November 14, 2008 12:21 AM
BY JOEL A. ERICKSON
For a guy who holds a high-profile, high-pressure position as Permian’s offensive coordinator, Brandon Faircloth is a pretty laid-back guy.
Smiles a lot. Likes to joke around with the rest of the Panthers’ coaching staff.
But there is one way to get under Faircloth’s skin.
Ask him about the Panthers spread offense.
Ever since the spread started to take over college football, the four-wide, shotgun set has spawned a bunch of disciples in the high school ranks.
Faircloth isn’t one of those disciples.
“We’re a multiple formation, two-back team,” Faircloth said. “We use a lot of motion, and a lot of formations for confusion purposes.”
Most fans can’t tell the difference.
To most fans, the signs of a spread are easy to recognize.
A quarterback taking snaps out of the shotgun. Three or more receivers split wide across the field.
Put those two ingredients together, the thinking goes, and the prototypical spread offense comes out of the pot.
Wrong.
“The word spread gets tossed around loosely,” said Amarillo Tascosa head coach Heath Parker, who considers his Rebels a spread team. “If you run a four-wide receiver offense, people assume you’re Texas Tech.”
Texas Tech runs a true spread offense. So does Missouri.
Both of those Big 12 schools bear all the marks of a spread. Every formation has four to five wide receivers. Both teams only have a few formations.
And although both Texas Tech and Missouri have ridden the free-flinging, wide-open offense to a bunch of points in recent years, lumping Permian in with the Red Raiders is a bad fit.
Red isn’t the right color for the Panthers.
“A spread offense wants the defense to line up, stay there and they call the play based on the defense,” Faircloth said. “Spreads don’t want the defense to move.”
Permian wants the defense to move as much as possible.
So the Panthers use eight or nine personnel groupings. Line up in a dozen formations. Put every player in motion at one time or another during a game.
By the time the Panthers snap the ball, Faircloth hopes the defenders have so many things to consider that their heads are spinning.
Faircloth wants to play against a defense in chaos.
“We want to give the defense as many formations to look at as possible,” Faircloth said. “When we use nine personnel groupings along with a hundred formations and limitless motions, that’s a whole lot of stuff for a defensive coordinator to have to look at.”
Looking around District 2-5A, it’s easy to see the spread’s influence on high school football these days.
Lubbock Coronado runs the spread. So does Amarillo Tascosa, Lubbock High and San Angelo Central. Permian’s next opponent, El Paso El Dorado, is strictly a spread team.
And the reasons for using the spread are obvious.
“We have a lot of tremendous kids in our area,” El Dorado head coach Jim Althoff said. “We want to get as many of them on the field as possible.”
But the spread does have weaknesses.
True spreads can only run three or four run schemes. A spread can run zone running plays, option plays and counters.
Because of those limited options, most spreads have trouble at the point of attack.
“You have to be able to control the line of scrimmage,” Parker said. “And good quarterback play is an absolute necessity. When you’re using screen passes as extended handoffs, you have to have a guy who can execute the offense.”
Permian hasn’t had any problems at the line of scrimmage this season.
Running back Sherard Ray already has 1,757 rushing yards this year, a new Panthers record for regular-season rushing yards.
Permian backs are averaging 7.7 yards per carry.
Part of the Panthers’ success on the ground can be attributed to Beefer Nation, the massive offensive line most offensive coordinators would love to unleash on defenses.
Ray’s punishing style has made an impact.
The rest of those yards have been gained because of the Panthers’ flexibility.
“We will have 15 run schemes per week,” Faircloth said. “However, we don’t run all of those schemes out of all of our formations.”
And the Panthers’ running game never seems to resemble the tendencies defensive coordinator’s picked up by watching film.
For example, if Permian uses the option out of a two-back set one week, the Panthers will be running the option out of an entirely different formation the next week.
“That’s part of our game plan,” Faircloth said. “We want to change our presentation every week.”
Faircloth’s golden rule applies to the passing game, too.
And the game plan can be flexible.
Last week Midland High kept rolling both safeties to Permian’s twin receivers – two wideouts on the same side of the formation – so Faircloth reached into the playbook and pulled out a play the Panthers used during the postseason last year.
Panthers quarterback Trevor Adams hit tight end Shai Biggerstaff for a 50-yard gain on the play early in the third quarter. Biggerstaff’s catch-and-run sparked Permian’s comeback against Midland High.
To stop the spread a defense simply has to slow down a fast-paced passing offense.
To stop Permian a defensive coordinator has to make a choice.
Load up the box to stop Ray.
Or drop both safeties back to keep Adams from finding Ryan Rumbaugh deep.
“You kind of have to choose the quick death or the slow death,” Permian head coach Darren Allman said earlier this season.
Admire Permian’s offensive efficiency this season.
Just don’t tell Faircloth how much you like his spread offense.
THE BASICS
>> Who: Permian vs. El Paso El Dorado
>> What: Class 5A Division I bi-district playoff
>> When: 7 p.m. Friday
>> Where: Ratliff Stadium
>> Records: Permian 10-0; El Dorado 6-4.
>> Last time: First time these teams have met.
>> Radio: KHKX-FM (99.1)
Source: http://www.oaoa.com/articles/spread-2861-oavarsity-offense-faircloth.html
