Coach Mark Richt on the Shallow Cross Series

University of Georgia Head Coach Mark Richt: The Shallow Cross Series

This past spring, the featured Saturday afternoon guest speaker at the annual USC Nike coaching clinic was University of Georgia Head Football Coach Mark Richt.  Coach Richt flew in just for the day to make the presentation and then turned around to go home for what I imagine was an awfully long one-day trip. Compounding the travel distance and jet lag involved, Coach Richt was also visibly suffering from a slight head and sinus cold.

The crux of Richt's one hour presentation centered on the well-known Shallow Cross Series in the passing game. The play is nothing new and has been around football for quite some time.

However the play, which I'll describe in some detail below with images and video, was made famous through its repeated and highly successful use by the Florida State Seminoles in the 1990s towards the end of their spectacular run of 14 consecutive Top Five finishes.

According to Coach Richt, this single pass play was run by FSU during its heyday as often as a dozen times per game (albeit out of different formations). Bobby Bowden and Richt believed in running it again and again until the defense could stop it. Often the opponent simply could not.

This play was designed for superior execution honed by repetition. The shallow cross play was often half of FSU’s offensive passing yardage gained in any given game.

Coach Richt still uses the play today at the University of Georgia. QB Matt Stafford reportedly runs the play fairly well but is still developing in reading all the different routes and making the required throws with quick timing.

The shallow cross features five eligible receivers (not all WRs) and is run out of the shotgun with only a five-man offensive line protection scheme, meaning it has to have built in hot routes to handle any blitzes or the QB will get drilled. The routes are packaged in a manner such that the play will generally have at least one open route versus whatever defense the opposition plays.

However, the play requires both precise and quick reads by the quarterback. Despite possessing just medium arm strength, for example, former QB Charlie Ward ran this play to perfection and it was a big reason for his success in college football. FSU averaged 520 yards per game and Ward threw for just over 3,000 total yards passing with a 69-percent completion rate when he won the Heisman Trophy in 1993.

This first part of Coach Richt's presentation covered the tactical explanation of the Shallow Cross Series and how it works. This section is the detailed X’s and O’s breakdown on the alignments, different formations, adjustments, and key points of the play versus different defenses.

For those interested in that level of detail I'll link to the 40 minute video I made of the presentation. In the video Coach Richt explains the nuts and bolts of running the shallow cross package from four different 3 x 2 sets for offensive alignment.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?