The Future of High School Football?

1906: The Forward Pass
1907: The Single Wing
1951: The Wing-T
1958: The Run 'n Shoot
1968: The West Coast Offense, the Wishbone
2007: The A-11

Wait. The what?

Many of you may not have heard of that last one, but if Kurt Bryan and Steve Humphries have anything to say about it we'll be seeing this offense in our area very, very soon.

Bryan is the head coach of Piedmont High School Highlanders, located in Piedmont, CA. Humphries is the school's director of football operations. Due to the small size of the school in comparison to the other area schools they would be playing, Bryan and Humphries began working on an offense that would rely on deception and speed instead of big bulky linemen and conventional offensive techniques. They worked on their designs for two years before unveiling the A-11 offense in 2007. They lost their first two games of that season, then won seven straight games to make the playoffs even though they were at a significant size disadvantage.

The A-11 is run from a "scrimmage kick" formation...in other words, they line up in a quasi-punt formation with a center, two tight ends, two quarterbacks (one of whom is at least 7 yards behind the line of scrimmage) and then six receivers or runningbacks who are able to shift before the snap. Every player wears the jersey number of an eligible receiver so that the defense never knows which six players will be going downfield. The lack of blocking is offset by the use of two quarterbacks and a significant amount of motion before the snap.

Check out some footage of Piedmont's innovative new offense below:

I think this is absolutely fantastic. Did I mention that Scientific American calculated that the number of combinations of players who receive the snap and who end up with the ball rises from 36 in the standard formation with five fixed lineman to as many as 16,332 in the A-11? Just pick a play, any play. It's almost random. Can you imagine the amount of confusion this would create within a defensive unit trying to defend this?

I applaud Bryan and Humphries. It's about time coaches began developing more innovative offensive schemes. I'm tired of the same old, same old. We're seeing this innovation at all levels of the game now...think about how many teams began using variations of the Wildcat offense since the Dolphins found success at the pro level. College teams are running spread options and all kinds of other wacky formations. And now, some innovation at the prep level.

It is completely possible that we'll see the A-11 very soon in our area. As long as nobody stifles this line of thinking (and there are already people trying to do so) this could be the next big game-changing development.

Interestingly, however, college and pro football include rules that would make the A-11 illegal in certain situations. The NCAA rules state that the "scrimmage kick" formation can only be run when it is "obviously a kicking situation". That means that teams could only run the A-11 on 4th downs or goal-line situations. The NFL's numbering rules are too strict to allow players at certain positions to wear numbers that would make them eligible receivers. I've got my fingers crossed that officials at the college and pro levels make some rule changes to open the door for this new system to be run.