Youth Football Plays and Playbooks for coaching the  I Formation

A very powerful formation for a hard-nosed rushing attack is the Tandem Formation. This formation could also be considered a "Power I" formation, however the split end is out wide, not in a tight end position.

We utilize the term "Tandem" to help young players understand the difference in this formation and the I formation, we have found that the more similiar a formation sounds, the more confusing things can be to a young player, so we treat them seperatly.

A major advantage of the Tandem formation over the Power I formation is the wide split end still forces the weak side defense to spread out and cover the whole field, creating cutback lanes for the offense.

The tandem formation is another formation that is best suited for running the ball, which works well because good passing teams are few and far between at the youth level. Yes you should be able to throw the ball from time to time, but you should not build your offense around passing unless you are very prepared, and have the right personel.

Your rushing options with the tandem formation might seem limited to straight ahead dives and lead plays, however if you have quick enough running backs you can also run a strong outside power game with the multiple lead blockers available.

As with any offense your ability to gain yardage will be determined by offensive line performance, but for a team with an undersized or under developed offensive line the extra lead blocks could make all the difference.