Josh Herring has enjoyed some potent offenses during his time as offensive coordinator at Lassiter High School (Marietta, Ga.), and much of that has to do with the execution of his Y-Cross pattern.

Herring broke down his go-to play during a recent episode of the USA Football Coach and Coordinator podcast.

It starts with a 3x1 alignment, with Herring placing his best receiver into the boundary and three receivers lined up in trips formation on the field side.

That single receiver is the first option.

"We'll run a speed out with our No. 1 receiver into the boundary," Herring said. "An 8-10 yard speed out to get the first down. If we get soft coverage, we take the gift."

From there, Herring relies on his quarterback to execute a "scan read" to look for ways to beat either man or zone coverage.

In trips, an inside receiver, either the 2 or the 3, will run the cross route, while another receiver runs what Herring calls an "arrow" or "grab" route, "which is pushing up on the toes of whoever is the hang defender and then whipping it outside."

The third receiver in the bunch will run a dig or a curl route.

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But it all depends on the scan read.

"Just like our (offensive) philosophy has macro and micro parts, so do our combinations," Herring said. "We're going to have big picture, macro reads--and scan is one of those--which are going to tell the quarterback where he's going with his eyes."

The micro reads are the normal concepts which inform the quarterback on how he should read something.

Herring employs the scan concept on other routes in the as well, such as shallow or drive.

"That idea that I'm gonna start my eyes on either individual receiver or 2-man combo and work across is a core part of what we do," he said."

Herring will also utilize Mike push reads--reading the drop of an inside linebacker. However, the overall goal of all of his team's plays, reads and routes is simple.

"We're really trying to use the entire field when we're working the passing game," he said.

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