Today is National Signing Day, and Cal Football's set to bring in an excellent recruiting class (Scout has it ranked #15), but before we get to the details there, some news that's still fresh: Cal Offensive Coordinator Andy Ludwig is gone. According to ESPN's Ted Miller on Jan 25th, Ludwig, who was (I see now unfairly) criticized in this space, told the San Diego Union Tribune that he would get a chance to install his own offense.
Here's Ludwig:
Talk about dancing on the line, Coach Ludwig leaves open the question, to what degree was the Cal Offense his, versus Cal Head Coach Jeff Tedford's? The other issue would seem to be continuity, but now that Cal's gone through it's fifth OC in the Tedford Era, obviously the one constant is Jeff himself. Otherwise, Coach T would not change Offensive Coordinators so often and with such ease.
"HydroTech" has an interesting take on the Coach, Ludwig departure over at California Golden Blogs, but to keep this brief for now, I am not in agreement on the Cal Offense being "set." It needs a group of plays that are done and define it over the years. To me, it's not the best idea to have a play book that's a mix of "this or that" just to have it.
For example, the San Francisco 49ers Playbook under Bill Walsh started with one basic pass play that was the foundation of "The System:" It's called "22 Z-In." Here it is from The West Coach Offense Playbook:
In Walsh's words...
That describes what Walsh intends from that play, and, in one form or another, it is reflected in the thousands of passes designed in the entire playbook. But it serves as the intellectual and diagrammatical basis for "The System." That's important because in order to have consistent quarterback play, regardless of who's at QB, you need to express a constant approach to the game that can be passed to player after player, and not just have a collection of plays.
Can Tedford make the that one passing play and approach has defined the Cal Offense over the years? No. Sadly, no. And that's one reason for the up-and-down play at the QB position. And that's likely to continue in the 2011 Season. Nothing agains Coach Tedford, I'm just pointing to an area where improvement is needed.
More on National Signing Day in the next post...
Here's Ludwig:
At Cal, I was an offensive coordinator with a coach who was also an offensive coordinator...I'm excited to get back to running my system. I have nothing but positive things to say about my time there and we'll be implementing a similar system to what we had at Cal, just with my signature on it.
Talk about dancing on the line, Coach Ludwig leaves open the question, to what degree was the Cal Offense his, versus Cal Head Coach Jeff Tedford's? The other issue would seem to be continuity, but now that Cal's gone through it's fifth OC in the Tedford Era, obviously the one constant is Jeff himself. Otherwise, Coach T would not change Offensive Coordinators so often and with such ease.
"HydroTech" has an interesting take on the Coach, Ludwig departure over at California Golden Blogs, but to keep this brief for now, I am not in agreement on the Cal Offense being "set." It needs a group of plays that are done and define it over the years. To me, it's not the best idea to have a play book that's a mix of "this or that" just to have it.
For example, the San Francisco 49ers Playbook under Bill Walsh started with one basic pass play that was the foundation of "The System:" It's called "22 Z-In." Here it is from The West Coach Offense Playbook:
In Walsh's words...
This is a five-step drop pattern. The quarterback takes five big steps and a hitch step and throws on time. The receiver splits 12 to 14 yards. The flanker releases inside for 5 to 6 yards and then bursts hard to the outside foot of the cornerback. What he wants to do is to get that cornerback on his heels. Then he'll turn in about three steps and catch the pass 12 yards deep.
The fullback runs what we call a scat pattern. He doesn't have any pickup, and he releases to the outside. He never catches the ball more than 2 yards past the line of scrimmage, most often right at the line of scrimmage. If the backer blitzes, he looks for the ball early.
Our tight end picks off the near end backer. He'll put his head past that man's shoulder, slow down, and make contact. He bounces off it and goes to the far guard position, turns and faces the quarterback, and watches his eyes because he's the last outlet.
The quarterback throws the ball related to the sky safety. If the safety gives ground, he'll throw to the fullback. If the safety flattens out, we'll throw in behind him, in this case to the flanker. If it's man-to-man, the flanker runs a man-to-man pattern trying to beat the corner. If it's man-to-man, the safety will often chase the tight end, and there will be a good throwing lane with the backer coming out on the fullback.
When we throw to the fullback the ball should arrive to him a foot in front of his number. If the fullback has to reach, he will take his eyes off the ball, slow down or break stride, and probably get nothing out of it.
That describes what Walsh intends from that play, and, in one form or another, it is reflected in the thousands of passes designed in the entire playbook. But it serves as the intellectual and diagrammatical basis for "The System." That's important because in order to have consistent quarterback play, regardless of who's at QB, you need to express a constant approach to the game that can be passed to player after player, and not just have a collection of plays.
Can Tedford make the that one passing play and approach has defined the Cal Offense over the years? No. Sadly, no. And that's one reason for the up-and-down play at the QB position. And that's likely to continue in the 2011 Season. Nothing agains Coach Tedford, I'm just pointing to an area where improvement is needed.
More on National Signing Day in the next post...
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