By Mike Kuchar 
Senior Research Manager 
X&O Labs 
Twitter: @MikekKuchar 

Introduction

The offensive system being developed at the University of Texas is a run-heavy system; that has been the intent since head coach Tom Herman got the gig in late 2016 and a run-first offense has been his blueprint since his earliest days as an OC at Texas State in 2005. It’s a system rooted in the A and B gap run game, often using the quarterback’s role as a runner more than a passer. When he is asked to throw, he’ll rely on more play-action or push the pocket concepts to present a dual threat on the perimeter. The national audience got it’s first taste of this with the success of Ohio State University quarterbacks J.T. Barrett, Cardale Jones and Braxton Miller who thrived as dual threat players when Coach Herman was an offensive coordinator in Columbus. Now he’s working to replicate that same success in his second year in Austin and he is equipping himself with the assets to do so with dual threat quarterbacks Sam Ehlinger and Shane Buechele competing for the job. They both combined for over 700 yards rushing last season.

In the hierarchy of importance is in this system, the tight end sits a step, albeit a small one according to Coach Herman, behind the quarterback. Coach Herman is an 11 personnel disciple; it’s a grouping he coveted since he began studying film of his later protégé Urban Meyer while Meyer was the head coach at Utah. He has made it clear that he wants to play with a tight end (current starter Andrew Beck told us so in spring meetings this April). In fact, he thinks playing without one is senseless. “With true zone read being a dying play because the ends are so well coached, I don’t know how you run the ball without a tight end,” Coach Herman told us. “We are going to align in a two back set or we are going to create a two back running game with the use of a tight end. We are an A gap to B gap run team.” But one thing is certain; if you’re going to commit to keeping your tight end on the field, you better find one that is versatile.

With the healthy crop of tight ends that Texas has coming into this spring, using at least one of them shouldn’t be a problem. When Tom Herman got the job in Austin, he said he wanted to be in 11 personnel about 98 percent of the time. Injuries at that position may have limited that possibility in 2017, but consider the following as an indicator of what’s to come this fall: Let the following information serve as an indicator heading into the fall: the Longhorns were in 11 personnel in over 94 percent of snaps this spring. It seems now they have the tight ends to do it.

But in order to play that many downs during the course of a game, the Y must have a broad based knowledge of the entire system, because he will often be the adjustor to line up in different formations. “You can line up the first three plays of the game and play three different positions,” tight end coach Derek Warehime told us. “You need to be pretty good at all that stuff.” All that stuff is essentially every concept in Coach Herman’s system.

The good news is that the staff at Texas makes it easy for this player to learn and retain information. Each concept has a name, and each of those names is tied to a concept. They lump their run game into three types of concepts: tight zone, wide zones, gap runs and man runs. The pass game is separated into quick game; drop back, play action and pocket escapes. Sure, this may not be different than other offensive systems, but how many of those systems account for the tight end being asked to handle the following job descriptions all within the course of one game?

• Know the 56 formations in Texas offensive system that the Tight End is on the field.
• Know the 12 run concepts that are most commonly used in Texas offensive system, including the dozen tags that correspond with it.
• Know the 6 pass protections that Texas uses with the tight end involved.
• Know the 10 route concepts that involve the tight end.

Coach Herman wasn’t kidding when he said how important it was that this player be versatile. He would know; in his 12 years as a coordinator, he coached three that ended up in the NFL: James Casey (Rice), Collin Franklin (Iowa State) and Jeff Heuerman (Ohio State). The purpose of this study is to help coaches provide their tight ends with the necessary tools to be successful in this type of system, where much is put on their plate. We were impressed with the ways in which these players absorbed information in the short time we were there this spring considering many of these players were either hurt or played an entirely new position last season. Of the top three Y’s on the depth chart this spring only one saw significant playing time last season. The other two were redshirts. But the learning curve has been sharp. The unit has nearly doubled their catches (from 18 to 34) from last season seven practices into spring.

In this case, we wanted to present a general overview of the Longhorns’ system and transition into the role that the tight end plays in it. We will detail the formation classifications, the kinds of motions that this player is expected to know and the tempo in which he is asked to execute these rules. In subsequent cases, we’ll detail the specific types of blocks he’s asked to learn and the techniques he’s taught to execute them.

By Mike Kuchar 
Senior Research Manager 
X&O Labs 
Twitter: @MikekKuchar 

Introduction

According to co-offensive coordinator Tim Beck, part of the reason why Texas is utilizing the Y so much in its run game is to attack the odd fronts synonymous in the Big 12 conference. Aside from Kansas State, the prototypical four down, two high defense, every other program in this conference bases out of a three-down front. This means there are no-open B gaps or A gaps along the line of scrimmage with perimeter support coming from overhang defenders (Diagram 6). So, if you want to run the ball against this spacing, it almost becomes necessary to insert another blocker along the line of scrimmage to create another gap. Of course, that blocker naturally becomes the tight end.

The advantage is that Y can insert anywhere along the front, from C gap to C gap. The downside is that he has to know exactly where to fit based on play concept and he has to be prepared to block any defender, from defensive end, to zero nose to box linebacker. The job description is extremely versatile. In this case we detail the top interior A/B gap runs in this system, what blocks that tight end is expected to make and what techniques he’s taught to make them. We also explain the drill work that is used to teach this technique. First, we segment our research based off the concepts that Coach Herman has prided this offense on since its inception, the A/B gap run game.

Mantras in Run Game

If you hang around offensive line coach Herb Hand and tight ends coach Derek Warehime long enough (as we did) you’ll hear two common phrases uttered on the daily. “Get the play started” and “don’t pass color.” These are the two most frequent maxims both of these coaches use in teaching their players the run game. In fact, they are written all over the meeting rooms in Austin. We did our best to define them below:

“Get the play started”: This means that there is always one blocker that is asked to generate momentum for the play at the point of attack. It varies based on concept, but basically if this player doesn’t make his block the play is over. An example could be the tight end on the Longhorn’s speed sweep or Maserati concept (which we detail in case three). If he doesn’t block the overhang at the point of attack, the play is over.

“Don’t pass color”: This one is a little more obvious. It simply means that blockers cannot pass up a different color jersey (opponent) before carrying out their assignment. This rule trumps whatever responsibility is expected of them on the play call. An example could be the tight end passing up an edge rusher that the pulling guard missed on the play side of the Longhorn’s counter or Fiat concept (which we will detail in case three).

Box Count Relevance

We wanted to know that the tight ends are expected to know as far as box count goes in the run game. Since they are asked to do so many things, we were curious to see if Coach Warehime trains their eyes to scan the box when runs are signaled. As it turns out, there are only a couple items the Y needs to understand and much of it is predicated on the Center identification. The tight ends block in the run game is directly tied to the Center’s ID. In the Longhorns’ system, the Center will verbalize only two types of front identification (Even or Okie) and gesture with this fingers- raising four or three respectively, so the tight end can see them in the commonly crowded venues in the Big 12. His eyes go from the Center to the ID count to the defender he needs to block.

Teen vs. Deuce Identification Protocol

Like most offensive systems, the Center makes his identification count based on two things: whom the combination is working to in the run game and whom the protection is working to in the pass game. But, the identification can change based on the following: run concept, which is carrying the ball and what front the defense presents. For the most part, the Center will identify the play side linebacker in zone runs and the backside linebacker in gap runs (because that is where the combinations are occurring). In the quarterback run game, the identification can be pushed a defender back because the offense can attain an additional blocker to the play side (in the form of the running back). The Longhorns will use both a teen identification (runs that start with “1”) and a deuce identification (runs that start with “2”) to alert the Center on which he should use.

In order to keep things consistent vs. odd fronts, the Center will identify the backside linebacker in both zone and gap schemes. This is done to keep things consistent for the backside Guard and Tackle whom will be asked to block the ID and the defender past the ID, respectively. The adjusters are the play side blockers. The play side Guard and play side Tackle always double team to one past the identification play side.

Editor’s Note: In each of the diagrams presented in this report, the circled defender indicates the identification of the Center- both for run and pass.

Inside “V” vs. Outside “V” Aiming Points

By Mike Kuchar 
Senior Research Manager 
X&O Labs 
Twitter: @MikekKuchar 

Introduction

Like most offensive systems, the runs being packaged in Austin complement each other. Power is married to pin and pull, divide zone is married to divide zone option, insert zone is married to cutoff zone. The concepts are meant to look the same to the defense, particularly the defensive end that will get a myriad of different visuals when defending this scheme. This means the onus is on the tight end to be the manipulator on these runs and continually execute different blocks based on the play concept.

In this case, we are going to present our research on how tight ends coach Derek Warehime and the offensive staff train the tight end to adjust his footwork, blocking angles and strike points to block both interior and perimeter runs in this system. It starts with understanding the aiming point and landmark needed to execute these blocks.

Inside “V” vs. Outside “V” Aiming Points

Once the identification is determined and ball is snapped, the technique kicks in. We will detail all of the techniques needed to make the blocks the tight end needs to make in this system. But before carrying out the necessary techniques, and underlying premise is the landmark in which these blocks have to be made. These landmarks fall in the realm of two categories: and outside ”V” landmark and an inside “V” landmark. Each play concept requires the tight end to block one of these landmarks:

Inside V Landmark: this means the tight end (blocker) needs to maintain inside out leverage on a defender.

Outside V Landmark: this means the tight end (blocker) needs to maintain outside in leverage on a defender.

Since understanding landmarks is so important in any run game, a great deal of emphasis is placed by Coach Warehime in teaching these tight ends to get to their landmark before making a block.

Identifying Potential “Rockets”

There is a code word in this system to identify a potential edge pressure that can disrupt the run game. That code word is “rocket.” Again, it’s challenging to spend five minutes within any offensive meeting without hearing that word. It resonates with quarterbacks, offensive linemen and wide receivers alike for good reason: edge pressure can severely fracture any run concept. In fact, the “rocket” adjustment is built into each of the Longhorns play concepts in the playbook. So, not surprisingly a great deal of time is spent on the tight ends not only recognizing a potential rocket, but also on how to block them. For definition sake, a rocket is classified as a defender who is in a speed stance (stagger) creeping down towards the line of scrimmage before the ball is snapped.

Traditionally, “rocket” in the playbook means he’s on the line of scrimmage or he’s an overhang player. And for the vast majority of the Longhorns schemes, the Y is responsible to block him one way or the other. There are some plays (like speed option which we detail in case three) where he is responsible for a late rocket defender because there are perimeter aspects to those plays. For the most part, off the line of scrimmage is a non-rocket look (Diagram 22). “Whenever that defender is in a stagnant position and not in a speed stance we can usually tell he’s not a potential blitzer,” said Coach Warehime. “But when the Y is moving with action coming out him it gets a little more difficult to determine. It’s a discussion because you get rocket to two-man blocking surfaces more than three-man surfaces because of the shorter edge.”

“Push” vs. “Heavy” Calls

These two calls are also foundations in the Texas run game, which can change the entire blocking progression along the front. These are adjustments to deal with someone on the line of scrimmage that is not the count to the open side. Both push and heavy are also used against pressure to pull off any double team calls and are full zone principles. “Sometimes we need to pull everyone over on the play side track to block the play side rocket,” said Coach Warehime.

“Heavy” Call: The heavy call is a call used against any internal pressure such as double A gap pressure. It’s a “square shouldered” call to get linemen going north and south when double teams are required. It pulls the double teams off.

“Push” Call: This is used against play side pressure that is not in the count. Here, linemen are taught to “track” out to that defender. “That defender is not in our original count,” said Coach Warehime. “So we plus the count out on paper, but we actually track it on the football field.”