All Verticals Concept - part 1

Thanks to Mike Leach's Air Raid offense, the "All Verticals" concept package has become one of the most popular concepts in college football today. As the concept package name implies, most or all of the routes in this concept group are vertical routes trying to attack the defense down the field. Over the next 4 posts, I'm going to show 4 different All Vertical concepts and show how each concept attacks the defense separately. The first concept of this series is what I call the "Arizona" concept.

All Vert concept 1: "Arizona"

"Arizona" can be run out of a 3 x 1 or 2 x 2 receiver alignment, and the inside routes are adjusted accordingly. "Arizona" has the outside receivers run "snag" routes: an option route where the receiver either a) continues to run down the field, or b) stops and turns at 12 yards, depending on what the cornerback does. The tight end  runs a "hunt" route, which changes the receiver's responsibility based on coverage and alignment., and the slot receiver runs a "bender" route.

"Arizona" (2 x 2 alignment)

Out of a 2 x 2 alignment, the "hunt" route will either a) run down the field 2 yards outside the hash in a single-high safety coverage (i.e. Cover 3), or b) run 2 yards inside the near safety's inside shoulder in a two-high safety coverage (i.e. Cover 2).

"Arizona" concept out of a 2x2 formation

"Arizona" (3 x 1 alignment)

Out of a 3 x 1 alignment, the "hunt" route will run 2 yards inside the nearest safety to the receiver (or only safety in single-high coverage).

"Arizona" out of a 3x1 formation

The main focus of "Arizona" is to attack the intermediate (10-15 yards past LOS) and deep (16+ yards) parts of the defense to get a big play, usually a first down.