- November 14, 2024
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In football culture, more so than in other popular sports in America, the concept of having an identity is viewed as crucial, whether that’s the identity of a team, coach, player or even fanbase.
In the college game, the service academies’ football teams — specifically Navy and Army — are known for running the triple-option offense. For years, regardless of the coach, those two teams ran this offense. It’s who they were as a football program, it’s part of their identity.
Another example of this is the late great college coach Mike Leach and his famed offense scheme, the Air Raid. It didn’t matter who, what, where and why The Pirate, as Leach was affectionately called, was coaching; his offense was going to throw the football.
Leach’s identity as a coach was so tied to his pass-happy offense that if he got lost on one of his pirate adventures in the Atlantic Ocean and somehow ended up landing on the shores of Peters Cove in Annapolis, New Jersey, during the Army-Navy game at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Leach undoubtedly would end up on the sidelines with a headset calling some version of the four-verticals play concept just for a giggle.
Throughout Zachary Fox’s three-year tenure as Legacy Charter’s football coach, the Eagles’ identity on offense has been a pass-first, pro-style spread scheme. But going into this season, he had a problem: He didn’t have the type of quarterback who could run this offense.
Fox had two options: Stick to the program’s developed identity or flip the whole thing on its head and try something new.
“We had talked a lot about the offense in the spring,” Fox said. “We tried out the single-wing offense a little bit, but it just wasn’t clicking the way that we thought it would. So, we decided to go back to our old offense — but with a simplistic approach that we tried make fit the guys that we have on the roster. At the time, that seemed like the best call, because they were understanding the concepts a little bit better.”
But when the season started, it was painfully clear that it wasn’t working. Legacy lost four consecutive games to open the season and scored just 14 points. At the Eagles’ lowest point of the season, they fell to a 1-6 record and were averaging just 5.71 points per game.
That’s when a blessing in disguise came and Fox got a second chance to reshape the identity of his offense.
“After losing our starting quarterback for a couple of weeks, we just realized that we didn’t have that set-in-stone backup who could command the offense,” Fox said. “So, we decided to make the shift to the single-wing and put the ball in the hands of three or four different guys who are able to equally share the carries and responsibility of making sure our offense works. That’s made all the difference for us.”
Since then, the Eagles are 3-0 and have scored 82 total points — more than double the points they scored in their first seven games.
“It was incredible to see them get the offense that first week,” Fox said. “To see them just really buy into the change, understand the scheme so quickly and then go out on the field and execute it all throughout that week in practice and in the first game was amazing. In that first game, we rushed for 380 yards — that was more yards than we had rushed for in total, up until that game. I think the scheme is more than just a great fit for us because of the play style of our players across all three phases; it’s great because it’s aligned with the kind of culture we’ve built here and the identity of these guys.”
Junior running back Brian Jean is a great example of the type of player Fox is describing — someone who is tough as nails, fearless, and focused on the team and not himself.
For the early portion of the season, Jean wasn’t in the backfield. In fact, he didn’t feature very often on offense at all. He predominantly saw the field as a cornerback for the Eagles’ defense. But when the shift in scheme came, his athleticism was even more valuable to the team with the ball in his hands, never mind the fact he had never played running back before this season. Neither Jean nor Fox was going to let that silly little fact stop them from going all in on the move.
“At first, I was scared of playing running back,” Jean said. “There’s a lot of expectations that come with the position in this offense. ... I didn’t want to fumble, I didn’t want to really deal with that pressure. But once I got that first run in, I just built my confidence from there, and it started to come to me. A lot of the credit, though, has to go to my teammates.”
Over this three-game stretch, Jean has gained 536 total yards, scored six of his eight touchdowns, added a two-point conversion and is still contributing on defense.
Because of the way this group of student-athletes bought into this shift and didn’t quit in the face of a 1-6 record, the word “turnaround” isn’t strong enough to describe this moment. This is more than a feel-good story, it’s more than a turnaround; Legacy’s offense has sparked a football revival that’s carried the program all the way to the SSAA Class 1A championship game.
Just reaching this point is impressive. But if Legacy can bring home the hardware with a championship win, the status of this team’s run as one of epic proportions would be solidified.
“This run just shows the kind of group of guys we have here,” Fox said. “Their ability to overcome anything that’s been put in front of them is ultimately why we’ve been able to dig ourselves out of that tough place and have the chance to write our own ending to what could have been a lost season.
“I can’t say enough about that collective group and the pride that they’ve played with over the past couple of weeks,” he said. “I can’t say enough about this coaching staff and how we’ve all been able to adapt to everything that’s happened this season. So much credit needs to go to both my coordinators and all the assistant coaches, really. Their contributions have been phenomenal, especially when it came to keeping the guys locked in after the difficult start. I think this really is that type of great, redemptive story that everyone loves to hear about.
“To start 0-4 and then have the chance to finish 4-0 and bring some hardware home — that’s not something you take lightly,” Fox said. “I’m just happy for this group, because despite how hard this season was … they never strayed away from each other, they never left each other, they never broke their brotherhood.”
