I have been doing a lot of reading on Zone blocking (IZ and OZ). One thing mentioned here and in articles by Alex Gibbs in the importance of the running back understanding his monuments. My understanding, in a very basic sense, is the for OZ the monument is the TE location at the start of the play and for IZ the monument is the tackle at the start of the play. The read for the RB on OZ is the edge defender first and then the first player inside. Regardless of the read he must press is monument and make the cut upon arrival to the monument.
Here is where i am confused (and a confused coach is a bad thing 
). My understanding is on OZ the RB is looking to determine if his first read gains the outside edge of the offensive player blocking him if he has he looks to his second read to determine if that defender has also gained the outside edge of the offensive player blocking him.
So, Scenario 1 - Edge defender has not gained outside leverage - RB takes to the edge
Scenario 2 - Edge Defender has gained outside leverage but next defender has not - RB cuts inside off of outside offensive Player (OT - OZ weak/TE OZ Strong)
Scenario 3 - Both Defenders have gained outside Leverage - RB will cut inside off of second Offensive player (OG -OZ Weak/OT OZ strong).
Am I heading in the right direction of OZ?
For IZ i am clueless so far.
Any help is greatly appreciated. I am going to need to teach this to 12/13 year olds next year.
Dave
As for monuments, I was taught the following for Middle School and HS level IZ and OZ. To help the RB's get N/S.
Inside Zone - Running back gets 1 step to make his cut and get N/S
Outside Zone - Running back gets 3 steps to make his cut and get N/S
That is a simple way to get it in a players head, if they start thinking too much they go E/W rather than N/S. Just my experience, simple and easy. I don't know if this helps.
