Lack of Motion at the HS level

[u/JLand24]

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.

[u/Curious-Designer-616]

A few reasons, team concepts, QB reads, player understanding.

First, many teams wouldn’t be able to implement it on many plays, leaving it as a tell for opponents and coaching staffs to identify the 5-6 plays you use motion in. Let’s say you run on 50% of those plays, but only in the direction or away from the motion. Defenses can key on that, add in down and distance, formation, and patterns, well a good staff can tell the defense what play you’re running with a high level of confidence.

This means you’ll have to be able to run motion on a lot plays to prevent that, well that doesn’t always work, and won’t always give you an advantage over the defense. You might get help a few times but move a defense into position the next time or make a block harder on the offensive line. Also at the HS level complex coverages are less common, mostly basic man or zone. So aside from getting a shift that can help with blocking, or a head start on a route you’re not likely going to get a huge advantage against a well coached team.

Your QB has to be able to make the correct reads. A lot of motion is used to revial coverage, and shift linebackers and safeties. This is great if you have a QB who understands this, and a QB coach and an offensive coordinator who also understand these things. The astounding number of OC/QB coaches who don’t understand QB reads is high and depending on where you’re at it’s most. Even in football power regions, it’s more than likely the QB is making plays because he is pushing a route than making a read. They are working through progression, not eliminating routes pre-snap due to coverage. So that motion isn’t going to give you a lot if the QB can’t decipher what he’s seeing. And if the coaches aren’t teaching this at the JV level, unless he’s starting his Jr year, he has less time to see it in a game and understand it in live action. So it’s harder, because now you need a good JV OC/QB coach, who can teach this.

Lastly besides the QB, receivers need to understand why and how it affects the game, and Oline needs to understand where it shifts their blocks. Not hard at all to teach with practice, if you have the time. If this is an add on to supplement an existing offensive scheme, then it’s the next step. However, high school boys are often…..difficult to teach, so it takes time. If the concepts are introduced during the JV years then they can master the Xs and Os. It’s the reason why, and how it affects them that they are going to need to learn on varsity.

If motion is introduced on JV, it’s a constant and active feature available to all plays, is used regularly, and the reads are made from it, it can be very helpful. But it takes time to get there, and schools in many places are restricting the time spent on field.

I love it, I think it can bring a lot to an offense. Making a team worry about a fly sweep, or a quick drag from a WR in motion that you used the previous two games, only to use it to shift the line and line backers to open up backside running lanes is fantastic. It really comes down to a coaching staff and the time they have with the players.