Interesting Article on Wing-T

[Jaxhen]

Interesting article on the Wing-T and connection with Delaware's Dave Nelson and Tubby Raymond

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/preps/football/2007-08-16-wing-t-football_N.htm

[dungeonjoe]

great article and animation of how it works... I can't wait to see Wofford's variation this Fall.

[Mr. C]

The most interesting thing for me about the article is that I was at Tubby Raymond Field on Friday morning and was introduced and had a long conversation with ... Tubby Raymond. Then I'm reading my copy of the USA Today sports section later in the day and there are quotes from Tubby on some of the very subjects we had been discussing earlier in the day.

[CSUBUCDAD]

One of the best offenses you can run against a fast, over-pursuing defense. It will freeze them in their tracks. Ran it with my youth teams over the years and always had great success with it.

[hornetsrhorrible]

growing up in slower delaware and playing ball in the late 80s early 90s i learned plenty about being burned on the fake so central to the wing-t!
jax i lived just south of jax before moving to virginia and followed hs ball there. the coach at episcopal high in jax is a big devotee of the wing though i dont know if he'll run it there this year as the spread is so prevelent at the florida college level.

[Brad82]

How many FCS teams are still using it?
I don't think Delaware is?

[PaladinFan]

Furman will run variations of it at times. Instead of the wingback being a running back he will usually be a flanker. Then again, what formations does Furman NOT use on offense?

[Franks Tanks]

How many FCS teams are still using it?
I don't think Delaware is?

Delaware hasnt run a pure wing T in I would guess about 25 years. Tubby used influences of the Wing T in his later years but pretty much used a pro-style offense. KC Keeler now employs a balanced pro attack

[Eyes of Old Main]

How many FCS teams are still using it?

Wofford uses a hybrid of the Wing T and the Wishbone.

[GannonFan]

Delaware hasnt run a pure wing T in I would guess about 25 years. Tubby used influences of the Wing T in his later years but pretty much used a pro-style offense. KC Keeler now employs a balanced pro attack

UD ran a pretty traditional Wing-T in the early 90's when Vergantino was there. Also mixed in plenty of QB option as well.

KC currently runs a spread offense - pro attack would suggest more two man backfields which UD only employs in short yardage. xtwocentsx

[Franks Tanks]

UD ran a pretty traditional Wing-T in the early 90's when Vergantino was there. Also mixed in plenty of QB option as well.

KC currently runs a spread offense - pro attack would suggest more two man backfields which UD only employs in short yardage. xtwocentsx


I stand corrected as you of course have seen many more Delaware games that I. I also didnt think that Delaware runs a pure spread like Florida or even perhaps Boise, but it sounds as they do?

[813Jag]

I know Grambling used it when Coach Spears was there especially in '04 and '05. I always liked to see that offense when it was clicking especially in the Coach Rob days.

[UncleSam]

I loved the Delaware Wing-T when it was option based, not so much if the QB couldn't run.

[RadMann]

I grew up in Newark and one of my neighbors was the late Coach Nelson, College football HOF member and the one credited with inventing the Wing-T or Delaware Wing-T as it is called. He was a great guy and had a lot of really interesting college football stories to tell. He was also the head of the NCAA College football rules committee for many years. Great man....

[BULLDOG8180]

I played against Delaware in the late 70's when they were running the wing-T. They had those huge o-line pulling and trapping. I hated that week of practice. It was tough on a 190lb DE. They had a pretty good QB in Komlo back then too.

[letsgopards04]

I love the Wing T. The only thing better is the single wing. At the high school and small college level. These formations can neutralize superior talent. In high school I played against a team that ran the double wing to a couple state championships in NY and let me tell you, it was darn near impossible to stop. They had tall lineman so you could never see where the ball was.

[GannonFan]

I stand corrected as you of course have seen many more Delaware games that I. I also didnt think that Delaware runs a pure spread like Florida or even perhaps Boise, but it sounds as they do?


You were right, though, they typically veered away from traditional Wing-T play depending on the QB. With Gannon they did that, and at the end with Nagy they did that as well. But those Vergantino years (1989-1992) were just pure Wing-T, and pretty effective, especially the last two years. NE Lousiana, a top seed, got run off the field by Vergantino's senior year team that year. If he didn't come down with the flu right before the Marshall game in the semis that year 1992 could've been a title year for the Hens. They ran a pretty pure Wing-T against Montana in 1993 as well in that classic 49-48 win - neither offense on the field that day was stoppable.

As for the spread offense, there's a lot of variety of spread offenses so it's hard to say how pure it is. And again, they will modify the spread to take advantage of the strengths of the QB - if the QB is more of a passer than a runner, you won't see a lot of belly options or other backfield misdirection, as you would see with a running QB.

[Go...gate]

Colgate switched from the Wishbone to the Wing-T in 1976 and had a lot of success with it until Steve Calabria came along in 1981 and we gradually went to the I formation. It was fun to watch.

[Seat16Demon]

You don't see the pure wing-T or I-wing offense in the Southland Conf. Perhaps on occasion some us this formation, or a modified version, as a change of pace or gadget package. Nicholls State does run a pure option and therefore utilizes these formations from time to time in the midst of their option packages.
Our high school ran nothing but I-wing formations. Sometimes a wing-T formation was thrown in to disguise a play or just change of pace. It worked good for us as long as we had great athletes. I'll have to say that I am a fan of the I-wing and wing-t sets on occasion, but not all the time.

[Cleets]

You can get a pretty good rundown on just about any offense at "the zone" site listed below... many fun break-downs on the site, just click on the "offense" tab on the left side of the main page about 1/2 down

http://www.sportscombine.com/thezone/default.htm

[terrierbob]

Is it impossible to run it at the pro level because of defensive quickness?

[Franks Tanks]

Is it impossible to run it at the pro level because of defensive quickness?

Absolutely, when was the last time you have even seen a option at the pro level? Mike Vick was maybe even only marginally effective doing so. The Wing T also bunches everything up in the middle with 3 backs in the backfield, you need to spread it out a bit in the NFL.