What is the Best Offense for Youth Football? My 5 Picks!

I am asked many times; What is the best Offense for Youth Football? I smile and say, The one that wins!

Choose your offense based on your current players and not what your local high school is running that week.

My local HS loses all the time running the Spread so I am not a fan of running their version of the Spread. LOL.

I do think many rookie pee wee football coaches and experienced youth football coaches get caught up in what is the best offense for youth football. If an Offense fits your roster talent and you know the Offense then that’s probably the best offense for you to install and coach for your little league tackle football team.

The Offensive Decision – Ask Yourself….

Here are some simple questions to ask yourself about your team and an Offense you are reviewing to choose to run for your pee wee football team.

• Do I know this Offense or Can I learn this Offense?
• Can my Offensive Coordinator Learn this Offense and call it?
• Do I have the Speed to run this offense?
• Are my players experienced enough to run this offense?
• Is my team smart enough to run this offense?
• Are my 6 year olds to young to run this Offense?
• Is this offense too complicated for my players?
• Can my running backs remember these plays?
• Do I have too many rookies or minimum play players?
• Is my offensive line good enough to block for this Offense?
• Does my Quarterback have the passing skills for this Offense?
• Do I have enough Practice Time each week to get the needed reps?
• Will my coaching staff believe in this Offense?
• Do other youth football teams run this offense successfully?
• Can my Center shotgun snap?
• What adjustments to this offense will I need to make for my team?
• Will this Offense compete in this youth football league?
• Will this Offense grow and evolve with my roster and team?
• What is my fall back plan B if this Offense does not work for team?

I did a video and article on this question for our league’s coaches several years ago. Check out; Youth Football Offense Coaching Clinic.

Your youth football team’s roster and player’s talent and experience should drive what offense you choose to run that youth football season. My 5 picks and or other coaches suggestions on What is the Best Offense for Youth Football should help influence your decision on what to run but your talent pool and your knowledge of the offense should be the main factors in choosing the offense.

Best Offense for Youth Football – Key Points

Since I am a Beast / Yale Single Wing fan and wrote a Multi Wing youth football playbook called the Power Wing Beast Offense, I am very partial to youth football offenses that utilize a Wingback. The wingback will give you a good edge blocker, wide receiver and a good misdirection back. I am a little biased, so let’s look at characteristics that make a good youth football offense.

Characteristics of a Good Youth Offense

Over my 25 plus season coaching youth football, I have found these keys to success on offense for youth football.

Best Offense for Youth Football Top 5

Finally we reach my top 5 best offenses for youth football. These choices are based on all of the football knowledge since I started coaching youth football in 1994.

#1 Best Offense for Youth Football – Single Wing

Overall the Single Wing offense and all of its variants are youth football power house offenses. Pop Warner created a wonderful offense tailored for youth football players. Currently, I run the Yale Single Wing called the Beast and a Notre Dame Box variant I call Cake / Fat. I have also run the the traditional Unbalanced Single Wing UBSW a few years too.

Here’s a article on the 5 Best Single Wing Plays For Youth Football.

Here’s the SW Formation Selected Youth FB Plays eBook info. The SW is one of the best offense for youth football.

#2 Best Offense for Youth Football – Double Wing

Another Pop Warner offensive formation, the Double Wing is also very popular with youth football coaches. The Double Wing is also very easy to move into the Spread formation which is what Dutch Meyers at TCU did back in the 40’s when he created the Spread Offense. I run a variation of the Double Wing I named Speed which is based on several DW variations including Weiner Spin, Gregory DW, Vallotton DW and Meyers / Bell DW Spread.

Here’s a youth football coaching offense article on Top 5 Double Wing Plays for Youth Football. You should also check out my new Double Wing Formation Selected Youth Football Plays eBook. The DW is one of the best offense for youth football.

#3 Best Offense for Youth Football – I Formation

Well what can you say about the I formation. Almost every football team in American runs some version of the I formation. I even use the off-set I formation to teach my youth football teams offensive formation holes and back numbering. If you look closely, the Off-set I formation below, looks similar to the single wing formation above. The I Formation and the Off-set I formation are very good youth football offenses.

Here’s an offensive coaching football article on Proven Top 5 I Formation Plays for Youth Football

Here is an eBook on the I Formation and youth football plays take a look.

#4 Best Offense for Youth Football – Power I

I did not include the Power I formation with the I Formation since it is a very different animal. They I formation has a little more finesse than the Power I. I ran the Power I in HS and Junior High and played Fullback. We ran power and option. I would not recommend the option version of the Power I to youth football coaches, but the power version is awesome. My youth football teams run my version of the Power I called Pie. It is fantastic. Very easy to learn and run at the youth football level.

Here’s a youth football coaching offense article on Best 5 Power I Plays Youth Football.

And here’s an eBook on the Power I Formation for you to review and buy. The Power I is one of the best offense for youth football.

#5 Best Offense for Youth Football – Wing T / Split Wing

The Wing T Offense is a great youth football offense. It is very similar to the I but has more misdirection and wide edge running possibilities. We run a Split Wing when we have two tailback types vs a fullback and a Tailback. The Wing T comes from the T formation and the Single Wing at the University of Delaware thus the Delaware Wing T Offense. There is a ton of info on the Wing T with very well established playbooks.

Here a youth football coaching offense article on the Top 5 Youth Football Wing T Plays. The Wing T is one of the best offense for youth football.

What do you think about my 5 Best Offense for Youth Football choices? Most of these formations and or variants are part of my multi offense Power Wing Beast Offense playbook for youth football. But these are also highly voted on youth football offenses in surveys around the web including my offensive formation survey from many years ago.

In the past, I have toyed around with the Air Raid offense and tried to be a pure passing Spread team like my local high schools in Texas and Colorado. I personally had more success with the above run focused offenses above than the pretty Spread type offenses at the youth football level 5 to 12 years old. I believe, mainly due to my roster talent, limited practice time, age of my players. Young pee wee football players are not ready for some of the advanced concepts like motions and shifts that come with high school offenses in today’s world.

One season about 10 years ago, I tried for 3 or 4 weeks to force Spread Jet / Rocket Sweeps on an 8 year old team until we were going backwards from offsides penalties. Crazy because this offense had worked for another 9 year old team I coached several years before, but not this 8/9 year team. You must know your CURRENT team.

Yes, you can run any offense you can imagine on a napkin over a few beers. But, you must ask yourself will it work with your roster. Can your team successfully run this offense? I consider a winning season success. Yes, you must have more wins than losses in your record. Otherwise do not join a competitive youth football league just practice and have practice scrimmage teams. Your offense must score to win for me consider it successful. I think may will agree.

Well, good luck, I hope this information was helpful to choose the best offense for youth football for your team.

Remember, your team’s talent level will choose your offense. Choose Wisely!

If you run any of these youth football offenses please let me know. Did I choose your favorite and what works for your team. If not let me know what you run below. What is your favorite best offense for youth football?

Please leave me a comment below or contact me anytime. I love talking youth football.

Remember to Play for Fun and Winning is Funner!
Coach Parker
Fort Worth, Texas

PS: Stay Safe!!