Flexbone Formation - Use of The Flexbone Formation

Use of The Flexbone Formation

In Division I Championship Subdivision football, Georgia Southern pioneered a version of the flexbone that won a record six NCAA Championship Subdivision National Titles and nine Southern Conference titles. Through the 2007 season, the United States Air Force Academy and the United States Naval Academy were the last major remnants of flexbone football in division I-A and testaments to the formation's ability to use key offensive players effectively when a team has significantly less talent on the field. But with the hiring of former Navy head coach Paul Johnson in 2008 and who also coached at Georgia Southern, Georgia Tech became the first BCS conference school in approximately two decades to use a flexbone offense. In Johnson's first year at Georgia Tech, the Yellow Jackets shared the ACC Coastal Division title with Virginia Tech. In 2009, the Jackets beat Clemson in the ACC Championship game to get to the FedEx Orange Bowl. In the late 1980s, the University of Arkansas ran a version of the flexbone under coach Ken Hatfield and won two consecutive Southwest Conference titles.

Schools at the FCS (formerly I-AA) level that currently run the Flexbone include Wofford, Georgia Southern, and The Citadel.

On the highschool level, many teams across the country have opted to use the flexbone. One successful switch can be seen in Hutchinson Kansas, as the Hutchinson High Football team has become a top tier team in the region having won 7 state football championships (4 in class 6A and 3 in class 5A).