Formation Scout

Formations Hub

Introduction

Formation Scout is trained to indentify five different base offensive football formations and smaller variants of some of them. These five base formations and their variants can be found with more detail at that formation's page, although a brief rundown will be given here. The formations used are focused only on backfield players and not alignment of the line of scrimmage or wide receivers. More resources on offensive formations: Wikipedia list of offensive formations

The five base formations used in this app:

The Position of the Quarterback

The Quarterback (QB) is the captain and play caller of the offense and it often the first to touch the ball once it has been snapped by the Center, this action is what officially starts the play. The QB can either line up crouched directly behind the center, known as "under center" or standing upright a few yards the field behind the center in what is known as "shotgun". All the formations in this project stem from one of these two positions.

Annotation of QB in under center — **Under Center**
The QB (marked red) is crouched directly behind the Center (marked pink)

Annotation of QB in shotgun — **Shotgun**
The QB is standing up a few yards behind the center (marked pink)

Under Center Formations

The base under center formations have to do with the addition and position of other plays in the backfield behind the quarterback. These players are often either Halfbacks (HB) or Fullbacks (FB), determined by their size of intended use.
The two under center formations used here are the I formation and the Singleback formation. The I formation has a FB lined up a couple yards behind the QB and then a HB lined up behind the QB. The Singleback formation has only a HB lined up a few yards behind the QB and is often further back.

Annotation of the I formation — **I Formation**
The RB (marked blue) is behind the FB (marked green), who is behind QB, who is under center

Annotation of singleback formation — **Singleback**
The RB is several yards behind the under center QB is the only player other than the QB in the backfield

Shotgun Formations

The variants of shotgun formations have to do with the addition and position of other plays in the backfield around the quarterback. These players are often either Halfbacks (HB) or Fullbacks (FB), determined by their size of intended use.
The shotgun formations used here are the Shotgun(traditional), the Pistol, and Empty. The traditional shotgun has a HB lined up on either side of the QB in the backfield. He can be either in line with or slight behind the quarterback, but still off to the side. The pistol has a HB lined up a couple yards behind the quarterback. The Empty formation has no other players in the backfield with the QB.
The first two below are both traditional shotgun formations as the depth of the RB in relation to the QB is up to preference. What matters is that he is still close to and beside the QB, not directly behind.

Annotation of the shotgun formation — **Shotgun**
The RB is beside and slightly behind the QB, who is standing in shotgun

Annotation of shotgun formation — **Shotgun**
The RB is directly beside QB, who is standing in shotgun

Annotation of the pistol formation — **Pistol**
The RB is behind the QB, who is standing in shotgun

Annotation of empty formation — **Shotgun**
The QB, who is standing in shotgun, is the only player in the backfield