Neat Q for Raid fans re: Leach's X/H/Y/Z labels, dying for feedback from Raid gurus!

[Rieux]

Was talking about custom Raid PBs with a buddy and he raised what struck me as a very interesting question about how Leach does, or would, apply his X/H/Y/Z labels to players in jumbo/heavy formations, and non-Raid forms in general. Even casual players who've run a few Stick/Shallow plays will instantly recognize this labeling in 10-personnel or 11-personnel 2x2 sets: X wide to the left, Z wide to the right, H as the weakside slot receiver, and Y being the TE or strongside slot receiver. From left to right, X, H, Y, Z. (And while I don't think any names of plays in the game address it, the RB is labeled as the F in the classical Air Raid.)

A quick note on why the seemingly-random H is used to refer to a receiver along with X, Y and Z, for anyone that doesn't know (and why F is used for a non-FB runningback, for that matter): when Hal Mumme created the Raid, he used LaVell Edwards's BYU concepts and labeling, and ran the Raid out of split-back 21 personnel (two backs and a TE), which Edwards favored. Kinda interesting to imagine the Raid being run out of 21p, but that's football history for ya! While Edwards was a predominantly under-center guy - his offense wasn't the Raid - Mumme would run it from UC or from the gun, IIRC depending on his QB's preference.

So in Mumme's playbook, one of their base shotgun forms would've looked something like this:

X       o o O o o Y
                              Z
         H  Q  F

X and Z of course being the WRs, Y being the TE, and more to the point, H being the "halfback" and F being the "fullback" (though of course by the time Mumme had developed the Raid to the point of carving up SEC defenses, both backs would've had to be reasonably athletic dudes with hands that weren't complete granite, so, say, F wouldn't have been a traditional fullback as we understand it). This form is basically SG - Split in-game, though it uses HB1 and HB2 instead of a FB. The under-center formations are in the Split Backs section - Army Split (20p) and Pro (21p), but sadly both are pretty watered down and don't really have any OG Mumme Air Raid concepts.

So of course as Mumme and especially Leach started spreading out their formations, "F" became the sole RB and "H" became a true slot receiver, and the rest is history as we all know - Wes Welker caught a million passes as the H in H Stick, 'cuz there wouldn't have been any reason to start calling the H something else. (And if you look at Leach's PBs, his RB is still the F - at least as recently as his TTech books. I dunno if he still does it or not, and the HB as F isn't really shown in-game anywhere IIRC).

Anyway, that history lesson will probably be the majority of this post lol, but back to the point - anyone who's run H Stick or Y Stick or any of the Shallow series will recognize his X/H/Y/Z labeling. This video has been helpful, but how do you guys think Leach would label players in formations that his Raid doesn't necessarily use? I know for Trips he labels them (to the right) X, (o-line), Y, H, Z, and (to the left) X, H, Y, (o-line), Z. And the letters can be scrambled around in all kinds of orders in his early/late/flip stuff.

I guess more specifically (and I'll number my questions to make them easier to answer)...

1. ...in a formation like Ace Big (12 personnel, 2x2) does he do the usual X, H, Y, Z with H being the weakside TE?

2. In a formation like Trips TE (3 WR to the left, TE on the right) would the TE be Z instead of Y? I.e. X, H, Y, (o-line), Z(TE)?

3. Similar to the first two, Twin TE Slot (2 WR to the left, inline TE, wing TE)? That one's really throwing me for a loop - X, H, (o-line), Y, Z as the wing? Or does he use the H or F for H-backs maybe?

4. Here's the one that broke my brain enough to make me wanna make the topic and see what any of the Raid crew had to say about it: Pistol Full House! It's in a ton of the Raid PBs in-game - it's the most common Pistol formation in the 16 Raid books - but not in WSU's. For anyone who needs a refresher, it's the 30p diamond form, with the FB to the QB's left, HB1 behind the QB and HB2 to the QB's right. This is my best guess for this one:

X       o o O o o       Z
         H  Q  Y
            F

H = FB, F = HB1, Y = HB2

These questions probably seem nerdy and pointless as all hell to a lot of y'all, and I admit, they are But maybe someone else will find it interesting, & I know there are several folks around here who are very knowledgeable about Leach's Raid who could probably answer all of these. Cheers!

[OBinKC]

Sorry I can’t answer these questions, but I LOVE the info! And it’s great to see someone more into the Raid than I am! I would assume that the personnel that is on the field would stay the same, like for example:

Take Ace Big. Since in the Gun Spread, from left to right you have X, H, Y, Z, then F in the backfield, I would think in Ace big the positions are the same (Z out wide, H being the left tight end, Y being the right tight end, z out right, and F in the backfield.

Trips TE might be a little tricky, but I would bet since the Y is the same type of player that he’d be in any other formation, it would be X, H, Z, and Y from left to right.

And again, I don’t know this, but it’s still fun to discuss the intricacies of the Air Raid so I hope you don’t mind me jumping in with my $.02.

[Rieux]

Thanks for the reply! Of course I don't mind anyone sharing their thoughts.

I suspect you're right about both Ace Big and Trips TE. I'll have to have another look through that video again though, I don't remember spotting either of those forms the first time around, but there may well be clues to be had from how other forms are labeled. I could've sworn I had a PDF of one of his old PBs sitting on my computer too, either Tech or OU. Can't find it though - probably on a USB stick somewhere. If I find it I'll upload and link it for the sake of completion.