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As the game advanced, backs positioned at different depths (i.e. distances behind the forwards) were further differentiated into separate positions. These positions were called halfback, three-quarters back, and full back according to English and Scottish nomenclature and quarterback, halfback, and full back in the Irish nomenclature.
For many years, the standard set consisted of the quarterback, two running backs (a tailback/halfback and a fullback), two wide receivers (a flanker and a split end) and a tight end. Modern teams show a wide variety of formations, from a full house formation with three running backs, two tight ends, and no wide receivers, to spread formations ...
The term "half-back" fell out of use by the early 1970s and "midfield" was used in naming the positions that play around the middle third as in centre midfield and wide midfield. [1] The fluid nature of the modern game means that positions in football are not as rigidly defined as in sports such as rugby or American football. Even so, most ...
Example of fullback positioning in the "I-Form" offense. In the days before two platoons, the fullback was usually the team's punter and drop kicker. [2] When, at the beginning of the 20th century, a penalty was introduced for hitting the opposing kicker after a kick, the foul was at first called "running into the fullback", in as much as the deepest back usually did the kicking.
A standard pro set places the backs about 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage, spaced evenly behind the guards or tackles. In this look, teams may utilize two halfbacks, or one halfback and one fullback. A variation of the pro set places the backs offset toward either side. This look is almost universally used with one fullback and one halfback.
The halfback can also throw the ball while running a direct snap play where the center snaps the ball to halfback directly. This has become particular in teams that use the Wildcat formation , most prominently the Miami Dolphins , where running back Ronnie Brown would run, pass, and receive out of this set.
Joe Gibbs's "H-Back" set. Joe Gibbs, twice head coach of the Washington Commanders, devised an ace variation that used a setback, or "flexed" tight end known as an H-back. In this formation, the normal tight-end is almost exclusively a blocker, while the H-back is primarily a pass receiver. This formation is often referred to as a "two tight ...
If a team uses a Wildcat formation, often the halfback—instead of the quarterback—is the one who directly receives the snap. As a trick play, running backs are occasionally used to pass the ball on a halfback option play or halfback pass. The difference between halfback and tailback is the position of the player in the team's offensive ...