2023 Kansas Counter

How Kansas used Counter to create explosive plays in their Zone attack.

Kansas football has experienced quite the turnaround over the past couple of years. After spending nearly a decade at the bottom of Division 1 football, coach Leipold has the Jayhawks rolling.

A large part of their success has been their offense. Andy Kotelnicki has been the playcaller and will take over the same position at Penn State. So Nittany Lion fans, here is a preview of what could be to come.

We’ve talked a lot about Wide Zone, which is clearly what Kansas wants to establish first. (We will get to their Wide Zone schemes soon.) I thought first, we’d look at a good complement to the Wide Zone, Counter.

Counter

We’ve focused primarily on zone schemes in the past, so before we jump into Kansas’ variations, let’s talk about what I mean by counter. Terminology isn’t universal, so counter could mean different things to different people. To me, counter is a gap scheme play where the guard is the lead puller. There is a second puller as well, and could be a tackle, fullback, or tight end.

Counter Rules

Play-side tackle - He is responsible for his inside gap. If there is no one in his gap, he will angle for the backside linebacker.

Play-side guard - He is also responsible for his inside gap. If he has no one, he can double-team with the play-side tackle. (First example above)

Backside guard - He is pulling to kick out the end man on the line of scrimmage.

Second Puller - This is the tackle in the example above. He is reading the block of the pulling guard, and will insert in the first available gap, and is responsible for the play-side backer.

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