This article covers what is about perhaps the most widely used run play in all of football... the inside zone run (the only competitor in my mind is the draw). One of the main reasons it is run so often is that it is simple and modular. With a relatively small collection of tags, an offensive coordinator can turn inside zone into half a dozen or more plays. Everything from mid-line option to ISO runs are possible within the framework of this one blocking scheme if a team is able and willing to invest enough time into it.
Let’s start with the basic idea behind inside zone.