New offense

[The Original DC]

All of the teams you mentioned had a good offense the prior year.

Auburn, Arizona and Ohio State all stunk.

 

[crosscreekcooter]

My bad. Auburn did not but the rest of those teams did.

I think it would be more appropriate for you to say something like...I'm wrong as usual.

 

[Gator Fever]

Auburn, Arizona and Ohio State all stunk.

Arizona had a pretty good offense but it went to the very top under Rodriguez.

 

[GatorInKnox]

Nusschamp is the correct spelling. IF he is calling the plays, and he says he is, we will see run, run, run or pass then punt. So it wont really matter who the qb is so long as he can handoff. We just need a good punter. We will be among the lowest number of plays per game also.

[video=youtube;QVssgfHwNHc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVssgfHwNHc[/video]

 

[t-gator]

Auburn, Arizona and Ohio State all stunk.

They did but Arizona and osu could score.

 

[t-gator]

I think it would be more appropriate for you to say something like...I'm wrong as usual.

That hurts but it's true

 

[t-gator]

That is what is making me a little nervous hearing this pro style and under center talk in Spring practice. Bama was mostly successful with that because they had a line that could dominate teams. I think being in the spread helps a team when they don't have a dominating line etc.

That is what is making me a little nervous hearing this pro style and under center talk in Spring practice. Bama was mostly successful with that because they had a line that could dominate teams. I think being in the spread helps a team when they don't have a dominating line etc.

This something we can agree on. But we really don't know exactly how mac is gonna run this offense he hasn't really shown his hand.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

That is what is making me a little nervous hearing this pro style and under center talk in Spring practice. Bama was mostly successful with that because they had a line that could dominate teams. I think being in the spread helps a team when they don't have a dominating line etc.

Why are you surprised? He hired a guy known for nothing but that.

And you are wrong. The easiest thing for an OL to do is line up to the line of scrimmage and know I'm going to put my hat on the left tackle and drive him to the right. Or I'm going to chip the tackle that the guard is blocking then get to the scraping LB. Relatively easy stuff in the scheme of things. These are the meat and potatoes of a traditional run offense. (I won't say Pro Style because that word means basically nothing given that there are dozens of Prostyles.) Obviously counters, traps etc require more but you can run them to your strength and only require the movement and thinking by one pulling guard or whomever.

Spread offenses require two things: very fast and agile linemen (because the play often hinges upon that guard or tackle getting downfield to make a block on a secondary player) and very practiced linemen who can work as a unit to pick up zone blocks (which adjusts on the fly according to what defenders do after the snap, usually involving center designating a person as nose or mike (depending on the scheme) and everyone else counting left and right to figure out who to block). Remember all those times when Halapio or Mary T Moore turned one way to block a LB who faked a rush but didn't actually do it while the DT ran by untouched? Zone blocking gone bad. Almost all spread plays have zone blocking and many have things like those stretch plays that require two OL to pull way outside. If the guards don't get there, we get 2008-2010 with Jeff Demps and Rainey getting ragdolled for a 5 yard loss on every outside play.

That being said, if you can get the huge fast linemen, anything works. If you have huge, strong but slow linemen, obviously, a traditional power style running game works better. If you have smaller but hopefully fast linemen, then "the spread" works better. (I hate THE SPREAD term also since it doesn't tell you if you are talking about Hal Mumme/Leach/Holgerson or anything to include veers and options.)

 

[Gator Fever]

I guess there are different ways of looking at it and you are going to have issues with a thin line regardless but our O line definitely wasn't as lost as they were in Meyer's last season and Pease's 2 seasons here as far as letting guys through untouched and we were running a spread offense last season. Maybe that was due to Summers but I think we would have a better chance running most things out of a spread type formation. I think teams will just load the box on us even more running out of a pro set mostly. I hope its true we at least mix the under center stuff up some and only run it maybe half the time.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Well, Nussmeier, under center, first team Will Grier really tells you all you need to know. You can ignore the evidence and hope for some Cowbell offense all you want.

It's also very unlikely we are going to attempt to run TWO offenses. That's just double the work and double the learning for our already confused offense.

 

[CaribGator]

I would hope the current coaching staff would tailor the offense to having a weak OL. Quick throws, etc. I can see Will Grier being better than Harris on a quick-snap-pass offense. If he has to do a 5-step drop, he may get up looking out his ear hole every play.

Still have to take that shot down the field to keep the safeties back. And hopefully the don't wait for 3rd and long to do it.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

I think teams will just load the box on us even more running out of a pro set mostly. I hope its true we at least mix the under center stuff up some and only run it maybe half the time.

This is the most important thing IMO. Our last few years have yielded a crappy passing game despite throwing out of a shotgun formation almost exclusively. What this is telling me is that if we can find a guy who CAN complete a pass dropping from center it will open the play book up on all downs. If they don't know whether you're passing or running and have to respect both because you DO both from either formation it will keep the ears from being pinned back on defense. To me the guy who can drop from center should be the guy. Think about why all of the CFB record setting passers of the last 10 years or so haven't done squat in the NFL.....

 

[Gator Fever]

Well, Nussmeier, under center, first team Will Grier really tells you all you need to know. You can ignore the evidence and hope for some Cowbell offense all you want.

It's also very unlikely we are going to attempt to run TWO offenses. That's just double the work and double the learning for our already confused offense.

McElwain should have just brought his OC from CSU looking at it now.

 

[Gator Fever]

This is the most important thing IMO. Our last few years have yielded a crappy passing game despite throwing out of a shotgun formation almost exclusively. What this is telling me is that if we can find a guy who CAN complete a pass dropping from center it will open the play book up on all downs. If they don't know whether you're passing or running and have to respect both because you DO both from either formation it will keep the ears from being pinned back on defense. To me the guy who can drop from center should be the guy. Think about why all of the CFB recorded setting passers of the last 10 years or so haven't done squat in the NFL.....

I thought we were under center more under Pease but maybe I am wrong on that. Our passing game was a little better last season I think despite Driskel falling apart even more than usual. I just see teams loading the box even more when we are under center because I doubt we will be able to run it good enough to make them respect that due to our O line.

Edit:Watching some highlights from 12 and early 13 Pease did have Driskel pass a lot out of the shotgun with an empty backfield.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

I thought we were under center more under Pease but maybe I am wrong on that. Our passing game was a little better last season I think despite Driskel falling apart even more than usual. I just see teams loading the box even more when we are under center because I doubt we will be able to run it good enough to make them respect that due to our O line.

I think you're looking short term versus long term success though. We are going to take our lumps this year regardless if we run out of the Winged T or Chip Kelly's offense....Here's the thing, Saban and Jimbo have been getting better offensive talent because they are running and selling an offense that actually works and puts kids to the next level while winning a hell of a lot of games.....It won't be long before we start winning more recruiting battles on the offensive side of the ball IMO since we now have a coach who comes from that side of the ball and has a clue how to install a system and develop that talent.

 

[aka]

We'll be fine. Or not.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

This is the most important thing IMO. Our last few years have yielded a crappy passing game despite throwing out of a shotgun formation almost exclusively. What this is telling me is that if we can find a guy who CAN complete a pass dropping from center it will open the play book up on all downs. If they don't know whether you're passing or running and have to respect both because you DO both from either formation it will keep the ears from being pinned back on defense. To me the guy who can drop from center should be the guy. Think about why all of the CFB record setting passers of the last 10 years or so haven't done squat in the NFL.....

:applause:

 

[Sgt. Schultz]

I doubt either quarterback is going to perform well enough in the Spring to make the choice clear. There won't be a Spring game, as well. Sometimes you can tell who's much better by their performance in a game. I'm in agreement that the only good thing that can come out of Spring is to not get injured, other than that, you really don't know because you're only playing against each other. It's a lot different plying when there is someone with a different helmet on that's not playing for a directional school. I know I'm not going to believe a word said about anything by the coaches about anything. It's all B.S. and they always say the same things about how great so and so looks, blah, blah, blah. You'll never hear them say, for example, that we're in deep doodoo because our receivers can't catch a cold. I think that was closer to the truth the past couple of years than the propaganda disseminated. Like Reagan said: "Trust but verify." We won't know until the season against a good team if any of the new regime's propaganda is true. I say that because I recall how excited people were after playing Eastern whatever in the opener last year. People actually thought Roper was the Messiah, he had brought offense back to Gainesville.

 

[CaribGator]

This is the most important thing IMO. Our last few years have yielded a crappy passing game despite throwing out of a shotgun formation almost exclusively. What this is telling me is that if we can find a guy who CAN complete a pass dropping from center it will open the play book up on all downs. If they don't know whether you're passing or running and have to respect both because you DO both from either formation it will keep the ears from being pinned back on defense. To me the guy who can drop from center should be the guy. Think about why all of the CFB record setting passers of the last 10 years or so haven't done squat in the NFL.....

Due to the lack of depth and experience on the offensive line it might (probably) take 2-3 years to have all the pieces in place to run that type of offense proficiently

 

[Concrete Helmet]

Due to the lack of depth and experience on the offensive line it might (probably) take 2-3 years to have all the pieces in place to run that type of offense proficiently

I disagree with you for once Carib , Most if all of our offensive problems stem from the offensive line and we have the cornerstones of building a great one, Ivey and Sharpe. Remember Sharpe was a top OT coming in last year. We will also get our interior set this year because all of the freshmen will most likely get reps and it's not as difficult for guards to play at this level as it will be for our 2 soon to be outstanding Tackles. Don't forget we have Rod Johnson for 2 more years also. Add in the fact that we finally seem to have a line coach who knows what their doing and recruits love him. We will take some lumps this year but I believe we are on our way back to the top by 2016. In fact my biggest concerns with the team going forward are with the defensive coaches, Shannon and Rumph, leaving after 1 year to become DC's.