THOMASVILLE — The split-back veer is an offense that not many high-school football teams in Georgia get to see, and Thomas County Central’s head coach is set to give a crash course on it today.

Yellow Jacket coach Bill Shaver was invited to speak on option offenses at the Atlanta Nike Clinic, at the high school portion of the event. Coaches from all over the state will be in attendance.

Shaver was brought in to discuss his team’s style of offense by Craig Davis, a coach at Wayne County who is helping direct the event, which is sponsored by the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association. Today’s portion of the event consists of coaches from all over the state sharing knowledge on offense, defense and special teams.

While the clinic is geared toward high-school football, middle-school coaches were also welcome to attend. It’s certainly a relevant topic for them as well, as Central’s athletes go through the middle school system getting a grasp of the offense before making the move to the Friday night lights.

The triple-option style of offense is something that Central’s offensive coaches are very familiar with, as a scheme that the team has run since the early 1990s, when then-head coach Ed Pilcher led the Yellow Jackets to a run of state titles throughout the decade.

“It’s something our kids have bought into and believed,” Shaver said. “Our offensive staff all had some kind of roots with coach Pilcher. It’s an offense that he believed in. It’s not the big sexy offense, but it’s made for some exciting plays.”

Along with how unpredictable it is, a main draw that the split-back veer has is the sheer rarity of it. In an age of passing-heavy attacks, it’s not as easy to prepare for in a single week, an advantage that Central has capitalized on well.

“It’s a topic we’ve talked about many times before, and many people don’t want to hear about it,” Shaver said. “We’re one of the few that still runs it. Everybody wants to talk about the spread so it’s kind of nice that they asked the old-school offense to come and talk a little bit.

“We still believe it’s a great offense and we enjoy talking about it.”