The formation started during the early '50s when Coach Glenn "Tiger" Ellison used a balanced formation that had the QB under center, a single Running Back, two Wide Receivers, and two tight slotbacks. The Quarterback usually rolled out, and the tight Slotback to the roll-out side stayed to block.
The formation, as you can see, is still not spread the way the Run and Shoot is run nowadays, but what made the formation so unique was that it counted on the QB and the WRs reading the defense both pre and post-snap. Sound familiar?
As the offense evolved, the receivers started going out wide and the formation became more spread out and complex.
As you can see, the Run and Shoot is unique—now not only does the QB have to read the play, but the receivers do too. The receivers are taught to read the defense, find the open area (if it's a zone coverage), and trust that the QB made the same read.
Now the read must be of the defensive coverage and not of the defensive linemen. There is motion pre-snap in almost every play, mostly to help the offensive players read the defense.
June Jones' offense that took Hawaii to the Sugar Bowl is very similar to Mouse Davis' playbook used in Portland State back in the '70s.
The Run and Shoot is often criticized because it is one-dimensional. If the opposing team is able to stop the passing game, which is a tough task, the running game is usually ineffective. Also, without a Tight End and Running Backs, the Quarterback is vulnerable to blitzes and pressure.
All this brings us to the Spread offense which we see nowadays. For starters, it should not be called just the Spread Offense, but the Spread Option Offense—as the name suggests, it incorporates features from the Option offense (QB reads, option pitches) with some features of the Run and Shoot offense (Shotgun formation, QB rolling out).
Both Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez and former Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder developed it during the mid '90s, and both deserve credit for developing the offense as we know it now.
However, the Spread Option really made a splash when Vince Young and the Texas Longhorns won the national championship using a spread option offense successfully against the juggernaut that was the USC defence.
Coincidentally (or was it?) during the same season, the Utah Utes went undefeated, led by head coach Urban Meyer's spread option offense, which was based on Rich Rodriguez's spread option offense run at West Virginia.
Meyer then led Florida to a national title in just his second year, using freshman QB Tim Tebow in Spread Option plays with much success.
After all I've written about both the Option offense and the Run and Shoot, a video explaining how the Spread Option Offense works is worth a thousand words. (Note the similarities to both the Option and the Run and Shoot.)
Expect the Spread Option offense to become even more popular, as recruits are getting faster, and more and more high schools are turning to a variation of the spread. Using the Spread option is a great recruiting tool for coaches nowadays.
Also, new teams are adopting it every year. Michigan, Auburn, and (when Terrelle Pryor takes over full time) Ohio State are teams that are changing to this new, exciting, and beautiful offense.
The Spread Option is here to stay and will keep creating highlights for years to come.
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