Our staff are strong believers in the big play. We try to run trick plays off some part of our standard offense and we set aside time to look at film for just this reason.
Some of the best times to use a trick play is in 3rd-and-short or 4th-and-short situations. The following plays are two of our most successful.
DIAGRAM 1: “Right Trippers, 24 W Reverse.” We love to incorporate a reverse into our trick play arsenal. Our base play is an off-tackle zone play, so we try to carry one or two reverses into each game that complement this play. A reverse isn’t just a good trick play, but it also falls into the category of a misdirection or counter play.
The B-back sells the fake handoff from the QB and dives to the roll-out side. The QB sells the handoff and pitches the reverse to the A-back. The A-back secures the pitch or handoff and runs hard to the weak side looking for daylight. X takes out the safety and clears the weak side for the A-back.
DIAGRAM 2: “Right Trippers, 35 Boot Wheel.” We’ve had a lot of success tricking the defense by using play-action passes. If we use this type of play, we try to throw the ball deep and try to hit a big-gain play or TD pass.
In this play, the B back sells the fake and runs a wheel route, while the A receiver delays and breaks into the flat climbing to a depth of 12 yards. The X and Z receivers both read the coverage prior to the snap and they’ll run their routes based on coverage. Both X and Z run post routes toward the FS, if there’s no FS, then he runs a go route.
The QB fakes the handoff, runs boot action to the right and hits B on the wheel route.
There are two things we live by as far as trick plays are concerned. One, don’t let the other team run their trick play before you. In other words, run them all and run them early.
Two, don’t practice your trick plays too much. Make sure that your players know what to do and that is about all you’ll need.