By Dallas Jackson
Rivals High Senior Analyst

The creators of the A-11 football offense have seen their new-age style of play both lauded and loathed in recent years.

This winter - while talk of concussions, head trauma and overall safety is being examined at all levels of play - they are joining the discussion. Instead of selling the merits of a fast-paced everyone-eligible game based on skills instead of size, they are promoting a different aspect.

It may be safer.

Kurt Bryan, a co-creator of the offense and its biggest advocate, says his offense has inherent benefits that help minimize concussions and other injuries.

"It is either a lucky coincidence or there are clear and defined benefits of running the A-11," Bryan said.

His team, Piedmont (Calif.) High, has run the A-11 offense for 33 games but has yet to have a single major injury - as defined by an injury that causes a player to miss 21 days or more.

He's quick to point out the reasons why.

"By design we spread the players out," Bryan said. "There are less defenseless players getting knees clipped. We aren't in a three-point stance banging heads. There aren't big offensive lineman smashing into big defensive lineman on each and every play."

That last point - collisions at the line of scrimmage on every play - made NFL commissioner Roger Goodell float the idea of eliminating the three-point stance, a suggestion that didn't go over well with some big-time high school coaches.

But Steve Humphries, a co-founder of the offense who coaches the offensive line at Piedmont, agrees with it. And he notes that these collisions don't just happen in games, but in practices, too.

"In an old-fashioned Wing-T or Power-I offense, how many times a week do you think a high school player gets dinged, or gets their bell rung?" Humphries said. "If you take those repeated blows to the college level, and then professionally it is no wonder players from the last generation are having the issues they have.

"When you are as spread out as the teams who run the A-11 are, there isn't even close to the amount of head trauma."

And injuries lead to more injuries because it forces kids to play out of position.

"A typical small school will have 5 or 7 linemen in their group," Bryan said. "If one or two get injured you are looking at putting in someone without much of a chance to protect themselves."

The same thing can happen from the first snap if there is a dramatic size difference.

They say that emphasize on size - combined with speed - has helped the game evolve to the point where something needs to be done.

"Players have surpassed the existing rules for today's game," Bryan said. "Do you think the game is going to slow down?"

John T. Reed, who has authored 18 books on sports, including the widely respected "Football Clock Management", spoke on behalf of the A-11 at a recent meeting to ban the offense by the California Interscholastic Federation.

Reed, who has his criticisms of the offense, does see health-conscious reasons for running the uniquely spread-out attack.

"I think the health benefits outweigh the criticisms of the offense," Reed said. "It is a moral outrage for football coaches to get kids to violate medical advices."

While there are no documented or peer-reviewed benefits of the offense, coaches who use the A-11 say they see a much cleaner and safer game.

Mike Finch, a coach at the Tacoma (Wash.) Charles Wright Academy, thinks the safety benefits combined with results on the field make it a premier offense.

"We have run the A-11 for two years and have not had any, not one, head or neck injury in practice or in a game," he said. "It is not a miracle, it is by design."

It is changing a mind-set.

"We have reduced the number of head and neck injuries we have seen by eliminating the smash-mouth mentality of football," he said. "We now teach our athletes how to create angles in order to attack the defenders body."

The simple body blocking technique is a variation of zone blocking that is growing in the NFL.

There is technology on helmets, mouthpieces and prescreening hitting the forefront, but Bryan still says the biggest safety solution may be a simple one: The elimination of conventional numbering requirements.

Doing this, he said, would essentially make every player eligible, something the A-11 already tries to exploit, but it also would loosen the restrictions on where certain players are typecast to play.

"The elimination of the jersey-numbering requirement rule allows players to be super-spread out across the field of play to keep the defense more honest, instantly the players are now all interchangeable," Bryan said. "This would also keep the defense guessing and thereby less able to just tee-off on certain offensive players, it's easier for all of the players on offense and defense to see things coming because they are often spaced far apart."

Bryan and Humphries say it is time to act if people are serious about reducing the latest health concern.

"They banned the horse collar tackle, which was great," Bryan said. "Now lets see if they are really serious about concussions as they were about ACL injuries."

Bryan and Humphries believe in their system more now than when it debuted in 2009 - and scoff at people who say it would the game into gym class "line football."

"You see our games and it is real football," Bryan said. "It may actually be faster than what people are used to."

And possibly safer, too.

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