Defensive coordinators start every game plan by just getting their players aligned properly against the offensive sets of their opponent. The more formations employed by the offense the more practice time that must be allocated for just proper alignment.
But defensive coordinators can lose sleep over what the offense does prior to the snap. Shifts by the ends, backs and even the linemen can create time consuming adjustments. Motions by receivers and backs can create adjustments and cause great communication issues for the defense. It also makes formation recognition difficult and hurts the defense's ability to know what plays to expect per formation.
Creating unbalanced formations can throw an additional monkey wrench into the process. In fact, some offenses may shift to an unbalanced set and then motion away from it. Shifting to create an unbalanced set is typical offense for some teams. But if you align unbalanced and then shift to a normal set it may cause the defense to adjust to the over set and then adjust back out of it, something they may not be prepared to do. may get to the point that the defense spends much less time on what plays the opponent runs and much more time on being sound in their alignments.
This can be especially true in smaller school classifications where players play on both sides of the ball and defensive practice time is limited.
If you have a great player you want to get the ball to, you can hide him and move him to different places. Then you can create ways to get him the ball.
Here are some videos that deal with shifting, motion and unbalanced sets. Look at building some of these strategies into your own offense next season and drive defensive coordinators mad on Friday nights.
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