Georgia Tech is the only opponent on UNC’s schedule that runs a triple option offense. It’s different from most offenses because it’s much more about reading the defense and reacting to it. Below is one example of a triple option play the Yellow Jackets could run on Saturday.
1. Johnson’s scheme normally has two A-backs and a B-back playing in the backfield. Just before the snap, an A-back — either Roddy Jones or Orwin Smith, but we’ll say Jones for this example — will go in motion.
The motion is different than a wide receiver’s motion because Jones will go along a curved route.
When the ball is snapped to quarterback Joshua Nesbitt, Jones will be behind B-back Anthony Allen. For that split second, the triple-option offense appears to turn into a regular I-formation.
2. But this play will be anything but a regular I-formation play. The play is characterized through a read-and-react, sometimes referred to as “veer.”
This option of the play is dependent solely upon what UNC right defensive end, listed as Quinton Coples, does when Nesbitt gets the ball.
Nesbitt whips the ball to his left side while Allen begins his dive. When Coples tries to go inside of Georgia Tech’s left tackle, Nesbitt will run outside and Allen will attempt to pick up the block on Coples.
