FLORIDA FOOTBALL: FOOD FOR A MAN'S SOUL
Spring Practice: The I-Formation
I whooped and hollered when I discovered that Meyer and co. were tinkering with a new I-formation set in spring practice. I love the idea of seeing Florida line up old-school on occasion, with a couple of TEs and a FB blocking for a guy like E-Moody. Love it.
Of course, there’s one trick to that idea; you take a team which is accustomed to the spread at all times, then ask them to line up and block in a way that’s relatively foreign to them now, and you might not get the results you wanted.
“I’m not sure how that I-package is going to be sticking around in here,” Meyer said after Monday’s practice. “We want to have it in, but once again I said this four years ago when we walked on this campus, we don’t really have an offense. It’s an offense based on what you have. We can run “I” all you want, but if your players aren’t very good or they’re struggling or they’re young and inexperienced then we’re not going to run that ragged. We’ll go to five-wide and you’ve seen us do that before.”
One issue Meyer’s team is having with the I-package is the youth at certain positions. UF has just two tight ends — junior Aaron Hernandez and freshman Desmond Parks — and no proven fullbacks.
Pridemore looks like a strong kid. Can’t he be taught to block in such a basic package? We’re not talking zone reads here, we’re talking hit the A, B or C gap and block.
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3 Comments so far
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Here’s the thing:
The I-formation is a staple of the under center formation. What I’m getting from Meyer out of this is:
Until further notice, we are a spread team first and a pro-style team second.
It’s also an issue of personnel on field. A typical formation last year included:
4 wide receivers (Harvin, Murphy, Thompson, Nelson or another combination)
A center, two guards, and two tackles (The O-line)
A tight end (Aaron Hernandez)
And the quarterback in Tim Tebow.
By contrast, a typical I-formation has:
The starting O-line (five guys)
Two tight ends (Hernandez/Desmond Parks?)
The quarterback
A fullback (Where a starter hasn’t stepped up)
And two running backs.
It might be that the coaching staff is trying to teach the guys, but nobody has stepped up yet. So it makes sense to put eleven of your most talented guys in one formation while putting an unproven tight end and an unproven fullback in another doesn’t.
It’s still a possibility that other pro-style formations like some West Coast schemes or even a wishbone or two could be thrown in, though. And it’s a good sign that Tebow and Brantley are progressing very well under Loeffler.
By Peter on 04.02.09 9:32 am
Don’t get too excited. Meyer has already proven that the only time his QB is under center and not in the shotgun, is when we are in victory formation. I’m surprised we don’t run the kneal down from the shotgun too.
By skigator93 on 04.02.09 10:00 am
Who needs the I?
One TE, FB and a TB plus three receivers still gets the job done. Spreading the field is the best ‘blocking’ a good TB can get.
It seems to me the biggest concern we have had is getting our RBs to break the first tackle and get loose in the defences secondary.
By 1974gator on 04.06.09 1:56 pm
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