'Futuristic Football' Is Hottest Topic in High School Game

College football rules limit the occasions that a team can use the A-11 alignment, but high school rules are less stringent. Even so, before implementing the A-11 at Piedmont, Bryan shared his idea with high school sports' governing body, the National Federation of State High School Associations, which gave its approval. The NFHS ruled the A-11 legal because it used the scrimmage-kick formation, which enables players to become eligible to receive a pass downfield provided they are wearing the correct jersey number and at least one is lined up seven yards deep in the backfield with no quarterback under center. The formation initially was designed to allow teams to use their fastest players for coverage in punting situations.

But despite national approval, some states -- and the District -- are prohibiting the offense's use. Critics say the A-11 alters the intent of scrimmage-kick formation, and those who use it will be penalized. In North Carolina, for example, a team will be whistled for a 15-yard unsporting foul the first time it attempts to use the A-11. The second infraction will result in the disqualification of the team's head coach, who will be removed from the vicinity of the stadium and not allowed to observe the game in any way.

"This is different from innovative offenses like the wishbone and the spread, which meet number and eligibility requirements on every down," said Mark Dreibelbis, the North Carolina High School Athletic Association's supervisor of officials. "They're taking this deception of the rule and making it an every-down situation. . . . That's an attempt to deceive, and it's an unsporting act."

Neither Virginia nor Maryland has banned it, but Joe Warren, the football rules interpreter for the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association, echoes Dreibelbis, calling the A-11 offense "sneaky" and that "it makes a travesty of the game."

The uncertainty over the A-11 has left some interested coaches hesitant to implement it. Frederick Coach Vince Ahearn said he looked at installing A-11 but decided "it's too risky to kinda invest time and energy into doing it." Others, such as Louisa (Va.) High School's Mark Fischer, want to run the offense but fear officials will ban it.

Bryan and Humphries devised the A-11 as a way to unlock potential at Piedmont, situated in an affluent town of the same name near Oakland, Calif. With about 900 students, Piedmont High School struggled to compete against schools with nearly twice its enrollment, and its football practice field was absent large linemen or other Division I college football prospects.

With that in mind, the coaches pooled ideas and relied on a number of different influences, including the spread-option offense used by the University of Florida during the 2007 BCS championship game and inspiration from Humphries's days as a University of California rugby player.

Before spring workouts last season, Bryan called a meeting to introduce the scheme. He diagrammed plays and dispensed packets, about 50 pages thick and double-sided with plays, outlining this strange new concept. This, Bryan told the team, is our offense.

But Piedmont started 0-2, as running backs couldn't find the proper alignment in the backfield and receivers struggled with timing and spacing on passing routes. Some team captains openly questioned the offense, Bryan received scathing e-mails, and one anonymous caller left him nasty voicemails: "A-11 stands for all 11 coaches potentially fired!"

In time, though, Piedmont figured out the system and started winning games. The team's quarterback, Jeremy George, found himself being asked about the A-11 at the gas station and the grocery store, and neighbors would stop walking their dogs just to hear about it.

"I really admire his ability to stick with it," George said of Bryan. "He got a lot of harsh criticism but he believed in himself and he believed in the offense."

Piedmont finished the regular season 7-3 before losing its first playoff game.

After the season, Bryan embarked on a comprehensive promotional campaign. He posted videos and responded to questions on message boards. He co-authored an A-11 installation manual with Humphries. And he worked with a webmaster to develop a Web site, A11offense.com, which has A-11 videos, links to A-11 articles and a schedule of A-11 coaching clinics. Lately the site has received about 700 hits per day, with ad revenue expected to produce as much as $7,500 to help fund the Piedmont football team.

Historically, many football coaches have been reluctant to share their playbook secrets the way Piedmont staff has with the A-11. But Bryan said doing so allows him to give back to those who have shared so much during his more than two decades in coaching. Plus, dispensing the information almost was born out of necessity, considering all of those phone calls.

"I would have never imagined it would happen like this," Humphries said. "It's something we didn't realize would catch on on such a national scale, but we're glad it did. There's no doubt about it, it's a fun ride right now."