Out-of-Door Academy breaks in new triple option during spring season

Dakota Dickerson thought the idea was a joke when a friend at Out-of-Door Academy told him about Ken Sommers’ plan for Dickerson’s senior football season. The head coach wanted to totally overhaul Out-of-Door’s offense and Dickerson was his likely choice as the new quarterback.

With four offensive linemen graduating from the 2016 team, the spread passing attacking the Thunder had used the previous few seasons wasn’t going to work. An offseason of studying a small passion brought him to something new.

“We thought that the triple-option attack would give us the ability to play kind of service-academy football with a smaller, undersized line,” Sommers said. “Hopefully it works this spring and it’s something we can stick with for a long time.”

For the past few weeks, Sommers has been trying to drill the new offense in ODA’s mind before Out-of-Door travels to Fort Myers to face Evangelical Christian for its spring game Thursday. It’s a stark departure from Sommers’ past with pass-heavy offenses, so the coach had to go searching for input from as far north as Maine and as far west as New Mexico.

The idea originally became a realistic thought for Sommers through conversations with defensive coordinator Chris Kempton. Before joining the Thunder, Kempton had served the same role at Bates College, a Division III program in Lewiston, Maine, where the triple option was a staple.

With one primary source’s brain to pick, Sommers was ready to hop on a coaching passion he’s had since he was an undersized offensive lineman at D-III Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y.

“I’ve always loved it,” Sommers said. “I love that idea of outsmarting or outthinking the opponent.”

Sommers began digging into books about the triple option and scouring YouTube for videos about different variations of the offense. New Mexico’s jumped out: Under head coach Bob Davie, the Lobos’ attack is essentially a variation of the spread run out of the pistol formation. It blends the sort of zone-read plays ODA ran with Dickerson from time to time in 2016 with the complexities of a traditional triple option.

New Mexico’s quarterback lines up with a pair of running backs split a step behind him in the backfield. The quarterback can fake a handoff to one running back who goes in front of his body in one direction while the other swings behind to get in pitch position as a second option.

Sommers became entranced by videos of Davie coaching clinics and traveled to Orlando to watch the coach speak at a conference. There have been hiccups while breaking it in this spring — athletes playing multiple sports at the small private school prevented Out-of-Door from doing any sort of serious installation before practice began — but Sommers has seen progress as players have adjusted to their new roles.

“It feels a little strange, I guess,” Dickerson said, “because there’s a lot of new players in new positions.”

The Thunder won’t get a true sense of where their offense stands until they take the field against Evangelical, and then Sommers can adjust as ODA gets into its summer workouts and August practices.

Either way, this is an experience Sommers never planned to have as a head coach. He calls it “a bucket list item.” If it goes as planned, Out-of-Door could be back in the postseason for the first time since 2010.

“The guys have bought in,” Sommers said. “I think they understand we need to be a little different to be successful.”

This story was originally published May 15, 2017 at 4:42 PM with the headline "Out-of-Door Academy breaks in new triple option during spring season."