My thoughts on the QB change after listening to RL
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2024 1:27 pmThere is going to be all kinds of controversy with this, but here are my thoughts. I think there are three reasons for the change.
1) A failure to adjust and take the short option. The book is out on Preston. Drop back deep on the outside to take away the option that he wants to see, and then blitz up the middle. Preston always wants to wait for the homerun to develop, so rather than going with a hot read, he tries to buy time in the pocket. BYU ran a 3-3 stack and blitzed the LBs while dropping everyone deep. As I stated in my writeups, the OL was terrible in the game and blew the blocking scheme. That isn't on Preston.
But RL has talked all offseason about wanting Preston to stay on schedule with his reads. You have to be able to see that the blitz is there and alter your standard progression to the hot read. Because Preston is looking way down the field the whole time, he doesn't see delayed pressure. Better coaching staffs in top conferences were going to see that and adjust to play him the rest of the year. Jennings, on the other hand, does a much better job of taking what is there.
2) Lack of elite talent at WR and struggles on the OL. Our WR room isn't bad. There just isn't a top tier guy out there. We also have an OL that is much better at run blocking than pass blocking.
As a result, if you start your progression looking deep, odds are that the time it takes is going to lead to a failure by someone on the OL and without elite talent at WR against top teams, nobody is getting open down the field. Instead, we want a faster paced game by reading the defense and getting the ball out quick. Then, once the defense collapses close to the line, you take the deep shot because our WR are good enough to win 1v1.
3) Attacking all areas of the field. As RL mentioned, he wants his offense to threaten all areas of the field. What was eventually also going to happen to PS that happened to TM is the drop 8. If you recall, TM never scrambled, he was afraid to get hurt. So, they took that away, took away the deep ball, and we would struggle against elite defenses. The same was going to happen with PS. Switching to Jennings, you now have another threat in the first 10 yards of the LOS. Within 10 yards, I have threats from Jennings as well as Smith and Daniels who can proved a lot of YAC. Mid-range, I have K Smith, RJ, Hibner, Hudson. And then deep I can threaten with Mello, Moochie, and RJ if the defense is going to leave their safeties tighter to defend the first two zones. Preston had developed into a one zone guy. If you think about it, when the defense is backing up to cover the last zone, that is when you want to attack the first zone. With Preston, he would wait for the last zone to develop. At that point, all the defenders are in place and ready to collapse on a dump off. They can come back in and defend the first zone and second zone once they are back in the third zone and set up. It made him a one zone threat, which is easier to defend.
I don't know if it will work, but that is at least the thought process behind the change.
We have now completely flipped the identity of our football team in two seasons. We are a defense first, clock eating, grind it out, physical team. We are going to be very heavy RPO. Go and watch the BC offense against Florida State from the other day. That is who we are.
1) A failure to adjust and take the short option. The book is out on Preston. Drop back deep on the outside to take away the option that he wants to see, and then blitz up the middle. Preston always wants to wait for the homerun to develop, so rather than going with a hot read, he tries to buy time in the pocket. BYU ran a 3-3 stack and blitzed the LBs while dropping everyone deep. As I stated in my writeups, the OL was terrible in the game and blew the blocking scheme. That isn't on Preston.
But RL has talked all offseason about wanting Preston to stay on schedule with his reads. You have to be able to see that the blitz is there and alter your standard progression to the hot read. Because Preston is looking way down the field the whole time, he doesn't see delayed pressure. Better coaching staffs in top conferences were going to see that and adjust to play him the rest of the year. Jennings, on the other hand, does a much better job of taking what is there.
2) Lack of elite talent at WR and struggles on the OL. Our WR room isn't bad. There just isn't a top tier guy out there. We also have an OL that is much better at run blocking than pass blocking.
As a result, if you start your progression looking deep, odds are that the time it takes is going to lead to a failure by someone on the OL and without elite talent at WR against top teams, nobody is getting open down the field. Instead, we want a faster paced game by reading the defense and getting the ball out quick. Then, once the defense collapses close to the line, you take the deep shot because our WR are good enough to win 1v1.
3) Attacking all areas of the field. As RL mentioned, he wants his offense to threaten all areas of the field. What was eventually also going to happen to PS that happened to TM is the drop 8. If you recall, TM never scrambled, he was afraid to get hurt. So, they took that away, took away the deep ball, and we would struggle against elite defenses. The same was going to happen with PS. Switching to Jennings, you now have another threat in the first 10 yards of the LOS. Within 10 yards, I have threats from Jennings as well as Smith and Daniels who can proved a lot of YAC. Mid-range, I have K Smith, RJ, Hibner, Hudson. And then deep I can threaten with Mello, Moochie, and RJ if the defense is going to leave their safeties tighter to defend the first two zones. Preston had developed into a one zone guy. If you think about it, when the defense is backing up to cover the last zone, that is when you want to attack the first zone. With Preston, he would wait for the last zone to develop. At that point, all the defenders are in place and ready to collapse on a dump off. They can come back in and defend the first zone and second zone once they are back in the third zone and set up. It made him a one zone threat, which is easier to defend.
I don't know if it will work, but that is at least the thought process behind the change.
We have now completely flipped the identity of our football team in two seasons. We are a defense first, clock eating, grind it out, physical team. We are going to be very heavy RPO. Go and watch the BC offense against Florida State from the other day. That is who we are.