Playbooks
Breakdown
Drive HB Wheel out of Shotgun Split Close attacks the flat and intermediate zones with a three level stretch. The backside receiver runs a deep dig across the field while the slot works an under route breaking away from the formation, and the HB releases out of the backfield on a wheel route up the sideline for the vertical shot. This is a Cover 4 beater by design since the wheel isolates a linebacker or safety who has to sink and turn late, and the primary read progression starts with the HB wheel against man coverage or a blown assignment, then works back to the dig if the linebacker gets depth, with the under route as the checkdown against zone drops.
Defensive Reads
Watch for a linebacker or nickel defender lined up over the HB pre-snap, since he is the key defender who has to carry the wheel route vertically. If the defense shows Cover 3 or Cover 4 with the corner sitting outside, the wheel can get picked off by a flat defender jumping the route early. Man coverage is where this play is most dangerous since the HB almost always wins the leverage battle against a linebacker in space. Zone heavy shells with disciplined linebacker drops shut this down if the defender assigned to the flat sinks and re-routes the wheel at the top. Look for user controlled defenders lurking in the shallow zone since they can jump the under route and bait the quarterback into a turnover if the wheel is not open immediately.
Usage Tips
Check the strong safety alignment before the snap, if he is cheating down into the box the HB wheel has a clean runway up the sideline against zone coverage. Use motion or a hot route on the slot under route to hold linebackers if you are getting quick jumps on that crosser in zone coverage. This play shines on second and medium to long or third and long when defenses drop into Cover 4 or Cover 2 shells expecting a dig or crossing concept. Pair this with Close HB Wheel or Mtn HB Swing in the same set to condition the defense to respect backfield routes, then hit them with the dig or under route once they start jumping the wheel. Avoid calling this against aggressive man blitz packages unless you have a hot route ready to dump it to the HB quickly, since the wheel takes time to develop.
