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Understanding The Buckeye Passing Game, Part 1 · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning. From Monday, July fifteenth, I'm your host
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  Tom Moore. The Akron game in forty seven days, the game against Michigan
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  in one hundred and thirty eight days. Mentioned last week that we had a
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  request from a board member at Buckeheadle dot com for more x's and o's content.
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  So guess what now you're getting more x's and o's content. Talked about
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  the defense last week with Devin Radcliffe, one of our x's and o's guys
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  at Buckeheadle. Today we're going to be talking about the offensive side of the
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  ball with Justin Whitlatch. He's another one of our ex's and o's guys.
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  We got a whole bunch of them. There's a lot to learn, there's
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  a lot to talk about. There's a lot to learn about this year's Ohio
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  State team. And Justin, let's start. We're going to talk the offense
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  and passing game today. You got a chance to watch Will Howard film,
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  You got a chance to watch the spring game just to kind of get an
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  idea what the Buckeyes might be thinking in the passing game. So just friends
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  through kind of what you've looked at and what you learn so far. Usually
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  as a former coach, used to be offense corner. When you go into
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  a certain year or new year, we've got a new experience or you've got
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  a new quarterback in your system. I think you got to look at the
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  analytics piece first. So if you look at will Howard last year in twenty
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  twenty three, so he averaged around thirty attempts with a sixty percent completion percentage,
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  So if you kind of calculate that out, he's typically eighteen out of
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  thirty on any given Saturday. He would average two t's a game with about
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  two twenty passing, and then he took by one sack a game. He
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  did have about seven eight carries a game. Some of those were reads,
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  some of those were called in the huddle. But then I think you also
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  have to look at what were we last year? What where did we statistically
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  align with where Howard was. So if you look at last year's film,
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  or if you look at last year's analytics, I should say so Kyle will
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  coord was about almost identical in terms of numbers we were at last year.
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  He averaged about twenty nine attempts. He was a sixty five percent completion percentage.
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  So if you take those numbers, he's about nineteen out of twenty nine
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  on any given Saturday, two touchdowns a game, about one sacking game,
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  and then he typically finished in the negative rushing yards with sacks. Obviously,
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  they didn't really run any zone read or anything with him. So if you
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  look at the stats alone, pretty identical quarterbacks. I think what sets them
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  apart is the positive rushing. So obviously that's going to be implemented in my
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  opinion this year with Ohio State. But when you look at look at the
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  statistics, and as an offensive coordinator, and when you go into any certain
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  game, you've got to think, Okay, I've got thirty attempts with this
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  guy, that's what we're averaging. Got a sixty percent complete a percentage?
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  Like how many shot play calls am I going to have here? How many
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  RPOs are we going to run with him consistently? And I'm going to get
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  to that a little bit later on, But those are some of the things
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  that's going to go on in the meetings when the offseason starts. We've got
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  Howard, Okay, we got thirty attempts a game. How many shot plays.
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  Usually offenses average around five shot plays a game. You average about five
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  to ten, drop back about five to ten play action, and then RPO
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  is obviously all dependent on your head coach. So we'll kind of start with
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  the numbers there. I wanted to give everybody the numbers that the numbers look
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  identical from what last year was in terms of the numbers skill set obviously,
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  I think it's a big difference here. So when you look at I watched
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  I think three all twenty two games on Howard and I watched their toughest games
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  for the year. I think that's when you see the skill set come alive
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  when the pressure gets tough. I gu's when you see guys come alive usually,
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  and that's when you see the technique either as a fault or you see
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  them succeed. So like when you look at his tape, I think the
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  best thing about him when he's at his best is when he's on time.
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  So I think he's a pure progression reader. There's offenses where you're in a
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  one two three system you think in air raid, and then you've got different
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  systems like the West Coast where quarterbacks have to move defenders with their eyes.
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  Let's say you're running a you're running a curl flat concept, You've got to
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  be able to move that flat defender with your eyes or get them away from
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  where you want the ball to go. So there's different ways you can do
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  that, and I think they kind of blends us to to gain. But
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  I think when you're looking at his tape, he's a pure progression passer.
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  Obviously. I think he's got all the arm angles that you're going to ask
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  of a quarterback. He's got the strength to get the ball wherever you need
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  to get to. And I think one thing a lot of people is overlooking
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  is he he he played at Kansas State. That head coach was a former
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  North Dakota State head coach as well, where they have a vast playbook that's
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  an NFL style playbook. So quarterbacks in that system are allowed to check at
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  the line, they're allowed to help id the mic or will whoever you're setting
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  the protection to. So they've got a vast playbook where he's going to be
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  able to do those things here at Ohio State, where I think people take
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  for granted, you didn't see that a lot last year with Kyle. I
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  mean, if you think about CJ. Stroud. TJ. Stroud did everything
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  at the line of scrimmage, so I think this would be another opportunity for
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  them to trust the quarterback to get them in the right play call if they're
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  in if they're in a run look, they don't. If they're in a
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  run like an eighteen nineteen outside zone, they've got a walked up safety to
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  the run side. He's going to be able to get them out of a
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  bad look. And I think that's often overlooked with quarterbacks, and I think
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  that's one thing they're going to be able to trust them with it. They're
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  going to be able to trust them. But setting the protection which is huge,
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  just having that monkey after back and knowing your quarterback can do that,
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  it's huge for a head coach and offensive Coornador Obviously, experience can't teach experience.
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  He has that. I think that's a given with him. One of
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  the best things I saw about him is he throws the mesh concept very well,
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  and Ohio State has run that a lot in the past. Kansas State
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  ran a lot of it with him, and they also ran it with a
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  lot of tags, So I think that's going to be one concept that we
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  see a ton this year, just based on the success we've seen on film
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  with Howard and if you look at their film as well. Kansas State runs
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  a lot of RPOs pre ampost snap and I think that's one thing Ohio State
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  needs to start evolving more into it. I think they've dabbled in it the
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  past couple of years, and I think they've got to really marry it moving
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  forward to help the run box numbers. I know Will Howard's going to be
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  able to do that with his legs a little bit more than they've done in
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  the past. But when you're thinking personnel, when you're thinking of an offense,
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  and you're thinking of your passing offense, I should say you've also got
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  to think of like whose receiver is going to be this year. So if
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  you're thinking the depth chart, you've got Carnel TATUC, You've got Jeremiah Smith
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  at y X, You've got a Mech at the slot, and then tight
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  end. I think it is a question mark because I don't know what Day
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  is going to ask them to do. I don't know if they're going to
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  live in eleven personnel, Are they going to live in twelve? Are they
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  going to live in ten. But given who they have in that room,
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  I think it's a weaker room. In my opinion, I think it's a
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  weaker room. So I think this is a year where you see like a
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  second slot in the game, like Brandon and As. I think that would
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  be that would play to the strengths of what they have in that unit right
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  now. So you've got four guys that really can take the top off,
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  so you got and you've got possession receivers there. So I think playing to
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  their strength is going to be huge. But when we talk about like what
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  scheme or we're going to get to in my opinion, before we get into
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  what I wanted to talk about ski like the playwise concept wise, Like with
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  my opinion, I don't think a lot of it. A lot of the
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  pass concepts will change this year. I think they're going to be able to
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  dress those concepts really really well. They're gonna be able to motion guys,
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  they're gonna be able to stack guys, They're going to be in a lot
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  of bunch dets to get some of those guys free releases. And I think
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  you got to play to the quarterback strength. So when you're doing that.
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  I think you've got to run a lot of pure progression based concepts. I
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  think obviously the running game is going to dictate where the passing game goes.
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  I think there the two running backs that they have are will be able to
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  always take the top off if needed. We've got a possession receiver I think
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  in Treilon Henderson. I think you've got to be able to utilize that as
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  well, get him in mismatches and linebackers, and I think in a lot
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  of the air raid staples you're able to do that. You're able to get
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  the back out and you're able to get mismatches on running back I'm sorry on
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  linebackers. So it's going to go as the run game goes. And I
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  know it was kind of the same a year ago. I know we struggled
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  in that in that scenario last year. Is being able to have a consistent
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  run game to help Kyle out. I know that really never came to fruition
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  at times, but I think again that's going to play a huge part I
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  think this year as well. And the thing with Will Howard, I think
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  this year is you're going to be able to even numbers in the box.
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  Last year with Kyle. I don't think they gave him a lot opportunity because
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  he doesn't have that skill set to use those legs. So if I think
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  Will is gonna be able to read on ends on the outside zone concept reading
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  the backside end, if you're thinking inside zone, we're still reading the backside
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  in And I think they've got all those tools in the toolbox they're going to
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  be able to use for him to help to also help slow play de backside
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  line sorry, backside defensive ends. And I think that's been a huge detriment
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  the past couple of years, is like we're running the mid zone concepts of
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  the outside zone. Backside penetration and backside pressure was a huge negate and negative
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  plates. And I think having a quarterback who has that type of threat that
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  they could potentially pull the ball, I think that's going to make defensive ends
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  slow play it. And I think that's going to be huge for the cutback
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  this year. And I think, and I've wrote down as well, I
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  think the passing game is also going to be dictated on how they use their
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  why. If they feel as if their why needs to be in the game,
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  if they need to use the tight end. I think you'll see more
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  of like the play action, safer throw safer concepts because they've got a tight
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  end on the field that the guy to keep in the box, and that
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  would be three routes out. So it also depends on what they're going to
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  do with the white position and how much he wants to utilize eleven or twelve
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  or ten. I think it all depending on that. By my opinion,
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  after watching kind of some of the HOWERD tape, seeing kind of what we
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  did last year and basing on those analytics, I don't think a lot's going
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  to change concept wise. I think they're just going to have to do a
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  really good job of dressing it up and being able to help dictate numbers and
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  the running game in the box to kind of help that if that makes sense.
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  So if the running game can hit, I think that's going to open
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  up a lot in the passing game. Everyone always says that, but it's
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  true, and I think Howard having the threat of using his legs will help
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  opening up that passing game as well. So that's kind of what I have,
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  like analytics piece kind of thinking over the personnel piece after watching film,
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  But that's kind of where I'm at that makes sense, Yeah, definitely.
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  I do want to touch on a couple of things. You went through a
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  million pieces there, and I just want to define a couple of terms that
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  you were using that people I think people probably know may but you know,
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  maybe maybe not. Everyone's as up to speed on this stuff. So when
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  you talk about eleven personnel, anytime you're using a number twenty personnel, twenty
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  one personnel, the first number there are five guys, five eligible players who
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  are not a quarterback, so that's your The first number is the number of
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  running backs on the field, The second number is the number of tight ends
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  on the field, and the number of wide receivers is implied by five minus
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  whatever those first two numbers are. So eleven personnel is one running back,
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  one tight end, three wide receivers. Twelve personnel one running back, two
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  tight ends, two wide receivers, ten person snell, one running back,
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  no tight ends, four wide receivers. So that's just and if it's twenty
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  two personnel, that's two running backs, two tight ends, one wide receiver.
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  It just five is the total number there, and it's running backs,
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  tight ends, and then whatever that third number is is your wide receivers.
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  And then the other thing you talked about mesh there, and I think that's
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  probably a term that you people have heard on broadcasts a bunch over the years.
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  If you want to picture what mesh is, it's an old Mike Leach
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  air raid thing where you get guys crossing over the middle and you put that,
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  you know, that middle linebacker in conflict if he's and you get guys
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  running into each other. And man, if you are trying to picture what
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  this looks like in your head, think back to the first half of the
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  night twenty eighteen Ohio State Michigan game, or Ohio State just ran it over
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  and over and over again and had Michigan guys crashing into each other and guys
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  running free. That's mesh. So when he's talking about mesh, that's what
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  it is. Those are the two things that I had in my head that
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  people might just need a little refresher on. Here's another one that they have
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  heard. I'm sure a term on TV broadcast whole bunch RPO run pass option,
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  and that's something that you know, it became such a you know,
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  such a fad in college football a couple of years ago, and you know,
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  it looks every player looks like an RPO at certain points. So let's
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  talk a little bit about the quick game RPO concepts and what those could do
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  for Ohio State this fall. Now, I do before we get into that,
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  as you mentioned eleven and twelve personnel, and I did have wrote down
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  like it's the why is going to dictate a lot of the passing game.
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  I do want to allude a little bit more to that. So I know
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  Day likes to run a lot of twelve personnel. So when as a defensive
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  coordinator, most defensive coordinators and twelve personnel will be base of the base.
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  It's hard to really show a different look pre and post snap with twelve personnel.
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  So it's all dependent on like the tight ends. And I know he
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  uses twelve personnel a time to get somebody in their base. So in college
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  football today, you either get defenses in their base by going as fast as
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  you can like fastball, like the gust Masons of the world, trying to
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  get as many plays in making defenses be base, or you dictated by personnel.
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  So that obviously the heavy year that you're going to get person wis and
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  eleven and twelve, the more baits you're going to get heavier linebacker bodies in
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  the game. That's also why I wanted to talk about like it's also going
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  to be dictated by the why in terms of the passing game in the RPO
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  game. It's something I've wanted day to like just may it's like the it's
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  like triple option, Like if you do it, just do it as much
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  as you can and do it on consistently every single snap. I think it's
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  it's a safe option. I know high states always run into some negative one
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  and negative two looks in the box. That's meaning we've got a safety come
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  down, we've got an extra linebacker in the box, and we're just out
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  numbered. So it was just it's not a good run look. I think
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  this helps clean that box up. And I noticed if you look at kind
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  of their some of their install a lot of their quick Game is actually labeled
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  as quick name Slash RPO. So I think most o cs today are going
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  to are running RPOs attached to the run game, and they're not even calling
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  it quick game anymore. So I think it's going to help elevate that.
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  And I know I've posted a ton on my Twitter about kind of what that
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  helps with the box. So obviously Ohio State has struggled with having extra guys
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  in the box, the safety rolled down and three backers in the box.
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  I think once you get in a lighter personnel like ten personnel, where your
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  receivers are kind of out of the box, it cleans the box up for
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  the offensive line. And I think we've struggled with communication being able to double
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  team and get to that next level because there's so many bodies in the box,
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  and it just for offensive linemen, it's just a little it's more confusing,
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  more bodies moving around or slam and angling, it's hard to determine where
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  I need to get to. So I think if you're consistently running RPOs or
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  your quick game off your run game, it's going to help clean those looks
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  up. And for well, how Kansas State did that a time. So
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  it's going to play to his strength. He's got the quick release, he's
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  got all the arm angles that you need when you run the RPO. Run
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  the RPO game, and at Kansas State they were reading a lot of linebackers.
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  So that's a lot of second level A I haven't seen a lot of
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  third level RPOs where you're reading a safety like the glance routes that you see
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  on Saturdays as well, but I see a lot of second level RPOs.
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  I'll have to say dabbles in it. I would love for them to marry
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  it and just say, all right, we're going to do this. This
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  is going to be our thing for quick game. So I think that's how
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  it's going to help it this year, and I would hope they kind of
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  get to it. So if you see in the spring game, and I've
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  alluded to it, they ran some outside zone and on the back side of
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  it, they're running a slant flat combo where they're reading the Mike linebacker and
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  if he's going to play the run, we're going to throw the slant right
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  behind his ear. If he's going to play the pass, obviously, that's
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  going to give us more numbers in the box and he's going to be out
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  of the box. So it kind of cleans up to look a little bit.
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  All right, Well, that is not the end of our conversation with
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  Justin, but it is the end of our conversation with Justin or now or
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  today at least, he will be back. We'll be back with the rest
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  of that conversation tomorrow. We ended up going pretty in depth on some of
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  the passing concepts in Ohio States offense, and it just frankly was a much
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  longer show than any typical Buckeyes Tomorrow Morning episodes. So we're gonna split into
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  two. Don't worry, it's there, and if you just simply cannot wait
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  until tomorrow, you can watch it all right now on the Huddle Board presented
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  by Jeff Ruby Steak House at buckey huddle dot com. That is a members
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  only board. We post a lot of these shows early for you get an
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  early early access to it, and you also get access to Justin or Devin
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  or Ross whoever, any of our exes and those guys. When you have
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  questions, they are there to answer them. That's what they're there for.
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  One of the many benefits of the membership at bucke Huddle dot com. There's
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  gonna be plenty of benefits for that. This year, there's going to be
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  quite an interesting season coming up. We're going to be headed at two Big
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  ten media days in just about a week. Camp opens on August first,
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  and the season opens in early September. And then, boy, where is
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• 16:59
  two of this episode with Justin tomorrow. We'll see you then.