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QB Howard's Legs a Threat, Too
September 13, 2015 01:35 PM | Football
Last weekend against Georgia Southern, we saw what can happen when defenses play single coverage on the outside against West Virginia’s fleet receivers Shelton Gibson and Jovon Durante.
Gibson and Durante each averaged more than 40 yards per catch and scored long touchdowns.
Yesterday, the Mountaineers went up against a defense designed to take away the big play and force the opposition to move the ball methodically down the field.
Instead of chucking deep balls, quarterback Skyler Howard was required to use shorter passes and operate more patiently against the Flames.
“It was a completely different game plan than what it was a week ago,” admitted West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen. “We had to adjust it based on the fact that they outnumbered us in the box. This team was going to play way off of us and make us take our time going down the field, which I thought we did okay at.”
And a big component of West Virginia’s offensive attack against Liberty was the quarterback zone-read play that is becoming a more prominent part of Dana Holgorsen’s offense.
The zone read in the Air Raid? That’s almost like mixing oil and water, right?
In the past, when defenses loaded the box to take away the run, the answer in Holgorsen’s offense was almost always some sort of pass play to a specific area that was unoccupied. Now, with Howard’s ability to run with the football, Holgorsen has yet another answer that doesn’t necessarily involve the ball leaving the quarterback’s hand all of the time.
Running backs coach JaJuan Seider explains.
“For so long - and I think Dana can attest to this more than I can – we never held anybody backside so the end was always chasing the play down,” he said. “When that happens you’re like, ‘Dang, we’re so close to popping a run.’ Well, with the zone, as soon as you cut it back, because zone is a play you hit front side to back side, sometimes we were cutting it back and the guy is right there.
“Now, by having an athletic guy at the quarterback position – guys that can pull it and get around the edge – I think it’s eventually really going to open things up to where we’re going to see more big plays from the run game.”
We saw a little bit of what Howard’s legs can do for the offense on Saturday.
Think back to West Virginia’s second series when the Mountaineers were facing a third and 15 at the 48. Instead of forcing a ball into a tight window or throwing into an unfavorable coverage, Howard took off and ran 34 yards to the Liberty 18.
The Flames had the play diagnosed perfectly but yet West Virginia managed to keep the sticks moving because of Howard’s athleticism.
A running quarterback is not something we’ve really seen from Holgorsen’s offense since he’s been at West Virginia and it is something else now that defenses are going to have to prepare for.
Keep in mind, Howard doesn’t have to carry the ball 20 times a game either like Pat White or Jarrett Brown did when quarterback runs were a big part of West Virginia’s offensive attack. Making just one long run as Howard did last Saturday is enough to keep defenses playing true.
“You get them five times a game, and it doesn’t have to be for big plays, and I think you do that enough it makes people play honest,” said Seider. “The linebackers get flat-footed and now you get that ball front side and (the quarterbacks) are pretty good when they’re running.”
Wendell Smallwood, who gained a team-best 88 yards and scored two touchdowns on Saturday, says Howard’s ability to pull it and run is going to create more space for him in the run game as well.
“It opens up the run game and the pass game with people being scared of him pulling the ball,” he said. “I think (Saturday) he showed that he can run it and make some plays out there and pick up some first downs.”
Smallwood admitted there were times last year when defensive players could pin their ears back and attack the ball carriers on obvious running plays because there was no threat of the quarterback running with the ball.
This year, when defenders sell out to stop the run they may do so at their own peril with Howard back there.
“D-ends would crash down and try and stop the run and we didn’t have a comeback for it,” noted Smallwood. “Now they know if they crash, that gives Skyler the opportunity to run around in the backfield.”
Each week West Virginia is adding a little bit more to its offensive arsenal. In week one, it was the downfield passing threat of Gibson and Durante on the outside, sprinkled in with some Jordan Thompson working the middle of the field and some Smallwood and Rushel Shell runs.
Yesterday, we saw the screen game, some zone-read with Howard, Smallwood and Shell, and some accurate passing over the middle to Daikiel Shorts.
In two weeks against Maryland, who knows?
It could be something else entirely because Holgorsen continues to come up with new and interesting ways to take advantage of the talented players he has.
And the zone-read play is just one more thing he’s added to the mix.
“It’s really good when people roll that safety down, weak, to the one receiver side where you want to hand the ball off where he’s there and the end squeezes,” explained Seider. “Then you’ve got a chance to get the ball outside and really it forces that guy to come down. Now we can start hitting (the intermediate passes). Daikiel had a good game (Saturday) because everybody is keying on stopping those outside plays.”
Smallwood admitted there were times yesterday when Liberty was conscious of Howard in the run game and that opened up other areas of the field for West Virginia to attack.
“I am seeing them trying to key on certain stuff and I’m just giving them dummy calls and letting them key on certain stuff and, bam, we hit them with something else,” Smallwood said. “They begin second guessing themselves and I think it helps us a lot.
“I think we’re kind of new at this but it’s working better when the defensive ends are crashing down and we get to pull it and I think it’s got the offense getting more yards on plays and making defenses stay true,” Smallwood added.
Plus, there are plays Holgorsen can use off of Howard’s ability to run with the football that he wouldn’t have considered before when his quarterbacks were primarily pocket passers.
“Next, maybe we will start throwing off of it - pull it, run it, and then throw it at the last minute,” said Seider.
“If you key on one thing then we’re going to turn around and attack you with something else,” added Smallwood.
Certainly more things defensive coordinators must consider when they begin preparing for West Virginia’s offense.
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