For this reason, I've always loved studying NFL tape. While many have felt that NFL offenses were too homogenized, there are always been those who push the envelope. A highs school or a small college has more in common, roster-wise, with the NFL and than it does with a Division 1 powerhouse. I say this because a small college or high school's depth is much more similar to a pro team's roster - where the dropoff from a starter to a backup might be HUGE - in contrast to the revolving door of Parade All- Americans that can be found on top college rosters.
Further - this year in particular - those who follow the NFL have seen an overarching effort in attacking defenses. More and more teams are in the no-huddle mode on a regular basis, and still deploying a full array of pass concepts. And while zone-read concepts are in play, they are used judiciously or not at all, because of the lack of depth at that position; this is certainly a concern in many high school situations I know of. In fact, I think the pendulum has swung, with "generic" spread systems being more prevalent at the COLLEGE level with little variety from team to team.
For the purpose of calling pass patterns, we use a numbered route "tree" to call the frontside receiver's assignments. This innovation eliminates confusion when moving players within a formation -- one of the keys to dictating matchups. Much is said about "dictating matchups," yet I find it interesting that few systems allow for this without an inordinate amount of memorization on the part of the player.
These "cues" would be something similar to the navigation system in my car: I would have a standard route to follow (A.C.T.S.), but if there was an obstruction, the computer (the coach) could direct me to an alternate route. These "Navigation Tags" would fit right in with the normal mode of play calling, allow a coach to guide his passer mid-drive, and best of all, allow practical solutions that can be built into practice and can be called upon whenever the situation arises.
There are 3 Navigation Tags; for the purpose of brevity, I will give brief explanations, and go into depth with the FALCON tag.
RAIDER - code for "Read Advantage to In/Under" We are telling our passer we want to take a look at the frontside throw through the coverage, but if not, go immediately backside to a High/Low we have built for you. When developing full-field pass patterns, defenses can overplay the frontside route, and recover on the backside. For us, an "UNDER" is any check release or short route holding the window open for the IN.
DRAGON - in this system's use of half-slide protection, where the back checks frontside and drags backside on any of our Drag tags (below), "DRAGON" tells the QB to stay with the called crosser for an extra count, and go straight to the back's drag from there. In communicating, the call below would simply change to LT BROWN 8 A BADGE DRAGON.