The jump shift or Heisman shift, was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

shift maneuver utilized by John Heisman. In this system, only the center was on the

line of scrimmage In gridiron football, a line of scrimmage is an imaginary transverse line (across the width of the field) beyond which a team cannot cross until the next play has begun. Its location is based on the spot where the ball is placed after the end o ...

, and the

backfield The offensive backfield is the area of an American football field behind the line of scrimmage. The offensive backfield can also refer to members of offense who begin plays behind the line, typically including any backs on the field, such as the ...

would be in a line, as one would in an

I-formation The I formation is one of the most common offensive formations in American football. The I formation draws its name from the vertical (as viewed from the opposing endzone) alignment of quarterback, fullback, and running back, particularly when ...

with an extra halfback at the hind end, or a giant T. The players could shift into various formations. In one version, the line shifted so that the center was between guard and tackle, and the three backs nearest the line of scrimmage would shift all to one side. A split second elapsed, then the ball was

snapped ''Snapped'' is an American true crime television series produced by Jupiter Entertainment. The series depicts high profile or bizarre cases of women accused of murder. Each episode outlines the motivation for murder, whether it be revenge agai ...

and the wall of three blockers charged on. If needed, the center could also snap it to one of the other backs. The phalanx of blockers resembled the yet-to-be developed

single wing In American and Canadian football, a single-wing formation was a precursor to the modern spread or shotgun formation. The term usually connotes formations in which the snap is tossed rather than handed—formations with one wingback and a han ...

. The Heisman shift was considered more complicated than its predecessors (say the

Minnesota shift The Minnesota shift is an American football offensive maneuver that was a forerunner of other shifts and pre-snap formation changes in the game. It consists of a sudden switch into a new offensive formation immediately before the ball is snapped w ...

References

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