I watched all the videos posted in the other thread about Loeffler. The first one I posted (Temple vs Ohio) was a bit misleading. They were down to their 3rd string QB at that time, and he was athletic, so they ran lots of stuff similar to what we ran with Cam. However, it was really only a change in focus on the player getting the ball, nothing at all changed for the offensive line. In other words, Loeffler showed the ability to adapt to adversity well.
I really believe the "I want to see us go back to Auburn Football" folks are going to like what Loeffler brings. Videos of their first two games (Videos of the Villanova and Akron games) show what I believe is the offense Loeffler wants to run. Lots of sets using a TE on the line of scrimmage, and even multiple TEs/H-Backs. He likes to move the H-Back to get leverage. Much of he offense was run from under center in those early games. Even when he gets in the shotgun, there's usually a TE on the line of scrimmage. Look for Lutz to have a season that will really help his draft status. (See caveat below)
Formations? Under center, you'll see I, and single back sets, but there's almost always a TE and either a FB or H-Back too. He runs the typical I formation power runs, but doesn't always run it with the FB/HBack in the I formation.
The base run game? Power O, Counter, Inside Zone, Outside Zone, and a little ISO. He also runs a play that is almost exactly like Malzahn's Hand Sweep, except with a TE, and he pulls the Center and Play-side OT instead of the two Gs. This is the essence a power run game. Oh, I even saw the dreaded wildcat once. The Prosch kid should get plenty of chances to pancake opposing LBs and DEs. What's the same? Well these are all the same run concepts we saw with Malzahn. Fact is, outside of Veer, there's only so many ways to run the ball. What's different? Under center much more, use of much heavier personnel sets that include a pure TE, or multiple TEs. It should be noted, that in the Ohio game (with 3rd string QB), that offense was Power, Counter, and his version of Veer where the OL Zone blocks away from the play side, and the QB reads the play side DE. The beauty of it is, the OL doesn't have to relearn a whole new offense should he be forced to adapt to an Athletic QB, but it does appear he loves to run the ball, and do it with power downhill concepts and heavy sets.
The passing game? They only threw the ball 25% of the time last year. I have to believe that was due to quarterback limitations. So, he may have a mind to do something different if he has the right QB, but what I saw was play action bootlegs to the flat and crossing receivers. The dropback passing seemed to be straight dropback (no play action) using the standard concepts everybody runs. I have no idea how complicated the reads are. In the game vs Penn State, I saw some quick game, some screens. It would appear to be a more diverse passing game than Malzahn.
Our personnel? We've definitely trended towards big bodies on the OL the last few recruiting classes. We have three returning starters. I'm going to take a stab at what we might see on the OL. From left to right: Greg Robinson, Chad Slade, Reese Dismukes, Christian Westerman or Eric Mack, John Sullen. That's nothing more than a guess. We've recruited some nice TEs the last 2 classes. Look for Brandon Fulse to compliment Lutz, and Prosch at FB/HBack. Blake Burgess even played some TE last year too, and there's a couple of nice TEs coming in in this class. Mike Blakely, Corey Grant, and Tre Mason will battle for #1 RB, or may be RB by committee. Jovon Robinson at 6-1 220 is a legit 25 carry a game big back, but is will be a Fr.
WRs? Hope Emory Blake stays healthy! Be nice if Benton would step up. Quan Bray. Reed, Stallworth, and the highly touted kids coming in, and we have plenty of skill players poised to make an impact.
QB? The big question. The caveat I mentioned above. What the QB can execute will govern what "style" of offense we see. Frazier, as far as I'm concerned, is still a complete unknown in the passing game. I'm not convinced he can't pass because he didn't last year. They simply may have chosen early to just make him a role player as Wildcat QB, and given Trotter and Mosley all the rest of the reps. Pike? All I hear from "experts" is he's not ready to play at the elite level, but has the raw talent and tools. Can Loeffler get him ready in a few weeks? The new kid coming out of Phenix City? Who knows? I can tell you this. If Mosley trots out there to start game one, Loeffler is either a miracle worker, or we're in horrid shape at QB, and I don't believe in the former at least where coaches are concerned. If Mosley is named the starter I have to believe we're in worse shape at QB than was ever imagined by any of even the most pessimistic.
I'm looking forward to see the new direction. Just my personal opinion. With recruiting the big bodies on OL, a true big FB, and multiple big TE's I think Chizik had it in mind all along to get away from pure spread after Malzahn, and looked for pro style OCs. I think he had some NFL guys turn him down, and stuck to his plan and found Loeffler. It may not be an immediate shift in that direction due to QB personnel mainly, but I think we're headed towards an offense that resembles bammers, and is designed to bludgeon defenses, run the ball, and eat clock.
If so, we certainly need a defense that is smothering.
8 Replies
860 Views