Unveiling the Art of Deception: A Comprehensive Guide to NCAA Football Trick Plays

In the captivating world of NCAA football, where strategy and athleticism collide, trick plays stand out as a testament to ingenuity and calculated risk. These unorthodox concepts, also known as gadget plays or gimmick plays, are designed to deceive the opposing defense, offering a high-risk, high-reward opportunity to shift momentum, create scoring opportunities, and punish defensive over-aggression.

The Essence of Trickery: Deception and Misdirection

At their core, trick plays rely on the element of surprise and the exploitation of defensive tendencies. As defenses meticulously study formations, motions, and offensive concepts, opportunities arise to capitalize on their expectations. The most effective trick plays are strategically timed, well-rehearsed, and seamlessly integrated into the team's offensive identity.

Many coaches believe that trick plays succeed because they surprise the defense. The best football trick plays start by mimicking something your team already runs. If the defense doesn’t see a reason to react differently, they won’t. Whether you’re coaching 7-on-7 flag football, youth, high school, college, or professional-level, you’ll have some form of base offense.

A good trick play targets a rule the defense must follow. It’s not just a random design. Throwbacks, reverses, motions, and misdirection work because defenders flow one way while the ball or key blocker goes the opposite direction.

A Catalog of Deception: Common Trick Plays in Football

Trick plays are valuable at every level of play. Youth football coaches can have a lot of fun with creative designs, as defenses are less experienced and more susceptible to deception. Let’s take a look at some of the most common trick plays in football. These plays have been run at various stages, from the youth football level all the way to the pros.

Read also: Deep Dive: Run Offense

The Quarterback Disguise

The Fake Spike: In a scenario when a team may spike the ball to stop the clock, the quarterback fakes a spiking motion and then looks for a receiver to throw the ball to.
The Confused Quarterback: The quarterback leaves their position behind the center, appearing confused and looking for a call from their coach or trying to call a timeout. With the defense uncertain of what’s going on, another offensive player can take the snap and capitalize on confusion.
Reverse QB Speedo: Instead of having our quarterback block the remaining defender, why not just have him be a pitch option? Reverse QB speedo would be best called in a 3rd or 4th and short scenario. Ideally, you’d see on film that their safeties roll with motion. If you have a stud quarterback, this play is for you.

The Running Back's Arsenal

The Halfback Pass: Running back takes the handoff and throws a pass to an open receiver, catching the defense completely off guard.
The Statue of Liberty: The Statue of Liberty fakes a pass play, with the quarterback handing the ball off behind their back to a ball carrier. The Statue of Liberty football trick play is a timeless staple of the game.
Bumerooski: This variation of the Fumblerooski is named after a legendary former pro coach from Texas and features the ball being handed to a player between his legs (think of a snap in reverse), while the offense makes a misdirection play.

The Receiver's Role in Deception

The Hook and Ladder: The quarterback throws to a receiver, who catches the pass and laterals it to another player (usually a receiver, tight end, or running back) running at full speed. Hook and ladder plays are often used at the end of the first half, or when a team is down to their last play, in hopes of confusing the defense enough to score.
The End-Around: A receiver lines up on one side of the field and runs toward the quarterback horizontally when the ball is snapped. The quarterback hands off to the receiver who runs toward the opposite side they started on, confusing the defense and opening a hole to attack.
WR pass: We want the corner to think he is going to be a hero and then throw right over his head. Your quarterback HAS to be on time and your H HAS to be behind the quarterback. A WR pass would be best called as a “shot” play after we just completed a big pass or had a big gain on the ground. This works against defenses that bite hard on bubbles/screens.

Special Teams Sorcery

The Fake Punt: On fourth down, the coach sends the punting team out as if they’re going to punt. Instead, they opt to fake the punt for one of several options to catch the defense off guard.
The Fake Field Goal: The team lines up like they’re going to attempt a field goal, but fakes the field goal in one of several ways. In some variations, the holder gets up and becomes a runner or looks to pass the ball.
Rabona Onside Kick: To create a misdirection play on an onside kick, the kicker approaches the ball as he normally would, and then, borrowing a move from soccer, wraps his kicking foot around his plant foot and sends the ball in the direction opposite the one the defense expects. The kick is called a Rabona in soccer.
End Zone Camouflage: This bit of chicanery requires an end zone color scheme that matches the team’s uniform. The trick is to have a player lie down in the end zone on a kickoff, concealing his presence from the kicking team. After another player receives the kick and draws the defense, the camouflaged player springs up on the opposite side of the gridiron, accepts a cross-field lateral and charges forward into open territory.

The Art of Misdirection

The Flea Flicker: The quarterback hands the ball off to their running back, acting as if it’s a downhill running play. Designed to look like a pass play, the quarterback takes the snap and mimics a throwing motion as a fake pass while simultaneously switching the ball into their non-throwing hand. The Flea Flicker has been a staple of American football trick plays for decades and is one of our favorite plays to stun the defense. In general, a Flea Flicker is most effective against downhill, run focused defensive schemes.
The Double Pass: Multiple handoffs and lateral passes create chaos before launching a deep pass down the sideline rail route.
The Swinging Gate: Unlike other trick plays, swinging gate is a switch in formation where most of the offensive linemen line up outside with the receivers, leaving only a few bodies on the line of scrimmage to protect the quarterback. It often leads to a quick pass or run play leveraging confusion.
Hidden Ballcarrier Trick: The offense puts two runners in the backfield, one in a normal position visible to the defense, the other kneeling down and literally hiding behind the big guys on the line of scrimmage. The QB takes the snap, surreptitiously gives the ball to the kneeling player, then fakes a sweep with the other RB in one direction. The kneeling player waits for the defense to react to the fake, then bolts the opposite way with the football.

The Unexpected

Philly Special: Famously run by the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII, “Philly Special” is a unique trick play that combines double reverse, flea flicker, and double pass or halfback pass concepts where the quarterback receives a pass as an eligible receiver.
Hidden Ball Trick: This sleight of hand is more common in baseball and, believe it or not, lacrosse, but it has been pulled off in football before. It involves two or more players huddling in such a way as to conceal the football from the opposition, and then each running off in different directions pretending he has the ball.
The Big Man: Shift the defensive tackle-or whoever’s the heaviest player on the team-from defense to offense, and have him pound the ball into the end zone in a short-yardage situation.

The Recipe for Success: Timing, Execution, and Coaching

Executing trick plays successfully requires a delicate balance of timing, precise execution, and astute coaching.

Most bad trick plays fail because they were only run once in a walkthrough. You can’t expect to skim over the trick play portion of your playbook and expect them to be effective in crucial moments of a game. As you install trick plays, set aside enough time that players and coaches feel confident in their role. Set aside a block of your practice plan each week to review all relevant plays and get solid practice reps.

Smart timing is the difference between a game-changing highlight and a drive-killer. When you’ve shown the same run or motion several times, the defense starts to cheat. That’s when a well-designed trick play concept hits hardest. One example is a fake punt on fourth down. Another example is a flea flicker on third-and-long. After a turnover or huge stop, defenses often lose discipline. Short yardage, end of half, and backed-up scenarios all create predictable defensive behavior.

Coaches bear the majority of responsibility when it comes to designing and running effective trick plays. Yes, players have to execute. The illusion is the whole point of a trick play. Every player must sell the initial action like it’s a base concept. Players execute with more confidence when they understand the why behind your strategy. Don’t install trick plays late in the week. If you don’t give your team enough time and reps, your ambitions will fall flat when it comes to game execution. Show your offense different defensive formations, fronts, coverages, and disguises as you run them in practice. Trick plays shouldn’t be repped against only one look.

The College Football 26 Perspective: Top Gadget Trick Plays

CFBLabs users have been rating their favorite gadget trick plays in CFB 26, and these are the top performers. Users rate their favorite gadget plays and it appears classic deception concepts like flea flickers and halfback passes dominated season 1.

Read also: The Greatest Plays in NCAA History

Here are the Top 5 Ranked Gadget Trick Plays:

Flea Flicker: The classic trick play that fakes a handoff before pitching back to the quarterback for a deep pass downfield.
Over HB Pass: Running back takes the handoff and throws a pass to an open receiver, catching the defense completely off guard.
Double Pass Rail: Multiple handoffs and lateral passes create chaos before launching a deep pass down the sideline rail route.
HB Pass: From a compressed bunch formation, the halfback receives the handoff and delivers a quick pass to a receiver.
Reverse Flea Flicker: Combines reverse handoff action with flea flicker concept for maximum confusion and explosive play potential.

Beyond the X's and O's: The Art of Deception

Teams that excel with trick plays don’t rely on randomness. They treat these concepts as an intentional part of the offense. Trick plays aren’t random gambles with zero thought. Like all great trick plays, it took multiple replays for them to understand what actually happened.

The strength component takes care of itself by having great athletes who are well-coached. But sometimes those power plays can only get you so far. Some plays, like play-action fakes and draws, are technically trick plays because their purpose is to deceive the defense, even if for a split second. But over the course of the season, you will see teams dig deep in the playbook and whip up something crazy when the situation calls for it.

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