Triple Option in 8-Man 

Thanks Coach! Great question, and chipping is definitely an option. We have chipped if teams align their DE's head up with our TE's. Like you said it can also depend on how good the end is, but if the DE is lined up extra wide we always taught our TE's to free release directly to the LB as quick as possible. Now, if the DE was head up and really jammed our TE's then we would even outside release at times to widen him and make it an easy read for QB or automatic give on the dive. Mixing it up also seemed to confuse opposing DE's at times and was a good way to try to slow down stud DE's. Absolutely, I will dive more into this in an upcoming video here in the next couple weeks!

@@8ManBreakdowns Thanks Coach E. Also, we tend to stay at 18-24" splits, basically as wide as we can get away with, what are your thoughts on splits? Finally, in Illinois, we started 8man football 5 years ago for the small schools, unlike elsewhere in the country, Illinois teams tend to stay with a 4-4 or 3-3 stack Defense. Coach O

@@timoman6071 Another great question Coach! For splits, we always use 2 foot splits and it has worked well for us. Occasionally we would widen to 30" splits if we go spread with only 3 down lineman. Here in Kansas, the primary defense is a 3-2, but their are several teams that run a 3-3 stack or a 4-2, and even some 2-man fronts are being used quite often now, but I have never seen a 4-4! I'd be interested to see what pass coverages 4-4 teams use. Thanks for your questions Coach! Do you mind if I use your questions in an upcoming video of mine?

@@8ManBreakdowns Absolutely, feel free to use questions! Always looking to learn from others! Have you thought about hosting interviews with 8 man coaches from around the country? Illinois, Michigan, Kansas, Iowa....? Finally, we will roll up our 4-2 into a 4-4 against a jumbo power I / wishbone / diamond formation. We even put in four LB's with 4 jumbo linemen. Primarily against a team we know is going to run. Outside backers have man coverage, however, we typically don't allow anyone to release. Real smashmouth football. A lot Illinois teams will use jumbo personnell in short yardage/goal line / 2 pt situations. With the 4-4, we like to stunt our tackles and inside backers to disrupt traps, outside backers have contain. Coach O

@@timoman6071 That’s a great idea to bring other coaches on the show from around the country! I would absolutely be up for doing something like that. I’ll try to get something like that started and in place this November when we get into the offseason! Would love to have you on and talk more about anything you’d be willing to share with other coaches! Feel free to contact me anytime via email coachengelken@gmail.com

To be honest I don’t use much triple option anymore, but we didn’t have much trouble with backside DE. IF we did, we’d sometimes widen our splits to slow him down or use a motion guy or TE to just block him. Hope this helps, if you have more questions feel free to shoot me an email or message me on Twitter!

@@8ManBreakdowns I’ll shoot you a DM on Twitter then