Orenzo Davis has added explosiveness to the Bobcat offense this spring
Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson
Bobcats Ramp Up Offensive, Defensive Schemes During Week Three
4/3/2012 4:21:00 PM | Football
First full-scale spring scrimmage awaits team on Friday
It doesn't sound like a bold initiative, but given the circumstances facing his Montana State football team this spring Rob Ash sees it that way. And the net effect, Ash says, will be to increase the pressure on the Bobcat offense.
“We're going to take a chance and go with some more installation,” Montana State's sixth-year head coach says of the third week of Bobcat spring drills. “We'll put some more offense in, and the defense will start to put in more movement. The defense played pretty much a base look the entire scrimmage last Saturday. Life will get a little more complicated for the offense.”
The offense's main challenge this week won't amount to an expansion of its playbook, but stems from additional activity across the line of scrimmage. Adding to the defense's pressure package against both the run and pass forces the offense to perform at a higher level while mastering its own new material, Ash said. “As the defense finally puts in a blitz or two and some line games, the offense needs to play at a higher level. We'll see at the end of the week how we're handling those new looks.”
Of the two evaluation stages of spring football – “We always evaluate personnel, and we evaluated scheme,” Ash says – this week takes a step toward the evaluation of players. “The scrimmage (on Friday at 11 am) will be a chance for our coaches to look at players who didn't get a lot of time last year,” Ash says.
That doesn't mean the Bobcats won't continue to make schematic tweaks on both sides of the ball. While the defense broadens its arsenal with blitz and line movement, the team's offense – under the direction of first-year offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven – seeks ways to use its wide array of weapons.
“We would have done some of that if Brian Wright were still here,” Ash said, “because every year you want to see who your best playmakes are and get them into position to make plays.”
In other words, with only one ball available to the Bobcat offense on each play, optimizing touches for the team's weapons comes to the forefront of schematic goals. Those weapons include 1,000-yard backs Orenzo Davis and Cody Kirk, 2011 Big Sky Newcomer of the Year Tray Robinson, also a running back, explosive all-purpose back Shawn Johnson, and versatile receivers Everett Gilbert, Tanner Bleskin and John Ellis. “If you look at our skill positions on offense, a lot of the top players are so-called running backs. It's an opportunity now to find ways to get them into various positions to use their skills.”
Friday morning marks MSU's first full-scale scrimmage of the spring.
“We're going to take a chance and go with some more installation,” Montana State's sixth-year head coach says of the third week of Bobcat spring drills. “We'll put some more offense in, and the defense will start to put in more movement. The defense played pretty much a base look the entire scrimmage last Saturday. Life will get a little more complicated for the offense.”
The offense's main challenge this week won't amount to an expansion of its playbook, but stems from additional activity across the line of scrimmage. Adding to the defense's pressure package against both the run and pass forces the offense to perform at a higher level while mastering its own new material, Ash said. “As the defense finally puts in a blitz or two and some line games, the offense needs to play at a higher level. We'll see at the end of the week how we're handling those new looks.”
Of the two evaluation stages of spring football – “We always evaluate personnel, and we evaluated scheme,” Ash says – this week takes a step toward the evaluation of players. “The scrimmage (on Friday at 11 am) will be a chance for our coaches to look at players who didn't get a lot of time last year,” Ash says.
That doesn't mean the Bobcats won't continue to make schematic tweaks on both sides of the ball. While the defense broadens its arsenal with blitz and line movement, the team's offense – under the direction of first-year offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven – seeks ways to use its wide array of weapons.
“We would have done some of that if Brian Wright were still here,” Ash said, “because every year you want to see who your best playmakes are and get them into position to make plays.”
In other words, with only one ball available to the Bobcat offense on each play, optimizing touches for the team's weapons comes to the forefront of schematic goals. Those weapons include 1,000-yard backs Orenzo Davis and Cody Kirk, 2011 Big Sky Newcomer of the Year Tray Robinson, also a running back, explosive all-purpose back Shawn Johnson, and versatile receivers Everett Gilbert, Tanner Bleskin and John Ellis. “If you look at our skill positions on offense, a lot of the top players are so-called running backs. It's an opportunity now to find ways to get them into various positions to use their skills.”
Friday morning marks MSU's first full-scale scrimmage of the spring.
Thursday, July 31
Monday, May 19
Wednesday, May 03
Wednesday, May 03
