Buck-lateral series

Buck-lateral Football Play

The term buck-lateral was used almost exclusively to describe a play or a series of plays used in the Single-Wing football formation. Since the Single-Wing formation lost prominence in the 1950s, the football play referred to as the Buck-lateral is almost gone from football's vocabulary. However, prior to 1950, the buck-lateral play gave fullbacks the option to run, lateral, or hand-off the ball to another player. Running the buck-lateral required an offensive scheme that needed the fullback to possess many specialized skills, as opposed to today's fullback who mainly blocks and carries the ball infrequently.

How the play got its name

Before the invention of the Single-Wing offense by Pop Warner, offenses used simple plays designed for runners to attack the defensive front behind massed line blocking. This battering ram approach usually involved the biggest runner, the fullback, as his main role was to "buck" or smash the middle of the defensive front.

The term lateral describes a short toss from one back to another that does not advance the ball. A ball that goes forward to another player is called a forward pass. The pass and the lateral are both allowed to advance the ball when the offense is operating behind their line of scrimmage. Once beyond the line of scrimmage the lateral is the only means of transfering the ball to another player.

The Buck-lateral was a play designed for single wing fullbacks to receive the toss from the center, and start toward the central part of the line to make the play look like a typical smash or buck. However, at some point the fullback would pause and do one of several options, including lateraling the ball to another back.

Warner's Carlisle formation, or Single-Wing, added additional misdirection and trickery to allow for runners to gain yards by deceiving the defense. The Single-wing also allowed the offense to put more blockers at the point of attack than the defense could muster.

Plays used with the Buck-lateral

The buck-lateral play was actually a series of plays that all started out the same way with the fullback taking the direct snap from center, then directing his forward movement toward the middle of the line of scrimmage. The play had two basic options, with purmutations added to confuse the defense. The fullback could basically either keep the ball and pound the middle of the line, or he could toss the ball to one of the three other single-wing backs.