Know your Options: Inverted Veer

One of the mistakes TV commentators and pundits make is labeling all plays where a quarterback makes a read a "read option play". This generic labeling has led people to believe that it is often the result of just one play that could eventually be out schemed by the brain trust of NFL defensive coordinators.

One of the more exciting facets of the option plays are that they can be run a number of ways and pick on any defender in the box.

The 49ers started to use a new wrinkle on an old favorite with the inverted veer play.

Inverted Veer Video of the play here

GB Uni Travelling squad

Congratulations to all those players making the final travelling squad for the GB University team!


Quarterbacks
James Slack - Loughborough
Joe Thompson - Hertfordshire
Tristan Varney - Birmingham

Offensive Line
Hamish Coull - Napier
James Connolly - Loughborough
Alec Butcher - NTU
Thomas Levick - Birmingham 
Sam Molnar - Loughborough
Harry Levick - Southampton
Craig Harris - Birmingham

Running Backs
Daniel Conroy - Birmingham
Adam Hope - Loughborough
Jamie Welsh - Napier

Tight End
Rob Cartwright - NTU

Wide Receivers
Stefan Rowden - Birmingham
Williams Hussey - Birmingham
James Draper - Loughborough
James Cherry - Kingston
Dominic Husbands - Hertfordshire
Tom Singleton-Wells - Derby
Kieran Cutlan - Wales Trinity



Defensive Line
Joshua Vines - Birmingham 
Jonathon Varney - Loughborough
Ike Obialo - DMU
Edward Cheadle - Birmingham
Chukwuemeka Ezenwoye - Brighton
Lloyd Scott - Portsmouth


Linebackers
Ryan Strachan - Napier
Sam Marshall - Birmingham
Dominic Gould - Hertfordshire
James Armah - Gloucester
Matthew Eva - Loughborough
Greg Pearson - Birmingham
Maxwell Petitjean - Birmingham

Cornerbacks
Greg Freeman - Birmingham
A-Jay Crabbe - Birmingham
Marcus Boswell - NTU
Joe Parsons - Loughborough

Safeties
Stefan Rivera-Gonzalez - Hertfordshire
David Jennison - Hertfordshire
John Kenyon - Loughborough
David Saul - Sheffield


Specialist
Alexander Lenkowski - Loughborough

Lion Cub: Life of a rookie at the Birmingham Lions

By Ben Raskino

After watching the Giants beat the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI I knew I wanted to play American football, and after being accepted at the University of Birmingham I had the opportunity to join one of the most decorated teams in the country in the form of the Birmingham Lions. 

Before the ‘taster session’ held in Fresher’s Week you could sense the nervousness in the would-be players, almost all of them having never played the sport before, and all of them uncertain as to what the nature of the Lions would be. The taster session afforded all of us with an informal trial of all of the basic positional drills, but with a glimpse of the intensity of a genuine Lions training session with the veteran linebackers screaming at us to tackle the bag with more ferocity, and potential Lions unsurprisingly struggling to prevent Tristan Varney’s high velocity passes slipping through their fingers. I incidentally opted to play as a Defensive Back.

Those who decided to persevere were then inaugurated into the full Lions program. This includes weekly classroom sessions focused on not only installing new plays but also studying game film of opposing teams, adding a true sense of depth and professionalism that I wasn’t expecting, but was certainly excited by.