The game of football is constantly evolving.
So naturally, when it comes to the West Virginia offense that Rich Rodriguez is running, it’s going to be different in some ways than what he was doing in Morgantown 17 years ago. That comes with time and experience.
When Rodriguez became the architect of his spread ground-based attack, using tempo and using the quarterback in zone read was essentially new from a schematic standpoint. Typically, defenses would fit the run to one side and then the backside defenders would chase the ball, keep contain and watch for cutbacks.
Now, defenses have evolved to fit the run on the front side one way because of what the quarterback can do running the football and the backside in a different way altogether.
“Instead of just chasing the ball and watching the cutback, you’re fitting it one way to the one side and fitting it another way to the other side,” Rodriguez said. “So, they’ve become a little bit more complicated in how they’re defending possible quarterback runs and misdirection stuff.”
So, with any changes, Rodriguez has had to adapt as well to create some counters to what opposing defenses are trying to do. The Mountaineers still want to try to make defenses defend the whole field but inevitably have to put their quarterbacks in a position to do that.
“We’ve had to evolve,” he said.
It’s no different than what now plays out at the NFL level where athletic quarterbacks are now running the football in order to get an advantage against the defense. In Rodriguez’s scheme, the signal caller must be prepared to run it and even at times run the ball a lot.
There is no certain style that is a requirement as he’s had fast guys and powerful guys over his career, but one quality has to be there to execute the offense in the correct fashion.
“They have to be, first and foremost, a willing runner,” he said.
But there’s more to it than just that. In the past, Rodriguez would use more of a zone read look where the quarterback would read the defensive end and elect whether to pull the football. It was a run option that had a bubble or screen tagged to it. Now, the head coach has more of a true run-pass option where the quarterback can elect to keep it, hand it off or even throw the football.
“Now you’re reading second level players or sometimes a third level player in a safety, so that part has evolved and has added to it,” he said. “But I’m trying to teach our quarterbacks, the threat of the quarterback running still has to be or still is a big part of what we do.”
It comes down to creating more options and West Virginia wants to have three at all times.
“He’s handing it off, he’s running it or he’s throwing it. And that’s probably the biggest difference between what we focus on compared to some others,” he said.
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