was directly behind the QB, HB would line up parallel to the FB (R or L side).  We played a TE with a slot back on the TE side and the X all alone.  My Senior year we had a WR who was about 5'9" but could dunk a BB and ran about a 4.5 40 so if he was covered Man to man I would audible to a Go route and throw the ball as far as I could and he would either out rur or out jump the DB.  We also had a FB who ended up being a 4-year letterman at Indiana at LB (ran a 4.6) and I could also audible to a quick pitch to him and he would run over some dudes.  I talked to him after college and he said the only RB in the Big Ten to ever run him over was Tyrone Wheatley.  It made for a fun offense.  I could also throw a quick slant to our X and he would take it 60+ yards to the house.  They made me look good.

[Small but Slow]

Every coaching staff seems to have different terminology.  This year I'm trying to learn new defensive and offensive terms plus a whole new pass route tree, which is almost the exact opposite of the one I've used for the past 20 years.  The one thing I have learned is its hard for an old dog to learn new tricks!

[SaintsFAN]

I could also throw a quick slant to our X and he would take it 60+ yards to the house.  They made me look good.

I know the feeling.  My two TE's were both Juniors who were 6'4" and 225 lbs... and could run like deer.  Throw something quick and watch them create something downfield... We had the flag routes down so good, that I didn't even have to see them to throw that off the play action.  It was a guaranteed completion each time.  The tight end on the right side set a record for catches my senior year because of that route and the quick pass, where I'd throw it just behind the LB's ear after taking one step to gather myself for the throw.

Agreed, JK.  Very fun.   With the 1993 and 1994 team, the talent we had... its absolutely a travesty we didn't have at least one state title in Division 3.  We slipped up against Germantown Valley View each year.  Valley View had a RB, Aaron Foct, who went to Stanford.  He beat us on a kick return in 1993 and then with 200+ yards rushing in 1994, while he had the flu.

[HScoach]

JK:  Great memories indeed.

West Branch and Springfield (under Jay Glaze) were the only 2 teams we played that actually had our offense figured out, which is why we'd dummy pull the backside guard the wrong direction.  Louisville would give us fits because they were bigger and faster than us at most spots, but WB and Springfield would read our offense very well.

Your inside LB's were schooled very well to read our pulling guards, which took you to about 80% of our normal running plays.  We'd run the dummy traps a few times early in the game to see how good your LB's were paying attention and then adjust the calls accordingly.  Usually we'd end up running more veer and less traps because of your inside LB's. 

In our opinion, we could kill your 4-4 inside the guards with simple dives and inside counter traps, but we'd have to break a tackle attempt from the OLB's to make the play go for big yardage.  The key was being patient enough to work the ball down the field in 4 or 5 yard chunks and to avoid a plenty or negative play to put us behind the 8-ball. 

FYI, the mention of Jeff Morris brings back way too many flashbacks.  We had you guys on the ropes in '93 late in the 2nd half until Morris scooped a bad punt snap off the turf, made 2 guys miss inside his 10 yard line and then boomed a 60 yard punt on the dead run.   Sigh.  I still have nightmares over that one............

[FloridaRaider]

Do any of you fellas know where I can buy some of the rubber boards that schools use for offensive line work. I have been using regular 1x6's but it rains so much down here that they end up getting warped and my school has to rebuy more. We used them at Mount, but I cant seem to find them online anywhere. I thought one of you might know. Thanks for the help.

[Knightstalker]

Do any of you fellas know where I can buy some of the rubber boards that schools use for offensive line work. I have been using regular 1x6's but it rains so much down here that they end up getting warped and my school has to rebuy more. We used them at Mount, but I cant seem to find them online anywhere. I thought one of you might know. Thanks for the help.

Would something like this help?  Not exactly rubber, but plastic lumber.  You might be able to get this at Home Depot, Lowes or your local lumber yard.

[seventiesraider]

I've seen them in catalogs and coaching videos, but I think we will be using our old hunk of firehose with the positions marked out on it till the end of time. 8)

[Bump]

When do they start selling Mount season tickets for football and where do you buy them? Do they sell parking passes?