The fallout from the Baylor sex assault scandal is just beginning to happen. Shortly after Art Briles was fired Thursday morning, one of Baylor’s high profile commits, 4-star tight end Kedrick James, decommitted from the Bears.
Due to the departure of Coach Briles, I’d like to open my recruiting and decommit from Baylor. Thank u Baylor staff esp Coach Lebby & Bedell
This is relevant to the Razorbacks because Richard Davenport is reporting the James is planning to visit Fayetteville at some point this summer. Apparently, his grandmother is Arkansas’ Dr. Charlene Johnson-Carter, a middle level education professor at UA, and is related to Demani Carter, a walk-on fullback for the Hogs.
James is rated a 4-star tight end according to the composite rankings. He originally committed to Baylor last July and has visited Texas A&M a couple of times since then, so the Aggies will also presumably be in the picture. He also holds offers from Oklahoma, Texas, Michigan, Tennessee, Miami and others.
Ohio State has taken a more national approach with its recruiting under Urban Meyer, and as the 2017 cycle nears the critical summer season, it’s clear that the coaching staff is trying to raid the talent-rich state of Texas.
It started in early March when the Buckeyes secured a commitment from 4-star all-purpose back J.K. Dobbins—Texas’ No. 6 prospect for the class of 2017. Dobbins had offers from all the in-state players—Baylor, Houston, TCU, Texas and Texas A&M—in addition to national brands such as Florida, Notre Dame, Stanford and USC.
One look at Dobbins’ highlight reel makes it easy to understand all the attention he’s receiving. Rated the No. 47 overall prospect and the third-best all-purpose back nationally, his blend of speed and vision make him an absolute nightmare to corral near the line of scrimmage.
“I can do more than just have speed,” Dobbins said of his game, according to Ari Wasserman of The Plain Dealer. “People think that’s what I’m about. But I can run through the middle, through the trenches, and I can pass block, too. I am a three-down back. That’s what most people would like to say.”
Dobbins was the most recent member to join Ohio State’s No. 1-rated class, but Meyer’s efforts in Texas haven’t stopped there. Ohio State is trying to add more top talent from The Lone Star State by poaching 5-star prospects Jeffrey Okudah and Baron Browning.
Both are elite prospects—Okudah is ranked the No. 2 Texas product and Browning the No. 3—and both would be huge boosts to the Ohio State defense. The chances of that happening received a huge boost over the weekend with the pair making the trip north to visit the Ohio State campus.
Okudah, who’s rated the No. 1 safety in the 2017 class, has been high on Ohio State for months, and he’s even gone as far as naming it the favorite in his recruitment.
“The tradition at Ohio State. It’s just a surreal atmosphere,” Okudahtold Rivals (h/t Ari Wasserman of The Plain Dealer). “The coaching staff, Coach (Urban) Meyer wins a lot of games. Coach (Greg) Schiano, a former (NFL and college) head coach, I know he can develop me and get me to the next level.”
That’s why the Buckeyes are the favorite to land his commitment, according to 247Sports’ Crystal Ball Predictions.
Browning, on the other hand, is a different story as Ohio State just entered the fray in his recruitment. The standout linebacker has offers from all the major hitters in college football, highlighted by Alabama, Clemson, Florida State, LSU, Notre Dame and USC. But Texas, Baylor, TCU and Texas A&M are all getting serious consideration from the nation’s No. 2 outside linebacker, and Ohio State is trying to throw its hat in the ring.
His visit to Ohio State last weekend was a home run, according to Jeremy Birmingham of Eleven Warriors:
What stood out to me was ‘real life Wednesdays.’ You could tell they really care about the players and want you to succeed on and off the field. Urban Meyer, he’s straight forward like everybody else on the staff. On the phone, we were joking around a lot, but in person, he was more direct and up front, but still able to joke.
If Meyer can somehow get Okudah and Browning to join Dobbins in his class, Ohio State’s grip on the No. 1 spot might be unbreakable by national signing day.
It’s hard to look at today’s news and not be reminded of the firestorm that ensued when UCLA hired Steve Alford.
It’s been three and a half years since UCLA met Baylor in the 2012 Holiday Bowl.
Today, that seems like an eternity ago.
In case you haven’t heard, heads were rolling at Baylor today. Not only did University President and Chancellor Ken Starr get demoted to just Chancellor, but Baylor Football Coach Art Briles was fired.
It wasn’t because of anything which occurred on the field.
It was the result of an independent investigation requested by the Baylor University Board of Regents in the Fall of 2015. In a press release today, the Baylor Board of Regents issued an apology to “Baylor Nation”. The release also announced the appointment of Dr. David Garland as interim president as well as the sanctioning and probation of Athletic Director Ian McCaw.
Baylor also released a Findings of Fact document along with Recommendations that were made by the law firm hired to conduct the investigation.
They have self-reported the findings to the NCAA.
Baylor’s Board of Regents engaged outside counsel from the law firm of Pepper Hamilton, LLP to conduct an independent and external review of Baylor’s institutional response to Title IX and related compliance issues through the lens of specific cases.
Today’s release includes the key findings of that investigation:
Key findings of the investigation reflect a fundamental failure by Baylor to implement Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA). The findings include:
The University’s student conduct processes were wholly inadequate to consistently provide a prompt and equitable response under Title IX; Baylor failed to consistently support complainants through the provision of interim measures; and in some cases, the University failed to take action to identify and eliminate a potential hostile environment, prevent its recurrence or address its effects.
Actions by University administrators directly discouraged some complainants from reporting or participating in student conduct processes and in one instance constituted retaliation against a complainant for reporting sexual assault.
In addition to broader University failings, Pepper found specific failings within both the football program and Athletics department leadership, including a failure to identify and respond to a pattern of sexual violence by a football player and to a report of dating violence.
There are significant concerns about the tone and culture within Baylor’s football program as it relates to accountability for all forms of student athlete misconduct.
Over the course of their review, Pepper investigated the University’s response to reports of a sexual assault involving multiple football players. The football program and Athletics department leadership failed to take appropriate action in response to these reports.
It is important to distinguish that the Title IX violations Baylor is referring to have to do with the reporting of sexual violence, not equality of opportunity or any other aspect of Title IX.
In Baylor’s case, what makes it more disgusting is the fact it appears to have been more than just one player. To be sure, that’s not condoning the Iowa situation at all. It appears that, at Baylor, sweeping allegations under the rug was commonplace. At Iowa, it was Steve Alford trying to protect one particular player. But, neither situation should be excused.
This sends a message to coaches that they must take the issue of sexual assault by athletes seriously. If this can happen to Art Briles, it can happen to them. It isn’t enough just to bring in the right speakers to talk about sexual harassment and other forms of sexual violence and intimidation of women. This is not something where a coach can check off a box that he’s done his due diligence. This is something that must be talked about and reinforced every single day.
ESPN’s Ivan Maisel writes that “[s]omeone in the gridiron-industrial complex stood up and said some standards are more important than winning.” He continues, “We demand greater adherence to community standards of good behavior. Coaches must treat players well. Players must treat other students with respect. The double standard is the exception, no longer the rule.”
What saddens me most about this is that, three years ago, when UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero had an opportunity to be the “someone in the hardcourt-industrial complex to stand up” and say that some standards are more important than winning. He, instead, said that Steve Alford had “a clean slate.”
The O/U number for Miami wasn’t part of the first O/U’s of the year, put out by Golden Nugget. South Point, however, included the Canes in their release. And, the number they have given is:
That number is quite low, but South Point has many teams at that number. Joining Miami at an O/U of 6.5 are Auburn, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, and others.
The basic translation of a 6.5 O/U is: will this team have a winning season or not?
A quick perusal of the Canes’ schedule gives me the thought that Miami should easily be over the number given. How? Here’s how:
Games against FAMU and FAU are easy wins. That’s 2
Appalachian State on the road is tricky, but I’m confident we’ll win that too. That’s 3.
Heading into the conference season, Miami will be favored to win nearly every game, with the exception of FSU at home and at Notre Dame. That means, Miami will be favored in 7 of the last 9 games of the year. If the Canes win a majority of the games in which they’re favored, that’s 7 wins right there.
If Al Golden were still Miami’s coach, this number would probably make sense. He proved time and time again that Miami wasn’t a top outfit under his direction.
Now that Mark Richt is the coach, it seems that South Point is operating off the Al Golden paradigm for O/U calculation….and you can’t really blame them.
As I’ve written and has been widely discussed, Miami has enough talent to be a winning (read: 8+ wins per year) team right now. But, with a new coach and new staff comes a new way of doing things. A way of doing things that has been seen on another campus, but not at Miami.
For now, it seems reasonable that Sportsbooks put Miami’s O/U at 6.5. Most of us who follow or root for the Hurricanes think this team is going to be better this year than in previous years, but that isn’t for certain.
The only game that Miami has played since the hiring of Mark Richt was the Spring Game. While there were things to glean from that event, that isn’t a great predictor of future success against an opponent who wears a different jersey color.
As of today, I’m fairly confident the first version of Richt’s Hurricanes will be able to hit the Over. But, I don’t blame South Point for putting the number where they did.
Those are my thoughts. What are yours? Vote in the poll and leave a comment below.
The three-star commit shared with us the players on his list to bring to Michigan.
Kurt Taylor, a 2017 three-star running back, told Maize n Brew that he is currently trying to persuade Malik Herring, Jaquan Henderson, and Deangelo Gibbs to join the Michigan Wolverines.
Michigan running back commit Kurt Taylor has been persuading Malik Herring, Jaquan Henderson and Deangelo Gibbs to join the program.
Taylor committed on October 16, 2015, after being recruited to Michigan by Tyrone Wheatley. The 5-foot-9, 200-pound running back had offers to Miami (OH), Mississippi State, Cincinnati, Colorado State, Georgia Southern, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mercer, Navy, North Carolina A&T, Rutgers, UAB, UNLV and Vanderbilt.
When asked if there was any chance Taylor would back out of his commitment to Michigan, he plainly said, “No.”
Gibbs, a five-star 2017 cornerback, is being recruited by Taylor to join the Maize and Blue. Herring, a 2017 four-star defensive end, and Henderson, a 2017 three-star safety, are also being persuaded to join Michigan. Henderson and Taylor play together for Newtown in Covington, Georgia. All three players have offers from Michigan and are from the state of Georgia.
Regardless of if Herring, Henderson or Gibbs join the Wolverines, Taylor will embrace the opportunity to play for Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh.
“I am truly grateful for the opportunity to play for a coach that has the experience that he has,” Taylor said. “However, playing for the brand of Michigan is bigger than the coaches. The tradition of Michigan and history is what I want to be a part of.”
He will use his ability to break tackles, protect the quarterback and catch in the backfield to help Michigan’s offense in the coming years.
Taylor said, “I want to develop as an every down back. I am a team player, so whenever the coaches need me, I will give them 100%.”
Recruiting classes spark hopes of a bright future, but some former highly regarded prospects haven’t yet made a significant impact for the Michigan football program.
In some cases, though, that will change in 2016.
Whether because of a crowded depth chart, multiple injuries, slow development or a combination of those factors, several prospects—who carried at least a 4-star billing—needed extra time.
The possibility of setbacks always lingers, but the following five players are finally in favorable spots to stand out.
Credit: 247Sports
Chase Winovich
In 2014, Chase Winovich was rated the seventh-best prospect from Pennsylvania and the No. 23 outside linebacker. Since then, he’s hardly seen the field, and that’s not entirely the 4-star’s fault.
Winovich started his Michigan career as Jake Ryan’s eventual successor at middle linebacker. Then, Winovich spent the 2015 campaign at tight end before moving to defensive end this offseason.
“I was talking to some family members, and I have said this before and usually gets laughs, but it’s true, my name is Chase, my goal and my heart was on the defense,” Winovich said, according to Josh Newkirk of Scout.
The redshirt sophomore took reps with the first-string defense during the spring. Even if he doesn’t start, Winovich should be a key member of the rotation.
John Raoux/Associated Press
Although he’s likely a familiar name, Dymonte Thomas has never held a full-time starting role. Jarrod Wilson’s departure at free safety has offered Thomas the chance.
The senior—who was the No. 71 overall player in the 2013 class—understands he needs to be a vocal leader of the defense, according to ESPN’s Dan Murphy.
“Everyone is going to count on you and look at you,” Thomas said. “If anything goes wrong, everyone is going to blame you, so you might as well make the right checks, make the right calls, get everyone lined up, play fast and have fun.”
Thomas has totaled 58 tackles during three seasons of action. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he eclipses the mark in 2016 alone.
Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports
Similarly, a majority—if not all—of people familiar with the Wolverines know about Ben Gedeon. Still, the 4-star linebacker has never contributed in a leading role.
Gedeon tallied a career-best 34 stops last season and made a spot start for James Ross III, who was suspended for the opening half against Michigan State.
Head coach Jim Harbaugh praised the senior during spring practice, saying “I think Ben Gedeon is a stud,” per Newkirk.
Gedeon will be the middle linebacker in 2016. Barring injury, he won’t leave the field much.
Credit: 247Sports
Mike McCray
Setbacks have overshadowed Mike McCray‘s college career after arriving at Michigan as the No. 130 overall prospect in 2013.
McCray took a redshirt initially and was a backup in 2014, when the linebacker managed two tackles over 11 appearances. He missed 2015 because of an undisclosed injury.
Despite all of that, the 6’4″, 240-pound McCray has made a positive impression on his teammates.
“He’s a very talented linebacker,” cornerback Jourdan Lewis said, per Steve Kornacki of the school’s official site. “He can cover, he can come up and hit. He’s real physical. He’s instinctive. He’s everything you want in a linebacker. So, when you see a guy like that getting his chance and being fully healthy, it’s a great thing.”
McCray is the leading candidate to start alongside Gedeon and opposite Jabrill Peppers at outside linebacker.
Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
Last August, Harbaugh and Co. ranked the players on the Wolverines roster. According to Zach Shaw of the Michigan Daily, Harbaugh said on the Michigan Insider that Bryan Mone was No. 3.
A broken ankle sidelined Mone for the entire 2015 campaign, however. It’s safe to assume the coaches are looking forward to his playing a healthy season, though the 2014 4-star needs to get comfortable first.
“I’m still a little rusty on the little stuff, my technique, especially my feet and my hands,” Mone said near the end of spring practice, according to Max Bultman of the Detroit Free Press. “But I feel like I’m stronger, more explosive, faster.”
Mone appeared in 12 contests as a true freshman, but he’s poised to be a full-time starter on Michigan’s outstanding defensive line.
All recruiting information via247Sports. Stats fromcfbstats.comor B/R research. Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow Bleacher Report CFB Writer David Kenyon on Twitter@Kenyon19_BR.
OSU’s full 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 football schedules are now out in the wild.
If you’re trying to plan a family trip, a wedding, or the like around Ohio State football, the OSU athletic department did you a solid Thursday.
Thursday afternoon, Ohio State announced their last open date over the next four seasons. September 22, 2018, is filled by a matchup against Tulane. As expected, with the Big Ten moving to a three-game non-conference game model and OSU already having contests against Oregon State and at TCU on the slate, the game comes against a non-Power 5 opponent and at home.
OSU’s full 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 football schedules are now fully fleshed out. No additional changes were made public in Ohio State’s release and no further changes are expected until the 2020 season or later.
Here are the complete OSU football schedules for the next four season:
2016
09/03/16 vs. Bowling Green Columbus, Ohio TBA
09/10/16 vs. Tulsa Columbus, Ohio TBA
09/17/16 at Oklahoma Norman, Okl. TBA
10/01/16 vs. Rutgers * Columbus, Ohio 12:00 p.m. ET
10/08/16 vs. Indiana Columbus, Ohio TBA
10/15/16 at Wisconsin * Madison, Wis. 8:00 p.m. ET
10/22/16 at Penn State * State College, Pa. 8:00 p.m. ET
10/29/16 vs. Northwestern * Columbus, Ohio 5:30 p.m. ET
11/05/16 vs. Nebraska * Columbus, Ohio 8:00 p.m. ET
11/12/16 at Maryland * College Park, Md. TBA
11/19/16 at Michigan State * East Lansing, Mich. TBA
11/26/16 vs. Michigan * Columbus, Ohio TBA
2017
09/02/17 at Indiana Bloomington, Ind. TBA
09/09/17 vs. Oklahoma Columbus, Ohio TBA
09/16/17 vs. Army West Point Columbus, Ohio TBA
09/23/17 vs. UNLV Columbus, Ohio TBA
09/30/17 at Rutgers * Brunswick, N.J. TBA
10/07/17 vs. Maryland * Columbus, Ohio TBA
10/14/17 at Nebraska * Lincoln, Neb. TBA
10/28/17 vs. Penn State * Columbus, Ohio TBA
11/04/17 at Iowa * Iowa City. Iowa TBA
11/11/17 vs. Michigan State * Columbus, Ohio TBA
11/18/17 vs. Illinois * Columbus, Ohio TBA
11/25/17 at Michigan * Ann Arbor, Mich. TBA
2018
09/01/18 vs. Oregon State Columbus, Ohio TBA
09/08/18 vs. Rutgers * Columbus, Ohio TBA
09/15/18 at TCU Fort Worth, Texas TBA
09/22/18 vs Tulane Columbus, Ohio TBH
09/29/18 at Penn State * State College, Pa. TBA
10/06/18 vs. Indiana Columbus, Ohio TBA
10/13/18 vs. Minnesota * Columbus, Ohio TBA
10/20/18 at Purdue * West Lafayette, Ind. TBA
11/03/18 vs. Nebraska * Columbus, Ohio TBA
11/10/18 at Michigan State * East Lansing, Mich. TBA
With baseball over, it’s time to start fully looking ahead to football.
This week in offseason power rankings are the top games of opening weekend. ESPN has their rankings for the SEC’s season openers. The Arkansas/Louisiana Tech matchup won’t get too many people excited, but there are some really good matchups elsewhere. The weekend features two SEC/Pac-12 games, and three SEC/ACC games. Arkansas’ season opener isn’t headline material, but its definitely better than Florida taking on UMass.
Satellite camps have been the talk of the offseason this year and Arkansas has had plenty to say about it. There were plans to have one of those camps in Jerry World this summer but it looks like that camp won’t be happening. Texas A&M-Commerce was originally slatted to host, but they left and the Hogs dropped the camp all together. Arkansas still have their satellite camp in Little Rock ready to go in a couple of weeks.
Bringing up this baseball season isn’t fun, and after today we can go back to pretending it never happened. Dave Van Horn wrapped up the season with his final press conference of the year and you can read this recap of it. He talked about the process of finding a new pitching coach, which included some very eager agents calling. There is also a look ahead to who will be available for next season. The draft could be kind to the Hogs this year, Van Horn says he is optimistic players like Carson Shaddy and Luke Bonfield will be back and the young pitching staff can improve.
Arkansas and LSU set aside their rivalry, at least the mascots have, after the news that Mike VI was diagnosed with cancer. Tusk and his team sent flowers to LSU to wish Mike well. The article has an update on the veterinary team’s treatments for him, which will hopefully keep one of the most notable live mascots in college sports well for as long as possible.
Art Briles Out at Baylor. – Ray Carlin-USA TODAY Sports
Art Briles has built the Baylor Bears football program from a pathetic doormat into a national power. But at what cost?
The Baylor program has been beset by scandal of sexual-assault and battery by football players, and the cover-ups by the University and by the coaching staff.
Several media outlets have reported that Briles has been dismissed. The school will formally make the announcement today. Players were notified of the news via a text message from Briles. Baylor president Ken Starr may soon be out as well. Defensive coordinator Phil Bennett is expected to take over as interim coach.
BRILES BAYLOR RECORD
Before Briles arrival, the Bears had not been to a bowl game since 1994 and had not had a winning record since 1995. Baylor went through four head coaches between Briles’ arrival and Grant Teaff’s departure in 1992. Briles brought the school their very first Heisman winner in Robert Griffin III in 2011.
Relative value of chess pieces and the two-back spread offense.
Chess players universally subscribe to the tenet of relative value for the pieces on the board. The more a given piece can do – the longer its reach, the greater its freedom of movement – the higher its value. A queen is worth more than a rook, a rook brings it more than does a bishop, etc. And when placed within certain positions on the board, or used in combination with other pieces, the relative values of the pieces increase or decrease.
A shrewd offensive coordinator applies the same principle to the football field, and specifically to the five “skill” (read: little fast guy) position players he has at his disposal on any given play. Who brings the most value to the field, and are there any combinations and/or positioning which could increase the relative value of the individual players (or combination of players)? Understanding your answers to these questions helps formulate what George W. Bush called stra-tee-gery.
Kill The Lights
Thanks to BSD’s Dan Smith, we have the offensive snap counts from the 2015 season, which allow us to delve into the collective thinking of the 2015 PSU offensive staff. Below, in table form, stands the sum total of their mental output. This is whom they thought gave them the best chance to gain yards, score points, and win foosball games.
Chris Godwin and DaeSean Hamilton rarely left the field. True freshman Saquon Barkley – who took fewer than a handful of snaps at Temple and also missed time with injury – finished 3rd in the pecking order.
Who was PSU’s fourth most valued piece on the board? Brent Wilkerson, #11, redshirt junior tight end. Wilkerson saw the field almost as much as Barkley (419 snaps vs 457 for Saquon). Of course, Wilkerson’s paltry 7 touches (rushes + balls thrown in his general direction) fell far short of Barkley’s 212 touches, which means the staff saw Wilkerson’s value – almost exclusively – as a blocker (this basic deduction holds for Gesicki and Carter, too).
Indeed.
Obviously, none of our three tight ends were known as devastating blockers, to put it charitably. Two of them – Carter and Gesicki – were basically basketball small forwards: they were matchup nightmares too big to be covered by a DB, and too athletic for your average college LB. So our 2015 staff gave them 1,173 combined snaps, and highlighted their relative strengths (i.e., receiving) 61 times (5%), while shrewdly masking their weaknesses by having them block on most of the other 1,112 snaps (95%).
Confused by that sentence? You should be, because that stunning assault on logic is one reason why our Nittany Lions will be trying a new offensive coordinator in 2016.
The hope for 2016, of course, is that new OC Joe Moorhead possesses basic common sense, and thus, represents a huge leap forward in evaluating the pieces at his disposal, and positioning those pieces – individually and in combination – to maximize the relative value he puts on the field. Set aside blocking scheme and route trees and tempo and playcall linguistics for a moment, because this remains job number one for Coach JoeMo: put the best players on the field, in a position to win their individual battles. We haven’t had that very often in the last 26 games.
Reader Question
Who are the best 5 for Penn State? We don’t know. But Film Room reader Jared Slanina, hailing from Parts Unknown, wrote in with a question that assumes one of them might be incoming true freshman Miles Sanders.
“Saquon Barkley, Miles Sanders, Andre Robinson, Mark Allen – can you write something about using more than one tailback on the field at the same time?”
Yes. We. Can. Here comes something.
The 1940’s and 50’s – Single Wing, Double Wing, Wing T
Here’s a double-wing formation – two backs in the backfield, unbalanced line left. Pre-snap, there’s a 98.4% chance this play is a run to the left. I know it, you know it, the American viewing public knows it. So put on your big boy pants, because it’s coming left. I’ll punch you in the face; you’ll punch me in the face; and we’ll continue doing that until one of us falls unconscious. Ready? Begin.
The 1960’s and 70’s – Option Attacks
This is the wishbone. It’s a balanced formation. You can run left, or right (or up the middle on the fullback dive). The defense doesn’t know if you’re running left or right (or up the middle) until you snap the ball. And with 4 possible ball carriers, the defense doesn’t know whom to tackle until the play progresses (and thanks to the option, they’ll likely need to tackle more than one guy). Thus, the whole formation is shrouded in mystery and deception (except for the part that there’s an 92.6% chance you’re running the ball).
The 1980’s – Split Backs, I-formation, “Pro” sets
Sure, one of the split backs is a fullback, so it appears a little unbalanced. But Tom Rathman can run, catch, and block. He is a triple threat. There are more pass catchers on the field now, too. And though the quarterback can’t run as well as Roger Craig, he can throw it like Joe Montana, because he actually is Joe Montana. These offenses sought run-pass balance, putting safety-men in peril, with a quarterback who can’t run that well but can throw freaking darts.
The 1990’s – Spread To Pass
Passing is fun, so let’s pass all of the time. Tommy and Kev, go deep. Jimmy, you curl up in front of the oak tree. Stevie and Donnie – just do something over the middle this time; I’ll come to you guys next play. On two, on two. Ready, break.
The 2000’s – Spread to Run
It turns out that when you spread the field, you also empty the tackle box of defenders. And this makes it easier to run the dang ball, using one of the two guys you kept in the backfield (the tailback, or the running ‘quarterback’, who is actually like another tailback, but sometimes can also arm punt a little bit).
Current – A Mix of All of the Above
Most of today’s college offenses spread the field to run and pass, using a quarterback who can run and pass, executing run-or-pass option plays, which remain run-or-pass options even after the snap, featuring blindingly fast “skill” players (read: little fast guys) who can line up in the slot or in the backfield (like Percy Harvin, De’Anthony Thomas, et.al.).
It’s this last aspect that we suspect Film Room reader Jared S. is wondering about. Specifically, is Miles Sanders (or Brandon Polk, or De’Andre Thompkins or Andre Robinson) capable of lining up in the slot (or the backfield, in Polk/Thompkins’ cases), running routes, and catching the foosballs? Again, we don’t know, mostly because we’ve either rarely or never seen them try it. But in the immortal words of Wood Wooderson, it’d be cooler if (they) did.
Assuming one or all can do both things reasonably well (i.e., tote the pill and run routes), then their relative value increases dramatically, due to the pressure this positional flexibility puts on a defense. From the slot, this player gives the defense a 4-wide look, which is a pass heavy formation. Motioned to the backfield into a 2-back set, this player gives the defense a predominantly “run” look. That’s scary because mystery and intrigue.
With 2 backs in the backfield, a “dual threat” QB can execute triple-option offense which threatens both sides of the defense (and the middle) simultaneously. It’s effectively both 1970’s wishbone and 1990’s air raid at the same time. Here’s a video of Oregon trying it against Auburn in the MNC a few years ago. The video doesn’t include any passes, but pretend it does because the receivers will be open given the DBs response to the rush threats.
He’s smarter than you? Well how smart is he when he’s unconscious and bleeding?
And it’s for that reason – screw your math, eat my fist – that every offense can work. NFL Hall of Famer Larry Allen would exit the huddle, approach the line of scrimmage, and let the opposing defense know that “it’s coming”, while Emmitt Smith set the NFL career rushing record.
But if you don’t have 10 grizzly bears and a runner on offense, then you gotta have a dude who can play chess calling the offense. The last guy couldn’t. There’s reason to believe JoeMo can.
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Phil Sears-USA TODAY Sports
Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports
Art Briles Out at Baylor. – Ray Carlin-USA TODAY Sports
