Does Mullen get more creative this year on Offense?

[Coach34]

If I'm the OC- and I look at this team this season- here is what I see:

DeRunnya Wilson- a stud WR that needs touches- plays physical so rarely will CB's walk up on him
Fred Ross- another very good WR that needs touches from the slot
Fred Brown- Speed to stretch defenses vertically
Donald Gray- speedy WR
Dear/Mixon- one plays- one will RS most likely. Can make some plays in the slot
Morrow/Myles- solid players that will play alot

Shump, Lee, Williams- all the RB's have really good hands

Dakota Prescott- one of the nation's top 3 QB's

OT's- Rufus Warren and Justin Senior- probably the most athletic OT Combo we have had under Mullen

Sooooooo- what, as the OC, can I add to the offense to make this machine run as well as it can? I'm going to add alot of screens. Here's why:

Screens slow down pass rushers- by making them more tentative, this helps your new OL guys as they gain experience of being every down players
Screens are shorter throws to get the ball to your playmakers- Wilson and Ross
Quickscreens make CB's and Safeties have to play up more- this plays into making it easier to get the ball to Wilson and Brown over the top
Quickscreens get the ball out of Prescott's hands quicker- lessening the chance of him getting hit.

Bubble screen with Ross, Myles, Dear/Mixon to get behind Wilson who is a physical, blocking machine
Jailbreak screen with Wilson
Middle screens and throwback screens to the RB's and Walley
Screen fakes to throw deep with Brown and also freeze LB's- which allow throwing lanes underneath the Safeties

Playmakers at QB and WR + Athletic OT's= run some damn screens

[BulldogBear]

More rollouts. Get DP moving so the defenses HAVE to be afraid he will run on more plays even if he actually runs less. I feel this is something we've never fully exploited.

[Coach34]

More rollouts. Get DP moving so the defenses HAVE to be afraid he will run on more plays even if he actually runs less. I feel this is something we've never fully exploited.

I'm with Mullen- why Rollout? It cuts down how much field you have to work with. It also makes coverage easier for the Secondary- they roll to the rollout side and jump routes. Modern football is about spreading and using the entire field. Rollouts were more effective when defenses aligned in a straight 5-2 or 4-3 with the SS standing the box with them. Dont see that anymore

[CadaverDawg]

I'm with Mullen- why Rollout? It cuts down how much field you have to work with. It also makes coverage easier for the Secondary- they roll to the rollout side and jump routes. Modern football is about spreading and using the entire field. Rollouts were more effective when defenses aligned in a straight 5-2 or 4-3 with the SS standing the box with them. Dont see that anymore

I agree, less rollouts=more options. I also love the screens idea, Coach. I also will state the obvious, and say that I want to see more downhill running on the read option due to our RB personnel. Get good push from our line, and get Shump and Dak running downhill together, we will be hard to stop. In other words, don't get too greedy if we can pick up 3-4 yds per run right up the gut. It may not be flashy, but once teams get more in the box, it's open season for our stud QB and WR's to make hay. Plus it wears defenses down.

[Leroy Jenkins]

I agree, less rollouts=more options. I also love the screens idea, Coach. I also will state the obvious, and say that I want to see more downhill running on the read option due to our RB personnel. Get good push from our line, and get Shump and Dak running downhill together, we will be hard to stop. In other words, don't get too greedy if we can pick up 3-4 yds per run right up the gut. It may not be flashy, but once teams get more in the box, it's open season for our stud QB and WR's to make hay. Plus it wears defenses down.

I dont know if our OL has been a "push" type group under Mullen (except Gabe Jackson). Its more about making creases with angles and leverage. Our OL play is more about occupying a defender until the ball carrier gets by than it is about pushing the LOS back. I also think this style lets us get by with "lesser" talent on the OL. Just my thoughts.

[RiverCityDawg]

I'm with Mullen- why Rollout? It cuts down how much field you have to work with. It also makes coverage easier for the Secondary- they roll to the rollout side and jump routes. Modern football is about spreading and using the entire field. Rollouts were more effective when defenses aligned in a straight 5-2 or 4-3 with the SS standing the box with them. Dont see that anymore

I agree. Plus, I've heard the coaches say (and my eyes confirm) that Dak is more accurate in the pocket when he can set his feet. Now If the pocket/play breaks down, by all means, roll out keep eyes downfield and find a receiver, run if there's space or throw it away of not. But as a matter of strategy I don't like the roll out in our offense outside of the occasional play action stuff at the goal line.

[CadaverDawg]

I dont know if our OL has been a "push" type group under Mullen (except Gabe Jackson). Its more about making creases with angles and leverage. Our OL play is more about occupying a defender until the ball carrier gets by than it is about pushing the LOS back. I also think this style lets us get by with "lesser" talent on the OL. Just my thoughts.

I agree to an extent, but with this group of RB's, and a power running QB, SOME push is crucial. Plus, we ran with great downhill push when Relf was QB. That's more of what I was meaning. But you're right.

[gravedigger]

I completely agree with your reasoning. But every time I hear mullen talk its about the qb's maturity depending on going through progressions and it makes me believe he wants dak to stay in the pocket.

I hope im wrong and that really isnt a priority. If we were to focus on getting the ball to the outside more efficiently as a priority, dak would have a better success standing in the pocket when necessary.

[Coach34]

I dont know if our OL has been a "push" type group under Mullen (except Gabe Jackson). Its more about making creases with angles and leverage. Our OL play is more about occupying a defender until the ball carrier gets by than it is about pushing the LOS back. I also think this style lets us get by with "lesser" talent on the OL. Just my thoughts.

Its because we are a "zone blocking" team. We dont have a "power" philosophy. Its also why we have problems with Bama and Ole Missus last year. Bama's 3 DL guys are space-eaters- they arent worried that much about cut off as they are holding their position. Ole Missus has a quick, slanting front that makes cutting them off tougher. Ole Missus struggles with power blocking teams like LSU, UPig, Bama, etc.

[Dawgface]

More rollouts. Get DP moving so the defenses HAVE to be afraid he will run on more plays even if he actually runs less. I feel this is something we've never fully exploited.

I agree. I like the pass/run option it gives you with Prescott. I'm not talking about 8-10 a game, but 2-3. Wouldn't roll outs also take some heat off a young OL?

[Coach34]

I agree to an extent, but with this group of RB's, and a power running QB, SOME push is crucial. Plus, we ran with great downhill push when Relf was QB. That's more of what I was meaning. But you're right.

We ran less Zone stretch with Ralph. Ran a ton of it with Russell.

[5 Star]

Worked for Ole Miss (Cpt. Bubble Screen and all).

I disagree on roll-outs, but with one caveat - I think they should be at Dak's discretion, and not called by Mullen. So, I guess I agree with you that we shouldn't call them, but I disagree that they shouldn't be used. Dak has had a problem seeing some wide open receivers from the pocket in the past, but from the roll-out, it seems he always finds them. But Mullen's offense is weird, it's all seams and angles, so roll-outs don't really play in. Dak does it all above-average, but he isn't elite in any category.

Dak is a tweener QB in that regard. Omarr Conner should have been rolling out every play, Dak needs to be about 50/50 or 30/70 roll-out/pocket.

[SallyStansbury]

Good post, Mullen needs to study your above post about opening up to beat the Bama an Olemiss D's. Once his initial strategy doesn't work, he becomes more conservative and you see more Dak up the middle, etc....I miss Gabe Jackson and his ability to plow people. Have your boy HEV pick up 2-3 like that. Seems we are developing what we have well enough, but more talent couldn't hurt on the Oline.

[Coach34]

..I miss Gabe Jackson and his ability to plow people. Have your boy HEV pick up 2-3 like that. Seems we are developing what we have well enough, but more talent couldn't hurt on the Oline.

We already have in Jenkins and Calhoun

[MetEdDawg]

Only time I want to see us rollout is on those quick curls/outs we like to do. We do that a lot when we want a quick 4-7 yards and have been pretty successful at it. But we have tons of weapons at WR. Why cut off half the field? Let guys run intermediate and deep routes, make DBs work in space on both sides of the field, and let our talent beat their talent.

To me I think what we need to see is more up tempo play calling mid drive. We did it a few times last year and it always seemed to work well. We are good at eating clock, but it's damn tough to stop us when we get rolling down hill at a fast tempo. Convert a couple 1st downs, then wear that ass out with up tempo no huddle. We will do a good mix of both, but I love it when we shock the hell out of someone by going up temp after some methodical play calling.

I also want to see us execute with our speed guys better. Our biggest weakness on offense is utilizing our speed in space. We've got solid RBs, Mixon, Dear, Holloway and WRs that can make plays with their speed. We've got to do a better job of setting up screens, speed sweeps, and flairs with our speed guys. We try and out speed teams but it always seemed like something went wrong. Timing, OL not executing, and not getting an edge block. We saw what our offense can be when we hit big plays. We need more of those from our speed guys. That will help add a little bit of a shock dimension to our offense.

[Sacrifice]

I would love to see us hit more vertical shots down field. I thought we had some chances last season, we just missed them. Also when opposing defenses key on stopping Dak between the tackles like Bama and OM did. I'd like to see Mullen make adjustments before the end of the 3rd quarter.

[MSUDawg4Life]

I don't know if I would consider screens to be "more creative". Actually, I don't think we need more creativity at all.

Last year, we had the best offense in the conference - at Mississippi State. Think about that. This is a conference that includes Steve Spurrier and Kevin Sumlin who many knowledgeable people consider to be offensive geniuses.

We don't need more "creativity". What we need to do is to execute the offense we have at a higher level. I think speeding up the offense is a good idea on Mullen's part. All we really need to do from that point is to execute on a high level. Crisp blocking. Great route running. Sure catches. Hard and explosive runs. Accurate passes. Minimize mistakes. Those are the things we need.

Instead of trying to get fancy, if we could just perfect the fundamentals of the offense we have we will again be the best offense in this conference and among the best in the country.

[PSYCHO(thesis)DEFENSE]

I'm expecting Clayborn to get more movement against the likes of UA & UM than Day gave us. At least not get put on skates. IDK if Desper has as much power as Beckwith but he is definitely more athletic.

[starkvegasdawg]

I like the roll outs mainly in short yardage scenarios like a 3rd and 5. Roll him out to the wide side of the field in a run/pass option and take what the defense gives you. Might also set up a trick play where you quickly break a speed guy back the opposite direction on a reverse.

[ShotgunDawg]

Good post, Mullen needs to study your above post about opening up to beat the Bama an Olemiss D's.

Really?

I agree that Coach knows what he's talking about, but, if Mullen has to read a message board for this knowledge, then he should fire every assistant coach we have. Pretty sure Mullen understands this and is doing all he can to correct it.