Step by step, this is how we run our Fullback Trap play vs. a 5-2. (For the sake of labeling, our fullback is the number four back and our hole numbering system is evens to the right and odds to the left. We call this to the one hole even though in reality the fullback is cutting tight off the left guard, which is technically the three hole. We label it to the one hole because the fullback's aiming point is straight ahead on the midline until he receives the handoff.) We don't block anything outside the tight end. If we have a wingback aligned to the playside, he releases upfield to the safety. The left tight end releases inside to the first linebacker. The left tackle also releases inside to the first linebacker. Against a 5-2, we now have a double team on the inside linebacker. You can clearly see this in the video clip. The left guard is going to block down on the noseguard. If the noseguard slants into the playside gap, we have him picked up. If he slants away, we continue on our track to the backside linebacker. In the video clip, the noseguard slants away and our left guard doesn't continue on his track to the backside linebacker like we would like him to. However, we coach that guard that it would be better to stay with the noseguard too long then to leave too early, so we can live with that. The center of course has the noseguard too, effectively creating a double team with the left guard. We want him to step right, because he has help from the left. Here, he picks up the slanting noseguard. Before I continue, I should make a key point, and that is the technique of the backside linemen. They are coached to take a quick six-inch step with their inside foot and to rip through the defensive lineman covering them with their opposite arm as they step through with their outside foot. This "rip through," or "escape" technique should be drilled on a regular basis.
The defensive lineman that we want to trap is the first lineman from the B gap outside. Against a 5-2, that would be the defensive tackle lined up over our left tackle in the video clip. He is penetrating the C gap here. Our backside right guard is the trapper. His technique is to take his inside foot and to step back gaining "depth and distance." Depth to get around the center in case there is some penetration from the noseguard, and distance toward the defensive lineman he is trapping. His next step, with his outside foot, is right back into the line of scrimmage. We tell our trapping guard to make a "V" cut, not an "L-shaped" cut. It is crucial that he attack the defender's inside shoulder with his head inside, which he does in the video clip. The backside right tackle steps down to pick up any penetration for the vacating pulling guard. The tight end heads across the field to pick off the safety.
The quarterback opens opposite the playside, gives to the fullback on the first step, fakes to the wingback on the second step, and gets into his bootleg on his third step.
On this play, the defense has their corners rolled up with a two-safety look. Sometimes the play cuts back so sharply that the fullback may have to break the tackle of the rolled up corner, who is unblocked. We tell our fullback that it is the job of his teammates to block the linebackers and defensive linemen, but his job to break tackles in the secondary. Our fullback is expected to be good enough to break the tackle of a defensive back much like a receiver would be expected to catch the ball if he is open and the pass is on target.
