The number 15 play in our countdown to determine the best plays of Tennessee’s 2015 season is Alvin Kamara’s career long 63 yard run against Kentucky.
One of the more creative additions to the playbook in 2015 came in Mike DeBord’s Dual Sweep play. This was a unique twist Debord added to the playbook specifically to attack the 3-4 defenses of Alabama and Kentucky.
The blocking scheme is pretty simple. Here’s an explanation from a previous Football Concepts article.
The design of this play is simple. Both offensive tackles block down on the defensive ends, sealing them inside. Both offensive guards pull outside to block the outside linebackers. The center’s job is to control the nose tackle and not let him impact either the running back or the quarterback. On the strong side, the tight end has to get to the second level and block the middle linebacker. The point of this blocking scheme is to seal the edge on both sides. With the tackles blocking down and the guards pulling around, there should be room around the edge for a runner on either side.
Dobbs’ job is to read the weakside linebacker. Dobbs can either keep the ball himself if the linebacker moves toward the running back, or he can hand it to his back if the linebacker respects the quarterback keep.
Against Kentucky, DeBord made a slight adjustment to the scheme that resulted in a big play. The Vols had already called the Dual Sweep a few times, and had great success with it, including a Dobbs touchdown run.
Midway through the second quarter, the Wildcats seemingly found a way to stop the play. Kentucky had their defensive ends crash down inside. This allowed them to avoid the down blocks of the offensive tackles and run through the space vacated by the pulling guards. Kentucky was able to get a tackle for loss doing this and put a quick end to the Vols’ big runs.
But DeBord was ready. The veteran offensive coordinator countered with a scheme adjustment of his own. Instead of having the offensive tackle block down and the guard pull, DeBord went back to an Outside Zone blocking scheme with all the playside linemen reach blocking.
The guard would be in perfect position to block the end, stunting inside, while the offensive tackle and tight end could combo block the strongside linebacker and work to the middle linebacker.
The result? The first time the Vols ran this, Alvin Kamara went for 63 yards. The star running back was barely touched before he broke into the open field.
This was one of my favorite plays of he season simply bcause of the strategy of it. DeBord came out early in the game with a great play and when Kentucky countered with an adjustment, DeBord was ready with a counter of this own. Advantage: Vols.
For a more in-depth analysis of the Dual Sweep play, as well as many others, but sure to check out my book, Fast and Furious: Butch Jones and the Tennessee Volunteers’ Offense, available on Amazon HERE as a paperbook and an eBook.
For more specifically on the Dual Sweep, you can read an excerpt from the book by heading over to Rocky Top Talk by clicking HERE.
You can read previous installments of this series by clicking below:
Play #35 - Evan Berry’s Pick Six
Play #34 - Preston Williams’ First Touchdown
Play #33 - LaDarrell McNeil’s Comeback
Play #32 - Malik Foreman’s Interception
Play #31 - Josh Dobbs and the Sweep
Play #29 - Alvin Kamara’s First Touchdown
Play #28 - Jalen Hurd’s Big Hit
Play #22 - Darrin Kirkland Jr.’s Interception
Play #21 - Von Pearson’s Double Move
Play #20 - Cam Sutton’s Career Long Punt Return
Play #19 - Evan Berry’s First Kickoff Return Touchdown
Play #18 - Derek Barnett’s Sack
