Some thoughts on the bunch

This is from an email response to a question about using the bunch (compressed receiver splits in the passing game) and I got going a bit. I am not the world's expert on this, but it has been a fun and productive concept for us, and I think I come from a good perspective since it has always been a small portion of what we do and I have always hoped to be able to incorporate it in a very simple way into our offense.

Thanks for the kind words. We've had a lot of success
implementing the bunch the last few seasons.

We use it very simply within our offense, but--as I'm
sure you have guessed--you could probably go a whole
season using only bunch, and I'm sure some have.

For us we use it within the scope of the patterns we
already run, like Coverdale and Robinson suggest.
Usually, by the first game we haven't actually
practiced any bunching. However, we develop it over
the course of the season with the idea that we are
repping what we already do, getting better at it, and
are developing new takes on it. Also, the end of
the season and the playoffs is usually when we seem to
end up facing most of the teams who use more man
coverage and, especially in the playoffs, are athletic
enough to do it without giving us any favorable mismatches.

For us, the first thing we teach them how to do is
release. Patience is the key to the whole thing. They
have to know who is releasing when, how to mesh
properly, and all that. We do this vs air and they
learn who goes first, second, etc.

Then, the big test comes when we bring in m2m or even just shirt-zone players and we
start jamming them. They have to learn how to react to
this, and still release in the patterns smoothly and
make them pay.

Two seasons ago we had a very embarrassing play where
we kept our TE in to block, play action faked to our
RB and he was needed in protection, and then had 3
receivers bunched. Well they got jammed and the middle
man tripped and fell and the other two ended up
falling or being pushed over, so our QB looked up from
his fake to see a pile of three receivers and three
defenders on the ground with a safety standing next to
the whole thing. Obviously, the goal is to avoid
situations like this.

In terms of philosophy, I'm sure you've gotten most of
it, but as I said on my site with the stack, one of
the big keys is to force them to cover 2 receivers
with 3 defenders or 3 receivers with 4 defenders. Once
this happens you have a great number of options and
the game becomes more favorable. Moreover, you can
take most m2m teams out of their comfort zone because
you can often force them to quit playing man, and if
this is the case they probably aren't a very good zone
team.

In terms of specific patterns I probably can't tell
you too many new or interesting things. The big thing is just
have some concepts and build variants off them. We run
the Coverdale/Robinson mesh, and then we also have a
play where #1 stills runs his whip, but #2 runs a post
or a shake-post (jabs at the corner) and #3 runs a
wheel, we also use a version where #1 runs a drag and
#3 runs a whip. Simple stuff, but it becomes tougher
when the D can't pattern read. Combine those 3
concepts with the ability to shift or switch
assignments, such as #1 runs the corner, #2 the whip
and #3 the shoot, or #3 the corner, #2 shoot and #1
whip, etc.

From bunch we commonly use the Green Bay Packers
concept 3-step bunch concept, which is a 3-step route where #1 drags right
now, #2 runs a 5-6 yard hitch/settle, and #3 shoots
right now. Also, we use mesh and its variants, flood,
a speed out package for the outside receiver, a post,
square-in and drag combo, and we run a go/post combo
where we like to switch assignments and releases
around--basically all things we already do. I don't
know if I have anything that new or innovative, just
remember that it has to fit within your larger scheme
no matter what plays you run. It's better to have
three mediocre plays that all counter each other than
two very good ones that the D can easily recognize and
defend.

Hope that helps. One reason I like the incremental
approach is that we aren't solely bunch centric, so it
lets our freshman and JVs mostly work on our base
stuff, and it lets us develop the bunch stuff at a
pace the kids are more comfortable with.

The other thing is with the bunch it is often a place
where you can use kids who maybe don't have as many
physical talents but do everything right, if they have
a good feel for spacing and timing. Often
underclassmen, and sometimes it happens the most to
the best athletes who want to do everything too fast,
don't get a great feel for the bunch stuff. If it
isn't what you are always going to do (as in you only plan to run bunch stuff 5-10 times a game), don't get
frustrated and throw it out, it may be a place where
you can use one of your seniors and not skip a beat.
Being able to use the bunch does a lot, even if it
takes your 4.5 40 yard dash sophomore out of the game.
We had a player who caught 20 passes with maybe 5 or 6
touchdowns last season, never started a game his whole
career and pretty much every catch was when we used
the bunch. He just always got open, whereas when we
would isolate him he had a harder time beating his
guy's one on one.

Hope that helps. Good luck. Let me know if you have
any further questions, particularly on specifics.