Fire Mike Yurcich

[EastTexan 673]

Should have shown some of his single-wing plays.

[Tex Long 4684]

6 minutes ago, EastTexan said:

Should have shown some of his single-wing plays.

Prolly woulda, if had seen anything on his roster like something called a tight end?

[LTtxfan 50040]

 

[satyanash 15681]

(Ian Boyd) Inside the gameplan: Texas and the pro-spread offense

Quote

LSU’s 2019 championship run, which included multiple top 10 wins and quarterback Joe Burrow throwing for 5,671 yards and 60 touchdowns, was a line in the sand moment in college football. It’s now clear that the highest level of offensive football that can be achieved right now is running pro-style passing schemes from spread formations. From here on out, programs that don’t pursue a “pro-spread” approach on offense are essentially run game truthers.

This has been a growing problem for Nick Saban’s Alabama teams. Saban National Championships have conspicuously come in years when they either didn’t have to beat pro-spread teams in the playoffs, the pro-spread team’s quarterback was injured, or the Alabama offense carried them in a shootout. But what exactly is a “pro-spread” offense? What makes the system work, what component parts do you need, and where on the spectrum are the Tom Herman Texas Longhorns?

Defining “pro-spread”

The most obvious definition for a pro-spread team is running pro-style schemes from spread formations, which is what a considerable chunk of the NFL is now doing. But what are pro-style schemes and what spread formations are they using? Bob Sturm of The Athletic and The Ticket in Dallas recently posted a tweet with the details on what personnel groupings the NFL used in 2019:

The entire NFL spent the better part of the 2019 season in 11 personnel. That’s five offensive linemen, one quarterback, one running back (first digit in 11), one tight end (second digit in 11), and three wide receivers. Texas fans will recognize that as the preferred personnel grouping for Tom Herman’s offense and many have started to develop an irrational distaste for it that mirrors the decades-old hatred for “bubble screens.”

A major aspect of pro-spread is an emphasis on 11 personnel. It also means an emphasis on pro-style schemes and the use of drop back passing where the quarterback goes through progressions behind an offensive line executing pass protections. Play-action is important as well but drop back passing is often where you separate good college quarterbacks like Kellen Moore, who thrived throwing play-action at Boise State, from good NFL quarterbacks like Pat Mahomes who was always dominant in the drop back game.

The Air Raid is built around drop back passing, which means that it’s increasingly more “pro-style” than many of the I-formation, run game-based systems that have traditionally been given that moniker. But most Air Raid teams in history have been built around 10 personnel (one running back, zero tight ends, four wide receivers) rather than 11 personnel, partly because most Air Raid teams in history haven’t had NFL-level tight ends to throw to who were better receiving options than a fourth receiver.

Pro-spread is generally pass-first because drop back passing schemes are the hardest to defend when done right and tend to give the offense its teeth. In his Facebook live interview with our own Joe Cook, Herman dismissed the notion of LSU as a pass-centric offense and noted their great efficiency and success running the ball with Clyde Edwards-Helaire (1,414 rushing yards at 6.6 ypc with 16 rushing touchdowns). However, LSU’s run game included a heavy dose of RPOs in which Joe Burrow was throwing the ball if he was given a window to do so. Often, the run option simply served to clean up in the box after defenses dropped into cover 2 from dime (or smaller) personnel packages.

The 2019 Tigers rotated through three different tight ends, the first two being Thaddeus Moss and Stephen Sullivan, who were both better as flex tight ends than blockers unless facing smaller defenses. When they really needed to run the ball against a nickel front they’d bring in Tory Carter, who was more of a fullback than a tight end at 6-foot-1, 250 pounds. Or they’d get into a bunch formation and bring in their receivers to help block on the edge. The vast majority of the LSU runs came against defenses that had vacated the box after getting gashed by passes.

As part of the pass-centric nature of the offense, one of the principle strategies in the pro-spread is to create matchups in the passing game. This is partly why the tight end is so important, both because of the matchups that a good tight end creates with his unique size and because of the problems for defensive structures that arise when a tight end or running back lines up in non-traditional alignments.

Some examples include the particularly popular Y-iso formation that flexes out a tight end to the solo side opposite the three receivers. Most pro teams (and LSU) then align the tight end close enough to the line to get a two-way go on his release:

The Y-iso formation follows similar principles that Texas has embraced by fielding a massive player at the boundary X receiver position. If defenses can’t check that guy with their cornerback then they have to devote either a linebacker underneath or a safety over the top which hinders the ability to send numbers to the wide side of the field or blitz as easily. This creates space for the other receivers to operate in.

Another common matchup-hunting trick for pro-spread offenses are empty formations that move the running back out wide, particularly to alignments normally covered by cornerbacks. The LSU Tigers loved to borrow a trick from the Sean Payton New Orleans Saints by flexing the running back wide while using a receiver like Justin Jefferson to run a weakside option route that normally goes to the running back matched up on a linebacker. Texas also used that trick a few times with Devin Duvernay when desperately mounting a spread-passing fueled comeback against the Iowa State Cyclones.

They picked up a couple of first downs with this. The idea with these empty formations is to put EVERYONE in space and then hunt matchups. If your running backs and tight ends know how to run routes from alignments normally defended by cornerbacks then you can often create opportunities for your best receivers to run option routes or vertical streaks on linebackers or safeties in space. Iowa State has good linebackers but they can’t cover Devin Duvernay on option routes while surrounded by open grass.

We’ve seen this stuff at the college level for years. Believe it or not Wisconsin and Michigan State have used these sorts of concepts all decade... but they’d save them for obvious passing downs like 3rd and 6 while using 1st and 10 to ram their running back into B1G defenses behind fullbacks and pulling guards. LSU did this on 1st and 10 with some of the best wide receivers in college football and changed the game.

RPOs factor into pro-spread strategy but they are a component, not the main thrust. Literal pro offenses are more limited in the RPOs they can run so executing a predominantly RPO offense isn’t giving a college quarterback some of the skills they’d need in the pros. At the college level, offenses run into problems relying on RPOs when it comes down to playing winning, situational football.

Against an RPO team on 3rd and 2, defenses will load the box and play man coverage outside, forcing an RPO spread offense to either run the ball into unfavorable leverage (which they are expressly designed to avoid), or to try and beat coverage (which they are expressly designed to avoid). The red zone creates similar dilemmas and in those circumstances the offense is better off throwing a pass designed to beat man coverage, or a run designed to get yardage against a loaded box, or else using the quarterback as a runner. The spacing conflicts that RPOs create don’t exist in those situations.

RPOs also run into trouble when opponents can play the run or pass honestly. The goal is to “hit the defense where they ain’t” but the choices can be turned back on the offense. Alabama embraced an RPO spread strategy with Tua Tagovailoa and ran into unfamiliar territory when Clemson played them with two-high coverages that dared the Tide to beat them by running into an honest box.

On the surface it was everything that Nick Saban ever wanted, but it turned into a “the monkey’s paw” nightmare when the Tide repeatedly failed to convert in the red zone. Meanwhile, Trevor Lawrence kept throwing the ball over their heads. Higher level pro-spread offense incorporates RPOs but relies on play-action and drop back schemes that are designed to allow them to out-execute defenders rather than avoiding them.

The tight end in a pro-spread offense

Another key to pro-spread offense is the emphasis on tempo and being able to run as many concepts and formations as possible with the same personnel on the field. This prevents defenses from having endless packages designed for specific circumstances in which their defenders are allowed to shine in specialized and limited roles. Some of the more famous and well respected defensive coaches in college football such as Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown and Nick Saban were immensely successful by packaging their defenses to make the most of younger or limited players and to call-match against offenses.

You may have noticed these two guys struggling mightily in recent matchups with pro-spread offenses using tempo. What makes this work though is having versatile, truly dual-threat players at two specific positions, running back and tight end. Right now Texas’ approach is geared toward having guys that are great in the run game at those positions and competent in the passing game.

Down the line I firmly believe that the reverse will be the more desired outcome. Teams will be looking for running backs and tight ends that will torch you as receivers but are competent to block and carry the ball if the defense tries to downsize in personnel and stop them with defensive back-heavy sub-packages.

With either approach, each player needs to present matchup problems in one facet of the game in order to create a “catch 22” effect for the defense when operating at tempo. When this has worked for Texas it looked like Andrew Beck base blocking a defensive end one snap and then flexing out wide to get a linebacker matched up on Lil’Jordan Humphrey the next.

Whether the tight end and running back are major matchup problems in space doesn’t particularly matter if you’re moving at tempo because the defense has to maintain personnel on the field that can stop them in either their pass-catching or ball-running roles. If the defense tries to rely on a personnel grouping that is only effective against run or pass, the offense can make them wrong by relying on the other.

If the defense tries to play things situationally and subs in a pass-stopping package on 3rd and 6, and then fails, the offense can catch them by hurrying to the line of scrimmage and repeatedly running them over on tight zone (or worse, play-action) until the defensive coaches call timeout or manage to run their substitutes in. Similarly, the offense could spread its personnel out on 3rd and 8, pick up 6-7 yards with a pass, but then hurry back into an unbalanced ball-running formation and easily pick up short-yardage with a quick run before the defense can adjust. We’ve seen Texas do both.

Versatile running backs, and tight ends in particular, are a must for making a pro-spread system work. The tempo and matchup-hunting tactics come alive when those two positions have dual-threat capabilities.

Tom Herman’s offense on the pro-spread spectrum

When Herman came to Texas his express vision for the Longhorn offense was to be “pro-spread.” Fans figured out the extent of his commitment to that vision when Texas spent a considerable amount of 2017 in 11 personnel despite the lack of a good tight end on the roster after Andrew Beck was injured in August camp. Herman’s offense has been run-centric though, typically using the drop back spread passing game as a solution for passing downs rather than as the main strategy on 1st and 10. It’s actually fairly similar to the often maligned Michigan State strategy under Mark Dantonio, best exemplified by their improbable B1G title and playoff run in 2015.

The Spartans were a power run team through use of a fullback on 1st and 2nd down. They were decent at this but they didn’t have an explosive play-action dimension. What they did have was a really good spread passing game when they’d sub out the fullback and flex out the running back and tight end in order to throw to their receivers. Quarterback Connor Cook helped them convert 48.53 percent of their 3rd downs that season and they won the Big 10 title over Iowa with a soul-crushing, 22-play touchdown drive that ate 9:04 off the clock in the fourth quarter.

Texas’ offense under Tom Herman has been similarly focused on the power run game but instead of using traps and fullback plays, they stay conceptually simple and use spread spacing and quarterback pass or keep reads to clear running lanes. They’ve had similar degrees of success as Sparty using the spread passing game and empty formations from 11 personnel to bail the offense out of passing downs, going 48.91 percent on 3rd down in 2019. They could be much more explosive with the play-action game (enter Mike Yurcich) and more passing focused in general with both their overall philosophy and with their tight end development and utilization.

All that said, Texas is advantaged over the rest of the Big 12 in one major respect. They can make a reasonable claim that they “use quarterbacks like the NFL” in a state that produces better pro prospects at that position than most any other state in the country. The rest of the league largely uses a lot more RPOs and play-action in their passing game without drilling their quarterbacks in the fine art of drop back progression passing.

Even Oklahoma is pretty heavily invested in play-action over other drop back schemes and Lincoln Riley struggled to adjust late against Georgia when the Bulldogs figured out their gameplan and were covering everything up in man coverage. It’s harder to protect your quarterback in the passing game on drop back plays than play-action but the upside is also higher because if you get it right like LSU did, there are no consistently good defensive call options.

In the coming years Texas will have a chance to recruit elite pro-style passers like Quinn Ewers of Southlake Carroll and to field dynamic, dual-threat skill players like Jordan Whittington, Jake Smith, Jared Wiley, and Brayden Liebrock behind NFL caliber (at last) offensive linemen. They aren’t quite on the cutting edge of the pro-spread revolution but they’re well positioned to take advantage.

 

[LTtxfan 50040]

Thanks!!  Awesome info @satyanash

[LTtxfan 50040]

 

[satyanash 15681]

 

[LTtxfan 50040]

2 hours ago, satyanash said:

 

Westcott is such a DOUCHE...

[Tex Long 4684]

1 hour ago, LTtxfan said:

Westcott is such a DOUCHE...

True dat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But... he ain't too far wrong on this one.

[BrazilHorn 6857]

Wescott is a total tool but he isn't wrong. Two Heisman winners, three finalists, numerous 1st round draft picks, numerous playoff appearances (albeit losing) and multiple Big 12 Championships. Also perception that he is an offensive mastermind (which Herman is not perceived at in same way).

Riley is a much bigger problem for Herman than Stoops was for Mack IMO.

[Hiphopopotamos 21192]

Yurcich's Offensive Output last 9 years:

Shippenburg

2011 - 37.1 ppg

2012 - 46.8 ppg

 

Oklahoma St.

2013 - 39.1

2014 - 27.6

2015 - 39.5

2016 - 38.6

2017 - 45.0

2018 - 38.4

 

Ohio St.

2019 - 46.9

[Jkwellborn 7074]

Wescott is a total tool but he isn't wrong. Two Heisman winners, three finalists, numerous 1st round draft picks, numerous playoff appearances (albeit losing) and multiple Big 12 Championships. Also perception that he is an offensive mastermind (which Herman is not perceived at in same way).
Riley is a much bigger problem for Herman than Stoops was for Mack IMO.

I took it that he was talking about the records.

[The Earl of Texas 3216]

41 minutes ago, Hiphopopotamos said:

Yurcich's Offensive Output last 9 years:

Shippenburg

2011 - 37.1 ppg

2012 - 46.8 ppg

 

Oklahoma St.

2013 - 39.1

2014 - 27.6

2015 - 39.5

2016 - 38.6

2017 - 45.0

2018 - 38.4

 

Ohio St.

2019 - 46.9

[victory88 5785]

I don’t think Yurcich called the plays at Ohio State

[LTtxfan 50040]

1 hour ago, Hiphopopotamos said:

Yurcich's Offensive Output last 9 years:

Shippenburg:  2011 - 37.1 ppg,  2012 - 46.8 ppg

Ok St:   2013 - 39.1,  2014 - 27.6,  2015 - 39.5, 2016 - 38.6,  2017 - 45.0,  2018 - 38.4

Ohio St:  2019 - 46.9

Looks a lot better than Beck/Herman or Chuckie's OC's...

 

Edited May 29, 2020 by LTtxfan

[satyanash 15681]

 

[LTtxfan 50040]

Mike Yurcich hoping to bring Texas offense up to Big 12 championship standards

https://www.burntorangenation.com/platform/amp/2020/5/29/21273948/mike-yurcich-offense-big-12-championship-texas-longhorns?utm_campaign=sbn_wescott&utm_content=chorus&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&__twitter_impression=true

 

[futureman 22724]

On 5/28/2020 at 6:22 PM, Hiphopopotamos said:

2014 - 27.6

what the fuck happened there?

[Hiphopopotamos 21192]

11 hours ago, futureman said:

what the fuck happened there?

Looks like they graduated a bunch of Senior starters from that 2013 team and the 2014 team just fell apart.  The started out 5-1 and then lost 5 straight in conference.

[Majorcholas 560]

On 4/3/2020 at 7:36 AM, MonkeyDoughnut said:

Agreed, biggest issue has been play calling and not design for as long as I can remember... here's to hoping he gets full control and actually doesn't suck here

Nailed it. Everyone knows what concepts he likes to run. It’s all on film with years to back it up. The idea is you have plays to take advantage of any adjustments the defense.

[Tex Long 4684]

Biggest issue the first three MensaTom years has been having a totally worthless jackass pretending to coach WRs. 

Hopefully, we're past that now. We'll see.

[LTtxfan 50040]

Yurcich outlines installation process for Texas amid pandemic

By  JEFF HOWE    75 seconds ago

Quote

College football coaches across the country have faced no shortage of struggles and hardships in order to get their jobs done on a daily basis throughout the spring amid restrictions put in place due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Until two weeks ago, the Texas coaches hadn’t been able to get together for meetings since the middle of March. With players not allowed to use the weight room and other facilities until at least June 15 when the Big 12 is allowing football student-athletes to return to their respective campuses for voluntary workouts, the process Chris Ash and Mike Yurcich are going through to get their schemes installed remains far from ideal.

Head coach Tom Herman has praised the work Ash has done to get the new defense installed and what Yurcich has accomplished in putting his own spin on the program’s pro-spread offense. While the Longhorns have yet to go through physical reps in a practice setting under either new coordinator, the coaches at least got to conduct walk-through practices and position-specific training during winter conditioning in January and February.

Yurcich recently told SiriusXM’s Big 12 Today that he’s enjoyed getting to teach his offense more than he otherwise would. With that said, the absence of spring practice has him constantly reinforcing what he needs his players to digest in order for Texas to be ready for the Sept. 5 season opener against South Florida.

“You dwell on the fact that you're not there being able to see practices and actually seeing the execution,” Yurcich said. “I think you have to be careful because there could be a false sense of what our guys can do and what we think they know.”

Borrowing an adage from William Heard Kilpatrick that you never learn anything until you accept it and go out and do it, Yurcich said acknowledgment from the players when he’s teaching the offense isn’t enough.

“You can head nod all you wish, so there's a lot of head-nodding going on in these Zoom meetings: do you understand? Do you understand? Yes. Yes,” Yurcich said. “You have to have the players spit it back to you. There's constant Q&A. Present less information, ask more questions.

“When you're installing and you're tweaking an offense and you're doing certain things from an offensive standpoint, you're presenting a lot of information, but you also have to ask a lot of questions.”

With the installation essentially done with the exception of certain situations and the players taking what they know to the field for 11-on-11 work, Yurcich said most of what’s being done right now involves testing. That’s the coaches testing the players in virtual position group meetings and players holding their own meetings to test each other on the nuances of the offense to “put the pressure on,” Yurcich said.

That might not sound conducive to the offense to click early in the season (especially considering Texas travels to Baton Rouge to take on reigning national champion LSU on Sept. 12), but Yurcich has found a silver lining on what’s been a challenging first few months on the job. The enjoyable part for him, he said, is the pandemic forcing him to get familiar with technology like putting voiceovers on film, something he’ll continue to do when things return to normal.

“It's embarrassing because the technology was actually there and I could've been using that the whole way, but now we're presenting the information with the voiceovers, matching it up,” Yurcich said. “We've got these really awesome cutups — it's basically a virtual playbook with instruction audio attached. All of the PowerPoints and all of the presentations and the pictures, those are all great things that you really are forced now to get better at, so to me, it was kind of a renaissance from a standpoint of how to become a better coach and how to reach guys when you can't practice and indoctrinate them.”

With no indication when practices will begin ahead of the coming season, the key for the Longhorns in a virtual world is communication. The current situation has forced everyone in the organization to learn effective communication skills, which Yurcich he hopes results in the Longhorns hitting the ground running whenever they’re able to put their knowledge of the new schemes into action.

“It's helped us as coaches and it's helped us as players kind of see it from a different perspective,” Yurcich said. “We all want to be there and touch it and feel it and see it, but it's the next best thing.”

 

https://247sports.com/college/texas/Article/Texas-Longhorns-Football-Mike-Yurcich-outlines-installation-process-coronavirus-pandemic-Chris-Ash-Tom-Herman-147709016/

Edited May 31, 2020 by LTtxfan

[mulletpelini 5226]

On 5/30/2020 at 10:53 PM, futureman said:

what the fuck happened there?

can't decipher the past huh

[Butch Had Not 3067]

Siap

Here he is talking about offense for an hour 

 

[Goodman 3283]

10 minutes ago, Butch Had Not said:

Siap

Here he is talking about offense for an hour 

 

Yurcich fucks!

[satyanash 15681]

Scipio Tex: Running Back Production Under Tom Herman

Quote

2020 will feature the best running back talent, experience, and diversity of skill sets during the Tom Herman era. That may be damning with faint praise given recent history, but the talent trends in the RB room and the supporting offensive landscape are all headed in the right direction with the potential for a running back production leap in 2020. To understand where we are now, let's talk a little about where we were.

2017

2017 featured a four-headed RB room: Daniel Young, Chris Warren, Kyle Porter and Toneil Carter. Optimistic forecasters called this depth, but I wouldn't try to pilot a canoe through it. One of my Iron Laws of Football warns: Never Confuse A Bunch Of Names With Depth. Real depth is defined by talent, not the number of ORs in the depth chart. The unit also had a subpar offensive line and a generally miserable offensive ecosystem. No single runner amassed more than 400 yards rushing in a 13 game season and freshman QB Sam Ehlinger led the team in rushing.

Collectively, the unit totaled 288 carries for 1200 yards at 4.2 yards per carry and 16 touchdowns. Those season statistics, modest as they were, included 42 carries for 322 yards rushing at 7.7 yards per pop in a 56-0 win over San Jose State -- by far the worst team that Texas has played in the Herman era. Remove that game and Texas runners averaged a smooth 3.6 yards per carry and totaled 73 yards rushing per game as a unit.

Chris Warren might have excelled as the #2 runner at Wisconsin, but he was ill-suited for 2017 Texas; Porter was a pure Katy creation (with a laudable willingness to do some dirty work); Carter lacked physicality/focus, and Young was a true freshman with average traits. For the season, Kyle Porter had the most attempts of the group, but averaged 3.1 yards per carry, highlighting a skill set so subtle that only @Ian Boyd could detect it. I kid because I love. One bright spot: the four-headed hydra totaled 43 receptions for 5 touchdowns.

2018

Tom Herman folded his 2017 Running Back cards and asked for a new deal. Those cards were steady grad transfer Tre Watson and true freshman Keaontay Ingram. They immediately supplanted Kyle Porter and Daniel Young on the Longhorn depth chart while Carter transferred out. He didn't draw aces, but it was better than a deuce. The unit (read: duo) totaled 370 carries for 1649 yards at 4.5 yards per carry, but saw the entire room's collective rushing TD total more than doubled by QB Sam Ehlinger (16-7).

Watson was the consistent if unspectacular work horse, amassing 786 yards on 185 carries (4.2) while young Ingram showed more explosiveness but less durability while amassing 708 yards at 5.2 yards per carry. Use in the passing game also increased, as Watson and Ingram both grabbed more than 20+ balls, grabbing 49 receptions between them. The Texas backfield had progressed from poor to fair. New faces, better talent, and more production, but it would be difficult to argue that the 2018 Texas RB room was in the Top 40 of FBS backfield talent.

2019

The unit took a meaningful leap forward as circumstances improved, coinciding with the physical maturation of sophomore Keaontay Ingram and the welcome addition of true freshman converted QB Roschon Johnson. Collectively, the entire unit went for 1568 yards on 283 carries and 17 TDs - good for a healthy 5.3 yards per carry average. Ingram totaled 853 yards rushing (5.9 per tote) while RoJo totaled 649 yards (5.3 a carry).

Encouragingly, both Johnson and Ingram demonstrated quality in the passing game and the unit amassed 56 catches (Johnson and Ingram had 52 of them) - the first Herman Longhorn backfield to break the 50 catch barrier. Ingram continued to struggle periodically with the ability of availability, but the Utah bowl game highlighted his upside. RoJo cemented himself as a true Dawg, talented runner, and a selfless athlete that all right thinking Longhorn fans admire. Texas finally had a good pair of running backs with developmental meat left on the bone.

How about 2020?

Now this is what depth looks like. Two good, proven returning players in Johnson and Ingram, a stud incoming freshman X factor in Robinson, and a senior veteran Danny Young to round out the mix. Senior, junior, sophomore, freshman. The symmetry of seniority. Texas has veteran stability. Texas has talent. Texas has diverse skill sets and players who will do the dirty work. Texas finally features a backfield that most FBS teams would unhesitatingly trade for their own.

The Horns also have a likely upgrade at offensive coordinator, an OL that should largely excel at run blocking, and a veteran QB who can threaten the field with his arm and legs and get the offense into favorable running game numbers. The blueprint is there. CanTexas execute against it? For the first time in his tenure, Herman returns two game-tested runners with real ability.

The X Factor is Bijan Robinson, who boasts a skill set suggesting that a productive duo may make way for a troika. Managing a crowded backfield is a nice problem to have, but a Longhorn fanbase that loves shiny new things means any low touch Bijan Robinson games will be blamed for all offensive sputtering as well as global warming, fire ants, and a low yield sorghum crop.

While RB production and efficiency markedly spiked in 2019, touch load in the RB room actually declined from 2018. As Texas breaks in a new wide receiver corps and looks to put the ball into the hands of proven playmakers, expect the 2020 Texas RBs to combine 2018 volume with 2019 levels of efficiency. Or better.

 

[Bigbend1812 13063]

On 6/5/2020 at 1:34 AM, Goodman said:

Yurcich fucks!

 

[Tex Long 4684]

26 minutes ago, satyanash said:

Scipio Tex: Running Back Production Under Tom Herman

While I think we probably all - or at least some of us - appreciate some - if not all - of your posts, it's slightly on the dumber-than-shit side to post someone else's story in a thread about Mike Yurcich, when the story is about #MensaTom, with not a single mention of Yurcich (maybe I missed it in the wall of text going back three years?) ... and there's an actual thread about #MensaTom not more than a few clicks away.

 

[LTtxfan 50040]

 

[LTtxfan 50040]

 

[SwanderedTalent 5761]

how do we know Yurcich wasn't one of the bad Oklahoma State coaches?

[futureman 22724]

On 6/7/2020 at 12:21 PM, Tex Long said:

While I think we probably all - or at least some of us - appreciate some - if not all - of your posts, it's slightly on the dumber-than-shit side to post someone else's story in a thread about Mike Yurcich, when the story is about #MensaTom, with not a single mention of Yurcich (maybe I missed it in the wall of text going back three years?) ... and there's an actual thread about #MensaTom not more than a few clicks away.

responding to criticism is not part of his coding. 

[Tex Long 4684]

10 hours ago, futureman said:

responding to criticism is not part of his coding. 

Nor is he alone in either the occasional sometimes way too often shit posting or lack of response.

 

 

Where's the goddam strikethrough?

[LTtxfan 50040]

https://247sports.com/college/texas/Article/Texas-Longhorns-Football-Sam-Ehlinger-Mike-Yurcich-building-relationship-virtual-meetings-coronavirus-pandemic-148714188/

Sam Ehlinger, Mike Yurcich making most of virtual offseason

By JEFF HOWE 10 hours ago

Had it not been for the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic canceling spring practice for Texas and keeping the Longhorns away from campus from early March until June 15 when players were allowed to return for voluntary workouts, Sam Ehlinger and Mike Yurcich building their relationship could be the No. 1 offseason storyline concerning the program. Outside of a potential delay to the 2020 regular season, how the veteran quarterback meshes with the new offensive coordinator could make the biggest impact on how high Texas can climb in the fourth season of the Tom Herman era.

It’s up to Yurcich to get the most out of the offense in Ehlinger’s final season behind center, which if done at an appropriate level would put the Longhorns in a position for Ehlinger to add a Big 12 title to his growing list of accolades. While they haven’t had as much in-person time to get to know each other as they would’ve liked, Ehlinger said during a video conference with reporters on June 11 that he and Yurcich have been able to make the most of the virtual time they’ve had together.

“It's been great,” Ehlinger said. “Obviously, we got a little bit of time to be together in January and February, so we got to start a relationship there and through Zoom meetings, nothing has dropped off. We've been able to meet a lot.”

Ehlinger had the furthest thing from a bad season in 2019. The 3,663 yards 32 touchdowns he threw for put him in a two-man group with Colt McCoy as the only quarterbacks in school history to throw for 3,500 or more yards and 30 or more touchdowns in a season.

The 4,326 yards of total offense Ehlinger tallied rank second only to McCoy’s 4,420 yards in 2008. Ehlinger also set new school records for 200-yard passing games in a season (13) and single-season games with three or more passing touchdowns (seven).

Furthermore, Ehlinger has been responsible for a school-record 80 touchdowns over the last two seasons. Ehlinger enters his final season in burnt orange tied with McCoy for the most games in program history with both a rushing and passing touchdown (14).

So given the success, why was it imperative for Herman to move on from Tim Beck, who formed a great bond with Ehlinger over their three seasons together and hire Yurcich away from Ohio State?

In a word, consistency. Specifically, the biggest task Yurcich faces is getting the offense to a point where it doesn’t take massive steps back when facing better defenses in the Big 12.

Ahead of the offense putting together a collective workmanlike effort in an Alamo Bowl win over Utah, the Big 12’s four best defenses in terms of yards per play allowed were Baylor (4.9), Iowa State (5.2), Oklahoma (5.3) and TCU (5.3). Those were also the four best defenses in the conference according to ESPN’s SP+ rankings, which had the Bears (No. 16), Cyclones (No. 22), Horned Frogs (No. 34) and Sooners (No. 36) ranked among the nation’s top 40 defenses.

Oklahoma was the nation’s No. 42-ranked defense in yards per play allowed, which was the lowest among the Big 12’s top four with no other defense in the league ranking inside the top 50 in the country. After TCU’s ranking in defensive SP+, the next Big 12 defense to show up was Kansas State at No. 46 with no other Big 12 defense landing inside the top 50.

When facing Big 12’s best defenses — all losses for Texas — the Texas offense saw their points per game average drop to 20.5 (35 per game heading into bowl season), had their yards per play plummet to 5.14 (6.28 in the regular season) and converted on third down at a 38.7-percent clip (a season-long conversion rate of 49.1 percent was No. 2 in the Big 12 and No. 9 in the country through 12 games).

How did Texas perform when facing the Big 12’s five other defenses?  The team’s five conference wins saw the Longhorns score at a clip of 40.4 points per game, yards per play shot up to 6.99 and the third-down conversion rate ballooned to 53.6 percent.

Yurcich has to make sure the latter continues while making sure the former is a trend that doesn’t follow the offense into 2020. One of the reasons why he accepted Herman’s offer to take over the play-calling duties for the pro-spread offense and evolve it is the presence of one of the nation’s top quarterbacks.

“Sam's a helluva player and he's a big part of why I chose this position,” Yurcich said at his introductory press conference in February. “He's an experienced quarterback. He's a proven winner.

“He's the total package and I'm really looking forward to working with Sam,” he added, “but the most significant trait I'd say is his leadership ability. His ability to grab the guys' attention, to get them focused, to make sure that they own.”

The respect between the two was there from the start and while they’ve yet to work with each other on the practice field in an official capacity, Ehlinger likes where things are headed when it comes to his relationship with Yurcich ahead of when the Longhorns can hold their first preseason practice on Aug. 7.

“I know if I ever call him and want to meet virtually he's always available and we've done that multiple times, just meeting individually,” Ehlinger said. “I think that he's an incredible coach and a great teacher. I'm really, really excited for the relationship that we'll have on the field.

[LTtxfan 50040]

Longhorn Blitz Podcast: Mike Yurcich's biggest challenge when revamping the Texas offense (July 2nd)

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/longhorn-blitz-mike-yurcichs-biggest-challenge-when/id1279981104?i=1000481793288

It's an offensive-centric edition of Longhorn Blitz as Rod Babers, Matt Butler and Jeff Howe look at various aspects of what the Texas offense can (and needs to) do under Mike Yurcich. A conversation that begins with Yurcich's game plan the last time he faced the Longhorns rolls into an examination of where the offense on the Forty Acres needs to improve the most based on the unit's 2019 production.

[Burt Macklin 19230]

On 7/1/2020 at 9:41 AM, LTtxfan said:

When facing Big 12’s best defenses — all losses for Texas — the Texas offense saw their points per game average drop to 20.5 (35 per game heading into bowl season), had their yards per play plummet to 5.14 (6.28 in the regular season) and converted on third down at a 38.7-percent clip (a season-long conversion rate of 49.1 percent was No. 2 in the Big 12 and No. 9 in the country through 12 games).

This is pretty much a Tim Beck hallmark. He usually has the talent and basic system in place to do well against average to below average defenses, but as soon as the talent gap closes, his poor game plans and terrible play calling fall apart completely. Herman hasn’t had those same issues when being completely in control of the offense, nor has Yurcich, so I’m hopeful that won’t be something we have to deal with too much moving forward. 

[Slacks 7084]

This is pretty much a Tim Beck hallmark. He usually has the talent and basic system in place to do well against average to below average defenses, but as soon as the talent gap closes, his poor game plans and terrible play calling fall apart completely. Herman hasn’t had those same issues when being completely in control of the offense, nor has Yurcich, so I’m hopeful that won’t be something we have to deal with too much moving forward. 

So, did Herman call the plays last year or not?

[Burt Macklin 19230]

33 minutes ago, Snacks said:

4 hours ago, Burt Macklin said:

This is pretty much a Tim Beck hallmark. He usually has the talent and basic system in place to do well against average to below average defenses, but as soon as the talent gap closes, his poor game plans and terrible play calling fall apart completely. Herman hasn’t had those same issues when being completely in control of the offense, nor has Yurcich, so I’m hopeful that won’t be something we have to deal with too much moving forward. 

Read more  

So, did Herman call the plays last year or not?

I don’t think we ever got a clear answer on this, but Herman never came out and said he took over play calling like he did in 2018. 
 

Based on some of Herman’s quotes and the plays we called, my theory is Herman turned the reigns back over to Beck for the most part after 2018, because he’s always been clear he wants the OC to run the offense and he felt comfortable enough to do so after we won the Sugar Bowl. The maddening inconsistency and lack of creativity we displayed in 2019 is exactly what Beck did in 2017 and when he was OC at tOSU. 

[Tex Long 4684]

The fact that a specific play doesn't work is not necessarily due to its being the wrong play. Poor execution by the offense, either overall or because of one bust can doom a play; superior execution by the defense, likewise. Bad preparation can lead to those kinds of failures, as well.

The most concerning part of the 2019 season was the stretch from TCU to Baylor, in which the O averaged barely 20 ppg. In that period, it was more of a systemic, overall failure than individual plays or players... that seems to indicate that the game plans were shit, and/or the calling was shit, and/or the preparation was shit. In any case, the failures are on #MensaTom, whether he called plays or let Beck call them, or some of both. Any way that happened, until another season starts, we have no way of knowing if the widespread failures were due mostly to shitty coaching, particularly using three coaches on WR, TE, and IR (slots) - all now replaced.

Bottom line, Yurcich needs to be a complete OC, working more closely with Drayton and Hand on the run game and with Coleman and Boulware on the pass game... and with #MensaTom on the game plans and play selection. If he can do that, we will be better, and that is Good.

[LTtxfan 50040]

 

[LTtxfan 50040]

This was fun!!! 🤘😀

 

[LTtxfan 50040]

 

[LTtxfan 50040]

Cross-posting since Yurcich discussion:

Horns247 Longhorn Blitz Podcast:   Maximizing Sam Ehlinger's final season at Texas

(July 23rd)

The latest Longhorn Blitz podcast examines how the end result of Mike Yurcich's debut as Texas offensive coordinator can be a maximization of Sam Ehlinger's final season with the Longhorns. What lesson can Yurcich and the offensive braintrust on the Forty Acres learn from LSU's success watching Joe Brady elevate Joe Burrow to the Heisman Trophy and the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft that can help take Ehlinger's game to another level?

https://player.fm/series/horns247-podcasts-longhorn-blitz-the-flagship-and-state-of-recruiting-1540602/longhorn-blitz-maximizing-sam-ehlingers-final-season-at-texas

[LTtxfan 50040]

http://insidetexas.com/gameplan-mike-yurcich-and-big-personnel/

IT... Gameplan: Mike Yurcich and big personnel

Updated on Aug 6, 2020 at 6:18 AM

The early reports from voluntary 7-on-7 portions of practice at Texas included the news that the offense is mixing in more reps with four receivers on the field, or 10 personnel. That has potentially big ramifications for the season, perhaps the biggest being an indication that new offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich has freedom to package the offense as he prefers.

Tom Herman maintained an intense devotion to 11 personnel. Staying in that set with one running back, one tight end, and three receivers and running the entire offense from that personnel grouping made Texas’ tempo tactics much more effective. The Longhorns could get into different formations and move their best players into multiple positions to make the most of different situations, and opponents couldn’t substitute in specialized packages to match up. If their personnel didn’t have similar versatility, they just had to try and make the best of it.

So you’d regularly see Texas hurry into empty formations with Devin Duvernay matched on linebackers, or in power formations running two-back lead plays for Sam Ehlinger on third-and-one. If the defense wasn’t ready to stop it in their base defensive package they had to take the L or call a timeout.

Yurcich has gone the other way at previous stops, mixing in lots of personnel packages rather than staying in one. His units would emphasize a few key play concepts but be able to run them from different personnel groups and in different formations so as to involve offensive players of varying skill sets. Oklahoma State offenses of the past relied extensively on 10 personnel, 11 personnel, 20 personnel, 30 personnel, and 12/21 hybrid sets. The Ohio State offenses he was involved in also used a fair amount of 12 personnel.

If Yurcich has freedom to explore different packages in an effort to maximize the full Texas offensive roster, that could mean the Longhorns will begin to use more heavy packages as well.

Texas’ experiments with 12 personnel

Texas has used 12 personnel now and again over the last two seasons. Their 2018 base offense was arguably a 11.5/20.5 personnel grouping because Lil’Jordan Humphrey was, in effect, a full-time flex tight end. In both 2018 and in 2019 they’d play with two tight ends now and again, usually on the goal line, in short-yardage, when backed up to their own goal line, or when they wanted to run out the clock.

They struck gold with it against Baylor before the half in 2019…

…and then again after the half they went back to the well for another big run.

When they tried to mix in some play-action it all came undone by a Baylor pressure that got freshman Jared Wiley matched up on DLOY James Lynch.

There really wasn’t much in the playbook from this formation. Normally they used it to guarantee double teams when Texas needed to run the ball for a gain despite the opponent knowing that a run call was coming. Usually they just ran tight zone, with the two tight ends to either side of the formation, looking to help generate a crease for a steady gain from a diving running back.

The extra hats along the line of scrimmage are potentially effective against Big 12 opponents as a multiple strategy beyond Texas’ usage because it causes math problems for defenses designed to play with small personnel and/or three deep safeties. It’s difficult for a 3-down, dime personnel team to really defend the point of attack against 12 personnel without yielding the possibility of a fairly easy 3-5 yard gain. There are too many gaps up front and not enough bigger bodies to use to defend them.

However, Texas has struggled to field even one good blocking tight end thus far in the Tom Herman era so they’ve never been in a position to plan around using two at a time as a regular tactic.

Mike Yurcich’s past with 12 personnel

You may be surprised to learn that Shippensburg, Oklahoma State, and Ohio State all made use of 12 personnel fairly often while Mike Yurcich was around. Oklahoma State didn’t regularly have two decent tight ends around but there was one notable exception in their 2016 team.

That unit had future Dallas Cowboy Blake Jarwin, a 6-foot-5, 248-pound redshirt senior and former walk-on, and former 3-star Zac Veatch who was 6-foot-3, 265 pounds. Veatch was recruited by Joe Wickline to start at tight end but move to offensive line. When he couldn’t handle the weight gain it took to stick on the line they moved him to fullback/tight end.

Jarwin was a pretty athletic receiver, as evidenced by his eventual NFL career, while Veatch was a bruising blocker with a lot of size coming out of the backfield. The Cowboys played them both a fair amount in 2016, mixing in a few different formations and plays, including the same sort of tight zone play as Texas tends to run from their 12 personnel set:

The Cowboys have Jarwin on the line and it could be tricky for the defense to weight their own formation to get the right matchups. In this instance, the Cowboys were able to run behind big right tackle Zachary Crabtree (6-foot-7, 310 pounds) and Veatch against West Virginia’s sam linebacker Justin Arndt (5-foot-11, 214 pounds) and defensive end Noble Nwachukwu (6-foot-2, 275 pounds). Crabtree got Arndt and Veatch got Nwachukwu. Oklahoma State decisively won the favorable matchup and held their own in the tougher one and opened a nice lane. The deep, single-high safety made the stop before the back had done too much damage, that’s always the limit of this style of football. But now imagine some play-action or RPO attached to this when the deep safety is triggering like that against run blocking.

That West Virginia defense was a sort of precursor to the Iowa State “flyover defense” that arose the following season. They played mostly cover 3 or brought zero blitzes but they had a 3-3-5 set-up and were small across the defensive backfield. Their emphasis on speed and having eight off ball defenders gave them flexibility to shift pieces around and swarm opponents’ strengths. Oklahoma State didn’t run the ball particularly effectively on them but they did try to use 12 personnel to extend the front and set up some passing lanes.

At Ohio State the Buckeyes had several big, blocking tight ends on the roster and they’d get them out on the field fairly often. One of their more effective plays they’d mix in was this:  

 

It’s like a normal zone-read with the tight end(s) arcing to lead on the edge for the outside sweep while the offensive line leaves the defensive end unblocked and takes on the rest of the front with zone blocking. The big difference is that the quarterback and running back switch roles. The running back takes the outside track that the quarterback would normally take on a keeper while the quarterback becomes the inside zone runner. It’s a devastating play for hitting the edge if your running back is particularly quick like Bijan Robinson AND your quarterback is an effective inside runner. Does Texas have anyone like that?

Here’s the double edge lead version:

This is a schematic checkmate for the offense. It’s really hard to stop the running back on a wide path unless the defensive end sells out to stop it. He approaches the perimeter already moving whereas the quarterback on a normal zone-read has to build up speed and win the edge after completing the mesh with the running back. The tight ends are also at a major advantage clearing out the perimeter on behalf of the running back. It’s best to stop the play before it gets started by denying the sweep but the defensive end probably isn’t affecting the trajectory unless he’s getting upfield quickly, thus surrendering the cutback lane on the zone play.

Meanwhile, the inside zone path gets double teams on both defensive tackles and likely some divided attention from the linebackers and safeties who will find it hard not to take a step to the perimeter when they see the running back aiming wide like this. The only real problem with this scheme is that it asks your quarterback to be a between the tackles runner. If he’s effective on inside runs and durable enough to survive the A-gap life it’s as close to a guaranteed gain as you can get.

Justin Fields and Jalen Hurts have had a lot of success in this scheme, as did the Westlake version of Sam Ehlinger. The Texas Sam Ehlinger would be unquestionably great in this scheme and Ja’Quinden Jackson would be downright horrifying, it’s just a matter of how often they want to utilize it. The play is best as a change-up against defenses that haven’t defaulted to asking their defensive end to play wide contain, creating opportunities for a lightning quick running back to get a free run at the perimeter behind a pair of lead blockers.

There’s a lot of other run game schemes an offense can mix in with 12 personnel to overextend and then punish spread defenses by widening the front and forcing smaller bodies to have to take on big blockers. Oklahoma State ran some dart and pulled the tackle. Ohio State ran “duo” and outside zone, often from under center.

Will Texas use 12 personnel in 2020?

It’s very possible that Texas will expand their use of bigger personnel. Cade Brewer returns healthy after a solid 2019 season. Jared Wiley is back, bigger and better as a sophomore. Texas also has Brayden Liebrock and Malcolm Epps. The latter two aren’t as strong as blockers but in 12 personnel one of the blockers will tend to draw easier assignments like clearing out a nickel or safety, jobs that Liebrock and Epps should be able to handle.

Texas also has three quality running backs, including a lightning quick 5-star freshman in Robinson that they’ll probably want to involve sooner than later. They can mix in quarterback run game to really up the ante on zone-option schemes.

If the goal in 2020 is to try and utilize as much of the roster as possible by running the same concepts from multiple formations, then it would make sense for Texas to not only regularly downsize with 10 personnel but also to supersize with 12 personnel. Particularly given how much stronger and versatile the tight ends now are and the likelihood that Texas will want to have more packages to use in order to feature all of their running backs.

It’s easy to imagine Yurcich mixing in double tight end sets in order to have a ready-made package to maximize Bijan Robinson in particular. Keaontay Ingram and Roschon Johnson both excel executing jump cuts and getting downhill quickly into the alleys and creases created by running inside zone from spread formations. Bijan Robinson has the speed to win the perimeter along an extended front.

Look at this nonsense…

 

…he moves like Reggie Bush. It’s virtually never too late for him to bounce outside.

But whether or not 12 personnel is truly valuable to Texas will depend on whether or not they can use it to draw in smaller Big 12 defenses and create opportunities to throw the ball outside to guys like Brennan Eagles and Jake Smith in 1-on-1 matchups. That’s where Yurcich made his name at previous stops and that’s how you use the run game to boost a modern offense. You don’t run the ball to control the clock and pick up steady gains, you do it to threaten the defense with that outcome and lure them in so you can throw the ball over their heads and score lots of points.

The Big 12’s three-down, flyover defenses would gladly accept Texas trying to beat them by pounding them up front from 12 personnel for small gains if that means they don’t have to worry about covering Brennan Eagles or Texas’ other wideouts 1-on-1 while Sam Ehlinger is dropping back.

Check out Yurcich’s run over time:

There’s a direct relationship between the effectiveness of the run game and the offense creating space and clarity down the field for the quarterback to drop bombs on opponents in the passing game. Don’t be shocked if Yurcich views Texas’ depth at tight end and running back and sees one more package that can be utilized to generate that effect.

Edited August 7, 2020 by LTtxfan

[BrazilHorn 6857]

1 minute ago, LTtxfan said:

 

Updated on Aug 6, 2020 at 6:18 AM

The early reports from voluntary 7-on-7 portions of practice at Texas included the news that the offense is mixing in more reps with four receivers on the field, or 10 personnel. That has potentially big ramifications for the season, perhaps the biggest being an indication that new offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich has freedom to package the offense as he prefers.

Tom Herman maintained an intense devotion to 11 personnel. Staying in that set with one running back, one tight end, and three receivers and running the entire offense from that personnel grouping made Texas’ tempo tactics much more effective. The Longhorns could get into different formations and move their best players into multiple positions to make the most of different situations, and opponents couldn’t substitute in specialized packages to match up. If their personnel didn’t have similar versatility, they just had to try and make the best of it.

So you’d regularly see Texas hurry into empty formations with Devin Duvernay matched on linebackers, or in power formations running two-back lead plays for Sam Ehlinger on third-and-one. If the defense wasn’t ready to stop it in their base defensive package they had to take the L or call a timeout.

Yurcich has gone the other way at previous stops, mixing in lots of personnel packages rather than staying in one. His units would emphasize a few key play concepts but be able to run them from different personnel groups and in different formations so as to involve offensive players of varying skill sets. Oklahoma State offenses of the past relied extensively on 10 personnel, 11 personnel, 20 personnel, 30 personnel, and 12/21 hybrid sets. The Ohio State offenses he was involved in also used a fair amount of 12 personnel.

If Yurcich has freedom to explore different packages in an effort to maximize the full Texas offensive roster, that could mean the Longhorns will begin to use more heavy packages as well.

Texas’ experiments with 12 personnel

Texas has used 12 personnel now and again over the last two seasons. Their 2018 base offense was arguably a 11.5/20.5 personnel grouping because Lil’Jordan Humphrey was, in effect, a full-time flex tight end. In both 2018 and in 2019 they’d play with two tight ends now and again, usually on the goal line, in short-yardage, when backed up to their own goal line, or when they wanted to run out the clock.

They struck gold with it against Baylor before the half in 2019…

 

 

 

This is potentially good news as long as Herman doesn't insist on spreading the TE out as a WR to try and "confuse" the defense. None of the TE on the roster are plus players vs the WR players UT has. Hopefully TH ripped out those pages in the binder.

[LTtxfan 50040]

Yurcich 12 package with Jarwin at Okie Lite...

 

Edited August 7, 2020 by LTtxfan

[Tex Long 4684]

12 hours ago, BrazilHorn said:

This is potentially good news as long as Herman doesn't insist on spreading the TE out as a WR to try and "confuse" the defense. None of the TE on the roster are plus players vs the WR players UT has. Hopefully TH ripped out those pages in the binder.

Hopefully, #MensaTom has learned that his job is to tell the Coordinators what he wants them to do, not how to do it. Well, that plus having found the right Coordinators...

[LTtxfan 50040]

Nm

Edited August 10, 2020 by LTtxfan
wrong thread

[LTtxfan 50040]

Milroe with a little comment to Yurcich in his leaving for Bama tweet...

 

 

[texifornia 59089]

Yurcich openly wanted Robertson over Milroe to start. But he's responsible for the Ewers capture, so no complaints.