Cleveland Browns to use All-11 concepts in 2016

History of the A-11

The All-11 was originally created by Piedmont High School coaches Kurt Bryan and Steven Humphries as a means of taking advantage of scrimmage kick rules. As Matt Hinton of Yahoo Sports describes in his 2009 article:

"The goal of the A-11 is maximum unpredictability, achieved by putting 11 players wearing eligible receiving numbers on the field at once — only legal with one player at least seven yards behind the line of scrimmage and no one under center, as on a punt or field goal — then shifting them on or off the line of scrimmage at the last second. The result is an essentially random offense with endless combinations of possible receivers, leaving the defense with no idea which five or six players are eligible to go downfield for a pass until a moment before the ball is snapped and no time to react."

The point was confusion. By lining up a player seven yards off the line of scrimmage to receive the snap, the offense was able to put as many eligible number wearing players on the field it wanted as long as there continued to be seven people on the line of scrimmage. By having players step on the line of scrimmage at the last second, the All-11 created mass confusion for opposing teams and referees alike.

This version of the All-11 offense was quickly deemed illegal for various reasons. Besides the fact it was generally considered unsportsmanlike to exploit loopholes in rules (Patriots fans will obviously disagree), the most salient reason was that officials could not determine who was eligible and who was not.

The creators of the All-11 then worked to make the offense legal within the accepted NFHS rules. The focus shifted away from scrimmage kick rules to taking advantage of accepted ineligibility rules.

Next: The current version