Sitting here snowed in today and I ran across a video of Utah’s Shovel Option on the Spread Offense blog. This is a great play, though I think you run a risk of putting the ball on the ground, more so than a traditional Triple Option (of course it is an incomplete pass, not a fumble – but still a no gain play). But the play has become a favorite in spread offenses around the country and one that our own team ran, so we saw enough of it in practice.
To defend any option team, whether out of a spread offense or otherwise, your team needs to have option rules. The best way to defend the Shovel Option is to not panic, play your rules, and be disciplined. First of all, here is how the play would look in blocking a base 4-2-5 Defense playing Cover 3:
Base Option Responsibilities vs. Shovel Option
For our base option rules, the two backers and the Nose and Tackle are playing the dive. In a traditional Read Option play, the dive would be coming across the QB’s face and the pitch man looping behind him. For this play though, the read we are getting is more a speed option look on the play-side. Our backers would read the near back, who becomes the pitch man on the play-side. They have to recognize the difference though – a speed option out of 1-back, but more likely a shovel option out of 2-back. They check the backside back and pick up the shovel.
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