The single most important aspect to effectively running a hurry-up, no-huddle offense is communication. A coach being able to communicate the desired play to his athletes in a concise, easily understood and time-efficient manner is vital to his team’s success.

This factor is one of the major attributes that separates hurry-up, no-huddle offenses from the more traditional, time-consuming huddle offenses. Clear communication is the ability that enables hurry-up teams to take advantage of defensive coordinators, base defenses and the clock.

Coaches should always be aware that some of their coaching colleagues will go to great lengths to learn how upcoming opponents relay their plays in. With this in mind, a communication system must be complex enough to hinder opposing coaches but simple enough not to confuse your own athletes.

We use a combination of physical signals and a color/numbers play-calling board with a coach in charge of each one. Our quarterback then relays the necessary information from the coaches to his teammates on the field.

Every communication system must relay three basic components to the offensive players on the field: formation, play and any presnap motion. The play caller will give the formation to the signaler to relay to the quarterback. In turn, the quarterback verbally puts the offensive team in the proper formation.

For example, our signaling coach motions in the formation doubles right. Doubles is our one-back formation, and right is the strength of the formation. Without huddling, our offensive hustles to the line of scrimmage at the conclusion of the previous play. At that point, the quarterback verbally repeats, “doubles right,” two or three times.

Keep it simple, familiar to avoid confusion

When signaling the strength of formation, instead of holding up the left or right hand, the signaling coach motions to his sideline or to the opposite sideline for left and right. This procedure cuts down on potential quarterback confusion, especially when he and his teammates change directions on the field.

At this point, the quarterback looks at the coach at the color/numbers play-calling board. Colors on the board indicate if the signal coach is hot for the play or if the numbered board is going to be used for this play. For example, the color green might indicate to the players to look at the signaler for the play while all other colors would indicate that they should key the board.

Another successful communication system that can be used in the hurry-up, no-huddle is based on a code word. The code word is a verbal command that enables the offensive players to know whether or not to look at the signaler or the play-calling board.

When I was the head coach at a private Christian school, our plays were designed with the names of Bible characters. Our quarterback would look at the appropriate coach. If he is the signaling coach, then he is signaling in a character with a name – e.g., Moses.

As noted previously, our quarterback then verbally repeated the play two or three times for his teammates. If the board was to be used, the signaling coach called out a name that is not a Bible character, for example, “Bob.” This keys the rest of the team to look at the play-calling board to receive the play.

Having the quarterback call out the play not only takes pressure off the rest of the offensive team for determining the actual play, it reduces the level of possible miscommunication among the offensive players.

Maintain consistency to not give anything away

Make sure all that skill position players look over to the sideline on every play, not just on the pass plays. This helps keep the defense from picking up tendencies for either run versus pass plays.

Offensive linemen should not be required to look to the sideline. They just need to listen for the quarterback to say the appropriate running play. On the other hand, if the signaling coach says a name other than a Bible character, the offensive linemen know it is a pass play and should listen for the designated back to call out a pass protection.

If you want to get offensive linemen involved in the play call, you can do so without involving all five, just the offensive tackle closest to the coaches. After he gets the play, he verbally relays it to the rest of the linemen. By only using this tackle, the rest of the linemen can get set on the ball more quickly, which helps ensure that the pace of the game is not slowed down.

The back could be either the tailback or the fullback – if the team employs one. We use our fullback a lot in our blocking schemes. As a result, he is in the backfield more often than our tailback.

Once again, to avoid having the defense pick up any tendencies based on the verbal calls, have the fullback make pass-protection calls on every play, regardless of whether a pass is actually called.

The last component to signal is any motion that is to be used during the play. As a rule, the quarterback yells this one out.

Gus Malzahn is the head coach at Auburn University, a position he accepted in 2013. Prior to that, he served as the Auburn offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, and before that he was an assistant coach at Tulsa and Arkansas as well as a head coach on the high school level in Arkansas.