A Method to His Madness

Source: KU Sports

You may notice that the offensive version of the "Pre-Spring Depth Chart" is a little--well--unconventional. Yes, it meets the requirements mandated by NCAA rules, with at least 7 men on the line of scrimmage, and yes, it features a quarterback, halfback, two tackles, two guards, and a center, like most successful offenses, but where the offense loses its familiarity is with the wide-outs, fullbacks, and tight ends. Fear not, because Mr. Weis knows a thing or two about running an offense. Today, I will touch on the unique packages that Weis will incorporate on the offensive side of the ball, and what Dave Campo and the defense plan to do this fall, all the while counting down the days until kickoff.

Weis explained that the personnel groups he will use will vary on different situations such as down and distance, field position, score, and time of game (which goes without saying).


The 'F' position determines the amount of "backs" in the game. For instance, the package 'F(21)' features two running backs and one tight end.  There is also an `F(11)' position where there is only one back and one tight end, where the `F' position is manned by a wide receiver. In this offensive system, personnel-wise, there will always be an `F' on the field, whether that be a back, a tight end or a receiver - Weis said that "there could even be two halfbacks out there." Somebody will always play that position. 


As for the 'Y' position, you will also see that `Y(10)' is listed, which means there is one back and no tight ends on the field; therefore, the guy who is playing that position will be a wide receiver.

Now it may seem subtle, but Weis may actually change the blocking schemes for the offensive line too. Rather than the man blocking that we saw under Turner Gill, Weis will revert back to Mark Mangino's zone blocking schemes.

Essentially, man blocking assigns each lineman to a particular defensive player, meaning their role is built into the play. Simple enough? Well, defensive fronts do vary, so it requires a lot of chemistry and a very vocal and cerebral center. Gill tried to implement this and failed, maybe because he didn't have the horses, or maybe because they did not teach the right technique? Either way, he failed, and especially against the blitz. When Kansas faced teams that blitzed (Texas and Texas A&M, in particular), the linemen would find themselves deked by the man lining up in front of them and would be fooled by stunts and delayed blitzes.

Zone blocking, on the other hand, is more focused on a particular "area" than on a "man", and is made up of Inside Zone (IZ) and Outside Zone (OZ) blocking. For IZ, the offensive line tries to open up a hole off the playside guard, while the OZ focuses on the playside tackle. The running back often follows the line and has a read to either stay true with them or cut it back (I would love to see Tony Pierson make a quick cut back against the grain or just peel around the corner and down the sideline; James Sims also has good vision so he would work well in the system too). As you would imagine, guards will pull and run, so zone blocking does require more athletic linemen who can cover ground and their quarterback's behind. In Gill's defense, Kansas lacked just that, but on the other hand, Mangino pulled it off (especially in the JUCO ranks).

Weis has traditionally been more of a zone blocking guy because athletic linemen were accessible at almost every one of his stops, and he doesn't have much trouble finding a gun-slinger either (á la Tom Brady, Brady Quinn, Jimmy Clausen, Dayne Crist and Jake Heaps). Case in point.

As for Coach Campo...

“It’s a blank sheet,” he said, when asked about the depth chart. “And I told our defense that when we first got together. I said, ‘If you want to know what we’re doing in the next month, I can give you a sheet of paper and tell you how we’re going to insert defenses and how we’re gonna do all these things. But, really, you should only know one thing — this is a tryout.’ And that’s the approach that we’re taking.”

“We’re trying to evaluate who we are more than anything else. Scheme is the least of the concerns that I have. We really want to be able, at the end of spring practice, to say, ‘We can count on this guy and this guy and this guy,’ and then the guys we’ve got coming in are gonna fill in.”

“‘Even though I have certain things that might prove it, I still have to prove to you that I can help you get better and that we’re doing things the right way around here on defense. That’s my responsibility. At the same time, it’s your responsibility to prove to me that you can do what I ask you to do.’”

“I want everybody to think that they’re that guy,” Campo said. “The one thing I will say is there’s been a drastic improvement from the first practice to this practice as far as guys understanding what we want from the snap of the football to the end of the play.”

How is our depth right now, Coach?
“Not the best,” he said. “But I think we have some guys that can run. Remember, you don’t have to find 30, all you have to do is find 11 of them. That’s something that people forget sometimes.”


Ouch. Reality hurts when it smacks you in the face like that, but I am confident that Campo will have close to 11 guys that he can rely on by opening kickoff.


Other Notes:

• Julius Greene was released from the team. While this is disappointing and all, if Greene didn't want to be here in the first place, then we shouldn't have wanted him here in the first place. It has become a motif on the blog, but Weis is straining the clabber to take out the curds. Also, I have good reason to believe that transfer Josh Williams will be just the first of several d-line transfers.   
• James Sims was arrested on charges of DUI and was suspended from the first three games of the 2012 season. How can I spin this one into a positive? Watch me do my magic. Just think, while Bourbon, Pierson, and company will be getting more and more snaps and scoring more and more touchdowns, Sims will be representing the "show" team offense alongside Jake Heaps and possibly Justin McCay. The defense will have seen (and hopefully learned how to stop) a Big 12 caliber offense before September 1st. 
• Marquis Jackson was moved from wide-receiver to running back and changed his number from 81 to 28. In doing so, Jackson helped palliate the unforeseen dearth of running backs, and also helped give more reps to other wide-outs vying for jobs. I have probably talked your ear off with this, but at this point last year, Kansas was stocked with adept ball-carriers, (James Sims, Brandon Bourbon, Tony Pierson, Darrian Miller, Nick Sizemore, and Rell Lewis) but was short on quarterbacks (Jordan Webb, Quinn Mecham, and Blake Jablonski) and proven wide receivers (D.J. Beshears). Now, Kansas is led by Dayne Crist, Turner Baty, Jake Heaps, Mike Cummings, and Blake Jablonski at quarterback, and Daymond Patterson, D.J. Beshears, Kale Pick, JaCorey Shephard, Chris Omigie, Justin McCay, Josh Ford, Erick McGriff, Christian Matthews, Ricki Herod and Andrew Turzilli at WR. On the other hand, the running back position is depleted with only injury-prone Bourbon and the graceful, but frail, Pierson. The tables have completely turned in twelve months. Jackson has the build, that lower body bulk, that you are looking for out of a tailback, and he also has some speed and agility to go with it. He might redshirt, but at least he will give Weis another weapon at his disposal. And hopefully three-plus wide-receivers will now step up and solidify themselves as starters.