What is the A-11 offense?

The A-11 offense takes advantage of the scrimmage kick formation rules and makes every offensive player on the field a potential receiver.  Yes, EVERY PLAYER.  In order to execute the offense, all players jersey numbers must fall between 1-49 or 80-99 (all numbers for eligible receivers) and have two “quarterbacks” lined up 7 yards behind the line of scrimmage with no one under center.  In the scrimmage kick formation,  interior linemen are granted an exception from having to wear normally required jersey numbers 50 through 79 and become potentially eligible receivers.   The exception was intended to allow a team’s deep snapper not to have to switch to a lineman’s jersey if he was a back or an end.   Although the rules were designed to facilitate the kicking process, it was just a matter of time before someone figured out they could use this formation as the basis of an offense that could potentially change the “flavor” of the game.

In what is considered an A-11 base set, the offense typically features a center with a tight ends on either side.  Wide receivers line up in sets of three on both sides of the field with the two quarterbacks 7 yards behind the center.  On any play, only 5 players can go down field and the other remaining players remain ineligible.  The challenge for the defense is determining who is going down field and is therefore eligible.  Sound confusing?  That’s exactly what proponents of this innovative offense hope.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxZpyMn8lgA&eurl=http://www.humphinternet.com/a11/topten.htm[/youtube]

A-11 Origins

Kurt Bryan is the head coach at Piedmont High School in The Bay Area of California.  With an enrollment of less than 800, Coach Bryan along with assistant coach Steve Humphries, faced the task of competing with larger school and larger athletes.  Out of this deficit of size and numbers sprang the idea of using a scrimmage formation to put the defense on its heals.  Since the A 11 virtually eliminates the need for huge offensive linemen Coach Bryan found a way that his offense could compete with bigger more talented defenses.

After confirming that the formation was indeed legal, the seemingly over matched Piedmont installed the A-11 Offense and rode it to a 7-4 record and an appearance in the first round of the playoffs.  For better or worse, the A-11 was validated and has become a force to be reckoned with.  Or dealt with.

Reactions

Piedmont Coaches explain the A-11

You either love it or hate it.  Proponents say the A-11 will trailblaze the future of football and take it well beyond what we know as the spread offense.  Coach Bryan maintains that his players love it and that it is much safer than the traditional brand of football being played.  He notes that he has received thousands of positive emails from supporters and teams from several states have embraced the A-11 Offense.

Detractors say that it is simply taking advantage of the implied intention of  the rule.  The formation is obviously circumventing standards meant only for scrimmage kicks and not as a basis to have 11 potential receivers milling around the line of scrimmage on every down.  It has been called unsportsmanlike.   To remove the need for an epic battle for dominance at the line of scrimmage is to remove the very heart of football.

Ruled Clarified

In January, the National Federation of State High School Associations changed two rules that essentially made the formation illegal:  the NFHS limited the number of of players on the field that can wear numbers 1-49 and 80-99 on first, second, and third downs and limited what downs a team can line up in a scrimmage formation. There must be four players on the line with numbers 50-79.   The snapper can still wear number 1-49 or 80-89, but he is ineligible.

Bob Colgate, NFHS assistant director and liaison to the Football Rules Committee, goes on to say “the definition of a scrimmage-kick formation was clarified to differentiate formations that have been used traditionally for attempting a field goal or kick try from those used for a punt. In addition, the circumstances under which the numbering exception can be utilized have been changed to clarify what can be used on first, second, third and fourth downs.”

And so, with two simple clarifications, the controversial A-11 has been laid to rest.

Not so fast my friend

“Here’s what’s going to happen. If we were sitting down with football coaches and players in 50 years or 100 years, the A-11 would be no big deal because that’s what the game will be.  “People can laugh at it, but that’s reality.” Coach Kurt Bryan

Turns out that the A-11 Coaches have a slick professional pulpit from which to preach their message.  Their website offers a well thought out presentation for implementing the offense including blogs from both coaches, full game videos, and clinics across the country.  For $199 you can purchase the Installation Manual and there are 7 videos available at $39.95 each.  More importantly, they have a petition on the front page that pleads their case to keep the A-11 alive. They are asking for a 3 year experiment to override the rule clarification in order to answer the following questions.

* Does it improve the overall Safety of the student-athletes?

* Are the games able to be properly officiated?

* Increased or decreased participation by the student-athletes?

* Is it a travesty of the game?

* Does it cause harm to the defense and lead to inequity on the field of  play?

Conclusion

Although the rules committee never used the term A-11 in the January changes, by simply clarifying an existing rule they virtually extinguished the A-11 offense.  But obviously the Piedmont High coaches feel there is enough interest and support to keep pushing forward.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Personally, I love the game of football as it is.  While I am not a huge fan of the spread offense, it is a dynamic that is played within the existing parameters and spirit of the rules.  As defenses get smaller and faster to counter the spread you should see some teams going back to a bigger more powerful offenses to take advantage of that.

The A-11 would virtually eliminate the need for big nasty lineman as we know it in favor of smaller quicker athletes.  When that happens, who will be there to cry foul and look for rules to protect the big boned fellas right to participate?  The current mix of power and finesse in football gives everyone a chance to play and offers coaches a nearly endless variety of plays and formations from which to attack their opponents.  I think the average fan would be shocked if they looked at a high school playbook and realized the complexity that even simple offenses operate under.

Would the A-11 help undermanned programs compete?  Maybe for a little while, but eventually the teams that are better than you today will adapt and be better than you tomorrow and you are back where you started.  Most coaches know that undermanned teams have to work a little harder, play a little smarter, and be coached a little better to compete.  Besides, most states are constantly working to align regions and keep competition as fair as possible by pitting schools together based on enrollment.  It is impossible to make all competition perfect because population and school enrollment is very fluid and constantly changing, but is it such a widespread problem that we need to turn the game into something that resembles Rugby so small schools can score points against larger schools?

Although Prince Ave. Christian has the 2nd smallest enrollment in Georgia, they stood toe to to with AA playoff bound North Oconee.

Last fall I watched the tiny Prince Avenue Christian Wolverines with less than 35 players (enrollment around 150) jump out to a 20-0 lead over the AA playoff bound North Oconee Titans fielding more than 90 players.  North Oconee eventually rallied to a 28-20 victory but the point is that the little guy was able to compete and nearly win with great coaching and great effort and no need to manipulate jersey numbers and line up in a scrimmage kick formation.  I could be wrong here, but I bet if you ask those kids playing for the Wolverines if they would like to install an offense that mimicked a punt formation so they could score more points next year or would they rather work a little harder in the weight room and practice a little harder during the summer and beat their opponents within the existing parameters of high school football that they would choose the latter.

If the sport of football was in shambles and needed fixing to save it, like Boxing for instance, something like this might make more sense.  But it is a great sport in its current condition with no need to overhaul offensive standards……please don’t change the game so many of us have come to love to resemble Rugby or Arena Football.

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