Woo Pig - Add a wrinkle with these Arkansas Downhill Run Variations

Arkansas is #16 in the country in rushing offense averaging 289 yards per game rushing for 333 yards in a win over Texas.  They have their run game rolling!

Razorback OL Coach Cody Kennedy has been a coach on the rise. After being hired by Southern Miss at the beginning of this year, he was wooed by Arkansas to become their tight ends coach and soon after was moved into the offensive line position.

In his prior seasons at Tulane, he had the Green Wave offense rolling in the ground game with 32 rushing TD (7th nationally) and 217.1 yards per game (17th). 

Watching the first two games the Razorbacks lean on the zone running game and gap schemes. Coach Kennedy loves the variations to these schemes as well.

One way to move the ball downhill is to use the gap scheme variation of Duo. 

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The schemes you add will have to attack some of the trending fronts as well, and the most popular front we’ve seen in the last couple of seasons has been the Mint front or 4i-0-4i that has been made popular at the college level.  The Duo is great for attacking this front, and Coach Kennedy explains it here:

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Kennedy breaks down game film of the Duo play in this video:

In the Zone running game, Coach Kennedy likes the Wham play to separate the defense and open up running lanes.

Within the Wham concepts are “Bam,” and “Slam” that fit well into offenses that use an off tight end (or sniffer) and have established rules for running the inside zone.  He suggests these plays as change-ups to be run 3-5 times a game.

He shares “Bam” vs. an Under front here:

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What comes through in both of these clinic talks is that Coach Kennedy is an incredible teacher of the game.  His coaching points are concise and he does a tremendous job of utilizing visual teaching.

If you are running gap schemes or zone schemes then these plays are simple variations you can add to your ground attack with very little new teaching.  They are the perfect wrinkle as you hit the middle of your schedule and beyond.

Best of luck as you continue through the 2021 season!