Finding the H-Back, The Versatile Centerpiece of Justin Fuente's Memphis Offense

After Virginia Tech announced Justin Fuente as its next head football coach, I immediately watched Fuente's most high profile win during his time at Memphis. In the Liberty Bowl, the Tigers bamboozled an Ole Miss team that was weeks removed from an impressive win against eventual national champion Alabama.

As I watched, I was absolutely fascinated at how often my eyes gravitated to a stout skill position player wearing No. 40. He aligned as a fullback, a wide receiver, a traditional hand on the ground tight end, and as an H-back. The player was former walk on Alan Cross, and it seemed like the ball and the action followed him all over the field.

As I watched more film, it became very apparent that Cross was absolutely a lynchpin to everything Fuente was doing offensively. Cross was utilized as a lead blocker at the point of attack and as a trap blocker. He would align wide and lead block on screen passes. He was an excellent possession receiver. And most importantly, he played with paramount effort against even more physically imposing defensive linemen and linebackers.

The H-Back Takes You to the Football in the Running Game

When you watch several Memphis tapes in a row, it becomes startling to see how reliant Fuente was on Cross. The fact of the matter is, the H-Back takes you to the football on almost every running play.

The beauty of the design is that the defense can't really key on the H-Back to stop the run. The H-Back's pre-snap alignment doesn't necessarily reveal where the ball is going. The tendency was stark. When the running back gets the football, he traces his steps to the H-Back. If the running back runs away from the path taken by the H-Back, almost without exception you can expect that either the quarterback is keeping the football on a read option, there is a reverse, or it is play-action. I could not find an example in 8 games of footage where the running back got the football and ran away from the blocking path taken by the H-Back.

Let's examine some of these blocking techniques. At Memphis, Fuente used a traditional zone blocking scheme with very little pin and pull with his interior linemen. Cross was his jack of all trades when it came to changing blocking angles. Here, he is asked to isolate on the linebacker on a power read (inverted veer).

This play is likely a QB keep all the way, with Cross as an extra blocker at the point of attack. The design accounts for the unblocked play-side defensive end. The jet sweep fake is designed to influence the defensive end up field to take him out of the play. If the defensive end crashes inside, Cross is there to zone him away from the quarterback.

When you watch the play closely, you can see Cross influence the defensive end. At the snap, Cross opens his hips to the sideline like he is trying to reach the defensive end on the sweep. The end bites up the field, and Cross then has the athleticism to change direction and isolate on the linebacker. Paxton Lynch sells the fake, and follows Cross into the hole. This isn't a dominating block, but he gets into the linebacker enough that Lynch can essentially fall forward for a first down.

Note again, the runner goes where the H-Back goes.

Next, Memphis runs an inside zone play. This shows how it is difficult to get a pre-snap read on where the ball is going despite knowing the tendency. Cross is in a traditional H-Back alignment off the outside hip of the right tackle. The offensive line zones to the right. Cross pulls against the grain and turns up on the linebacker.

The back initially is going to his right, then plants his foot and makes his zone cut right off the scoop block by the back-side tackle and Cross. Again, the runner goes where the H-Back goes after the snap. Note how Cross keeps his feet and stays engaged on his block. He doesn't have to be a sledgehammer.

On each play, the themes are the same:

1. Follow the H-Back to the football when it is a run.
2. The H-Back has to be mobile, take solid angles, and have good enough footwork to stay engaged with the block.

Versatility is a must because Fuente uses him on blocks with different techniques. On a counter play, he follows the pulling guard and turns up in the hole to cut block the safety.

He can motion from an outside position and crack the edge defender inside to allow for a pin-and-pull on an outside zone.

On this play, Cross has an almost impossible angle to reach the outside linebacker (No. 27). Cross beats him to the edge and has the athleticism to tie up the linebacker and let the jet sweep get to the outside. Only a select few football purists can express how incredibly difficult this block is.

Run Action goes Away from the H-Back, It is Play Action or a Run-Pass Option

Almost without exception, if the running back wasn't following the blocking path of the H-Back after the snap, the play was a play-action pass or some form of run-pass option. If the play was a zone away from the H-Back's alignment, it was an inside zone and the back cut back off the Y's block. On counters and whams, the H-Back functioned like a pulling guard with the back cutting off his block. And on critical short yardage and isolation plays, it was rare when Cross wasn't right in front of the runner as he struggled forward for short yards. If the runner wasn't following Cross, the runner did not actually have the football.

On this play, the offensive run action indicates a zone run to the left side. Cross is aligned on the right side as a true Y. Based on this tendency, if the back does not cut back to the right, it is a clear indicator that play-action, a quarterback run to the right, or some kind of reverse is likely.

As you can see, the quarterback reverses out to his right, which is an indicator that the run action will go to the left. The back takes a direct path off left tackle, while the Y squarely blocks the defensive end on the right side. Again, this is a huge red flag for some kind of a play back to the right side. Sure enough, Lynch bootlegs out to the right side. Cross holds his block and then releases right behind the defender to get open for a pop pass in the flat.

From an isolation look, the direct path of the H-Back again takes you to the football. The offensive line and the running back both zone to the left side. The H-Back goes right, and sure enough, the quarterback pulls the football and follows the H-Back around the right side to the boundary.

Despite this tendency, defenses don't seem to be capable of exploiting it, and the offense cashes in to produce big plays when Cross gets lost away from the run action of the play.

Here, we see the same inside zone left, bootleg right principle highlighted earlier. This time, Cross releases quicker and Lynch does not boot out as far. Cross slips behind the defense for a touchdown.

Trick plays also follow the same principle. Here, Memphis runs a reverse pass. The play starts with the alignment of the H-Back. The run action (a quarterback sweep) goes to the left, with the H-Back on the right side.

Note, the H-Back is flowing with the initial run action, however he is on the back-side of the play. As the run action flows to the left on the sweep, the H-Back releases his block and heads deep off the right side. Lynch ends up pitching to the flanker on a reverse. The ball again ultimately goes to the H-Back! Instead of running on the reverse, the flanker throws over the top to Cross who is wide open.

H-Backs and Screens

Some other tendencies emerged with the H-Backs. Generally, the H-Back aligned between the hash marks. When Fuente moved the H-Back out wide with the other receivers, it was often an indicator that the offense would screen to the H-Back side.

From these four- and five- wide sets, I rarely found the H-Back used in the dropback passing game. Most of the time on drop back, the H-Back aligned back to the inside from a more traditional alignment.

H-Backs and the Passing Game

Cross was a jack of all trades; however, Fuente rarely featured Cross in the dropback passing game. Primarily, his role as a receiver was to break off misdirection on bootlegs and other forms of play-action. The Memphis dropback passing game was primarily a one-read system for the quarterback, so on obvious passing downs the vertical threats at wide receiver usually got the first look, and anything beyond the first read was usually a scramble drill.

When the H-Back was utilized, it was primarily on first down or in third-and-short yardage situation. Fuente loved to utilize Cross on "stick routes," a passing concept that Loeffler highlighted with Ryan Malleck in scrimmages frequently, yet never seemed to utilize with regularity in games.

A stick route is an option route where the quarterback and the slot receiver both read the leverage of the defender. If the defender is playing inside leverage, the route and throw will be to the outside. If the defender is playing outside leverage, the receiver will break back to the inside. It's quick hitting route and it's important for the receiver to get his head around and find the ball.

On this play, Lynch finds Cross on a stick route against Ole Miss on a short third down.

Cross runs into the body of the boundary linebacker. The linebacker has outside leverage, i.e. the linebacker is shading to the sideline in coverage. Cross reads the coverage and curls to the inside. Lynch also has to read the linebacker and have the ball in motion as Cross breaks inside. If the linebacker had been playing inside leverage, Cross would have curled to the sideline and the throw would have been to the outside shoulder.

This route doesn't require great speed. It is critical for the route runner to correctly read the coverage and have quick reaction time to get turned and find the football, as the ball will likely be released before the receiver breaks out of his route.

Looking at the Depth Chart

It wasn't shocking that prior to spring practice Sam Rogers was penciled in at H-Back. Rogers had fulfilled fullback responsibilities in Virginia Tech's offense for several seasons. He was adequate as a lead blocker and excelled as a pass receiver on the type of misdirection/bootleg type counter-action passing routes that Cross was featured on. Loeffler on occasion even used Rogers as a primary blocker at the point of attack, although the end result of those efforts usually didn't lead to much success.

Rogers has two shortcomings he needs to improve upon in order to be utilized the way Fuente used Cross. First, Rogers was not utilized as a secondary "pulling guard" on counters and wham plays, Ryan Malleck was primarily used in that role. Rogers did get some work as a lead blocker. His effort was on par with Cross, but often Rogers didn't generate movement and sometimes struggled to maintain blocks. Wham blocks and traps often generate even more force at impact. It would have been interesting to see how Rogers transitioned and if that kind of movement actually gave him more of an advantage.

Second, Rogers was rarely utilized on quick timing routes like stick routes and other curls. When he was utilized on curls, he didn't look as fluid breaking out of his route.

Spring threw a wrench in those plans as Fuente utilized Rogers more in a tailback role as practice progressed in April. In his stead, former fullback Steven Peoples got most of the first team H-Back work. Peoples was a high school tailback who impressed me with his blocking during the 2015 offseason. I thought he looked better as a blocker than Rogers did despite being smaller, and Peoples is a capable runner after the catch. Peoples doesn't have experience in a receiver role, and that, coupled with his smaller size, could result in Peoples being part of a situational platoon if Rogers stays at tailback. That isn't ideal because those situations can tip Fuente's hand and show what he intends to run.

Xavier Burke is a larger traditional tight end who primarily could be featured in a blocking role. Chris Cunningham is a smaller H-Back type who has excellent receiving fundamentals, but isn't a dependable blocker yet. The coaching staff was also very impressed with Chris Durkin's progression in the spring. Durkin has the athleticism and the physicality at the position that could make him a weapon. However, Durkin also has spent less than a year in the position learning the fundamentals of route running. There isn't a proven sledgehammer blocker amongst the group either.

As result, from the few clips I saw during spring, there was much more use of interior linemen as trapping/pulling blockers rather than almost exclusively zoning on plays. The H-Back was not heavily featured in the passing game. And, Fuente frequently rotated Peoples, Burke, Cunningham, and Durkin throughout the spring game to try to find the correct fit. It is a position battle to watch throughout fall camp. If Fuente doesn't find the right player to man the H-Back post, his offensive scheme will need to feature even more adjustments to fit the skill sets of his available talent.