Back in 2010, current Houston University coach Dana Holgerson was the offensive coordinator for the Oklahoma State Cowboys. A spread offense guru who had coached and played under the OG’s of the Air Raid offense in Mike Leach and Hal Mumme, Holgerson was known to vary from air raid orthodoxy and tinker with different formations. One of the greatest arguments against the air raid was that a good offense could move the ball very well between the 20’s, but as the field compressed, the play calling got harder and the play sheet got more restrained. However, one late night in that Summer at a coaches’s clinic, Holgerson had an idea after a few beers and way too many red bulls with some fellow coaches.

Why take the old wishbone formation and invert the backs, and keep the quarterback in the shotgun formation? Keep a tight end depending on how well your pass blockers are, maybe split two receivers out, one each to side. Heading into that season, Holgerson had a stacked offense returning to Stillwater. He had Brandon Weeden, a former pro baseball player who would be a future NFL starter at Quarterback, wideout Justin Blackmon, and the 1-2 punch of Kendall Hunter and Joseph Randall. All 4 had spectacular and record breaking seasons and the Cowboys won their first Big 12 South championship and won the Alamo Bowl. Diamond kept defenses guessing as to what the Cowboys would do in their new formation.

For the rest of the college football world that ran the spread, the air raid, or the run and shoot, it was a gift from above. It allowed them to use some smash mouth football techniques and plays without having to have the huge (and usually worthless) fullbacks and big tight ends major pro-style programs can find and schools like Texas Tech, Houston and the such were not recruiting. It gave them 10 or so more plays in their back pocket for red zone opportunities.

Now, before I go any further, this is simply just a football fan who is running a hypothesis of what we could do on offense. Clint Dolezel and Bob Bounds are the play callers and offensive guys and have careers as players and coaches to back it up. I know both of these guys, this is just something I am interested in sharing, they are the ones who study the film and see and evaluate all the talent they have on offense. For all I know, this might be a horrible idea and I defer to them in what the team should run. (Just wanted people to know, I am staying in my lane)

So, how did this exactly work? Let’s take a deeper look.

Above you can see the basic formation and alignments of the Diamond. You have your 5 linemen in tight, a reciever split to other side, or sometimes one split out and one in as a tight end lined up on the other. The Quarterback is in the shotgun, with another tight end flanking him on the left, a running back on the right, and the feature back behind the quarterback in the pistol. Here is what you can do from the said formation per Football Study Hall–

1. It’s great for attacking multiple parts of the line of scrimmage

Loading the backfield with both of your non-OL blockers rather than putting them along the line of scrimmage means there’s no telling where they’ll be inserted along the line of scrimmage.

Linebackers and safeties know before the snap where they’ll be needed against a TE set or a spread alignment but against the diamond set the offense could bring extra blockers just about anywhere and the defenders have to process that information along with everything else that’s going on after the snap. That said, their coverage assignments get simpler.

2. It’s great for creating misdirection

Since the defense is reading the flow of three different running backs after the snap it’s easy for the offense to create false keys and create chaos after the snap before running RB screens, counter plays, reverses, and all manner of misdirecting evil.

3. It creates 1-on-1 match-ups on the outside for star receivers

See Justin Blackmon’s huge 2010, or what Holgorsen has since done at West Virginia for outside receivers like Stedman Bailey, Mario Alford, or Kevin White. You can also point to what he has been able to do at Houston, his current coaching stop. To get even numbers against the diamond formation the defense generally has to load the box with eight defenders, creating a 1-on-1 outside for someone.

Now, some of you are asking, why the feature of X’s and O’S? Our offense has struggled in moving the ball between the 20’s but against Sacramento State (who by the way, beat Stanford last night), for 5-6 plays running plays out of the diamond, we looked like a totally different team. We averaged about 6.4 yards per carry. Then, Sac State started loading the box and it allowed us to open up the passing game a bit. The Lion offense looked like a completely different unit when they were in this formation.

That’s great you might think, but do we have what we need? Here is what you MUST have to run this formation successfully.

1. A good running back

The diamond formation makes its living running the football, if you don’t have anyone worth featuring in the run game this isn’t the set for you. We have 3 good running backs, all three with strengths that vary in Reggie Branch, Ra’veion Hargrove, and Shamenski Rucker. To Me, Branch should be the feature back with Hargrove and Rucker being the flanking back. You could do a lot to spread things out or suck in the defense and let them run verticals or into the flats.

2. Lead blockers

Tight ends and H-backs often do fine when positioned more like fullbacks in this set and a running back who can throw a good cut block or stalk a defensive back in addition to running the ball has tremendous value. The fullback is the ideal player to pair in the backfield with runners in this set but the more versatile the player used as a lead blocker the more dynamic and versatile the formation becomes, but we do not have a single fullback on the roster, so this is where a second tight end comes into play. We have two great tight ends and good blockers in Austin Samaha and Zadock Dinklemann. You might have both guys flank whoever playing quarterback is and both are serious pass catching threats in addition to being good blockers.

3. A vertical threat on the outside who can abuse a 1-on-1 match-up

Otherwise the offense will bring eight or even nine in the box and choke the life out of the system. Plus, running games are always more fun when paired with the possibility of a deep play-action lob that takes the top off the defense. Keith Miller has won a couple of one on one matchups and is by far the best receiver on the roster, but we need some big time help. Miller came to us from Colorado which means he has the talent, but he did not play in the game against Sac State but should be back for the Old Dominion game. Also Illinois State transfer Jerome Buckner and Micaleous Elder, another transfer who played at Middle Tennessee State, we need those guys to step in and step up. Having one home run threat is good, but you need more.

4. A quarterback who can throw downfield-

So long as he’s good enough to get the ball in the hands of a big play receiver on the outside, or else trigger an option-attack, any QB can apply for the role of diamond formation trigger-man. As in most all systems, a dual-threat QB with a strong arm is ideal whereas on the outside a big-play receiver and a solid slot receiver would be most devastating. Peter Parrish is better when he is throwing long downfield, as he is shaky in the intermediate and short vertical routes, but he has a gun. If his balls are 50/50, I can live with that. Also, he can run and I have not even gotten into the possible option plays you can run. Parrish is that dual threat guy and he looked a lot better running the ball last week. If you have the personnel, the diamond can really make your offensive attack shine.

And in our case, have our offense diamond powered and start putting points on the board.