Tight ends are asked to do two main things, block and catch. The technique and approach of how they block is what makes the difference for the position from team to team. Using the tight end as a difference maker in the zone run game is becoming more and more popular. At Emporia State University, our tight end is crucial in what we do in our zone read run game.  Due to the popularity of teams playing the dive and allowing for our QB to pull the ball, we must have an answer for blocking the force defender.

Culture

The tight end in the Emporia State offense it known as the “Hybrid”. We started using this at first as a nickname, but eventually it stuck. But it was important to stress that our tight ends must take pride in being great blockers and great receivers.

Changing the culture and producing a finesse, but physical player, is difficult. At practice and during meetings, I like to preach to them that they are the best athletes on the field because of what they are expected to do to make the offense go. Every position coach should make their position feel as if they are the most important on the field. To instill this toughness, we work in the O-line area of the practice field a few times a week and do similar drills as to what they are doing. To instill the finesse side of hybrid play, we will work with the wide receivers for one period a week during practice. Every day we will also have our own individual time to go over any fundamentals that need to be improved.

11 Personnel

We feel that we can have an advantage over a defense by remaining in the same personnel grouping. Remaining in 11 personnel takes away any personnel tendency we might have. This gives us the advantage over a defense because they must defend us by formation, not players on the field. To our advantage, we have athletic hybrids that can play in the slot receiver position. We benefit from this by throwing to a bigger frame in our quick game when we find that we have the positive side of the mismatch.

Recruiting

Recruiting a 6’4”+ athlete that can run well and be a physical blocker is a challenge to any college program. These athletes are rare because of their unique combination of size and speed. The tight end in the detached position places the player in a situation that allows for better matchups against safeties and linebackers instead of larger defensive linemen. We rarely are go one-on-one with a 9 technique that is lined up across from our TE.

Instead, when we find ourselves blocking a DE, we are coming from across the formation with momentum, or simply a backside cutoff block. We benefit in recruiting with the hybrid because we have the ability to place an undersized tight end on the field. When our hybrid is attached, it is also possible to place a fullback in that position. For all that is said that fullbacks are a dying breed, we can still use them in our system.

Offensive Philosophy

At Emporia State, we are a spread option team. Our run game is based on the zone read principle. We use our hybrid as a back side blocker to help us attack teams that want our QB to keep the ball in our run game. All plays are tagged to tell our hybrid back what his responsibility is.

The tags we use are ‘Bind’ (back side linebacker), ‘Bend’ (back side end), and ‘Bad’ (back side D gap defender). Tags are based on game planning and also how defenses play us during the course of the game. If we want to make our inside zone an automatic give, we will simply tag it ‘Bend’ (Diagram 1). No read is made by our QB. If a team has their end playing the dive and the linebacker playing the QB keep, we will tag our inside zone play ‘Bind’ (Diagram 2). If a team has the end playing dive and the safety playing the QB pull, we will tag it ‘Bad’ (Diagram 3).

Diagram 1.

Diagram 2.


Diagram 3.

The way our offensive system works, we have to ability to place someone in that role and put them in a position to succeed for a long time. The hybrid mentality is essential so that our guys understand their importance in the pass game and also the zone option game. The position makes it difficult for defenses to defend us because of the diversity of our plan of attack.


About the Author: Patrick Doherty just completed his second season on the Emporia State staff. He serves as both the Tight Ends Coach and Video Coordinator. He previously coached for two seasons at St. John Fisher as a student assistant. Doherty also spent four years coaching at his alma mater, Eastridge High School (NY).