Coach Jason McEndoo Teaches #12 Oklahoma State’s Top Running Play

• By Keith Grabowski

The outside zone has become a staple run in many offenses and that’s true for the Oklahoma State Cowboys.

After defeating Kansas State and Baylor, both ranked at the time, the Cowboys have climbed the rankings to #12 at 5-0 and preparing for a showdown with #25 Texas Longhorns.

Oklahoma State Cowboy Backs Coach McEndoo is a big believer in the outside zone and his position certainly plays a big part in the success of the play.  The “cowboy back” is a hybrid position of tight end and fullback type players who will capture the edge and insert into different gaps to effectively block the outside zone play. The position allows the Cowboys to align in multiple formations to stress the defense as well.

The Cowboys have made an investment in the outside zone scheme because it allows them to distort a defense while being creative in their attack. Over a 3-year period the two variations, outside zone and search, have netted the Cowboys 1,726 yards with nearly a 5-yard average every time they call it.

Coach explains the importance of the scheme and its success in their offense here

The success of the scheme starts with a sound teaching progression.  Coach McEndoo believes that in order to be good at what you do, you need to understand everything about your job.  That means that everything that they do is taught in a progression.  He explains that here.

1 Back Variation

Coach McEndoo’s favorite way to run it is through 11 personnel.  It allows for the play to be run to the open side or to the tight end side.  It is a play that is very versatile against multiple fronts.  He goes over the basics in this video:

In this example, Coach McEndoo illustrates how the play works against a 4i with plus-ed linebackers

2 Back Variation

As Coach McEndoo stated, it’s a versatile play, and it fits into a two-back personnel as well.  They call the two-back version “Search.”  It allows you to run the play if you don’t have that ideal long-frame Tight End type.  He gives an overview here:

Being able to insert a fullback on the outside zone creates advantages for the offensive line combos.  Here’s an example of the fullback inserting on the “Search” play:

The Cowboys will put their play to the test against another ranked team this week as they take on #25 Texas.

Coach McEndoo did a thorough job putting his talk together which continues to benefit Lauren’s First and Goal Foundation.  He covers all the coaching points and illustrates the play against most of the fronts you will see.  There’s certainly a lot to learn from Coach McEndoo.

So You Want To Run The Outside Zone