31 Comments
Mar 3, 2020Liked by Avinash Kunnath, Rob Hwang, Piotr Le

Good stuff! I think that concept-based passing is great for running a pro-style offense at the college level, because it allows you to be complex without putting a ton of extra mental load on your QB. You just need to teach him how to read the concept. It's then up to the OC to create variety with formations and personnel, but the QB's read stays largely the same. This gives you a high proportion of repetition vs. instruction, which is good for internalizing any skill.

Concept-based passing also gives you nice flexibility for creating matchups, because in this kind of offense the receivers learn the whole concept, not just their route on a given play. So, if I'm calling a concept where the outside WR runs a Dig, and I want to put a speedy Slot WR on that route to exploit a slow CB, then I can motion that Slot WR into the outside WR spot. He'll know what route he needs to run from that position, and the QB will read it just like he'd read any other version of that concept. This is totally different from the Air Raid, which prioritizes execution by having the same guys running the same routes from the same spots.

Concept-based passing also puts less mental strain on the QB than an Air Coryell setup. AC is nice because it lets you call any route combination that you want, and you can easily get into all sorts of tags and modifications to your base plays. However, when you change the route combination you're also changing the QB's read, so the more that you take advantage of the system's flexibility, the harder you make it for your QB mentally. Hypothetically, if you were truly trying to create new plays on the fly, then your QB would also have to be able to decipher what you're trying to do on the fly. On the other hand, if you don't use the flexibility that the system gives you to create new combinations, then you're really just running a concept-based passing system with Air Coryell nomenclature.

Expand full comment
Mar 2, 2020Liked by Erik Johannessen

Great content! Would love to see more technical work like this.

Expand full comment
Mar 2, 2020Liked by Piotr Le

I appreciate your technical dives, but DUDE read over what you write before you publish. You have soooooo many typos.

Expand full comment

Looking forward to seeing the Musgrave system live...Vegas, Baby!

Expand full comment

This is awesome. Can't wait for Spring Ball...

...also, can't wait to see how WFC grows! Roll on...

Expand full comment

Interesting article. Thank You.

Expand full comment

Just gotta say I’m loving the new site and content!

Expand full comment

I don't think I can bare moving on from the Multiple offense, which really thrives with personnel that have the Want To. Because I'll tell ya our boys are chock full of that.

Expand full comment

A bit over my head, but effing love reading anything Cal football this time of year...thanks for the deep dive

Expand full comment

So how do comments look here?

Expand full comment