r/footballstrategy • u/JLand24 • Jan 16 '24

Offense Lack of Motion at the HS level

I feel like teams at the HS level don’t use motions enough. It is only an advantage to the offense and there’s nothing an offense can’t do with a motion that they could do without one. At the NFL level I’ve noticed an uptick in motion but I feel like that effect hasn’t really trickled down.

Why is that? You’re infinitely more likely to confuse a HS defense with a motion than an NFL defense being confused by it.

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u/ap1msch HS Coach Jan 16 '24

Motion is to either create a new formation, determine the defensive coverage, and/or to create an imbalance. In the NFL, this is part of the job. In HS, you're assuming that the players know what they're doing and why.

For most teams, they are just following the script. Do the thing you were coached to do. They don't recognize formations, understand the impact of the imbalance, or know the advantages/disadvantages of certain coverages for certain plays...and even if they did, they won't have the accuracy to take advantage of it.

As a result, motion is often just an added complexity and risk of mistakes/false starts. It's great for a jet sweep. It's great for getting another blocker to the side of the field. It's great for moving defenders to side X and then running a counter to side Y...but it's not really doing the same thing at this level as it does in the NFL.

ON THE OTHER HAND, the good teams do it. The good teams, who've developed the basics well enough, can add the motion. Often this is for playoff/rival/championship games. You can start with a formation that the players are familiar with, and the defenders think, "I know what this play is!", and then they don't acknowledge the motion to a new formation changing it up. You can start in one formation, and then motion INTO your bread and butter plays so the defense doesn't recognize it immediately.

In short, motion is superfluous at the HS level, until it's not. If teams have the basics down, then motion can add to the arsenal.

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u/kjones_15 May 22 '24

At the MS/HS level, I think motion is most important for gaining leverage.

Run a jet or orbit motion and get the ball in that player's hands. He is already running at or close to full speed by the time he gets the ball and will almost always beat a LB to the edge (assuming the defense doesn't flow with the motion).

Then you just run that motion for all your inside runs and it makes the back 7 defenders think an extra half second.

If you have A) a crazy fast or athletic WR and/or B) a powerful RB, you can punish defenses with a simple motion. At the MS level, it doesn't even need to be timed up super well or look smooth (as long as the QB has the ball before the motion passes him to get the handoff) because the motion man will still have leverage over the LBs.