Another trick play to catch the defense off guard is a play where the quarterback walks away from under center and starts yelling things to the wide receiver on the left. The center then “shotgun snaps” the ball to the running back lined up behind him.

You must give the defense enough time to process this and look in that direction and get distracted by all the antics.

When the quarterback walks away, he must walk away in a straight path and not take a step towards the line of scrimmage. He is basically going in motion. He starts yelling to the wide receiver like he saw something he liked. The wide receiver can’t move but can nod his head (helmet) in an exaggerated fashion to make the defense think he understands.

The quarterback will usually say, “Omar, Omar, go deep!”. The word “deep” is the code word for the center to snap it to the running back. The running back needs to be a great athlete and be able to grab the snap no matter where it ends up and run to the right with it. He will probably be halfway to the end zone before anyone notices or reacts.

We have scored many long touchdowns on this play.