The Run and Shoot Offense in NCAA Football: A Comprehensive Overview
The Run and Shoot offense, also known as Run N' Shoot, is an offensive system in American football that emphasizes receiver motion and on-the-fly adjustments of receivers' routes in response to different defensive schemes. This offensive approach has left an indelible mark on college football, influencing offensive strategies and quarterback development.
Core Principles and Formation
At its heart, the run and shoot is a flexible offense that adjusts "on the fly," with receivers altering their routes based on the defensive coverage and the actions of the defenders covering them. The quarterback not only reads the defensive coverage to determine where to throw the ball, but must also anticipate the probable route his receivers may run based on their reads. This demands a high level of intelligence and communication between the quarterback and receivers, making it a complex system to implement effectively.
The run and shoot system typically employs a formation consisting of one running back and four wide receivers. This formation uses extensive receiver motion, where a receiver changes position by running left or right, parallel to the line of scrimmage, just before the ball is snapped. This motion is used to create advantageous mismatches with opposing defensive players and to reveal the type of coverage the defense is using.
In its purest form, the offense features two wide receivers lined up on the outside edges of the formation and two "slotbacks" positioned just outside and behind the offensive tackles. Slotbacks are positioned one step back from the line of scrimmage to avoid being considered "covered" and therefore ineligible.
Historical Roots and Evolution
The original architect of the run and shoot, Glenn "Tiger" Ellison, initially used a formation that overloaded the left side of the offensive line to benefit his scrambling quarterback. Ellison's innovation began a revolution in offensive football.
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Mouse Davis is considered to be the legal guardian of the Run and Shoot. In 1962, He showed up for his first day as coach at Milwaukie HS in Oregon and captivated football players, nonplaying students and even the faculty and averaged 49.2 points per game.
Over time, the run and shoot has evolved. June Jones, during his tenure with the University of Hawaii, utilized quarterback Colt Brennan out of the shotgun formation. Nick Rolovich, also at Hawaii, further modified the formation to operate out of the pistol, providing a mobile quarterback with the opportunity to become a second running back. Another common variation involves the trips formation, where three wide receivers align on either the right or left side of the line of scrimmage.
Player Archetypes
The run and shoot often favored receivers who were shorter (often ranging from 5'7" to 5'11" in height) but faster, enabling them to outrun their defenders more easily. By incorporating a fourth wide receiver instead of a bigger tight end, defenses were often forced to substitute a smaller defensive back in place of a linebacker to cover that receiver, thus giving up a size advantage.
Running backs in the run and shoot were typically bigger, ranging from 210 to 230 pounds, due to the need for blocking. Given their size, many runs were designed to go inside or behind the offensive guard, exploiting the smaller defensive backs who would be tasked with tackling them in place of the bigger linebackers.
Key Route Concepts
A core element of the run and shoot involves option routes, where receivers make decisions based on the defender's actions. For example, a receiver might run deep if the free safety is in the middle of the field or run a post pattern inside if the safety is not present. Another example is an outside receiver going deep if they can beat their defender with speed or stopping and hooking back to the quarterback if they cannot.
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One route concept that has persisted in modern passing games is the switch, where two outside receivers exchange places as they run downfield.
Seam Read
The Seam Read is essentially operates as one big if-then flowchart; if the defender does X, the receiver does Y in response. The seam read magnifies that, forcing the receiver to work through a multiple-step process within about two seconds. The short version of what you would instruct a receiver to do is “get deep between two defenders, but if one caps you then break to the inside and run a post or settle into a gap in the zone.” The long version runs more like this:
- Identify the safeties pre-snap. Specifically whether there’s a safety in the middle of the field or it’s a split safety look.
- At the snap, attack the safety closest to you, regardless of his depth or alignment. Read him initially, and by 10 yards you should know what you’re doing.
- Against a single-high safety, if he stays middle of the field, continue running the seam and expect the ball at about 18 yards.
- If the single-high overreacts to formation, cross his face but continue upfield for a deep post.
- If the single-high works to your hash, break off the route into a square in and hunt for windows (or run through against man).
- If it’s a split safety look, break to the middle of the field and split the two deep safeties.
- If the safeties play deep, break to the square in and hunt windows or run through.
Receivers in this offense are going to rep this route hundreds of times per week, if not more and it is, from what I understand, usually the first route that is installed on Day One of any practice or camp for a team that wants to run the Run & Shoot.
Choice Concept
Choice is the quintessential Run & Shoot route combination. It’s right there in the name; you force the defense to choose and whatever choice they make is wrong. Even the diagram, which is from John Jenkins and Houston in the early ‘90s, doesn’t show every single possible route option for the receivers. As defenses have become more adept at disguising coverages, the options have expanded to match.
Like Go, Choice is designed to be a 3x1 route combination. In fact, it is largely used as a counter to defenses overplaying the three receiver side of the offense to try and take away Go. Whereas the X is an afterthought in Go, X is the primary receiver in Choice. If a defense is over-rotating to the trips side, the X will often be left in isolation against the corner on his side. Because of that possibility, you’ll often see Run & Shoot teams put their best receiver at the X to exploit a one-on-one opportunity. And based on the coverage the corner shows, the receiver adjusts his route to best take advantage of space and leverage. Burn that corner enough and eventually the defense plays more neutral in order to give that corner covering the X some help, which opens the Go combination back up on the trips side.
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As he did with Go, the outside receiver has a mandatory outside release to a vertical route. The difference with Choice is that because there isn’t a receiver running to the flat underneath him, if the defense has him capped the Z does have the option of throwing on the brakes at 12-14 yards and running a comeback route. The Z fills the same role as the X in Go; he’s mostly just out there because he has to be, but a favorable one-on-one matchup might get the ball thrown his way.
For the inside receivers, the middle slot will run the seam read. And again, it’s all about what the near safety does. Because you generally anticipate seeing a defense shifted to the trips side when you call Choice, the seam read will often come down to how the backside coverage handles the crossing inside receiver. The interplay between the two inside receivers is reminiscent of the Shallow concept from the Air Raid, and in fact, a lot of Run & Shoot teams have integrated the shallow cross into their attack. In Choice in particular, the inside slot is crossing the face of the defense. In the early days, that inside slot often ran through linebacker level, having to work through contact and collision from the defenders. With the adjustment to the shallow cross, having that receiver run underneath the linebackers makes him a more viable second option if the quarterback has to come off the X receiver. And keep in mind, we’re anticipating a defense coverage that is shifted to the trips side, meaning that when the X takes off vertical and takes the corner with him, there’s not a lot left to defend the Y if he makes it all the way across. And that was pretty much the point of 90; Verticals to clear space for the shallow cross to find open grass.
The X receiver has three options on the play. If he’s facing a press corner with no help over the top, it’s pretty simple-get off the line and beat him deep. If the corner is playing off with inside leverage, the X will burst off the line and then break off a 10-12 yard out. If the corner is playing with outside leverage, the receiver runs a skinny post or glance route, staying vertical and outside the hash, but using the inside space given up by the defender. The X will also take a peek inside to the nearest linebacker, and if he sees that linebacker blitz, he’ll put his foot in the ground at three steps and break off into a quick slant as a release valve. It’s a fairly simple read concept, but it is dependent on the receiver and the quarterback seeing the same thing at the same time from the defense. Less experienced Run & Shoot teams will sometimes have pre-determined reads and will make the call at the line of scrimmage pre-snap.
Notable Implementations and Successes
The Portland State Vikings under head coach Mouse Davis gained recognition for the system, posting a 42-24 record during his tenure. In 1984, the offense gained national attention in the USFL with the Houston Gamblers.
The South Carolina Gamecocks football team utilized the offense with varying degrees of success in the mid-late 1980s, led by quarterback Todd Ellis and receivers Sterling Sharpe and Robert Brooks.
The 1989 Houston Cougars football team showcased the scoring potential of the run and shoot offense. Quarterback Andre Ware set 26 NCAA records and won the Heisman Trophy, while the #14 ranked Cougars finished the season with a 9-2 record. However, the Cougars were prohibited from having their football games televised or playing in a Bowl Game that season due to NCAA sanctions imposed some years earlier.
The following two seasons, Houston quarterback David Klingler continued the success of the run and shoot, throwing for 9,430 yards and 91 touchdowns, including 716 yards and 11 touchdown passes in a single game, all of which were records. Both Ware and Klingler were drafted in the first round of the NFL draft.
Influence on Modern Football
Even if coaches think it’s not for them, the concepts of the Run and Shoot dominate passing games at every level. Most coaches can find some version of these plays in their own playbook, or their opponent’s, or plays that they watch on Saturday or Sunday. The Run and Shoot moved on to the professional level and made a huge impact both at that time and in impacting the modern NFL passing game.
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