Spring Forward

Yeah, ever since I saw Whale run over 3 guys on 1 run (blowing up two of them), I’ve been thinking that the nickname ought to be Killer Whale. I’d like to see him at h back and power TB. He should be able to block ok because he has enormous power and relishes contact. I hate to see the Killer Whale sitting on the bench most of the time as the third string TB. Maybe Mathews splits time at TE and H back.

GD singled out Chiles as having had a great spring at the slot WR and Malcolm at WR. I’m guessing Goodwin will start ahead of Kirk. Muschamp also singled out Malcolm as looking great.

In the spring game, I’ll be looking to see if Gilbert is throwing on time, especially if he gets rid of the ball before the D can sack him. Also will be focusing on the OL drive blocking and run game effectiveness. Will Vondrell flourish in the new scheme? Last, how well do Mathews and Smith catch the ball?

i want to see our running game pound the defense and i want to see how howell,earnest and vacarro play

Kafka,

Mathews was playing primarily at H back. He’s a studious and serious guy. As my friend wrote he’s stiff in his routes and he doesn’t appear to be ready to be counted on to make the difficult catch. Not many lb’s are going to want to deal with him in the hole. This short motion with Mathews followed by Whaley is going to be lovely.

Vondrell is going to have a hard time displacing people for carries although this scheme definitely suits him better than what we’ve been running. The zone isn’t gone by the way, they’ve been working that as well.

We obviously have committed to a 2 back philosophy, but it seems that it’s going to come from a 2 TE personnel grouping. Lots of short motion from the H. Barrett M and Greg S seemed to fit this position well. Smith brings the OL background to a backfield position. He’ll be able to take on whatever size defender that gets a running start at him. BM will be competent as well. He looks to be a little more stiff in the hips for a guy with such an athletic build. Don’t look for him to make the difficult catch early on in his career if they decide to throw his way.
 
If I’m an opposing DC and I see Greg Smith and Barrett Matthews on the field at the same, I will destroy the Texas offense if I have any personnel to work with whatsoever.

You mean like having Mason and Balbay in the backcourt together? Yeah, it’s somewhat troubling. We’re supposed to be adding dimensions, not swapping one for the other.

Ideally we’d be three wide with an H back. If we’re running two TE’s that tells you how much they trust our pass protection on the edges. Our tackles look more like guards. They’ve been having trouble against our ends.

I don’t think my friend was intimating that 2 TE will be our base offense. It’s something that they’ve been working on though, and I think it has a valuable place in our playbook.

We should get a better idea of it’s value this weekend. I hope we don’t start the season off as conservative as we were in the first half, post Colt injury versus ’Bama.

I’ll be following Domonique Jones closely this coming season. He was an absolute mauler at TE during HS and is showing flashes as a natural pass catcher, supposedly.

The great thing about Whale at h back compared to Mathews is that Whale is a good runner, catches better than Matthews, and is bigger and faster. Whale gives you a second running threat in the backfield, which is nice for misdirection plays. Whale is going to outrun most LBs when pass receiving and will be a great dump target with high yac potential after initially pass blocking. Matthews is the better blocker but there is no reason that Whale can’t be a proficient blocker with more experience/training (he may aleady be a decent blocker).

Smith and Matthews both block well so maybe whoever catches the ball better should start at TE. Scipio has a good point, it is a problem when both your h back and TE are not receiving threats.

BTW, it turns out that killer whales are actually dolphins, not whales. I haven’t figured out how to work that into Whale’s nickname.

“If I’m an opposing DC and I see Greg Smith and Barrett Matthews on the field at the same, I will destroy the Texas offense if I have any personnel to work with whatsoever.”

This has not stopped us from doing shit like that in the past. Get ready for it. Maybe even write a piece on it demonstrating your frustrations and let us vent our comments. Just to get a head start.

Whaley at h back makes the offense much more multiple. He can split out at wr or line up at TB while Newton splits out. He can block at h back when Newton is running. This permits the horns to vary their O from power running oriented, to passing oriented without changing personnel. This is Mack’s ultimate goal because it will make the horns a very difficult matchup when running the hurry up O. Matthews at h back isn’t nearly as multiple as Whale.

How do you know? Neither one has played a down.

I just hope Mack doesn’t fall into that trap of keeping Whaley at RB just because he feels he’s gone too far down that road to move him to H or something else. Do we need 8 RBs wasting away on scholly?

I am very excited by the scheme change though, it will be much more fitting to our talent at O-line, RB, and QB, than the 4 wide spread is.

Whaley’s hands surprised me. At one point he caught a laser on his hip from about 7 yards. The ball just stuck to his hands.

Hey and Thomas, you’re still sharing a keyboard I see. Kafka makes a lot of sense based on skill sets, but I’m not ready to say that Whaley is a better option at TE, which he seems to be suggesting.

Whaley deserves his shot at RB. I’m telling you, he has those skills. I stated prematurely that he wouldn’t play RB for us. That loud annoying sound you hear is me eating crow.

2 TE sets outside the goal line? What is this, 1978? Has Bill Walsh not broken into the coaching ranks yet?

I actually prefer splitting Whale between TB and H back and having Matthews split between TE and h back. Having Whale at h back means you have 2 TB quality runners on the field at the same time. I’m not for Whale playing TE at this time because the blocking at TE is more team oriented (lots of helping an OT get into his block before releasing from that block to block an LB) which is quite challenging.

“If I’m an opposing DC and I see Greg Smith and Barrett Matthews on the field at the same, I will destroy the Texas offense if I have any personnel to work with whatsoever.”

Brent Venables and Brothers Pellini endorse this message..

Some clarification and additional thoughts…as I am Magnus’s co-author above.

Throughout Spring Practice we’ve committed to working on a 2 RB package (Just so happens it primarily in the form of 12 personnel). How this translates to what is seen on the field in the Fall is up in the air. We’ve seen that our Offensive experiments have had a short shelf life if there aren’t immediate results. Understandably, there’s not much patience from the staff, players, and fans if we don’t have success right off the bat.

With the publicized effort to improve the run game, the Offense has decided to give themselves a number’s advantage for this to work. On the grease board, it’s a difficult proposition to have a consistent run game in 10 personnel. You need a running threat at QB to have a chance at consistency. Now adding a TE helps, because you’ve extended the blocking surface to the strength of the formation. We’ve used an 11 personnel grouping plenty, but the defense can still outnumber the formation. Bringing the extra blocker, in the form of a FB or H-Back, at least allows for creative ways to block all defenders in the box.

This personnel grouping we’re seeing this Spring comes in the form of 2 TE’s, because we still would like to have our best 11 on the field. Our lack of a true FB, necessitates a TE body in the backfield. This guy needs to be foremost a blocker, and also possess the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield, a couple of things I would hope our TE’s can do. Plus, where not handing the ball to our FB’s anyway. If our TE’s can’t block, then this isn’t going to work, but I’m willing to give them a chance. Our run game will have a fighting chance if our TE’s are on the field, as opposed to trying to run the ball with guys like Fitzhenry, Monroe, and/or Hales on the field. If our slot receivers are playmakers, we’ll see them plenty, but they aren’t going to make us a better running football team.

And if it ends up that Matthews and Smith are on the field together in the Fall, or any combination of our TE’s, we’re at lest not banging our heads against a wall trying to have a run game. We’re bringing the brick wall to the Defense. Matthews and Smith have to prove that they’re capable blockers. I believe they certainly have the means. Running the ball with any success out of this grouping will eventually lead to a well-protected drop-back and play-action passing game where Gilbert has plenty of time to find guys like like Malcolm Williams one on one downfield matchups.

I think we’ll see this on display in the Spring Game. Whether it’s a thing of beauty or a disaster cannot be determined on an Easter Sunday afternoon. Let’s give it a chance, because I still believe we have a load of talented guys in the backfield. We must give these guys an opportunity to be successful. Using two TE’s is a sound concept, especially it their strength is mauling defenders at the point of contact. Understand there will be some growing pains, but with work, this could be an asset to our Offense.

And if it ends up that Matthews and Smith are on the field together in the Fall, or any combination of our TE’s, we’re at lest not banging our heads against a wall trying to have a run game. We’re bringing the brick wall to the Defense.
 
No, we’re likely committing to an 8 man box. Followed by 2nd and 11.
 
Without TEs that are legitimate receiving threats (at least one of them needs to be a dominant threat, in fact) or OL personnel in the top 5% of college football, you’re not going to run the ball consistently against anyone.
 
This whole line of thinking falls into the Greg Davis assumption that it’s cheating when the opposing defense doesn’t honor your formation and play it straight up the way they you imagined on the grease board.

How do you suggest generating a running game?

Scipio Tex – I share your concerns. Conceptually, with this H-back personnel package, we’re once again putting ourselves in a solid position versus 7 man fronts. Versus 8 man fronts, there’s still the possibility to outnumber the D to a side and allow a chance run the ball. The thought process of trying this stems from the thought that our TE’s will successfully block 2nd level defenders on a regular basis. When the eighth man enters the box, there’s the option to throw the ball. Our TE’s aren’t passing game playmakers, but if we just ask them to catch the ball when thrown to, we’ll stay out of 2nd and 3rd and longs. I don’t think we’ll major in this personnel package, but I still believe this is a legitimate attempt to build the run game.

12 is a formation, not a running philosophy.
 
It’s not a legitimate attempt unless it’s paired with real plays, schemes, counters, and personnel threats.
 
The notion that our TEs will keep us out of 3rd and long is absurd on its face.

Oh boy, you’re being difficult. Who said anything about a “running philosophy?”

The only thing that’s been stated is how we’ve been lining up.

“It’s not a legitimate attempt unless it’s paired with real plays, schemes, counters, and personnel threats.”

I thought “real plays” might include counters? You’re throwing a whole lot of lingo out their that “on its face” hasn’t even been mentioned.

Again, we’re trying to build a running game. What do you suggest? Include your philosophy with real plays and personnel threats.

Running well requires good blocking which requires good blockers, including the skill position players.

For an O to be efficient at running and passing, it needs as many players as possible who can contribute to both the running and passing. For example, Kirk is a guy who helps the passing game but does not contribute much to the run game. Goodwin can not only catch passes well but also runs the ball well on end arounds and is a good blocker. So Goodwin plays ahead of Kirk in an O that wants to run and pass efficiently.

The idea is that you look for players who are multiple and who can contribute to both the passing and running game. Skill position players who can only block kill an offense, especially if there are two of them. At a minimum, TEs and H backs have to catch passes reliably. A huge, fast guy like Whale who runs the ball well, catches well, and should be able to block well presents a much bigger challenge at h back for a DC than Matthews or Smith. BTW, if Whale cannot block competently, shame on Whale and Major.

Because Whales is so fast and runs so fast, it forces the DC to cover Whale with a DB. This gives huge Whale the chance to blow up up that DB when blocking or running the ball in the run game. Whale’s size, speed, and competence running, catching, and (I hope) blocking creates a mismatch that can easily be exploited by GD.

Matthews and Smith don’t create those mismatches because an LB can cover them on pass plays.

Cody Johnson is another player who can create mismatches at h back because of his mass and speed. Cody will outrun most LBs and run over most DBs. The question is how well can he catch the ball.

Having said that, it is always possible that either Smith and/or Matthews are now catching the ball reliably enough so DCs will be forced to respect them as a pass catching threat. One way to improve your catching is to catch passes while diving into a swimming pool or a high jump landing area.

Would like to see Johnson and Whale in at the same time, non goal line. If Johnson can catch.

Just a fantasy, carry on.

This 12 personnel grouping allows for multiple formation variations that at least gives us a better chance in the run game. That’s why we’re looking at it. And yes, defenses will know that better than 2 out 3 times a running play is coming at them out of this group. At the simplest level, if our guys are better than yours, we’ll move the ball on the ground out of this. Hopefully, because the TE’s compliment the OL and let our RB’s running ability emerge. We all know Coach Davis has last decades old playbooks collecting dust on his bookshelf full of ‘real plays’. We’ll see this package grow if there’s evidence this will improve the run game. If we display any success on the ground out of this, the play-action aspect should work just fine, if we can just trust Matthews, Smith, and others to catch a ball in the flat and turn upfield for a gain of 6…and not fumble. That’s enough to keep a defense honest, especially if we’re only in this grouping 10 times a game…which is still the unknown at this point…how much game time will we devote to this in the Fall?

Hey man I just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to write something worth my time to read. I am all over the internet and I see so much useless junk that is just created for the sake of putting something new on their page. It takes devotion to make good stuff, thanks for caring.