2. A-11 OFFENSE has the Same Pass-Catching Formation Eligibility Rules as allowed in traditional football.
3. A player's pass-catching eligibility status is Determined by their ALIGNMENT Within the Formation and Not according to their Jersey-number and Formation.
*A-11 is Eligibility by Formation Only (the Jersey-Numbers are irrelevant).
4. A-11 combines football's rules after the Forward Pass was legalized in 1906 with Game Breaking Athletes at every position!
5. *In the A-11 prior to the snap all eleven players are potentially eligible. Before the football is snapped, the Players shift, motion or align into the called-formation for That Play, and then the ball is snapped.
For the entire 2007 season, the Piedmont A-11 Offense utilized TWO dual-threat Quarterbacks in the backfield at the same time.
In February 2009, after the A-11 Offense had been successfully utilized by numerous football teams nationwide during the 2008 season, the NFHS changed the rules to disallow the A-11's fully-interchangeable players on offense regardless of a player's jersey-number. Since 2009, innovative A-11 concepts have been successfully blended into creative offensive attacks while having to operate in traditional jersey-numbering rules at every level of football (high school, college and pro's). If you would like to learn more, please review the A-11 videos and matching playbooks on some of the links provided on this site. Thank you and keep on innovating! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Any good high school official who is competent would have no problem officiating the game showcasing the A-11 scheme. It's really no big deal. We've had no complaints from any officials whatsoever that have refereed their games." Sam Moriana, Head of the East Bay Football Officials Association,
Northern California
IMPROVED PLAYER SAFETY BY DESIGN...HOW and WHY?
ANSWER:
a. A-11 players are often Super-Spread out in various formations, and the offensive players are aligned in athletic Two-Point stances most of the time.
b. Creating more Space between the Players and having them Aligned in a more-upright and athletic Two-Point stance prior to the snap greatly helps to Protect their Bodies, and their Heads, Necks and Brains from unnecessary and potentially harmful contact during practices and games.
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THOUSANDS OF OPTIONS and GAME BREAKERS AT EVERY POSITION
“In a standard formation with five fixed linemen, a play can unfold with 36 different scenarios for who receives the snap and who ends up with the ball -including a quarterback sneak...
In the A-11 Offense, because the receivers and linemen (and even quarterbacks) are interchangeable, the number of different possibilities for what can happen on a given play Skyrockets to 16,632.”
Scientific American Magazine...about the A-11 Offense
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“What the A-11 gives teams is more ways to take advantage of your team’s strengths and minimize the importance of your team’s weaknesses. A-11 has given football players, coaches, and fans a whole lot more.
The game of football can never become more than the A-11...it's impossible to go beyond it.
I expect the football experts of the future to say the A-11, like the Forward Pass before it, saved the game from its own bad habits, including too much sumo-type shoving, less than truly optimal athleticism on the part of nearly half the players on the field, and severely insufficient attention to the health and safety of the players.
A-11 forces the defense to remain honest most of the time and levels the playing field for both sides of the ball, which leads to Improved Player Safety.
Decades from now, the A-11 Offense could be seen as the ‘second-coming of a football revolution’ in safety and athleticism wrought by the 1906 rule changes that preceded it.
A-11 can rescue the game of football by making it safer for the players, more interesting, more complex and cerebral, and more fun to watch.”
John T. Reed
Football Historian
West Point Graduate & Harvard MBA
Author of “Football Clock Management”
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“In this A-11 offense, all eleven players can be eligible due to formations, shifts and motion. I have not seen anything like this since my days with the San Francisco 49ers in the early 80’s.
I was a Starting Wide Receiver on Bill Walsh’s first two teams and this A-11 offense reminds me of the same type of innovation we used to surprise most of the NFL with his West Coast offense. Coach Walsh used the passing game to set up the run game by stretching the field horizontally, instead of vertically like most other teams in the NFL. It also became controversial as other teams had problems stopping us. But unlike the high school level, you could not complain to a federation and get the offense banned due to its innovation. So NFL defensive coordinators came up with a cover two zone defense to stop the West Coast offense, and the battle began. The 49ers won five Super Bowl titles with this offense and now 75 percent of the NFL uses some version of the West Coast offense.
The Sport of Football Has Not Seen an Offensive Innovation Like the A-11 since the Days of Bill Walsh.
A-11 consists of three pods of players that basically break the field into three parts. Then using motions…formation changes and shifts which causes confusion with defenses, as the eligible receivers are not designated until the ball is snapped. On top of that the offense uses a two quarterback set up adding to the defenses confusion as they don’t know who will take the snap.
A-11 is one of the most exciting offenses I have seen in my 30 years of playing and covering football as a sportscaster for ABC 7 here in San Francisco.
A-11 will make football more interesting for its players and fans.”
Mike Shumann
San Francisco 49ers Super Bowl 16 Champion
ABC News Channel 7 Sportscaster, California
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"Suddenly everyone was asking aloud, why isn’t OUR team running the A-11? Could we run the A-11 offense? I want to see more of the A-11! Fans were rabid about the A-11, tantalized by the possibilities this mysterious new offense could possibly hold. A sense of wonderment abound with each new video showcasing it.
Football fans were instantly obsessed with the Tucker, er, the A-11. Throw in a motion, and it can lead to an inside zone concept, outside zone tazer concept, anything- limited only by the coach’s imagination. The end result makes for not only an entertaining bordering on hilarious offensive approach, but it causes mass confusion as the defense struggles to identify and react to the outlandish formations and leverages that the A-11 can use with its multi-purpose personnel.
While the running game has the potential to bust huge plays, it’s safe to say that the A-11 revolves mostly around the passing game, as the A-11’s advantages are best exploited through the air.
If making an oversimplified west-coast style playbook, the basics would include Smash, and Flood plays, along with some kind of play-action. Absolutely, there are answers to all of that in the A-11. Along with the ability to use traditional route packages comes the ability to make a pseudo-offensive line somewhere else; essentially allowing the A-11 to create the most unique backside tags possible.
But what can this offense accomplish? Since the A-11 has literally thousands more options with regards to formations, motions, and plays than a traditional offense, identifying trends and preparing a gameplan for the A-11 could become nearly impossible. Perhaps the use of two quarterbacks could intrigue more offensive coordinators at high levels? Perhaps the Oregon model for linemen could have an even greater use with the flexibility of formations? Consider this—Oregon head coach Chip Kelly gets high praise for being a mad scientist football innovator for his ability to move around six eligible pieces on the field on every play (RBs/WRs/QB). Just imagine what Chip could do if, by using an A-11 approach, all 11 players on offense became eligible.
Whatever comes next for football, the A-11 offense is still in the conversation, as a system so revolutionary, so ahead of its time with outside the box thinking, that the powers that be had no choice but to try to suppress it, giving ample time for defensive coordinators a chance to catch their breath and try to brainstorm on how anything with so many options could ever be stopped?
And so, the Tucker Sedan was developed well ahead its time, and found success at the expense of the super-corporations, which eventually forced Tucker out of the business. So too did the A-11 offense, as it was developed perhaps decades before it will be accepted in the highest levels, also at the expense of the preexisting high school football powers.
Today, the 43 Tucker Sedans still in existence are remembered as the template for car safety and are valued at $1.2 million.
What will the A-11 be worth in time?"
Josh Schlichter
Football Writer
Independent Football Analysis
FishDuck.com
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"Believe it or not, there’s a simple solution to the NFL’s concussion problem.
Step one: Scrap the offensive line.
Step two: Make everyone an eligible receiver.
Step three: Add a second quarterback.
Sound crazy? Well, that was the genius behind the thrilling A-11 offense used by California’s Piedmont High School in 2007 and 2008.
With beefy blockers in short supply, coach Kurt Bryan and offensive coordinator Steve Humphries took advantage of a loophole in the rules to develop crazy-looking sets that spread the field and, yes, employed another passer. With 16,632 potential receiver combinations, the A-11 baffled defenses, propelling the tiny school to fame. Better yet, not one Piedmont player suffered serious injury.
“The complexity of the game skyrockets,” says Bryan. “You no longer need 400-pound tackles. Instead you can have versatile 250-pound athletes who can block or move up as a tight end or a slot receiver.”
If you look closely, the Seahawks, the 49ers, and Chip Kelly’s Eagles are already embracing elements of Bryan’s strategy, borrowing bits of the spread offense used by schools like Auburn, Texas Tech, and Oregon. It’s no longer odd to see players in a two-point stance staggered across the line of scrimmage. And in these new systems, QBs like Cam Newton, Russell Wilson, and Robert Griffin III are blurring the distinction among passer, runner, and receiver.
With a few small changes—revising jersey-numbering requirements, for example, and loosening formation rules (defenses, let’s remember, face almost no restrictions)—the NFL could speed up the process.
But the big catalyst will be time. The kids who saw the A-11’s fireworks up close are in their 20s now. By 2025, they’ll be in a position to influence the game’s development."
“It’s evolution,” retired Steeler linebacker James Farrior told ESPN in 2012. “One of those kids in that offense is going to grow up and become an NFL coach, and he’ll have this system in the back of his head.”
—Allen St. John
Maxim Magazine Staff
The Fantastic Future of Football
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“The game of professional football is about to be changed forever! The excitement and innovation of the A-11 will be a crowd pleaser for all.”
John Parrella
Twelve-year NFL Veteran & Three-time Super Bowl Player for the
Buffalo Bills, San Diego Chargers & Oakland Raiders
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“The ideas behind (A-11) — two QBs are better than one, what occurs before the snap is just as important as what occurs after it, physical limitations can be shattered by ingenuity — look increasingly to be football's future.”
David Fleming, Senior Columnist
ESPN Magazine
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“The best part about the (A-11) offense is that the eligible players can change after each play without having to change personnel. Each player wears the number of an eligible receiver, making it appear to the defense that every player is a probable target...view the A-11 offense for what it really is: brilliant and ingenious."
"Didn't the forward pass used to be banned? Didn't hitters in baseball used to be able to request a high or a low pitch from the pitcher? Didn't a basketball team have the ability to hold onto the ball for an entire game?"
“Rules change. So do opinions.”
Bryn Swartz
Senior Sports Columnist, Bleacher Report
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"The A-11 is the most innovative offense since the West Coast philosophy. It is the offensive revolution that defensive schemes will adapt to for years to come. It opens up the game of football unlike anything else in the history of our great game!"
Matt Lewis
Offensive Coordinator
Saguaro High School, Arizona
Three-time Defending State Champions
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"The A-11 offense should be a part of every offensive coaches arsenal, and defensive coaches better prepare and learn how to defend the A-11 because you will play against it."
Steve Jacoby
Defensive Line Coach
De La Salle High School, California
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"Add in the fact that two quarterbacks could be used in this formation, and it becomes a seriously deadly offense, one that is both capable of racking up big numbers while simultaneously dropping jaws with nothing even remotely similar to ever compare it to in history."
Josh Schlichter
Sports Journalist
FishDuck.com
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"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. It is not a miracle, it is by design."
"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."
Mike Finch, Football Coach
Charles Wright Academy
Tacoma, Washington
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“The dimensions of the playing field haven’t changed in over a hundred years, but athletes don’t resemble what they did 100 years ago. Something has to give. Here's what's going to happen. If we're sitting down with football coaches 50 to 100-hundred years from now, the A-11 would be no big deal, because that's what the game will be. People can laugh at it, but that's reality. There are some football purists who think the game is going to revert back. That’s crazy. People love excitement, entertainment. The game has to adapt to its athletes. Athletes don’t adapt to the game.”
Kurt Bryan
A-11 Offense Co-creator
"We're doing futuristic football. We're doing football where every play is innovative, and that's why people find it fun to watch. It's fun to play. Every player has the potential to be a part of almost every play."
Steve Humphries
A-11 Offense Co-creator
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"I have had the pleasure to work with Kurt Bryan at the collegiate level, and have watched him develop the A-11 offense at the high school level. He is one of the more creative offensive minds in our industry at any level. Kurt and Steve Humphries are the ultimate football contrarians, not afraid to sail past the edge of a football world that everyone else believes is flat."
Ian Shields, Head Football Coach (NCAA)
Minot State University, ND
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“The A-11 Offense created by Coach Bryan and Coach Humphries has taken the term ‘thinking outside the box’ to another dimension. The A-11 is truly the next step in the progression of the game of football. If you want to take your team to the next level, you owe it to your program to take advantage of this opportunity. The material that Bryan and Humphries have prepared not only tells you how to run this offense; it allows you to open your mind to explore the endless possibilities. The A-11 is without a doubt a defensive coordinator’s worst nightmare. Get onboard or get left behind!”
Mark Fischer
Head Football Coach
Saint James High School, South Carolina
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“And it’s more exciting for the players. Since reads and options are a big part of the A-11, the players must constantly be aware because, regardless of the play, the ball could be coming their way."
" So it would appear that the A-11 is safer, more exciting to use, and it adds a new and unpredictable element to the game. Sounds like a win-win…”
Evan Flay
Seattle Sports Examiner
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“We are having a blast installing the A-11 offense! I have decided to go to the
A-11…100%. Thank you both for taking the time to create the installation manuals. You did a very impressive job and the material is easy to understand.”
Dean Davis, Head Football Coach
Jim Elliot Christian HS, Lodi, California
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"What we're seeing here—and I think this is great—is amping up the noise to hide the signal of what's going on exactly. Randomization is key to any real sustainable victory.
It is the only way to prevent the opposition from developing a statistically sound response to your behavior. If you are making random choices, it's harder to respond. A-11 offers a kind of controlled randomness."
Ian Ayres
Game Theorist & Economist
Yale University, Connecticut
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“I think this offense will change the game of football. When all eleven players are eligible to receive a forward pass, the mental and physical aspects of the athlete are now elevated to a level that has never been performed in this game. The coaching now becomes even more vital due to strategies that are endless on both sides of the ball. All athletes think they are receivers, all want to be a receiver; they now have the opportunity to live their dream with this offense!”
Joel Berry
Head Football Coach
Covenant Christian Academy
(Texas Private School State Champions)
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"The A-11 Offense is a marvelous advancement in the history of football. In fact the only way our future generations will succeed is to create and cultivate the same general mindset that spawned the revolutionary A-11 Offense. Creativity, adaptability, courage and unforeseen innovation combined with a healthy respect for football tradition embodies the A-11 Offense. Those same traits will be crucial for surviving an increasingly complex world of tomorrow in sports and business."
"By demonstrating innovative thinking and taking chances we can teach people the upside of doing so, and expose the backward limitations of having a closed mindset. Better yet, many football historians will look back upon the successful creation of the A-11 Offense as one of the game's greatest turning points in its outstanding history. The A-11 football coaching staffs and players nationwide will be forever applauded for their pioneering efforts as our great game of football constantly evolves. Change is inevitable."
Mark Miller
Creator of Samurai Football Techniques -
Football Consultant at Every Level
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“But I do think this (A-11) is about something bigger….this is about progress, and what it means for the future of football.”
Michael Weinreb
ESPN.com Senior Columnist
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“Kurt and Steve, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for putting on such an outstanding clinic on the A-11 for the players at Lakeside. I have had other clinics at the school in the past, but this was a notable experience for me, my coaches and especially the kids. I can't tell you how impressed I was with your organization, the way you communicated as you planned for the time with both coaches and kids, and your enthusiasm for football and the A-11 specifically. All in all, it was a great introduction to an entirely new way to view football, but at the same time recognize that it is still the game we enjoy so much. You and Steve have a great way of presenting this exciting system and I commend you both on all the work you have put in and thank you for making it so available to all coaches. I heartily encourage any coach who is interested in A-11 or seeking a new system to contact you if they want to be given a new sense of excitement for this great game.”
Bill McMahon
Head Football Coach
Lakeside High School, Washington
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“(A-11)...Completely revolutionize the game of football.”
Mike Kuchar
Columnist, American Football Monthly Magazine
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“A-11 is a significant development in the history of football."
Benjamin Bombard
Columnist, Piedmont Post
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“I am an official in the South Bay region in southern California and a traditionalist. I was not sold when I first heard about the A-11, but after getting the chance watch it run, I am convinced that executed correctly it has the potential to be an extremely productive offense. What the A-11 does, if run correctly that other offenses cannot accomplish, is it marginalizes the advantages of a team who has a size advantage defensively. The A-11 increases the amount of area to be covered by each interior defensive player, forcing either: personnel changes and modifications to more traditional defenses, or both. The versatility of the A-11 allows it to be used by coaches who have quarterbacks with all different skill sets. Running quarterbacks can be effective in the run-and-shoot type plays based out of the offense, relying on slants, dump offs, swings and designed runs. Big arm quarterbacks can also be effective in this system due to mismatches created outside."
Daniel Greenberg
Football Official, South Bay Region
Southern California
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"Not only is A-11 thinking outside of the box, its spread configuration helps move defensive players out of the box and keep them guessing. It is innovative, safe, and effective for evening the playing field against much larger defenses."
Paul Smith
Head Football Coach
Riverbank High School, California
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“The A-11 Offense is unique and refreshing. It has a chance to revolutionize the way offensive football is played.”
Tim Landis
Offensive Coordinator (NCAA)
Bloomsburg University, Pennsylvania
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“We decided to add the A-11 to our offensive philosophy because we only had two real linemen and a total of 5 returning varsity players. We did have quite a few athletes that weighed around 170 pounds so we thought the addition of the A-11 would keep us competitive in a league and division where we were the smallest school. We used all of the three lineman sets and added what we call our "nickel" set where we have a trips formation with the addition of our two Anchors all on the same side. This formation was quite successful for us both running and throwing the football. We also added our normal spread and trips formations to keep our opponents from putting just athletes on the field. We ended the season as league champs with a 4-1 League record (6-5 overall) and lost to a school that was twice our size by a score of 35-21 in the playoffs.”
What the A-11 did, was help our team compete and win a League Championship, and also make the playoffs two years in a row. We were picked to finish fourth and in some preseason polls fifth out of six teams. A-11 made football a lot of fun for our players and not so much fun for our opposing defensive coordinators. We also have more kids planning on coming out for football in this spring than in the past few years. We will continue to use the A-11 offense and we will only get better using it. It's the future of football!”
Tom Wallace, Head Football Coach
West Valley High School, Hemet, California
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"The A-11...allows us to get the ball into our athletes' hands unlike anything else in football today. It is a truly innovative evolution in football as we know it, and we'll be seeing a lot more of it in the future!"
Tim Souza
Eagle High School Mustangs
Eagle, Idaho
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“In my 33 years of coaching, rarely have I encountered something truly innovative in the game of football. However, the A-11 offense is revolutionary and will be a huge benefit for any coach that risks thinking outside the box in order to help his team put points on the board. Kurt Bryan and Steve Humphries have put together a playbook and a set of DVD’s that are first class and deserve the national attention that is coming their way. As soon as I implemented the A-11 system into our spread offense, our players’ attention skyrocketed. Now when I talk about the passing game, running game, play action game, everyone listens because they know they may be “THE GUY” at any time during the game that scores the touchdown. Our new team motto is All For One and One For All. Everyone Eligible! We can't wait for the season to begin.”
George Crace, Head Football Coach
Horizon Christian HS, Oregon
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"The A-11 Offense is great and our kids love it! It helps equal the playing field for the small schools like us across the country who are usually outmatched or out-manned in terms of numbers. The possibilities of this detailed offensive system are limitless and it's a much-needed evolution of the game!"
Johnny Poynter, Head Football Coach
Bourbon County High School, Kentucky
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“The A-11 is a change-of-pace from most conventional football offenses. It's an offense for every coach at every level. It's a hybrid of many other systems which allows for balanced game-planning and it is a system that will put points on the board and people in the stands. Coach Bryan and Coach Humphries may have just introduced us to a wave of high-powered, high-scoring and high-flying high school football! A record-breaking offense.”
Doug Longero
Head Football Coach
Las Lomas High School, California
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“Whether it is the misdirection of the single wing, the “controversial” introduction of the forward pass or the high flying triple option, the game of football has a great tradition of innovative evolution. Kurt Bryan’s & Steve Humphries' A-11 Offense can certainly be added to the list of exciting and progressive steps in the spread offense philosophy. I look forward to seeing this exciting offense in action …… I just hope that our team never has to defend it!”
Bryon Hamilton
Head Football Coach
Shasta College, California
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