I wonder if the ODU offensive philosophy is changing or has changed.
We just signed a big strong pocket passer in Joey Verhaegh. We are about to sign an almost carbon copy of Verhaegh in Caleb Wilson.
We haven't run a true Oregon like spread in two years. I assumed that eliminating the QB read option last year was an attempt to protect Heinicke, and eliminating the quick strike aspect was to allow more time for Heinicke to see the defense and more time off the clock for our defense.
Additionally, we were compensating for receiver and OL issues.
What we had been running more recently is basically a Bill Walsh West Coast offense from a spread set. The main aspect of this concept is the short accurate pass in lieu of a running game. Some might call it the Air Raid spread.
However, by the end of the last season we were running a much more balanced attack.
I think we discovered in the UMD and later in the Pitt game the limitations of running the quick pass game with a shorter QB and shorter WRs. We just couldn't see over the DL or even the DBs.
Curiously, Colin McElroy, another Heinicke like QB, has been MIA.
Shuler Bentley will run the offense in Heinicke like fashion, scrambling out of the pocket in order to find (see) receivers and extend plays.
The much taller Verheagh and Caleb Wilson likely would not have to scramble as much, however they both have the arms to otherwise run our offense.
With the emergence of Ray Lawry, who was able to run very effectively even with our makeshift OL, and type of the RBs we are now recruiting, we seem to be moving in a different direction.
It looks to me like we will be running more of a pro set in the future.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Verhaegh move ahead of Bentley by the beginning of the season.
Thoughts?
I would like to see a tight end made of use particularly in the red zone.
Good observations...
I believe we went slow for a number of good reasons last season. Attrition to the receiving corps meant Antonio Vaughan was essentially our one big play threat and to maximize his efficiency, we needed to have him in the game more which meant less subs. We also had serious O-Line issues, especially along the right side and I believe Wilder/Scott wanted to ease into a first full season of FBS play without something major happening, like a devastating injury to the star QB.
My guess is the pace will really pick up with Bentley. His idol is Peyton Manning and even though he's not 6'5, he plays with the same pace and fearlessness. TH looked for the short, quick hitting action and then he progressed down the field which left many of us wondering why he wasn't hitting the wide open guy at times. Bentley is always looking to push the ball down the sidelines, then comes back to the check down.
I believe we run a very fast, run based spread next season with Lawry, Lowe, Strong and possibly Simmons getting a combined 35 touches per game and take shots down the field to Blair Roberts, Zach Pascal and David Washington when the defense starts to creep up. This will be predicated on what the D does with their safeties.
I'd be amazed if Bentley does not win the job. He's electric.
Funny, I just touch on this in another thread without seeing this post....
I don't think they are making a conscience effort to go with a more pro style offense. I think they are going after the most talented QB they can find and will adjust the offense to those needs. If that QB is Bentley, we won't see a huge change. If that QB is Wilson or Joey V., we will see more of a hybrid between the Heinicke/Demarco schemes.
One thing to note is Wilder changes schemes almost on a weekly basis. They typically find something that they believe they can attack the defense with and try it out early in the game as a new wrinkle. It may be Washington as a QB (Vandy), or Washington as an H-Back, or a traditional TE (LT), or the play action boot to the H-Back (Florida International) I think people want to peg a scheme, but we are real flexible with that scheme. (probably partially due to having a senior QB in the system for 4 years)
I don't expect to have a QB behind center and I don't expect a huddle. I think the differences will be what the QB does well in terms of read option plays or quick strike passing, or longer developing passing plays. We have a wide variety of weapons at WR that can be tailored to any style of play.
Big Physical (Roberts, Pascal, Duhant) Small, shifty (Lowe, Harper). Combo of the two (Washington)
The main point is I think we go after talent. It would be crazy to pass up Caleb Wilson bc we want more of a traditional drop back passer.
Remember, when the offense was moving it's fastest, they only had like 12 plays. They just had better athaletes than almost everyone in FCS...and they had more of them, so they just rotated and the D couldn't keep up.
In FBS, that's not the case anymore. They couldn't just outrun everyone. The playbook expanded, they added more formations. Plus, as TH got better, they gave him more atonomay to make calls at the line; that takes more time. All that being said...they sill averaged around 70 plays a game, they didn't slow down that much.
As for the new QB's, just because we've always had smaller qbs doesn't mean that's all we go after. And it doesn't mean bigger ones can't move. They needed depth at that spot, and got the best ones they could find.
I think it had more to do with the defense and lack of depth. Wilder was trying to protect them.
It should be very nice to have the quarterback competiton. I think our main advantage here is that Coach Wilder will be able to take more chances if needed with the quarterback scrambling and rushing since he will have possibly a trio of good quarterbacks. This should put a lot of pressure on the other team. We never really had quarterback depth before.
I think we'll have more of a pro-style offense five years from now, but ultimately I'll be happy with whatever gets us wins.
(01-12-2015 09:39 AM)ODUalum78 Wrote: [ -> ]I wonder if the ODU offensive philosophy is changing or has changed.
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I wouldn't be surprised to see Verhaegh move ahead of Bentley by the beginning of the season.
I don't think you will see a substantial change in philosophy, and though I do believe we will see a spirited competition at QB, I think we will see Bentley win out. He is deadly accurate on the short and medium passes and is also good on the long ball. I am excited to see how it turns out, but I think we will see Bentley as our next starting QB.
Whoever is the QB I am sure we will continue to have an exciting offense to watch which is fun. I also believe the "D" this Fall will be better (not sure how much better but better). All-in-all I am looking forward to this season and continued improvement on our way to our first bowl.
(01-12-2015 08:16 PM)ETSUDB8-79 Wrote: [ -> ]Whoever is the QB I am sure we will continue to have an exciting offense to watch which is fun. I also believe the "D" this Fall will be better (not sure how much better but better). All-in-all I am looking forward to this season and continued improvement on our way to our first bowl.
