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The Spinner Direct-Snap Double Wing

07/14/2011

By Jeff Cziska

Since my first year ofcoaching in 1990,I have experiencedmany ups and downs along the way.*Ive only coached 9 seasons over the past two decades. The other years away from coachingwere mainly due to health related issues, but I did get the opportunity to play some college ball in1994 and 1995. Despite not being on the field as much as I would liked, I have scouted fiveseasons for some of the coaches I have befriended along the way. Ive also done some consulting.Although football is a huge part of my life, I honestly believe that my own personal challenges havegiven me the perspective to see what I value most: Christ, family, and finally football. A day doesnot pass in which I am not working on something football related; all of the spare time has broughtabout some interesting ideas. Ive been lucky enough to either use these ideas on the field or findsomeone willing to try out my creations.

In 2004 we implemented the Double Wing at Southeastern Regional Voc-Tech (South Easton, MA).It was a special year as the season was dedicated to Hawk football player Jason Farwell who hadsuccumbed to leukemia in July of that year, our 12th player on the field that season. Head CoachNed Scaduto did an amazing job that season as he was able to shelter a team in crisis all whilerunning a new offensive system. We began the season a disappointing 0-4-1, but our playersnever quit, just as Jason never did. By the end of the season, we had accomplished something thatno sports team in our schools history had ever done. We were crowned the Division IV EasternMassachusetts Super Bowl Champions. During our second straight Super Bowl Championship weused the Wildcat in conjunction with our base Double Wing to overwhelm our opponent. Oursophomore fullback A.J. Goucher was named Most Valuable Player. The Wildcat was working sowell that during the game radio announcers rarely knew who had the ball. I cannot imagine what itmust have been like for our opponent. Our opening drive chewed up all but :51 of the first quarter

and they ran just five plays in the first half.

The Spinner came about after running Hugh Wyatts Wildcat in 2005 and coming across the Spinthe Catpage at http://nohuddle.tripod.com. I would highly recommend this page to any coach asthere are some hidden gems there. The next season was a time ofdramatic change for us. OurOffensive Coordinator John Sawyer stepped down to work on his Masters Degree, and theoffensive reins were handed to me. I was confronted with the daunting task of trying to maintainthe success we had enjoyed over the past two seasons, while dealing with the graduation of 6 of 7starters on the offensive line and both wingbacks (one that was named the Division IV Player of the

Year). We stormed out of the gates that season and lost on the last play of the game. The next

week we lost 42-28 to Nantucket, after holding a 28-14 lead going into the 4th

quarter. To makematters worse, our starting center was speared while long-snapping (a cheap shot), and ourbackup center received a concussion when he fell headfirst to the turf. To make matters worse, astarting guard quit the team after that game.

We were a team on the ropes. I knew we needed to try something different, so I decided to put inthe Spinner that week. We showed it to our players on Monday, practiced it all week and crossedour fingers on Saturday. Theoretical offenses are nice, but who knows if they will work. We wereabout to find out. Well, it ended up working better than we could have imagined as we rolled to a34-0 victory. Despite losing more players to injury we won the next two weeks by scores of 54-12
http://nohuddle.tripod.com/http://nohuddle.tripod.com/


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and 55-0. The season was filled with ups and downs, more line-up changes than you can imagine,but we somehow put together a 5-6 record. We even outscored both State Championship teams.

The next year we finished with a respectable yet disappointing 8-3 season. Two months later I wasinjured in a car accident and I have been unable to coach since.

Well my fellow coaches, I may have just shared a lot more background information than needed,some of which will undoubtedly be left on the cutting room floor, but I have been known to talk for

hours on football. If someone mentions football in our presence my wife will usually roll her eyesand tell me that she has something else to do. Now let me explain a bit about my version of theSpinner.

Alignment:

Aligning in the Spinner from a base Double Wing set will literally take a few seconds. The Fullbackwill simply take a half-step to his right and the QB will align adjacent to the Fullback. Both backs

will split the center evenly and align as close together as possible. The rest of the offense keepstheir normal alignment.

Teaching the Snap:


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The snap is as easy to learn as the alignment. The center just needs to remember to keep it soft,low, slow, and down the middle. When we first put in the Wildcat we LITERALLY rolled the ballbackwards. About an hour before the league championship game the referees came into thecoaches office and told us it was illegal. The opposing coach had called the referees associationand asked them whether or not the snap was a violation of rulebook. He referred to the rule thatended the use of the fumblerooski. The rule states that a team A player may not advance aplanned loose ball in the vicinity of the snapper. It was open to interpretation by the officials andit was interpreted as illegal.

The ball carrier is taking the ball so the center does not need to snap it in either direction. How thecenter handles the ball is up to the center. We want him to be as comfortable possible. Ourcenters ended up grasping the ball like they would with our base Double Wing.

Plays to Run:

Pretty much anything that you can run out of the Double Wing, you can also run out of the Spinner.Still, like the base Double Wing it is best keep it simple. The Spinner works best with motion in onedirection, with the same CTXX action at all times. It is advantageous to do so for three reasons:

1. The backfield gets continuous reps with the same action.

2. The defense really does get lulled to sleep.

3. We usually have our QB on the left and we want him doing the majority of the handing offand passing.

A base Spinner package consists of the following plays:

Power Right


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Counter Criss-Cross Left

Belly Right (some call it Down or G)

Belly Left


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Fullback Wedge

Power Pass

The Spinner, more so than the base Double Wing, can be tinkered with to fit your personnel. If you

have two stud Fullbacks, then why not have them in the backfield together? Although I do notthrow the ball much, I have gone with two Quarterbacks. It can give the defense fits. I like tomirror the routes and have both Quarterbacks go through their throwing motions. It is confusingfor the defense and the spectators.

The Spinner has proven to be a lifesaver to me. It has become a nice addition to the base DoubleWing. Some coaches have used it exclusively. I would not hesitate to run it as my base offense.In fact, along with my Varsity duties I had the pleasure ofusing this offence with the Junior Varsityteam. In order to maximize playing time I alternated between the offenses by series, using onebackfield for one offense and one for the other. It is fun, effective, and easy to implement; a


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nightmare for the opposition to defend and prepare for; and enjoyable to watch for both fans andcoaches on the sideline. Why not take it for a spin?

The Spinner is available for sale at coachesturf.com. Thank you for taking the time to read aboutthe Spinner. Special thanks to Adam Wesoloski for giving me the opportunity to share a bit aboutthe Spinner.

God Bless,

Jeff Cziska

Coaches Turf

2 Corinthians 4:7-18

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