OT: Sprint-Spread?

Submitted by jhackney on

Currently watching the Oregan @ Cal game on VS. Cal is keeping it surprisingly close.

I live in a small town in northern Pennsylvania. A local D-II football program turned itself into a Sprint Football team (I believe club with Navy, Army, etc). The idea of it is a faster pace game with lighter players. Watching Oregon's fast pace between plays and overall for four quarters game after game, I wonder if their style of the Spread offense is a hybrid of Sprint offense.

Link for League information: Sprint Football

Sorry couldn't find very good video.

No student athlete may compete in any contest involving another Sprint team until they have demonstrated the following:  a body weight of 172.0 lbs. or less while simultaneously (within ½ hour) having body fat of 5% or greater and urine specific gravity less than or equal to 1.020.

Looking at Oregon's o-line:

LT- #69 Sr. Bo Thran- 6'5" 281lbs.

LG- #77 So. Carson York 6'5" 286 lbs.

C- #54 Sr. Jordan Holmes 6'5" 300 lbs.

RG- # 68 Sr. C.E. Kaiser 6'4" 290 lbs.

RT- # 79 Jr. Mark Asper 6'7" 322 lbs.

TE- # 42 Jr. David Paulson 6'4" 241 lbs.

 

 

 

That is an average weight of 295.8 lbs on the o-line without TE. With TE, 286.7. Is this Oregon offense a hybrid of sprint (conditioning focused) and spread (split conditioning/weight training focus) offense?

While it would be suicide to cut too much weight, could there be a potential upside to have a faster pace offense with lighter players compared to the other team?Does my thin theory have any possibility or is it busted?

 

 

P.S. Just as finishing this player went down with "apparent cramp". Commentators have said that teams playing Oregon my fake injuries to slow pace and catch breath.  Oregon up by 1 now.

Farnn

November 13th, 2010 at 9:10 PM ^

Have to be under 172 lbs?  Damn, any player over 6' would be pretty skinny, and I could see a major advantage for really short guys who bulk up a bunch.

Jeff

November 13th, 2010 at 9:22 PM ^

Kind of weird, I read this article http://www.wbur.org/2010/11/06/sprint-football about sprint football that BHGP linked to earlier this week.  I'm guessing the school you're talking about is Mansfield?

The Sprint football league requires that your school treat it as a varsity sport, not a club sport.

As to your question, I would imagine a major program wouldn't want to go much lower weight than Oregon.  It would be too hard to move the big defensive tackles.  Those reach blocks that Molk does (and I imagine Oregon's center does a lot of as well) require you to be quick in order to get your helmet on the other side of the DT but you also have to be strong enough to block the guy.

Jeff

November 13th, 2010 at 9:51 PM ^

I don't really have any knowledge just some guesses.  Probably major college programs are in the 300 to 310 average weight.  Now, that doesn't sound much different than Oregon but really Oregon is a 290 lb offensive line with one really heavy right tackle that screws up the average.

Mannix

November 13th, 2010 at 11:42 PM ^

Smaller / Quicker lines usually run the veer / option attacks because most of the base blocking is getting to the second level guys and leaving the read man alone (usually the 1 or 3, maybe 2 and sometimes N). Also allows the OL to have better angles and usually leaves one side of the defense alone because they can't make the play at the line if it's away from them anyway.

Most of the time, backside OL guys are going 45 degrees leaving the backside DL alone, or pulling.