Four Verts Deconstructed

 Four Verts Deconstructed

Growing up and playing backyard football - whether it be at recess, after school, or in the backyard what was one play you remember running the most? Getting the kid with the strongest arm to throw the ball and everybody else to go deep. You didn't know it at the time, but you were running one of the staple air raid schemes, Four Verticals. 

Four Verts is one of the oldest plays in football history, dating back to the 1920's. Pioneered by "Pop" Warner and his team at the Carlisle Indian School, the forward pass saw great successes, the staple of the playbook? Run your fastest guy down the field as fast as he can go. 

Now I know you're probably thinking "what? I just run four guys down the field and I get Touchdowns?" Well, yes, but no. 

Schematics of Four Verticals

A staple of Air Raid offenses, Four Verts aims to stress the defense and create vertical spacing within. When we look at Four Verts, we see that it can be ran from 3x1, 2x2, Bunch, Cluster, Diamond, Ace, Etc. What makes Four Verts and other Air Raid schemes is that they *for the most part* can be ran from any formation and they stay conceptual. The goal with the Four Verts passing scheme is to attack as many vertical tubes as possible. The vertical tubes are as follows, Middle, Divide, Gutter. As illustrated below, the tubes are specific landmarks. The Middle tube attacks the middle of the field, Divide tube attacks the area of the field from the hash to the top of the numbers, and the Gutter attacks the area of the bottom of the numbers to the sideline. Each receiver has their individual vertical tube they are closest aligned to. SO here, BS1 has Gutter, PS3 has Middle, PS2 has Divide, and PS1 has Gutter.

(ps you can get multiple blank play templates
from my Canva.... link on my page)
 
We can see these vertical tubes being attacked, illustrated by one of the best Air Raid coaches out there Lincoln Riley. When he was at OU, Coach Riley  put three quarterbacks in the NFL in three years (with one going #1 overall) and seems poised to do the same at USC with Caleb Williams in 2024 using an Air Raid style passing game paired with a counter heavy run scheme. Coach Riley uses a wide variety of Air Raid concepts such as Cross, Screens, and of course, Four Verts.  We will be using the 2019 OU Offense as an example to help us better understand the Four Verts concept and all the intricacies of it. 

3x1 Four Verticals from OU, Spring Game 2019


Let's kick this party off with my favorite iteration of four verticals, 3x1. This attacks every area of the field, Middle, Divide, and Gutter. This is a great beater into a multitude of zone coverages. Most times progression will start with the Pre-Snap Fade to the Y. This attacks the Gutter opposite the passing strength. If you have a duck covering what should be your #2 WR, you attack that early and often. By doing this and showing a willingness to attack the Oppo. Gutter, you force the Weak Safety to cheat over a little, opening up the rest of the concept side. Next, the H has his vertical tube which is the middle, if the Middle Safety pedals, the H needs to make sure he crosses face to make the Safety make a decision. This will also help with spacing for the divide. Z here runs the Divide part of the concept. He needs to make sure he does not get rerouted by the Nickel defender, and he can work whichever second level release he feels like, but he must stay in his area. Lastly, the X has out gutter part of the concept here, he too, can work whatever release he wants to, but if he releases inside he must get back to the Gutter via a second-level stem. 

What makes 3x1 Four Verts my favorite is the natural spacing and the tagging of the single WR. The Y can easily be tagged on a Shallow, Cross, Out, or Dagger route. What makes it equally as dangerous is the tagging of the concept side, which we will talk about in a post early next week. 

Two-Back Four Verts look from 2019 Oklahoma


Illustrated here is a Four Verticals look with a choice from the Z. We can see here that the same vertical tubes are being attacked. The X receiver is attacking the Gutter, Z is attacking the Divide, with an option to curl up in the Middle, and the Y is attacking the opposite Gutter. The conflict defender here is going to be the Safety to the offensive right. If he is in a Cover 2 look, you have a hole shot to the X. If he is in a 3 look, you have the Divide as the Corner has to stay with the gutter. The Z still has the option to curl up if the Safety just pedals on them. 

This 2x1 iteration of Four Verts lacks the horizontal spacing that 3x1 Verts gives, but - having 7 man protection will inevitably help the pay develop, especially with the choice route taking place in the divide. While there is less tagging opportunities due to having less receivers, you can still work some fun games to the two WR side, having a switch or even switch back tag can create exotic looks off of a simple concept. 

We will be back next week to talk about tagging Four Verts, as well as Four Verts vs. different coverages (MFO/MFC) 



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