THE BIG PLAY IS BACK
May 01, 2011 12:13 PM | General
It looks like the big play is once again going to be a big part of West Virginia’s offense. During Friday night’s spring game there were 14 plays from scrimmage of more than 20 yards, including five that went for touchdowns.
Outside receiver Stedman Bailey caught three of them (44, 67 and 47 yards), while the other two came from inside receiver Tavon Austin (38 yards) and running back Trey Johnson (67 yards). Both also came through the air.
“We want to win,” explained offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen. “I think we play really good defense around here, but if we’ve got to score 20, 30, or 40 points to win then we’ve got to have the expectations to be able to do that.”
Holgorsen has gained national acclaim for developing big-play offenses at Oklahoma State and Houston. Last year at Oklahoma State, the Cowboys had 41 passes of 25 yards or longer from the line of scrimmage and 22 scoring plays of at least 20 yards. In fact, Oklahoma State had just one game last year when Holgorsen’s offense didn’t generate at least one scoring play of 20 yards or longer, and that happened in a 24-14 win over Kansas State.
In 2008 with Houston, Holgorsen’s offense produced 23 runs of 20 yards or longer and 51 passes of 25 yards or more for 78 big plays from the line of scrimmage.
The big play is something West Virginia’s offense has been sorely missing since Rich Rodriguez’s departure in 2007, the Mountaineers’ production of big plays dwindling from a high of 67 in 2006 to only 43 last year.
In 2006, when Rodriguez had Pat White, Steve Slaton, Darius Reynaud and Owen Schmitt, West Virginia had 44 runs of 20-plus yards and 23 passes of 25-plus yards for a total of 67 big plays from scrimmage.
A year later in 2007, West Virginia had 64 big plays from scrimmage: 46 runs of 20-plus yards and 18 passes of 25-plus yards.
Last year, the Mountaineers had only 14 runs of 20-plus yards and 29 passes of 25-plus yards for a total of 43 big plays. That’s about two fewer big plays per game than what West Virginia was getting during its two big offensive seasons of 2006 and 2007.
And by not having the threat of the big play, defenses were no longer afraid of ganging up on the line of scrimmage and daring West Virginia to try and attack them down the field.
On Friday night, many of West Virginia’s bigger plays came as a result of a wide receiver or running back eluding the first tackler and getting extra yardage after the catch.
“I think as kids get comfortable with the offense you’ve got to get to a point where they are instinctively doing it rather than having a thought process before every play, and I think that will lead into their athletic ability taking over,” explained wide receivers coach Shannon Dawson. “I think that’s what you saw - 15 practices with kids lining up in pretty much the same position with the same plays and just becoming instinctive at it. The kids looked comfortable out there to me and that’s a good sign.”
Holgorsen said versatility from his running backs will also play a part in generating more big offensive plays this fall.
“There is no secret the featured back in this offense is going to get the ball in a variety of ways and (Vernard Roberts and Trey Johnson) are our two best guys running it and catching it,” he said. “The fact that they can do both is probably putting them ahead of the other guys so far.”
Holgorsen will have even more offensive threats arriving this fall to bring added competition to the backfield.
“That should develop into a pretty good competition at that spot,” Holgorsen said. “We’re far from making decisions on who is going to start.”
Dawson believes more big plays will come as the team’s tempo continues to improve.
“I think we were having fun (Friday) because our tempo was better, and I think that was the key,” he said. “When you play faster you tend to make more plays.”
More big plays will be a welcomed sight for Mountaineer fans once used to expecting big plays from their offense.
Outside receiver Stedman Bailey caught three of them (44, 67 and 47 yards), while the other two came from inside receiver Tavon Austin (38 yards) and running back Trey Johnson (67 yards). Both also came through the air.
“We want to win,” explained offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen. “I think we play really good defense around here, but if we’ve got to score 20, 30, or 40 points to win then we’ve got to have the expectations to be able to do that.”
Holgorsen has gained national acclaim for developing big-play offenses at Oklahoma State and Houston. Last year at Oklahoma State, the Cowboys had 41 passes of 25 yards or longer from the line of scrimmage and 22 scoring plays of at least 20 yards. In fact, Oklahoma State had just one game last year when Holgorsen’s offense didn’t generate at least one scoring play of 20 yards or longer, and that happened in a 24-14 win over Kansas State.
In 2008 with Houston, Holgorsen’s offense produced 23 runs of 20 yards or longer and 51 passes of 25 yards or more for 78 big plays from the line of scrimmage.
The big play is something West Virginia’s offense has been sorely missing since Rich Rodriguez’s departure in 2007, the Mountaineers’ production of big plays dwindling from a high of 67 in 2006 to only 43 last year.
In 2006, when Rodriguez had Pat White, Steve Slaton, Darius Reynaud and Owen Schmitt, West Virginia had 44 runs of 20-plus yards and 23 passes of 25-plus yards for a total of 67 big plays from scrimmage.
A year later in 2007, West Virginia had 64 big plays from scrimmage: 46 runs of 20-plus yards and 18 passes of 25-plus yards.
Last year, the Mountaineers had only 14 runs of 20-plus yards and 29 passes of 25-plus yards for a total of 43 big plays. That’s about two fewer big plays per game than what West Virginia was getting during its two big offensive seasons of 2006 and 2007.
And by not having the threat of the big play, defenses were no longer afraid of ganging up on the line of scrimmage and daring West Virginia to try and attack them down the field.
On Friday night, many of West Virginia’s bigger plays came as a result of a wide receiver or running back eluding the first tackler and getting extra yardage after the catch.
“I think as kids get comfortable with the offense you’ve got to get to a point where they are instinctively doing it rather than having a thought process before every play, and I think that will lead into their athletic ability taking over,” explained wide receivers coach Shannon Dawson. “I think that’s what you saw - 15 practices with kids lining up in pretty much the same position with the same plays and just becoming instinctive at it. The kids looked comfortable out there to me and that’s a good sign.”
Holgorsen said versatility from his running backs will also play a part in generating more big offensive plays this fall.
“There is no secret the featured back in this offense is going to get the ball in a variety of ways and (Vernard Roberts and Trey Johnson) are our two best guys running it and catching it,” he said. “The fact that they can do both is probably putting them ahead of the other guys so far.”
Holgorsen will have even more offensive threats arriving this fall to bring added competition to the backfield.
“That should develop into a pretty good competition at that spot,” Holgorsen said. “We’re far from making decisions on who is going to start.”
Dawson believes more big plays will come as the team’s tempo continues to improve.
“I think we were having fun (Friday) because our tempo was better, and I think that was the key,” he said. “When you play faster you tend to make more plays.”
More big plays will be a welcomed sight for Mountaineer fans once used to expecting big plays from their offense.
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Saturday, April 18
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Saturday, April 18
