The New Era of the Dink and Dunk?

It's becoming pretty evident this fall that the game is changing.

From one end of this great state to the other, week in and week out I'm seeing more and more of what I like to call the Attack of the Dink and Dunk offenses.

Dink and Dunk you ask?

The Dink and Dunk, otherwise more commonly known as the Shotgun Spread offense. Teams all over the state are now putting it's quarterbacks in the Shotgun formation and spreading the entire field with a barrage of short to intermediate passing routes along with the popular shotgun draw running play like never before.

Welcome to basketball on grass?

Not too long ago, the power running game seemed to be the offense of choice and being able to play smash mouth football was the more acceptable norm.

Yet like the NFL and the college game, the West Coast offense philosophy and the spread it out attack has never been as popular on the high school level than it's been this year.

So why the sudden change? Why are teams starting to abandon the power running game for the Dink and Dunk?

I needed a real expert on the West Coast/Dink and Dunk philosophy, and since no one else would talk to me I called up my old friend Otto Zeman, head varsity football coach and athletic director at Riverside-Brookfield.

Zeman, who was admittedly stunned to get a call from anyone since his Bulldogs have started the season with a 1-3 record so far this fall, is no question one of the Chicagoland area high school coaches who knows a few things about the passing game.

Zeman has been running his 5-Wide spread passing attack for many years at Riverside-Brookfield, and even Zeman has been surprised at how many schools are now running the Dink and Dunk spread passing attack this fall.

"It's crazy," Zeman said. "It really hit me last year in the Class 7a state playoffs. I was at the St. Rita/Providence Catholic game and to see those two traditional Catholic school powers throwing the ball all over the field was pretty shocking. This year it seems like everyone is running the spread passing game more than ever."

So why the sudden change to the Dink and Dunk attack in your opinion Coach Zeman?

"Someone told me a long time ago that high school kids can't cover."

It's true. One of the most difficult positions to play at any level of football is corner back. Finding kids who can cover receivers on a consistent basis is a goldmine, a rare goldmine.

While many teams might look to be throwing the ball all over the field this season, Zeman admits that the teams that can run and throw out of the Shotgun Spread are the teams that are having the most success.

"Look at Kenny Leonard down at (Springfield) Sacred Heart Griffin. He's been running this offense for awhile now and he's been highly successful not with just the pass, but Sacred Heart can also run the ball well out of the spread. If you can mix in a good running game in this offense with the spread passing game, it really spreads out a defense and allows you to attack in some many different ways. If you have a quarterback that can run, suddenly you have a whole different set of worries on defense. Being able to run the ball makes the spread attack that much more effective."

The most dangerous part of this new aged offensive attack?

Scores are never safe in this Dink and Dunk attack. Your basically running a two minute offense for 48 minutes. If an opponent takes 6 minutes to score and you can answer that opponents score with a quick strike out of the Dink and Dunk, can you say momentum swing? I thought you could.

With this new era Dink and Dunk offense, skill kids are also at a higher priority than say your 6-foot-5, 280 pounds plus linemen and speed has never been as important than it is in the Dink and Dunk attack. Football remains a game of leverage, and the Dink and Dunk allows smaller, faster teams a serious way to compete with the bigger boys.

Teams that had issues finding the oversized linemen can suddenly find a quick fix with the Dink and Dunk. Suddenly teams can offset the size advantages with speed and offensive skills.

The only real downfall of running this Dink and Dunk attack?

According to one unnamed IHSA referee this past weekend, who said jokingly "If this keeps up we'll need to charge by the hour."