Heres a good article on it lengthly. FOOTBALL
Uncovering the intricacies of the read option
LINCOLN — The zone read, or read option, is sophisticated. It has to be, given the knowledge and innovation of modern-day defensive coordinators.
But then again, Cody Green says the Nebraska quarterbacks aren’t exactly being asked to split an atom.
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BREAKING DOWN THE ZONE READ
If you break down the zone read to its simplest form, it’s easy to understand. One defensive player, often the backside end, is left unblock-ed by the offensive line. The running back crosses in front of the quarterback, who gives the illusion that he’s going to hand the football off. But the quarterback is looking at the unguarded lineman. If that opposing player steps toward the tailback, the quarterback will keep the ball. The back gets the ball when that defender freezes, as if he’s waiting for the quarterback to run his way. That’s it, the basic concept. Nebraska, however, has added lots of wrinkles. NU’s playbook now contains layer after layer of variations — one reason it’s been so difficult to defend. A few other reasons go by the name of Mar-tinez, Helu and Burkhead.
• Vision: The play call dictates which defender will be unblocked, but Martinez doesn’t want to give it away before the snap. So everything’s normal, until Martinez grabs the football. That’s when he immediately locks his eyes on the guy.
• Decision: The football goes whichever way the unguarded defender doesn’t. So Martinez has to make the call. If the opposing player looks like he’s crashing toward the running back, Martinez keeps it. Otherwise, it’s a handoff.
• Deception: For that split second when Martinez is eyeing the unblocked defender, he’s holding the ball in the I-back’s belly. When the TV camera starts following the guy who doesn’t have the football, Martinez has done his job.
• Timing: Even with all that’s going through Martinez’s mind, he still can’t afford to hesitate. The play has to look smooth. Any undesired pauses, maybe caused by a poor snap or by a slip on the turf, allow the defense to pounce.
“For somebody who isn’t in it, for fans who think that we’re doing the smartest thing ever, it’s very, very simple,” said Green, who backs up Taylor Martinez at quarterback for NU.
After the snap, the quarterback’s “read” at that moment goes to one particular defensive player, which can vary depending on scheme.
“He does this, we do this. He does that, we do that. Simple as that,” Green explains. “It’s so easy, we always say Bozo the chimp can do it.”
Simple, and in the right hands, destructive.
Nebraska has made the zone read its most effective weapon in an offense that appears transformed from a year ago.
The Huskers rank second nationally in rushing offense at 337.6 yards per game and are gouging opponents for 7.74 per carry, nearly a yard better than anybody else in Division I-A football.
And it’s largely because of that “simple” play: Martinez takes a snap in the shotgun, puts the football briefly in the stomach of the crossing I-back and then decides in an instant whether to let go or keep the ball and take off running.
All based on his vision of what the opponent — and a particular defender — is doing.
“It really comes down to trusting your instincts, your footwork, your ball-handling, because that’s the bait,” NU offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said. “You set that bait, you get a bite, and one of the two guys is going to be able to maximize an opportunity off of it.”
The combination of defenses taking the bait and Martinez being a shark with the football has produced some impressive results: 12 rushing touchdowns for the redshirt freshman, and 10 running plays by the offense of 40 yards or longer.
Texas was running the zone read five years ago with Vince Young and rode it to a national championship. It lends itself to familiarity heading into Saturday, UT coach Mack Brown said, but that’s about it.
“I think you can know how it works, but everybody knew how it worked with Vince, too, and people really had trouble stopping it,” Brown said. “Our defensive coaches are pulling their hair out this week.”
Watson has called it a three-year project for NU to get to this point with the read option game. It was impeded last year by injuries, but still remained the vision shared by Watson and head coach Bo Pelini.
Over time, Watson also has studied how others do it — Florida, Oregon, Mississippi State, Nevada and some old West Virginia tape before Rich Rodriguez left for Michigan.
Watson even sat down with Ken Leonard, an old friend who runs the zone read at Sacred Heart-Griffin High in Springfield, Ill., “and let him teach me, and I listen to him, because he’s got far more experience than I do.” Watson even took wrinkles from some Texas high school coaches.
Out of it, Watson said, “We found our place, our spin.”
Many who run the zone read have their quarterback base his decision off what a defensive end is doing. Green said that NU quarterbacks, depending on the scheme, can be reading any one of the defensive linemen as well as linebackers or defensive backs.
Watson also said it’s not just about the quarterback but the blocking pattern with the linemen, tight ends and receivers — “and who we’re reading and how we’re hanging that guy out.”
“Then the smallest of details really makes it happen for a quarterback,” Watson said. “You have to have discipline in your footwork and discipline in your ball-handling, then be decisive in your decisions. Then run like heck if it’s your ball.”
Martinez can sure do that. But perhaps the nuance to NU’s success is the timing and fluidity that has developed between the quarterback and I-backs Roy Helu and Rex Burkhead. A lot of that is credited to the repetition force-fed by Watson and the offensive staff.
“They just have great feels for it,” NU offensive tackle Jeremiah Sirles said.
Nebraska safety Rickey Thenarse can sympathize with the problems it poses for a defense. The Blackshirts see it all the time. Taylor with Roy or Rex working swiftly and confidently out of the backfield.
“It’s just an offense where it opens up a lot of guys,” Thenarse said. “With that, you have to be perfect, you have to make open-field tackles. And Taylor, he’ll damage you on that. With the other weapons — Roy and Rex and the offensive line — it’s just a hard day’s work to defend it.”
South Dakota State often devoted two defenders to Martinez and caused NU more trouble than anybody else this season. With a bye week, Texas and defensive coordinator Will Muschamp are expected to have something cooked up for the Huskers.
Watson said NU doesn’t care which player the defense focuses on taking away, the quarterback or running back. If a defense keys on the quarterback, NU can bleed the defense with the tailback.
“And we’ll do that,” Watson said. “We’ll just keep feeding it to the tailback and test their patience, and then when they give us a play, it’ll turn into something really good for us. That’s what Taylor did a great job against K-State with, and didn’t do such a good job against South Dakota State. That’s his improvement.”
Two of Martinez’s four touchdowns in the 48-13 win over Kansas State came on zone reads, including a 35-yarder when a KSU defensive end got caught between Martinez and Burkhead on the ball fake. Television replays showed how the deception froze the end, and the fraction of a second was all Martinez needed to race into the second level.
In addition to the zone read, Nebraska has designed runs for its quarterbacks without reads, quarterback draw plays, run-action passes and checkdowns in the passing game on which the quarterback can take off.
The read option, however, has secured a prominent place in the Husker attack.
“We always say that defensive players can be disciplined to a point, and then they’re going to slip up,” Green said. “And when they slip up, that’s when we’ve broke our 70-, 60-yard runs for touchdowns, because that’s what the zone read is basically set up to do.”
