After breaking down the zone blocking schemes and pin-pull designs we can expect Chip Kelly to utilize at UCLA in part one of this series, this video breakdown turns to two other run plays that make up the basis of Chip Kelly’s historical playbook: split zone and power/counter runs. I broke down 6 plays from…
If you look to the west, there is a bright star in the Big Sky. Located near California’s capital city at a university with a reputation for solving problems related to food, health, the environment, and society, you find a receiver with aspirations and the skills to play in the NFL. Background Keelan Doss was…
The Colorado Buffaloes 2017 season was one of regression, with major steps back in just about every notable defensive category. They set at least 3 year worst marks in: points per game, total yards/per game, rush yards per game, yards per carry, pass yards per game, yards per play, and total sacks. Not great. That…
Throughout the remainder of the off-season, I will be previewing the best returning offensive line units in college football. These previews will give us the opportunity to scout some of the top offensive line prospects for the 2019 NFL Draft, while also highlighting those whose names we will likely see in 2020 and beyond. I…
The Washington State Cougars and head coach Mike Leach are Air Raid staples in today’s college football landscape. Leach is the father of the Air Raid scheme, and has used it to great offensive success at both Texas Tech and Washington State. A few concepts form the backbone of the offensive scheme, notably four verticals,…
In previewing the Pac-12 for the upcoming season, I expected to write about the Stanford rushing game. Bryce Love, the speedy Heisman contender, is the obvious strength and focal point of the Stanford offense. Given the recent turnover at QB for the Cardinal as well, the passing game was certainly less of a focus for…
With Chip Kelly now in Los Angeles as the head football coach of the UCLA, the Bruins seem like a perfect place to kick off scheme previews for the 2018-19 college football season. As I have the last two seasons, I’ll be focusing on the Pac-12 to get ready for the season, looking to build…
Studying and evaluating football players is a continual exercise in uncovering actions, methods, and processes in the players themselves that are repeatable and bear out well for their future development and advancement at their position of choice. Scout the process, and not the results. Often times you may find that even though a play or…
Here are my 2018 NFL Draft Running Back Rankings. I once again used the tiering format that I used to tier wide receivers for my wide receiver rankings. Rankings 10-6 are given a quick summary and a draft grade, while 5-1 are more detailed reports. Royce Freeman, Oregon, 6-0, 229 pounds, Tier 4 Quick Summary:…
It’s been quite an interesting last few months for the Chicago Bears organization and its fan base. Bears fans could be forgiven for thinking that the main media players have largely ignored the Bears in recent years. But for a team and organization that in the last four years has not won more than 6…
Kalen Ballage impressed at the NFL combine. The 6’ 1’’, 227lb Arizona State product ran a 4.46 second 40-yard dash and 6.91 second 3-cone drill, leaping 33.5” on the vertical and 122” on the broad. That solid 6.91 3-cone (a nice 69th percentile) shows up when he is stringing cuts together and one-cutting to get…
What was once thought of as a championship team was nothing more than a figment of our imagination, as we watched the 2017 Giants crumble from the North, South, East, and West. Alas, Week 17 couldn’t arrive soon enough and us Giants fans went right into full draft mode, as an uncommon reality materialized into…
Oregon is back. After an incredibly disappointing 2016 season that resulted in the firing of head coach Mark Helfrich, the Ducks appear to have reestablished themselves on the national stage under first year head coach Willie Taggart. Led by a true sophomore gunslinger in Justin Herbert at quarterback, the offense has exploded to average 56…
Anyone that tells you they know anything about anything at this point prior to the college football season… well… they don’t. We can take estimated guesses and some of them will turn out to be correct, but to accurately play out the entire season is a fool’s errand. People love to believe there is some…
The 2017 NFL Draft is already being heralded as a deep class of incoming NFL talent, especially at the edge defender position, where as many as 8-10 prospects are receiving first round billing from various analysts. I’ve written about the four- and five-year draft eligible edge defenders in recent weeks, highlighting the strengths, weaknesses, and…
In college football, there are so many ways to score, from long drives to strategy for shorter strikes. Failing at multiple two point conversions over the surer thing though, as Ryan Dukarm explains, hurts. In Week 3 of the 2016 college football season the Oregon Ducks lost a heartbreaker to the Nebraska Cornhuskers, falling 35-32. In…