Choosing a Youth Football Offense Part 3 Youth Offenses / DW, WT, Beast SW

In Part 3 of the Choosing a Youth Football Offense series we are reviewing popular youth football offenses; DW, WT and Beast SW based on 15 of the 25 important variables that I outlined in Part 1 and Part 2. At the last of part 2 we looked at the Unbalanced Single Wing Offense (UBSW) as an intro to Part 3.

In Part 3 of this series, Choosing a Youth Football Offense, we will look at the Double Wing Offense, the Wing-T Offense and the Beast Yale Single Wing Offense. In Part 4 we will look at the I- Formation, Power I, Wishbone and T- Formation. Part 5 will finish out the review of the Spread Offense, Gun-T, Pistol Offense and Split Backs formation. In Part 6 I will review Age issues in more detail.

Read or Listen to the Series on Choosing a Youth Football Offense

• Part 1 – Article / Podcast – Apple or Spotify or Youtube
• Part 2 – Article / Podcast – Apple or Spotify or Youtube
• Part 3 – Article / Podcast – Apple or Spotify or Youtube
• Part 4 – Coming Soon

Many of these Offenses above you can find a playbook for on the Selected Youth Playbooks page.

Choosing a Youth Football Offense Part 3 Youth Offenses DW, WT, Beast SW

In Part 2 of this series on Choosing a Youth Football Offense, I went over the Unbalanced Single Wing which I recommend as a fairly simple youth football offense for any experience level youth football team except for maybe ages 5 and 6u since it requires a shotgun or squat snap from the Center. Now we are going to look at another Pop Warner formation in the Double Wing, but in the Don Markham styled DTDW Offense.

Double Wing Offense (DTDW)

The DW Offense is a double tight end double wing formation with minimal passing, power dives, misdirection, ball control, with an overwhelming ground game.

• What is it? A double tight 4 back power misdirection offense
• Strength – Power & Misdirection / System
• Weakness – Need 4 good RBs  / Multiple Pulling OLM

Below is the main Double Tight Double Wing Offense formation and its top Offensive power play. There are many blocking variations to this play.

The Double Wing formation was invented by Pop Warner. The Double Wing Offense system or Double Tight Double Wing was invented by Don Markham in the 1970s. Jerry Vallotton has a great book on the DW Offense called The Toss and Jack Gregory is one of the youth DW Offense gurus.

The DW Offense in my opinion is a Double Wing Power T Formation with a little Wing T and Single Wing thrown in too. The DW Offense is about power and misdirection. I have coached with several DW Offense enthusiasts, and I run a more Spread version of it closer to a Pop Warner DW / Wing T hybrid.

The DW Offense is quite good for average skill teams with good experience but does take time to learn all of the eccentricities of the Offense, like the QB footwork, motion and toss. Coaches must commit to learning the DW.  It is not a simple Offense for the weekend warrior coach. You must study the DTDW Offense to be successful. This is not an Offense for the timid youth Coach.

1. Snap – Under Center
2. Blocking – Fairly Simple Angle Blocking
3. Pulling – Yes or Unbalanced, but lots of pulling
4. Power or Speed – Power with Misdirection
5. Forms / Motion / Shifts – Dbl TEs / Heavy Motion or None
6. Passing – Minimal
7. OLM Size – Average to Big – Big Helpful since Power
8. QB Skills – Above Average Footwork needed and will block
9. Running Backs – 4 above average RBs needed
10. Team Speed – Average Needed Mostly Power
11. Ball Skills Handoffs Tosses – Above Average
12. Easy to Install – Not an easy system to learn for new Coaches unfamiliar with system
13. Time – Can take a lot of time getting motion right and pulling
14. Age / Team Experience – Tough for inexperienced Rookies Players & Coaches / 9u plus
15. Available Playbooks / Materials – Huge Community of DW Coaches

I really like the Double Wing formation. I do not run the DW Offense system but was heavily influenced by Gregory, Wyatt, Weiner, and Valotton on my version of the Double Wing Speed formation that I run. My Double Wing Selected Youth Football plays eBook goes over many Double Wing styles of play including the DTDW Offense.

Many youth football teams around the country do very well running the Double Tight Double Wing Offense. I personally would run the DW once my players were at 9u or 10U since the DW Offense takes time to perfect. But I know many experienced DW Offense coaches with years of DW Offense experience will install at 7u and 8u. It is up to you to learn the Offense so you can install it correctly with your team. The DW over the SW and Beast are great choices when Choosing a Youth Football Offense.

Wing T Offense

The Wing-T is a Run-heavy football offense with misdirection plays, multiple ball carriers, power runs, and deceptive passing.

• What is it? A multi-Series 4 back misdirection Offense  
• Strength – Versatile, Deceptive plays, Misdirection
• Weakness – Need 4 good RBs / Pulling & Trapping

Below is the main Wing-T Offense formation and a top Offensive power play.

Dave Nelson and Tubby Raymond University of Delaware are the fathers of the Wing-T offense. The Wing-T is known for its deceptive plays, misdirection, and the ability to effectively run the football. The offense is characterized by its formations, play series and play-calling strategy. There are many Wing T series of plays, but many youth coaches use the Buck, Power, Belly and Jet Motion series from the 3 back wing and 2 back double wing formations. I became a huge fan of the Wing-T when I wrote my Wing-T Selected Youth Football Plays eBook.

1. Snap – Under Center
2. Blocking – Technical with more Pulling and Trapping
3. Pulling – Pulling and Trapping
4. Power or Speed – Power, Speed and Misdirection
5. Forms / Motion or Shifts – Some Jet or Rocket Motion 
6. Passing – Minimal to more
7. OLM Size – Can use small to average but blocking tech increases
8. QB Skills – Manager QB with great footwork
9. Running Backs – 4 good above avg RBs
10. Team Speed – Above Average
11. Ball Skills Handoffs Tosses – Above Average
12. Easy to Install – Not as easy to install as the I or Beast
13. Time – Above Average
14. Age / Team Experience – Best at experienced / Older Teams 10u plus
15. Available Playbooks / Materials – Good Wing-T Community / Materials

The youth Wing-T is a subset of the overall Wing-T Offense. I run a variation of the Wing-T in my Speed formation variations within my PWBO and Wildcat Multi Spread Offense. And much of my Split Back offense is based on Belly and Power Wing-T series.  The Wing-T is a great offense for experienced youth football teams at ages 10U and above with a good group of experienced running backs. It is a versatile and fun Offense to run. Are you interested in Choosing a Youth Football Offense like the Wing-T?

Beast Yale Single Wing Offense

The Beast Yale Single Wing is a modified Single Wing; unbalanced line, 3 shifting blocking backs; power runs, misdirection, and versatile plays.

• What is it? Unbalanced Power Wildcat Offense with 3 Blocking Backs
• Strength – Simple to Learn at Youth Level / Power Running
• Weakness – Relies on 1 or 2 above average backs / Not Popular

Wow, what can I say about the Beast Offense or the Yale Single Wing. I started running this very simple Offense in 1994 after finding it on the Playmaker football program. I was struggling as a rookie coach on Choosing a Youth Football Offense. Thank God I found the Beast! At the time I did not know what the Offensive Formation was officially called so I called it Loud, Rowdy Monkey for Left, Right, Middle.

Around 2008 I saw that Coaches Wyatt or Gregory and a few others were calling it the Beast. I later found out the Coach Steve Calande and Bruce Eien were also running versions and it was called Beast. I think Calande coined the name “Beast” which stuck. So, I adopted the name Beast sometime around 2008 or 2009 thinking this was the official name. After reading the Tom Flores book, Coaching Football in 2011, I found out what I call Beast Tight was called the Yale Single Wing.

In 2017, I wrote the Power Wing Beast Offense Youth Football Playbook which includes my expanded Beast formations / versions (Tight, Wide, and Double Wide) of the Beast Offense or Yale Single Wing Offense. I just recently updated the PWBO to Version 2 with close to 600 pages and a few more Beast formation variations. These Beast materials can help you when Choosing a Youth Football Offense.

1. Snap – Shotgun or Under Center
2. Blocking – Simple Unbalanced SAB Down or R/L Angle Blocking
3. Pulling – No Pulling
4. Power or Speed – Power
5. Forms / Motion or Shifts – Some Shifts if run Wide / 2x Wide
6. Passing – Minimal
7. OLM Size – Can use small to average – angle blocking helps
8. QB Skills – NO QB
9. Running Backs – 1 or 2 Average backs
10. Team Speed – Average
11. Ball Skills Handoffs Tosses – Mostly Direct Snaps
12. Easy to Install – Very Easy
13. Time – Maybe fastest of all the youth offenses to install
14. Age / Team Experience – 5U up / Rookies and Up
15. Available Playbooks / Materials – Coach Parker and Growing

I’ve run the Beast Yale Single Wing since 1994. The Beast is always a package within my overall Power Wing Beast Offense or Wildcats Multi Spread systems. The 4 or 5 base Beast plays in Beast Tight or under Center, BUC, are some of the simplest plays in youth football to install.  Since it is a direct snap formation like the UBSW there are minimal ball handling requirements on your RBs.  You can also run the Offense under Center. Plus, you can get away with just one running back stud if that is required.  And if you have several stud RBs the Beast Offense is easy to rotate backs through the Offense. 

The Beast is also a great Offensive package to install for your back-ups since it is so easy to learn and does not need a QB.

So yes, I am completely biased Choosing a Youth Football Offense for the Beast Offense because of its simplicity, but I also run the Power I or a SW Hybrid right alongside it most of the time. You can ask many coaches that have run the Beast and they will tell you it is the simplest Offense for any age group. The Beast works great from 5u to High School and shoot even the NFL Philadelphia Eagles are running a variation with their QB Sneak. I am still waiting for the Kansas City Chiefs to break out the Yale Single Wing Beast Tank Play or Popeye pass play.

But you make the choice on Choosing a Youth Football Offense. I am laying out all the information so you can make a educated choice on Choosing a Youth Football Offense.

More Top Youth Football Offenses Coming in Part 4

In Part 4 we will look at the I- Formation, Power I, Wishbone and T- Formation. Part 5 will finish out the review of the Spread Offense, Gun-T, Pistol Offense and Split Backs formation. In Part 6 I will go into my choices of Offenses by Age Group.

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Do you agree with my assessment of the DTDW, Wing-T and Beast Offenses? Which Offense out of the 4 that I have reviewed to you think is the easiest youth football offense?

For the next part of the Choosing a Youth Football Offense article, what Offense do you think will be easy? Let me know in the comments. 

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