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Gregory Double Wing
Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to common questions about running my verison of this great offense.
1) What is your experience running the Double Wing?

I started researching the Markham/Valloton Double Wing in 1996. I had seen a Markham clinic, reviewed his clinic tapes several times, and had just read a new book called the "Toss" by Jerry Valloton. I ran it for three years from 1997 to 1999 and it lead my team to three championship appearances and one win. At the time the team was a bottom feeder due to the attitude of the board and the parents not believing that the kids could be competitive in the league. That all changed with proper coaching and a great offensive system. In 2000 I moved back to Texas after serving twelve years in the Marine Corps. I spent the off season researching Hugh Wyatt's flavor of the double wing and decided that I would run a mix of his system and what I already knew.  At the time I decided to switch from the ODD/EVEN blocking scheme of Markham/Valloton to the GOD blocking scheme based on Hugh Wyatt's GOA scheme. From 2000 to 2003 I coached with the Grand Prairie Raiders and managed to make the team, and actually the entire organization thanks to the board of directors backing, a perennial play off team that went undefeated in the regular season twice and got to a championship appearance in my final season there. Grand Prairie is now a power house in their league and just this year won two of the three division championships and all of their teams were in the play offs. While at Grand Prairie I started really developing my own double wing system. This really started after the 2000 season when I decided that I needed to fine tune what I was doing and simplifying some things within the system. One of the major changes I made was switching to a angle blocking concept vice a double team blocking concept. After a major overhaul in what I did I started using the SAB blocking scheme and for two season at Grand Prairie I ran my double wing system with SAB blocking. After marrying my beautiful girlfriend and moving to Frisco from down town Dallas I decided that coaching Grand Prairie was not feasible and started looking for an other coaching position around the Frisco Area. I spent two years consulting with Grand Prairie and the spring season coaching select club football. In 2006 to 2007 I basically consulted with several teams in the DFW area as well as around the country. Several of the teams that I consulted with had coaches from my previous staffs and I spent a lot of time off the field assisting them in developing their double wing offense.  This past season I becaome a head coach at Prince of Peace Middle School where we went 6-2 in the reguler season and went on to an 8-3 season losing in the DPL Championship game. This past season was a wonderful experience with some great kids, parents, and coaches. In all I have eleven years of coaching experience and if you count the two spring seasons I have thirteen great seasons of coaching the double wing. 

I, and many other double wing coaches, feel that it takes three years to actually learn the offense and a lot longer then that to master it. So if any coach tries to tell you that they have mastered this offense after only running the offense for two to three years I would seriously question their credentials. Be wary of people selling information that are unwilling to explain thier credentials to you. You are not only buying their material you are buying their knowledge of it. If a coach has not run this offense on the field for at least five years I would be leary of buying material from them. More then likely they have simply copied other peoples work and called it their own.

2)  What makes your double wing system different from Markham's, Valloton's, Wyatt's, and Murphy's?

The one main difference is that I use angle blocking concepts vice double team concepts as my primary method of blocking.  Meaning that we look to get the down block first and the double team second if we need it. Secondly my playing calling methodology and my naming convention or very different from the above. Both of these are based on simplifiy the offense for youth players. I think the average youth player can do a lot but the system needs to be simple and efficient so that every player on the team can be successful not just the kids that are smart enough to figure out everything. It makes no sense to me to have a system that is so complex that it devalues the player's abilities and reduces the effectiveness of your team. Third there many things that I do with in my system that give it a completely different look then the average double wing system. The use of the buck wedge, fenton wedge, and rocket wedge schemes gives you three disinct but highly effective series of play. The loose passing packages that blend some basic spread passing cconcepts into the double wing system. The use of simple play side and back side blocking adjustments that allow us to not only identify, isolate, and attack key defenders but also give us the look of being a multiple formation team when we really are simply adjusitng our formation to get better blocking angles. All of this gives me a very unique offense that is geared towards youth players and making them successful.

Let me add that in order to truly understand the double wing and how it works you need to watch Don Markham's tapes as he is the creator of the modern double wing system. With that said no one can copy or coach exactly like another coach. That is impossible because every person is different and we see, learn, and teach things differently and thus there is no exact two copies of anything in the coaching world. Essentially every double wing system is different so finding the variation that fits you best is the best thing you can do as a coach if you are interested in running the double wing. Then as you begin to understand that system and the basic philosophy of the double wing you can venture out and start to learn other variations to broaden your abilities in the system.

3)  What blocking schemes do you use in your system.

The easy answer is TKO (track and kick out), wedge blocking, and several perimeter schemes that compliment the other two.  The more complete answer is that I use two blocking schemes in the TKO system called SEAL and KICK. SEAL is our basic angle block concept that has the blocking back kick out the EMLOS and the BSG and BST pull and seal. The KICK schem has the BSG kick out the EMLOS and the blocking back and BST pull and seal. The TKO schemes are used for attacking offtackle (C/B gaps) while the wedge scheme is primarly used to attack the A gaps. We have several adjustments to the wedge scheme that allow us to use the wedge scheme to attack the perimeter as well using the three wedge offensive schemes we use. I have three perimeter schemes that I use. The first is our reverse scheme that is really a TKO scheme that has the pullers log the defenders as they colllapse down on the TKKO blockers to close the hole. I also teach the monster sweep scheme that utilizes four pullers (PST, PSG, BSG, BST) while we cut the interior linemen and wheel block the EMLOS; this really nothing more then a power sweep that looks like our power play initially. The other scheme is a alternative scheme to the monster sweep called PIN and is a simpler but more aggressive reach scheme that doesn't require any pullers. All of these schemes, by design, compliment each other to maximize the benefits of the entire offense.

4) What is your coaching philosophy?

Coaching Philosophy

Team –

  • I coach honor, courage, and commitment in all of my players. 
  • I expect a strong commitment and work ethic.
  • Accountability; be on time, be where you are supposed to be; do your job.
  • I coach that every player must be a warrior; mentally, physically, and emotionally tough.
  • I coach technique, intensity, and execution at every position and on every team (offense, defense, and special teams).
  • No player is above the team. We are one!
  • Play disciplined football. Limit mistakes and penalties. The team that makes the least mistakes and the least turnovers wins!
  • If you expect it then rep it over and over until it becomes habit.
  • Make it fun and let them enjoy the experience of being a football player.
  • 100% Effort 100% of the Time.

Offense –

  • We are series offense. We call our plays based on defensive alignment, strengths, and weaknesses and then capitalize on those by using plays and variations of those plays within our base series.
  • We run a few plays extremely well.
  • We run a few blocking schemes that compliment each other and our series.
  • We are a power running team that uses misdirection and play action passing to our advantage.
  • We are four down team not a three down team. We will change possession when it is in our advantage to do so win the game of field position.
  • We will execute our offense no matter what the defense does to stop us.
  • Control the tempo of the game and dictate the game to the opponent by using our power running game. Keep them on their heels and take them out of their game plan.
  • Score as often as possible using power, misdirection, and play action passing when the defense gives it to us. 
  • Make it appear as if we can and will hit every hole in the defense and force them to defend the entire field at all times.  Make them expect the counter at all times.

Defense –

  • Play aggressive, smart, technically sound football at all times.
  • Never get beat outside or deep.
  • Attempt to spill everything to the sideline and kill it behind the line of scrimmage.
  • Communicate to each other. Offense is about action; defensive is about reaction – see, react, communicate on the run!
  • That ball is ours so go get it!

Special Teams –

  • No your position; do your job!
  • Know the rules; blocking below the waist, clipping, roughing the kicker, off sides; live ball. All of these can affect special teams and the out come of the game.
  • I want two big plays on special teams every game.

5) What is your double wing philosophy?

My double wing philosophy is pretty simple. I want to overwhelm the point of attack with more numbers then the defense has. I want to beat the defense with my base power play and force them to adapt to stop it. Once they do we will counter punch them with misdirection and play action passing. We want to control field position and time forcing our opponents to play the longest field possible while having to out score us with a small clock.

6) Explain your Power Series?

7) Explain your Buck Wedge Series?

8)  What is the difference between your Beast series and other Beast series?

9) Why do you recommend using a "wedge series"?   It is nothing more then a second offense that allows you to put a large number of second string and third string players on the field at once.  If you have a large roster (anything over 28), small quarter times (8 minutes or less), and have running clocks when you hit a scoring differential and have per play minimums for your players then you have to have some sort of plan for getting all of your players on the field.  Simply rotating players in and out on offense and defense will not suffice.  The reason I call it a wedge team is because this units focus of intent is one of our wedge schemes and as a unit they practice it for 10 minutes every practice using speed reps.  This allows us to get in anywhere from 4 to 6 reps a minute (that is 40 to 60 reps).  Now whatever wedge scheme we decide on (BUCK WEDGE, FENTON WEDGE, ROCKET WEDGE) it is the same secondary scheme our offense uses anyways.  The difference is the it takes time to perfect the level of execution and timing needed to run an effective power series.  This is why so many coaches fail to have any success with the DW early because they are inexperienced DW coaches and they are learning and trying to teach a team how to run all the various techinques and schemes involved with running that series.  Not to mention the coach has to learn how to call and adjust the play calling during the game.  This takes time and having a simple wedge unit that allows you to get our entire roster involved with a very simple blocking scheme and single play/multiple point of attack series makes your job less stressful and gives those kids purpose.  Now a few of the major misconception that seemed to be thrown about by the uninformed.  One I don't use it because I run a angle blocking scheme and I feel that my second string linemen will not be effective...  I started running the wedge team while using GOD schemes.  Second these kids are still required to know their roles and execute their techniques and that means they are still working on position techniques and can their back up roles effectively.  Third as the season moves along and these kids improve we add more plays to the wedge unit's list.  Typically the first plays we add are a pass play from the wedge seres, the BB wedge from the power series, and then the WB power play and so on.  In otherwords as the wedge unit matures its list of plays increase in size.  But when we first start the wedge unit's focus is WEDGE SERIES first and power series second.  Our starting unit is POWER SERIES first and WEDGE SERIES second.  Considering that I and several other coaches that have appeared in local, state, and even national championships at the youth level  have used it for many years and with great success I know that it works.