Youth Football Split Backs Counter Blocking


By FirstDown PlayBook on Mar 9, 2022

Football is a lot like a lot of things in sports. You need a punch, but you also need a counter punch. That’s exactly what this youth football split backs counter run provides. The Split Backs formation itself is more of a perimeter formation.

The angles are not great for the backs to create any downhill runs unless it is off of an option attack. Even then, you are looking at a dive play with the near back and an option path by the other. One of the things the FirstDown PlayBook youth football Split Backs formation gives you is a wing attack.

Having a wing to one side of the formation is just one more advantage for getting the ball on the flank. Regardless of if you are handing the ball or tossing it, the defense has to defend this part of your formation. If you run this version of the youth football Split Backs it won’t be long until the defense cheats to the wing side.

When this starts to happen, you have one or two options. You can adjust your backs into an I formation. This gives you the FirstDown PlayBook Jumbo formation. This makes the defense defend the downhill run to both sides. This is a natural counter to the sweep and once again, provides a downhill run game threat.

The Split Backs Counter Compliments Your Wing Side Sweep

However, what if you do not have a back who can lead block? What if both of your running backs are scat backs who run, but don’t block well. It is your job to find what they can do. All is not lost. You still have a natural counter on your call sheet. In fact, it is called just that.

The Split Backs counter trap gives the defense the identical look that they see when you run the Split Backs sweep. We like it so much we recommend calling these two plays with your flag football offense too.

NFL Coaches On 12 Formations To Consider For Your Youth Football Offense

Both backs start to the wing side first. The great thing is that the back who normally gets the ball on your perimeter sweep never counters. This is a hard read for a youth football linebacker. The back who is normally your lead blocker becomes the ball carrier. The strong side guard and wing pull to the counter side. After you run the sweep a couple of times, you will have linebackers running to the wing side. That’s when this play needs to be your next call. Let’s take a look but before we do you should know we have flag football help too.