Kickoff return goes for touchdown after team uses huddle to obscure ball carrier.
Video: Hidden ball kickoff return touchdownLeAndre Jones finishes off a brilliant deception by Concord (Calif.).You can't tackle what you can't see.
That's what made this trick play by
Concord (Calif.) so brilliant.
In Friday's matchup against Oakland, Concord called for a hidden ball trick that left Oakland's special teams unit completely baffled.
After Concord's
Darion Smith fielded the kickoff, a group of five players quickly huddled around him. When the group dispersed, it was unclear who actually held the ball.
Amid the confusion,
LeAndre Jones inconspicuously slipped down the sideline with the ball, returning it all the way for a long touchdown.
The play was especially surprising given Concord's recent history with special teams: Jones' touchdown was its first kick return for a score since 2009.
"[The] funny thing is Concord is considered one of those anti-special teams schools because we don't kick field goals, PATs," Concord assistant coach Manny Chavez told MaxPreps in an email. "But we spend 30 minutes on special teams every day."
Chavez said that the play was a collaborative effort between head coach Mark Bywater and special teams coach John Koven.
Now that the element of surprise is gone, it's probably a play that the team won't be using again any time soon.
Given the results it yielded, however, it probably won't be entirely discarded from the playbook, either.
