A New Day on Offense: RPOs

[GwillMac6 20,671]

 

[kd4au 1,145]

Could you post,I hate all the pop-ups on that site. Really this the only site I use for all my AU info.

[DAG 33,982]

Dang it GWILL, post the whole article . I am too lazy this morning to click that ridiculous link.

[GwillMac6 20,671]

lol yall think I know how to do that?! I am not privy to that level of intellect. Y'all REALLY need to invest in ad blocker. badda bing badda boom 2 minute read with some wiggle room.

[LKEEL75 2,566]

link

Quote

A new day on offense for Auburn: Why RPOs are the latest thing

The run-pass option of today is a big problem for defenses, and Auburn will try to take full advantage in the coming season.

• Phillip Marshall - Jul 27, 12:07 AM

Offensive coordinator Chip LIndsey gives instructions to quarterback Jarrett Stidham. (Photo: Auburn University)

 

Run-pass options have been part of football since not long after the forward pass was legalized in 1906. But not like what is on display in today’s college game. Not like what first-year offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey brings to Auburn.

The run-pass option, generally known as RPO, of today takes advantage of friendly rules. It is run by athletes with skills no one could have imagined when St. Louis University’s Bradbury Robinson threw the first legal forward pass on Sept. 5, 1906.

And it’s keeping defensive coordinators from coast to coast awake nights.

Lindsey, who replaced Rhett Lashlee in January, introduced his offense in spring practice. Monday, the work will continue as the Tigers open preseason camp.

Former Auburn defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson, now an analyst on Will Muschamp’s South Carolina staff, has been coaching football for more than 40 years. He remembers when offensive linemen couldn’t use their hands and laughs at the thought of trying to block today’s defensive linemen that way.

Johnson has seen the game evolve from mostly a running game, epitomized by the wishbone. Blocking rules were changed, bringing on era of more passing. Then came up-tempo spreads. Defensive coordinators eventually caught up with them all.

Now comes the modern version of RPOs.

“What you are trying to do is put a defensive player in conflict playing run or pass,” Johnson says. “Very seldom did players have to do that in times past, except maybe a strong safety or somebody supporting the sweep.

“Now, they are running inside run plays and RPOs off of them, and it’s putting the linebackers in a bind. They are throwing the ball behind the linebackers.”

And it’s causing all sorts of problems for defenses.

Rules that allow offensive linemen to be three yards downfield make it possible for the blocking to be the same on a running play as a pass play. It’s triple-option football, Johnson says, with the third option being a pass instead of a pitch man.

A typical RPO stars with a zone read much like most teams run out of the shotgun. But the quarterback can pull the ball back, head for the edge and run it or throw it. Not even his offensive linemen know what he’s going to do, and they don’t need to know. They are run blocking.

“It’s just really hard,” Johnson says. “If you’re not in man coverage, there’s a pretty good chance somebody is going to be open. It’s just a matter of whether the quarterback’s execution and the effectiveness of the running game cause the defense to bite on it.

“It’s just almost impossible to be right on defense if the offense executes it well and they are balanced.”

Johnson says the first time he saw anything similar was in a game against Houston and then-coach Art Briles when he was coaching at Clemson. Auburn’s Nick Marshall ran a version of an RPO to throw the game-tying touchdown to Sammie Coates against Alabama in 2013.

“What they are doing now is blocking the zone runs,” Johnson says. “The linemen don’t have to get downfield very far. If the linebacker attacks the run, the lineman can engage him and he’s going to be legal and they are going to throw the ball. They are running routes off of it now that nobody ever imagined them running. They are running slant routes, deep balls and all kinds of stuff.”

Lindsey, an analyst for Auburn coach Gus Malzahn in 2013, fielded a record-breaking offense at Southern Mississippi. He spent last season at Arizona State and dealt with an almost unprecedented run of injuries at quarterback.

Now he’s back at Auburn. At quarterback, sophomore Jarrett Stidham, who played for Briles at Baylor in 2015, and junior Sean White are learning the Lindsey way.

“At Baylor, most of the offense was RPO,” Stidham says. “I think it's going to be good for us, and it is going to add another element to our offense."

Lindsey is best-known for coaching the passing game and developing quarterbacks. But he says he also knows that, without an effective running game, none of it works.

“You have to be able to run the football to win,” Lindsey says. “We were really successful (at Southern Miss) doing that, and it just opened up our entire offense. I know what Auburn's made of. Auburn's made of hard work, blue collar kind of football. That's what we're going to continue to do, with maybe some wrinkles and little twists in our passing game."

Johnson says, regardless of the offensive innovations, defenses grow and change, too. But he says the days of defenses dominating games are over.

“Defenses are doing a better job of pressuring and not showing the pressure,” Johnson says. “They’ve caught up with the up-tempo stuff a little bit where they can get the calls in there and checking calls. With the evolution of the rules and the evolution of the game, it’s a faster, more spread-out game.

“The technique of blocking has changed so much over the years that offenses are never going back to the days where they are going to average 14-18 points a game. Those days are over. You may hold one to seven points because they turn the ball over something, but it’s never going to be like it used to be.”

Georgia coach Kirby Smart says there is no magic solution to dealing with RPOs. The only answer, he says, is recruiting.

“Scheme-wise, it’s going to be hard,” Smart said during the SEC spring meetings in Destin, Fla. “The biggest thing is having really athletic perimeter players who can match up and play these people when an RPO is going on. If you have enough guys who can play press, you have a chance to be successful.”

Auburn’s offense has all the parts. Behind the quarterbacks, it has proven running backs in Kamryn Pettway and Kerryon Johnson and a fullback in Chandler Cox who can block, run and catch. It has a fleet of fast and athletic wide receivers and a big, deep and talented offensive line.

"Everybody's got their own spin on offense," Lindsey says. "We all have our own personality that comes out when you design an offense. The bottom line has never changed. The most important thing is to find ways to get the ball to your best players. It's really that simple.”

 

[kd4au 1,145]

4 minutes ago, GwillMac6 said:

lol yall think I know how to do that?! I am not privy to that level of intellect. Y'all REALLY need to invest in ad blocker. badda bing badda boom 2 minute read with some wiggle room.

OK , I'll go there if I must. Never mind thanks for posting Ikeel 75

[GwillMac6 20,671]

Just now, kd4au said:

OK , I'll go there if I must.

@lkeel75 comes to the rescue for ya!!!! YOU ARE SAVED! ABORT ABORT MISSION to other site!

[DAG 33,982]

3 minutes ago, lkeel75 said:

link

 

All heroes don't wear capes 

[looney 794]

I'm a nerd, but...

This prompted me to google "forward pass legalized" and led me to the Wikipedia page on the topic.

My favorite quote so far:

"1905 had been a bloody year on the gridiron; the Chicago Tribune reported 18 players had been killed and 159 seriously injured that season. There were moves to outlaw the game, but United States President Theodore Roosevelt personally intervened and demanded that the rules of the game be reformed."

[tgr4lfe 220]

2 hours ago, bryanlooney said:

I'm a nerd, but...

This prompted me to google "forward pass legalized" and led me to the Wikipedia page on the topic.

My favorite quote so far:

"1905 had been a bloody year on the gridiron; the Chicago Tribune reported 18 players had been killed and 159 seriously injured that season. There were moves to outlaw the game, but United States President Theodore Roosevelt personally intervened and demanded that the rules of the game be reformed."

wow!

[lionheartkc 6,150]

Yay!  More initials. Now we're the HUNHRPO.

[corchjay 5,311]

Can't wait to see it