The H.O.B.O.
Offense
“Coleblooded Style”
O n behalf of Alabama State, Head
Coach L.C. Cole and our entire staff,
it is an honor to contribute to this year’s
AFCA Summer Manual . I have been
coaching now for 16 years, seven of those
as an offensive coordinator, and have had
great success running the HOBO offense
(High Operated Big Offense). The 2001
season ended with some great numbers for
Johnnie Cole the Alabama State program. We finished
third in the nation in total offense (averag-
Offensive ing 486.0 yards per game — 300 pass, 186
Coordinator run) and we ranked sixth in the nation in
scoring (37.5 points) and passing per
Alabama State game. Over our two years at ASU, our
University quarterback threw for over 6,500 yards and
66 touchdowns. With all this success, we
Montgomery, Ala. have broken numerous school records.
As with most offenses, we have a vari-
ety of formations, packages, and schemes
which will attack modern day defenses.
Our Philosophy
TEAM (Together Each Accomplishes
More)
Perfect Practice Scores Touchdowns
Chris Kapilovic No-huddle (two minute offense)
Special Plays
Offensive Line Multiple in formation and use of motion
Coach Keep it Simple
Keep protection and blocking schemes
the same
Run Game
Pass Game
Screens and Draws
Position Coaches
I believe in any team sport you must
have everyone working for the same
cause, in the same direction and on the
same page. Additionally, your coaches
have to believe in what you are doing. I like
highly motivated guys who are multi-
dimensional and are team players. There
are many ways to attack defenses, but as
an offensive coordinator you must have
guys you can work with, so it is very impor-
tant that you choose the right people. I
would like to thank my staff, Darryl Williams
(wide receivers), Chris Kapilovic (offensive
line), Lane Powell (runningbacks), and
Sadiki Johnson (tight ends). These gentle-
men do an excellent job in teaching and
motivating our players to learn and execute
our offense. Good coaches are one part of
a bigger equation which includes my life
motto: “People don’t plan to fail, they fail to
plan.” In my seven years as a coordinator
(Southwest College 92-93 [NAIA],
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Tennessee State 96-99 [OVC], Alabama
State 2000-2002 [SWAC]) the HOBO
offense has averaged 32.0 ppg and 410
ypg; I contribute my success to having both
a good plan and good coaches.
Practice Time
With multiple offenses, you can do
many different things. However, in my opin-
ion, this is not the best plan because per-
fect practice makes perfect and to be per-
fect you must practice exactly what you will
be doing. Our practices are broken down
by certain run plays, pass plays and forma-
tions, but we also make room for special
plays. We open practice every day with
screens and draws, which replaces team
take off. The next several periods are indi-
vidual and group, where we work on posi-
tion specific techniques, different pass pat-
tern combinations, runs and special plays.
After which we move to our run section of
practice. During team periods, we coach on
the move and do not repeat incorrect plays
since they are already repeated on the call
sheet. Further corrections are made in our
meetings (individual or team). We end our
practice with a scramble drill because it is
great for conditioning (no-huddle offense).
No-Huddle Offense
We run a no-huddle offense to limit sub-
stitutions by the defense and to control the
tempo of the game. Although we are “no-
huddle”, this does not mean we are always
in a “hurry-up” mode. If we have a team on
their heels we will “hurry up” and attack,
however, there are times we want to slow it
down to rest our defense or give our quar-
terback a chance to get his composure
back and develop a rhythm. There are
other advantages to the no-huddle offense.
Many times the defense will show their
front and coverage scheme earlier than a
team that huddles. This enables us to
make checks and audibles at the line of
scrimmage. Also, we free up more practice
time to work on other game situations,
since our two-minute offense is already
built in.
Special Plays
We implement our special plays (revers-
es, halfback pass, etc.) during camp and
practice them all year so that it is a regular
part of our offense, just as the zone or
screens and draws. The advantage to this
is that no extra pressure or special build up
exists to run those plays. If it is successful,
we get a big play or an easy score. If it is
not, it’s just another incompletion or unsuc-
cessful run.
Formation
We use multiple looks to manipulate the
defense into lining up a certain way. We
also employ motion and shifts to create
mismatches and help our quarterback to
determine the coverage. This situation pro-
vides an edge for us over the defense
because they have now become pre-
dictable. Our game plan includes at least
15 different formations, various motions
and shifts because we always seek to
exploit mismatches. To help accomplish
this, we drill our players on formations and
teach them defenses so they know where
to look for mismatches. Using multiple for-
mations means the defense will have a
more difficult time preparing and using var-
ious front and coverage combinations. We
utilize this advantage by scripting most of
our formations in the beginning of the game
plan and determining which ones create
the most mismatches, providing us a
greater chance of success.
Keep It Simple
We try to keep all of our run blocking,
pass protections, and screen and draw
schemes the same to minimize time spent
thinking and limit mistakes up front. We feel
that a knowledgeable, confident athlete is a
much better player. Our run game has sim-
ilar blocking schemes but different back-
field action. Some plays we use include
inside zone/outside zone, speed option,
power and guard trap. Keep in mind that all
of our formations tie into all of our
schemes.
Pass Protection
As discussed in the previous section, we
feel if our players understand the schemes,
we have a better chance of protecting our
quarterback (seven sacks in 12 games last
year). We have protections for two-back,
one-back, and no-back and also use a turn
back, sprint out, and slide protection. At
times we will cut block in our quick throwing
game. In pressure situations, we allow our
quarterback to change the protection
and/or throw hot (Diagram 1).
Run Game
We have a basic run package, but we
try to use different motions, backfield sets
and action to give the plays a different look
Diagram 1: Two-Back Protection
Big on Big
* Back’s check LB’s and release
Diagram 1A: One-Back Protection
Diagram 1B: Sprint Out Protection
* Zone Protection
while keeping the blocking scheme the
same up front. Our favorite run is the inside
zone and we can run the play out of a vari-
ety of formations. We run it out of a two-
back set with the fullback blocking force or
away and give the ball to the tailback. We
may also give the ball to the fullback and
run the belly. Out of the one-back set we
can have a two tight end, one tight end or
no tight end set and can be under center or
out of the shotgun (Diagram 2).
Diagram 2: Inside Zone
Diagram 2A: Inside Zone (FB Away)
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Diagram 2B: Inside Zone One-Back
(Shotgun)
* QB responsible for B’s defensive end.
He can give it or keep it.
Passing Game
We have had great success throwing
the ball, and believe this is due to our
emphasis on several points. First, it is very
important that our receivers know where
they are going and why, so we keep our
routes simple. All of our routes are pack-
aged and include the vertical game, option,
horizontal, tight end, bunch and fast break.
If there is a pattern that we feel is effective
against a certain defense we will run that
pattern out of multiple formations (Diagram
3). The primary goal we communicate to
our quarterback is to take a pre-snap read,
find the safety and put the team in the right
protection. Next, we teach to read the near-
est defender, safety (vertical game) and
inverted defender (horizontal game).
Finally, follow the progression and find the
primary, secondary and third receivers and
deliver.
Diagram 3A: Regular Formation
Diagram 3B: Double Formation
Diagram 3C: Ace Formation
 Diagram 3D: Double Tight Ends Diagram 4A: Slide Protection Diagram 6A: Bootleg/Naked

* Aggressive to the gap (1 & 3 step), pass * Regular Formation

set to the gap (5 & 7 step drop).

Blitz Diagram 5A: Screen Diagram 6B: Bootleg/Naked

We must always be prepared for the
blitz, so most of our routes have blitz beat-
ers automatically built in. We prefer slide
protections when the secondary is
involved. Using multiple formations pro-
vides an advantage in a blitz situation,
especially our one-back and no-back sets.
* We can call screen to any No. #. * Double Formation
These formations spread the defense so
the quarterback can get a better idea who
and from where the blitz is coming Diagram 5B: Draw Diagram 6C: Bootleg/Naked
(Diagram 4).

Diagram 4: Blitz Off the Edge

* Give ball to halfback or QB draw * Double Tight Ends

* QB checks from big on big to a slide

protection. If SLB comes, throw hot route
Screens and Draws
We use two different blocking
schemes in our screens and draw pack-
age and have multiple ways of distribut-
ing the ball to the desired carrier or
receiver (Diagram 5).
Play Action and Bootleg
We feel it is important to have a play
action pass and/or bootleg off of all of our
runs. Again, we can keep the routes the
same for both (Diagram 6).
Our offense is predicated on attacking the
defense. We are constantly working to find dif-
ferent ways to take advantage of the defense.
Hopefully, you’ve found this information
useful. On behalf of Alabama State Hornet
football, we would like to again thank the
AFCA for the opportunity to contribute to
this year’s Summer Manual. Our doors are
always open, feel free to call or drop by
when you are in Hornet Country
(Montgomery, Ala.).

Avoid Teaching
Blind-Side Blocking
Below The Waist
Even though blind-side and peel-back blocks are legal near or behind the neutral zone in cer-
tain instances, the AFCA Ethics Committee reminds the membership that teaching players to
block below the waist in those instances is ethically improper and should be avoided because
of the high possibility of serious injury.

The Football Code states: “Teaching or condoning intentional roughing, including blind-side
blocking an opponent below the waist anywhere on the field, is indefensible.”

• AFCA Summer Manual — 2002 •