From the Enquirer this morning on Tuberville's position on weight training, offense, defense and other topics. Speed is the name of the game gentlemen. I've noticed that many of the previous recruits under Lyle are being contacted by UC because the have the same atributes. Speed !!!!


TOMMY’S TURN

UC’s Tuberville wants to put explosion back in Bearcats’ offense

Tommy Tuberville is 58 years old and admittedly has some old-school ways, but the new University of Cincinnati football coach also promises to bring some pizzazz to the table.

Pizzazz – as in a high-flying, explosive offense.

“At Texas Tech we were No. 2 (nationally) in passing offense,” Tuberville said. “We’ll go very fast, and we’ll run a lot of plays. It’ll be exciting to watch.”

Tuberville made his reputation as a defensive coordinator at Miami (Fla.) and Texas A&M before becoming a head coach at Mississippi (1995-98), Auburn (1999-2008) and Texas Tech (2010-12). Tuberville also has adapted to today’s offensive game, with spread offenses and higher scoring more prevalent.

UC, under former coach Brian Kelly, became known for its explosive passing offense that featured quarterback Tony Pike throwing to wide receiver Mardy Gilyard. Butch Jones followed Kelly and also had a strong quarterback (Zach Collaros), with a standout running back (Isaiah Pead), holdovers from the Kelly days.

The Bearcats in Jones’ final season became more of a running team (George Winn), but also showed flashes in the passing game with two different quarterbacks (Munchie Legaux, Brendon Kay).

What will be different as the Tuberville Era begins in 2013? The Enquirer asked, Tuberville answered.

Tom Groeschen
1 Alter weight program

“We have a totally different program,” Tuberville said. “We’ll be more of a power-lifting team. We need to build strength and size. Our strength coaches (Joe Walker, former UC running back Orlando Smith) were with me at Texas Tech, and they know what to do.” Tuberville is not disparaging the previous UC weight progam, but rather wants to boot things up a notch.

“We need to build strength and size,” he said. “You always need to continue to do that. We’ll start what we call our Fourth Quarter (offseason) drills around the first of February, then spring ball starts around the first of March.”


2 Offensive style

“We’ll be 50-50, runpass. It will all start with the run. We want to be a basically tailback running team. We’ll be under center 25 to 30 percent.

“The fullback will be in the backfield a lot at first, a big tight-end type. We’ll have some quarterback running plays.

“We’ll play a lot of wide receivers at times, without a tight end. We’ll go very fast.”

(NOTE: Some statistical comparisons from 2012, when Texas Tech went 8-5, UC 10-3:

Total offense: Texas Tech was No. 13 nationally (495.9 ypg) … UC was 35 th (440.2 ypg). Scoring offense: Texas Tech was No. 19 nationally (37.5 ppg) … UC was No. 40 (32.2 ypg).

Rushing offense: Texas Tech was No. 86 nationally (139.9 ypg) … UC was No. 31 (201.5 ypg). Passing offense: Texas Tech was No. 2 nationally in yardage (355.9 ypg) and tied for No. 1 in most TD passes (44) … UC was No. 54 in yardage (238.8 ypg) and No. 41 in TD passes (25).


3 Defensive style

“We’ll be multiple, based in a four-man front. I’m a technique guy. I believe you can take a lesser talented football player and teach him technique. “We’ll play a gap control defense. There will be multiple things we do with our secondary. I believe in having a linebacker type who can play defensive end and rush the passer, and bigger secondary players that you can roll up in the box and stop the run. That was the kind of thing we did at Miami (Fla.) “I believe in speed.”

Total defense: Texas Tech was No. 38 nationally (367.3 ypg) … UC was No. 55 (388.1 ypg) Scoring defense: Texas Tech was No. 90 nationally (31.8 ppg) … UC was No. 14 (18.5 ppg) Rushing defense: Texas Tech was No. 76 nationally (175.5 ypg) … UC was No. 31 (135.6 ypg). Passing defense: Texas Tech was No. 14 nationally (191.8 ypg) … UC was No. 91 (252.5)
4Quarterback situation

Munchie Legaux and Brendon Kay both will be seniors in 2013. Kay as incumbent will be No. 1 when spring drills begin.

“I would say that, only for the fact that’s where he ended up for the season,” Tuberville said of Kay. “If you had a guy that was a 13-game starter, it would be a nobrainer. With Munchie, what he brings to the table is a lot of what we want to do in the run game. “I think we’ve got talent there. They both have experience. Both quarterbacks probably will have the opportunity to play. I like the younger guys too. I want to give them all a chance. “I don’t care who plays. We’re going to play the best guy.”


5 Refocused recruiting

“We want speed guys. I’m a true believer in quickness and speed. We’ve got to get better in the secondary and bigger on the defensive line. We’ve got to have a pass rusher.

“You can’t teach quickness and speed, so we’re going to try to get the fastest and quickest person we can.

“We have four or five true mid-year players coming in to start school. We have around 12 guys right now that are committed to us that will sign

in February. “The biggest thing right now is evaluation. We have 200 guys we’re looking at ... interested in us. We’ll break that down to 25 or 30 and bring some in for official visits.”