Variety of offenses run in Michigan high schools

August 22, 2007

BY VINCE ELLIS

FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER

It was an unseasonably cool August day, and Inkster football coach Greg Carter was not happy.

It was the first day in pads for the Vikings, and Carter was upset with the lack of physical play from his team.

"Y'all ain't doing nothing but kissing," Carter yelled as his team huddled after a play.

The team was lined up in its spread offense and each play was nothing but a display of physical football -- nothing to the perimeter and no passes.

But the Vikings, who reached the Division 6 championship game last season only to lose to Saginaw Nouvel, will boast one of the most explosive offenses in the state.

Senior quarterback Aaron Shavers, who put on a passing and running show in the title game with 223 of the team's 233 total yards, will have big-time targets in wide receivers Renty Rollins, Derrick Coker and Joshua Howard.

Inkster runs the predominant offense in college football -- the spread. But one of the most striking things about high school football in Michigan is the variety of offenses.

Just check some of last season's state champions.

Zeeland West rolled to the Division 4 title using the tight-T.

Muskegon grabbed the Division 2 crown running the triple-option.

Menominee put on a lesson in running the single-wing to win the Division 5 trophy.

And Marine City, which went 11-1 last season, still uses the traditional, drop-passing attack.

It makes for exciting football for the fans -- and nightmares for defensive coordinators.

"That's what makes it fun and makes it a challenge on the defensive side of the ball," Zeeland West head coach John Shillito said. "The one reality is you know that you have to be ready for such a variety pack of offenses, especially if you are going through a long playoff run."

Spreading things out

The main ingredient for running the spread, an offense which deploys more than two receivers split wide, is an athletic quarterback, who usually takes the center snap from the shotgun.

Inkster's Shavers fits the bill. He is 5-foot-10, weighs 175 pounds, runs the 40 in 4.5 seconds and is as quick as a water bug. He is being recruited by several Division I schools, but he is looking for a school that will let him play quarterback.

Carter wants to emphasize that Inkster is a run-first team.

And while most think of the spread as a passing offense, it is great for the running game because, by deploying receivers all over the field, it forces the defense to spread out to cover them. The spread-out defense allows the offense to outnumber defenders at the point of attack, creating yardage in the running game.

Carter, who won four state titles at Detroit DePorres, was once an advocate of featuring the tailback out of the I formation. He used some of the concepts of the spread, but he became a devotee of the spread for one simple reason -- he has a hard time defending it.

"We face a lot of spread teams as well and it puts a lot of pressure on you," Carter said. "It gets you in a lot of one-on-one situations and that's what you want by eliminating as many as you can from" near the line of scrimmage.

Adds Shavers: "It allows me to run and allows for passing because, when I scramble, most teams are going to come up and I will drop it right over their heads for a touchdown. It gives me a lot of freedom."

Triple crowns

State power Muskegon adds another twist to the spread.

The Big Reds routinely line up with four wide receivers, no tight end and only one running back behind the quarterback.

But one of the slot receivers (the one closest to the ball) will go in motion and, at the snap, will trail the quarterback down the line of scrimmage.

The quarterback will move to hand the ball off to the running back and read whether to keep it or let the running back keep it up the middle.

If the quarterback keeps it, he runs down the line of scrimmage and makes a split-second decision to either keep the ball or pitch it to the trailing receiver.

The offense has been around a while, and it's known as the triple-option.

"We are similar to a spread team in the sense we are using their same formations," Muskegon coach Tony Annese said.

To compound measures, Muskegon runs the no-huddle, giving defenses little time to adjust or substitute.

Muskegon, which has won state titles in two of the last three seasons, looks to run the option first, but will hurt you in the passing game.

Last year's star, Ronald Johnson, is now at Southern Cal. He would be split wide, and if teams tried to bunch up to stop the run ... well, you get the point.

"If people play us thin in the secondary, we're going to get them," Annese said. "When someone played Ron Johnson single coverage, it was a no-brainer. If there was no safety help, they were going to throw the ball to Johnson."

Muskegon has another big-time talent in Johnson's little brother, senior Corey Johnson, who is considering several Division I schools.

T is for titles

So what is the play call for Zeeland West when it wants big yardage?

Try the simple fullback trap, which is basically a run up the middle.

Don't believe us? Well look at the fact that senior fullback Andrew Plaska has rushed for more than 2,700 yards and 40 touchdowns in two seasons. He averages more than 11 yards per carry.

While Inkster and Muskegon spread the field, Zeeland West lines up in the tight-T offense, which deploys two tight ends and three running backs lined up in a straight line behind the quarterback.

The quarterback either fakes or gives the fullback the ball on the trap. He then either fakes or hands the ball to the halfback off tackle. If the quarterback still has the ball -- or doesn't -- he runs around end. Forty yards downfield.

The key to the offense is carrying out the fake all the way so defenses have to honor all options.

But with all those folks bunched near the line of scrimmage, it's apparent that Zeeland West has brute force behind its attack.

"Ours is a bit more of a power offense, but the deception piece is an important piece of it," Shillito said. "One of the advantages we have in the T formation is we have 11 players close to the point of attack. We are usually able to bring an extra body to the point of attack and that's been good for us.

"The misdirection piece keeps the defense from bringing those extra bodies to the point of attack and so the fact that we have people carrying out fakes ... that allows us to outnumber them at the point of attack."

Zeeland West only has six running plays and four passing plays, so the offense's beauty is in its simplicity.

But what would happen to his tight-T if a 6-foot-5 freshman with a cannon arm arrived?

"We might expand things in the passing game to fit his skills," Shillito said with a laugh.

Pocket protector

Marine City coach Tony Scarcelli actually had the big quarterback prospect show up.

So the long-time disciple of the wing-T, while keeping some aspects of the offense, went to more of a drop-back passing attack last season to take advantage of the skills of Brendon Kay, a 6-3 pocket passer, who has committed to Cincinnati.

And you can expect even more of a traditional passing game from Marine City this year.

"This is the first big-time QB we've had," Scarcelli said. "We would be fools not to take advantage of a kid like that when he comes through our system."

Scarcelli also says he has a talented group of receivers and the pass-first mentality will help his offensive line as it is easier to pass block than run block.

Alas, defense

Canton advanced to the Division 1 title game in 2005 and made the semifinals last season.

And Chiefs coach Tim Baechler has seen it all: wing-T's, spreads, tight-T's, you name it.

He has the perfect remedy for all of those offenses: Find big, athletic defensive linemen. Get some fast, athletic and mean linebackers. Speedy corners and smart and physical safeties are a must.

"You can use seven guys to stop the run and four guys to stop the pass," Baechler said of that dream scenario.

Then he thought for a second and grinned: "That don't happen too often."

Contact VINCE ELLIS at 313-222-6479 or vellis@freepress.com.