12 and 13 Personnel In The Air Raid Offense - Part I Formations And The Quick Passing Game - Coach Dale Carlson

There are many variations of the Air Raid Offense being run today at all levels of football. The Air Raid is not just about a play or a series of plays. Yes there are certain plays identified with the Air Raid such as Mesh and Y-Cross. The Air Raid developed by Hal Mumme is an overall approach to offensive football covering personnel, practice procedures, and game planning.

I was coordinating the run-and-shoot offense as the Head Coach at Lakeland College in the late 1980's when our team faced Iowa Wesleyan in Hal Mumme's first year as Head Coach. Over the years and by visiting with Coach Mumme I fully embraced the Air Raid offense when I started the program at Ohio Dominican University. We had some very talented TE's that we used in the Air Raid.

In Part I - I will discuss the formations used and the Quick Passing Game. Part II will cover Dropback and Play-Action. Part III will cover Run Game, Goal Line, and 13 Personnel.

From our base personnel group of 11 personnel we employed the TE is various positions within the formation. Those are show below. 2x2, 3x1, and 20 with the TE in the backfield.

We can also flex the TE putting stress on the defense. Instead of an attached 11 personnel group we have moved to 10 personnel without substituting a WR.

Next step is to add multiple TE's. We have done this in the following manner.

Using some of the formations above we ran the basic Air Raid Quick Game. These included Stick, Stick-Switch, Hitch, Y-Corner, Friday, and Outlaw.

From 3x1 we run the basic Stick Concept. #1 - Vertical #2 - Shoot #3 - Stick. QB peaks the Vertical and reads the Nickel for the Shoot to Stick.

When teams try to cheat the backside FS towards #3 strong with Nickel now aligned outside #2 we run Stick-Switch. #2 and #3 "switch" routes. The Nickel has to take the TE (#3) on the shoot opening up #2 on the Stick. The Mike has a long way to run to cover #2 on the Stick.

Hitch is run from a 2X2 formation. We call the concept either to the right or to the left. On Hitch Right #1 - Hitch #2 - Slot Fade. Backside both #1 and #2 will run routes based on the QB. #1 runs a Slant. Once #1 makes his break on the slant if the QB's eyes are not to him #1 will convert to the Sluggo route. #2 works 4 yards OTB and settles in the open zone. If #2 is collisioned or its man cover he will work back outside. QB can choose to go frontside to the Hitch combination or backside pre-snap. QB's read frontside is C for the Hitch-Slot Fade to backside #2 OTB.

Y-Corner is the next concept we teach in the Quick Game. From 3x1- #1 - Slow Slant (let the corner route clear. Settle in the opening vs. zone - run and climb vs. man) #2 - Shoot #3-Corner (8 yds - aiming at the front pylon outside the 20 yd line & the back pylon inside the 20 yd line). QB will read flat defender for the Slow-Slant to the Shoot. Corner comes into play vs Cover 2 or in the Red Zone. From 2x2 - #1 - Slow Slant #2 - Corner  #3 (RB) - Shoot.

Friday is the next concept installed. #1 - Fade #2 - Speed Out. QB reads the C for Fade to the Out then backside #2 OTB. As with the Hitch the QB can choose to backside pre-snap.

The last Quick Pass Concept is Outlaw. Coach Mumme added this concept when I coached with him in 2021 with The Spring League Champions The Lineman.  #1 - Speed Out #2 - Stick. This is run from a 2x2 alignment. Like this anytime the C is bailing. QB reads Flat Defender for #1 - Out #2 - Stick to backside #3 - OTB. QB can presnap backside.

These Quick Game passing concepts are the basics of the Air Raid Quick Game. They can be run from multiple formations. These are the ways I've incorporated Multiple TE's into these concepts.

In Part II I will discuss the Air Raid Dropback and Play-Action concepts using Multiple TE's.

Feel free to email me at dalercarlson1@gmail.com with questions or for information regarding the Air Raid.