The truth about the Air Raid and Leach
To start off, I told you. Cohen wanted to win. Cohen made all of us eat shit especially the never Leachers. Get on board or get out.
He has more talent, more facilities, more money than anywhere he has ever coached and you really think he is not gonna win? You are being hard headed just for the sake of it.
I dont wanna hear anything about man coverage either. Leach will mesh it and screen it to death. He aint dumb. Leach is not a RPO guy. The pure air raid (which we are getting) is not gonna be RPO. Its all called and is very very dependent on the QB checking the plays at the line. It is incredibly simple. It is a pure numbers game. It has about 3 run plays, inside zone, outside zone and a wrap play. Just pulling a guard it is basically like ISO without a FB. He very rarely has used many TE/Hbacks. He has used them at UK and at TTU. But he wont go out recruiting them. He will run a lot of 2 back sets (open left, open right) Kylin and Marks together will be hell. The drop back game is also very simple. 4 verts, Y cross, Y stick, shallow cross, smash, some option routes (run and shoot type routes) and triangle reads. (Corner bubble snag) The reason it works so well is bc of its simplicity. It is going to be like going from calculus to arithmetic. We will see some perimeter game (key screens, bubble screens, tunnel screens) and that is just an extension of the run. You will see our WRs play better than they ever have. Austin Williams is a perfect Mike Leach WR. I would have loved to have seen Deddrick Thomas play for him. We have some pieces, hopefully he moves Jones to WR bc he is dynamic there and an issue at CB. Steve Spurrier Jr is a Peeler type of coach for a good comparison. He surely plans on bringing him with him. It is going to work.
His biggest emphasis, believe it or not is going to be the OL. He always has one of the best in the nation every year and most of the time they are huge. He has 1 pass protection. Vertical set. Thats it. They will slide it one way or the other if you overload one side and let the back pick up off the backside edge. He is not going to go out and recruit QBs and WRs like he is the OL. This offense is going to sell itself for WRs and QBs. We should get the best skill guys in the state every single year. He is going to go out and find the best OL and give it hell. It is a well known fact that nobody who plays offense gets an offer without him signing off on it first. He wont be hiring an OC or QB coach. He is both of those. He will be spending big money on his OL and if he can bring Steve Spurrier Jr with him to Starkville we will be rolling. He is a great recruiter. For all of you bitching about his recruiting I can understand that, but he is going to be at the easiest place he has ever had to recruit to in his coaching career. He will need to get a good staff and he will. He is a national name. He wont have to look hard to find guys to coach for him.
There is a common myth that Leach is soft or that they dont run the ball. He has had multiple thousand yard rushers and a couple of years ago they scored 24 rushing TDs in one season. Running it is easier for him than it is for Mullen bc of the box numbers and alignments he is going to get. Go watch the Texas Tech and Texas game from 2008 and they ran inside zone till the cows came home. He also plays no shit and discipline and S&C will not be an issue under Leach. Hang all of that up. I bet some of our guys transfer out and I bet we get several transfers as well. He may need to bring in a QB with him bc I personally do not expect Shrader to stay.
The QB situation is going to be interesting bc from Shrader's track record he is not a gym rat or a film junky. He is tough and a gamer but Leach wants the previous. Rogers is all of that. However, it is every QB's dream to play for Mike Leach so we wont be looking for QBs for long. I dont care if they think they are a run first guy or not, they want to throw it. Who doesn't? KT, Mayden and the others are going to get coached differently than they ever have and are going to be asked to do less than they ever have. Count the numbers and be accurate. Arm strength isnt a problem for any of them. I would put Rogers in the driver's set bc he has ran the offense and he and Gardner are very close. Dont undervalue that. He is smart and a gym rat. Loves the game. Leach also teaches the scramble drill very well. Go watch them during pass skel. There is no blown whistle till the ball hits the ground. Remember WSU was the first school to offer Will Rogers.
There is an obvious concern with defense, and I am worried about it. But yall act like he doesnt know that. He hired Grinch at WSU and he immediately got the job at blue blood Oklahoma. He is going to find a guy to run it and he is gonna let him recruit how he wants, hire who he wants and coach how he wants. No meddling of it at all. Shoop would be great with Leach. Grantham would be a grand slam. Open up the checkbook and get a guy bc Leach aint gonna mess with him.
Swing your sword fellas this is gonna be fun. For all of you never Leachers, you will be a believer before long. We needed a shot in the arm in the worst way possible and we got just that. Cohen gave you what you wanted. Get behind it or go give money to the baseball program bc Davis Wade will be back in 2020. We could win 7-8 and not be that good bc of how favorable the schedule is.
