Can a Buckeye Get an Option Pitch?
Switzer approvesTerrelle Pryor may not be arriving on campus until June, but that doesn’t mean it’s too early to discuss how he’ll be used this fall.
It’s generally assumed that LiC will be used in the same manner as Tebow was used his freshman season at Florida. Like Tebow, Pryor will drive the crowd bonkers when he enters the game and the dynamics of what he can do on the field basically doubles the size of your playbook. Similarly, Boeckman is a returning starter entering his final season and no matter how good the incoming talent, he won’t lose his starting position.
It will be interesting to see how Tressel utilizes his prize catch. As one that’s made a living out of adjusting his schemes to his personnel instead of the other way around, you can bet he’ll have some tricks up his sleeve.
Could one of those tricks be the option?
You have to admit, Baby Vince and the best running back in the nation in the same backfield should be enough to trouble even the savviest of defensive coordinators.
The wishbone is the traditional set used to execute the option, but given the uncertainty at fullback heading into this season, the veer may make more sense. In the veer, the fullback becomes a tight end with only two backs lining up behind the quarterback.
Naturally, Beanie and Pryor would be options one and two on most plays out of the formation, but that other would become Mo Wells, Saine or Herron. Wells has the misfortune of playing in the same backfield as He Who Eats Arm Tackle Cereal, but quietly performed pretty well down the stretch last season. Saine is Saine – electric and plenty of speed, while Boom has had people talking this spring. Bottom line: There are three capable runners to fill that 2nd spot.
Another benefit of the veer in favor of the wishbone is that the tight end is a part of the offense instead of a bunched receiver or an afterthought. We’ve been amazed by Pryor’s highlight videos, and while he’s made some great throws, it’s safe to say that at this point in his career, he’s a runner first, passer second. The tight end will give him that safety blanket until he builds up his swag and oh yeah, he’ll still have Robo and Hartline on the outside. Two seasoned receivers that will become that much more dangerous with corners focusing on the run.
His goal is to eventually become a true multi-dimensional quarterback, but what better way to introduce him to the speed of the game and work his throwing confidence up than an old-school set that should be good for 12 yards a rush?
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I really hope we take a long hard look at what Florida did with leak and Tebow They did that WITHOUT a Beanie Wells type running back! You’ve got to imagine that our offense is gonna be more balanced and much harder to defend.
Sooo much opportunity and possibility. I’m sure the coach’s are exhausting all of their resources for this years playbook and personnel shifting. I am a HUGE Buckeye fan on the west coast, and cant wait for the SC game! I think that game will be a major deciding point in this seasons outcome. Remember the Washington game???
I think people are going to be surprised with how well Pryor can throw the ball.
2 things to note. #1, rumor has it that Brandon Saine has been seeing time at FB. This is interesting because it creates quite a dynamic matchup problem with his speed coming out of the backfield. It gives the offense a lot of options. #2, rumor also has it the Pistol formation is being added to the playbook. TP and Beanie running a Pistol offense could be ferocious. No matter what happens, I’m anxious to see what ideas Coach Tressel and staff have cooked up.
I know I’m in the lower .01 percentile, but Antonio Henton is no slouch and it will be an absolute shame to see him “disappear.” I love the fact that the problems on the football team are dealing with an abundance of talent rather than the opposite. I just hope everyone truly gets their chance. I believe Boekman is a solid starter, but between him, Henton, and TP he’s third in both talent and potential.
If Henton does become the odd man out I think he should be given a shot to play the slot. It seems that might be a great secondary fit for him.
I have absolute trust that the coaches are going to do what they think is best to win football games. Has there ever been a better time to be a Buckeye??
I think it’s more likely that the staff will implement elements of an option attack, but actually instituting a veer or option is an institutional thing – it’s part of a program’s culture. You either do it well, or don’t. Remember when Cooper ran it in the early/mid 90s? It wasn’t pretty.
The option or veer – like the read option – requires players with certain skill sets and a certain makeup. I don’t think OSU can turn their back on decades of I-formation history, flip a switch, and expect to be successful installing major aspects of the option or veer (though the veer is a lovely, LOVELY thing to watch).
I feel you Joe, but given the experience of the returning starters, throwing new wrinkles into the playbook should be a little easier to do than with a rookie crew.
TP also ran the option in high school, so he has some familiarity with the scheme.
Does anyone think this is why practices are shut off to the media? Because they are throwing in new wrinkles and JT doesn’t want anyone to know about them? I do like Saine at FB, what a mismatch that creates.
Brotherbuck, I’m with you on Henton. However, if he is good enough he will play, but if not he needs to step aside for TP (hopefully). Although TP makes me nervous as well, the last DII “stud” we had from Penn. was Brandon Fuss-Cheatum, who was a complete bust (unless anyone knows of someone who trumps him). I know it is hoops vs. football, but Diebler was also DII. It just seems to take these small school kids a bit longer to develop.
Is anyone else concerned with the jump in talent and competition for TP?
I hope Saine plays at the FB spot. However, Beanie loves following his FB as the lead blocker and I don’t want Saine having to take out linebackers down field.
Go preview by 11W for the game tonight. Another solid one at dottingthei.com
i’ve been saying it for awhile. i don’t want to have to clean up the opposing coaches press box next season. the DC’s are going to be shitting themselves when TP, Beanie & Saine are in the shootgun, split backs formation, with the talent we’ve got at WR. I won’t want to have to plan against that kind of talent.
corey please don’t compare bfc to anyone ever again. Unless they play for michigan. If you watched the army all american game you could clearly see that he is the real deal. Those guys on defense are going to be playing at major d-1 schools and he made them look slow. If he can keep his head on straight he’ll win alot of games for us. I wouldn’t be shocked if he plays more than boeckman in big games next year.
I think it will be hard to stop beanie, saine, and tp in the same back field. Saine can grab passes and will be open all day against a linebacker. I think you’ll see plenty of shotgun formation with beanie and saine on either side of tp. Don’t forget about “Flash” thomas and m. wells…. oh and “Boom” herron god damn we are loaded!
Sorry Tampa B., I was wondering if I was going to get scolded for that. However, I still laugh knowing the crowd’s chants went from “Fuuuusssss” his freshman year to “Booooooooo” his senior year.
Good points about us being loaded next year. Is it August yet?
BTW, I did not get to watch the AA game, so I have no basis for my rambling thoughts. I hope everyone is right though.
They’re right. We’re loaded.
Anybody have a clue who is going to help us out in our lackluster kick and punt return areas?
I’m hoping we’ll only return one kickoff per game and go for the block on every punt.
Saine at FB? That’s not fair.
I hadn’t heard about Saine at FB. I heard that Sweat may be moved to that position because of the glut of talent at ILB, but not about Saine. I’m not sure I like that, but I would have to see how he’s used.
Tressel is definitely working new things in the offense. He’s lost two straight games (and badly) so you can bet he’s getting creative. Comment above about the experience of the offense allows him to spend more time on the edge sets/plays.
I think running a veer might be overdoing it. However, I would like to see Pryor come in for two-back shotgun formations, with Beanie on one side and Saine on the other. That formation would give us so many options, whether it is a read option, a speed option to either side, a QB draw, or an option pass. Also, I think we could use Saine as a slightly less electric version of Percy Harvin, lining him up in the slot for some jet sweeps, etc.
I’m hearing that Saine has bulked up to 230 lbs but has maintained his speed. They’re using some new terminology for him at FB, calling it the Pony back. Saine will be catching the ball out of that spot, running the ball, and yes, even do some lead blocking for Beanie out of that set. Combined with the Pistol and shotgun formations, this offense will have quite a few explosive wrinkles in it.
As for Sweat, I think he’ll see some too at FB, but more in the traditional I-formation power sets. The thing with Sweat, though, is that he has looked so impressive thus far at LB that the staff may not want to even bother with having him play a secondary position. I can’t WAIT to see what, if anything, is shown to us in the spring game.
Saine at 230 intrigues me.
After reading these posts, I can only imagine the price of secondary market FB tickets in ‘08 and how hard they will be to get. I think JT will play all three QB’s in the tune up games before USC to get into Pete Carroll’s head. After the win at SC, I think we’ll see Tressel really open up the play book to make a statement to the BCS folks. Don’t forget, we don’t have many fans rooting for us outside of the Buckeye Nation. Go Bucks!!!
All this talk and nobody mentions Lamar Thomas? He is as fast if not faster than saine and should be in the slot some next year. Imagine a split shotgun with TP Saine and Beannie, then 2 WR’s and thomas motioning down the line from the slot talk about a nightmare to defend.
Dont Forget about Aram Olsen at FB, he was one of the best coming out of HS from South Carolina and Jermil Martin from Glenville is supposed to play FB.
Also remember DeVier Posey and Jake Stoneburner as receivers.
Kicking game: incoming Ben Buchanan is supposed to be really good.
TP will be in Jail before his Junior Year!
A lot of hot spirited talk here but remember this is the same offensive coordinating crew that were responsible for some of the most boneheaded third down play calling seen in championship games this decade. With Todd “can’t wait to throw into quadruple coverage” Boeckerman still receiving snaps does anyone think things we be that much different?
What’s with the game against USC?
Do we have a chance?
“What’s with the game against USC?
Do we have a chance?”
April Fools day was yesterday.
RockKing, where did you hear about Saine being up to 230? I would love to read more on that…..imagine having Beanie and Brandon BOTH being able to take it inside and outside!
Does anyone know if Jermil Martin was enrolled for Spring so that he could participate in spring practices?
What sort of abyss of spare time is out there for people to post things like “TP will be jail by his junior year”…I can smell your meatchicken arrogance through the computer. Go back to Mgo and talk about hockey…loser
P.S.
Will Ryan “got me some felonies” Perriloux ever be kicked off the team??
http://media.www.lsureveille.com/media/storage/paper868/news/2008/04/02/Sports/Perrilloux.Allegedly.Involved.In.Restaurant.Incident.Friday-3297385.shtml
(broad strokes…reinstated, only to throw a racially charged “gimme some hooch” tantrum on Friday night. Nice work.)
Saine at 230 = beefcake
Wil, I got that info from an Ohio State insider. Due to the lockdown, nobody in the media has been able to write anything meaningful about spring practice.
As for Jermil, no, he is not enrolled yet and thus will not be participating in the spring game. It’s kind of crazy that in todays era of college football, if you can’t participate in early enrollment, it feels like you are “behind” and need to “catch up”, and that’s the case with Jermil and why the staff is trying out different guys at FB. I can tell you this much, though, Faine at FB is definitely going to be tried out, and the coaches really feel like this is going to create matchup nightmares for the opposing defenses. As someone else mentioned, too, don’t overlook Lamaar Thomas being used in some of these sets. Same thing with Stoneburner. This freshman class is loaded with guys who are so dynamic they are going to be a handful to defend. I mean, seriously, once the light flips on for Stoneburner, who’s going to be able to cover him? Remember Kellen Winslow in college? There’s no reason Stoneburner can’t develop into that kind of nightmare, whether it be at WR, which is his preference, or TE, which might be the coaches’ preference.
That should be Saine, not Faine.
I couldn’t agree with you more about Stoneburner. I would like to see him at TE as well. Remember when we had the Great 88? He was a heartbreaker for a opposing defenses on 3rd down…..boy would it be great to have that back!
I think people are going to be suprised at how well Pryor can hold a clipboard.
I gonna agree with Dan on that, the people that think Pryor is gonna step in and take half the snaps this year might end up REALLY disappointed.
It depends on what you expect. Tressel has said 10-15 snaps per game is a reasonable expectation. He didn’t promise anything to Pryor, but if TP comes in and works hard, he’ll almost certainly get those 10-15 snaps per game. But I don’t think anyone is expecting him to get 50% of the snaps or anything like that.
Wil and Dan in the summer of 2003:
Anyone that thinks that LeBron will be able to come in and play right away is going to be sorely disappointed. Tayshaun Prince is so going to D his ass up.
Boekman Fett,
Truthfully I was very strong in my opinion that LeBron would succeed right away.
However, I see your point and I will admit that I did say that Mo Clarett would only get 5-10 carries a game and wouldn’t start because he didn’t have the experience that Lydell Ross did and that Tressel wouldn’t start a true frosh. Obviously I was wrong on that.
stoneburner is not a te he’s a wideout in a te’s body runs and jumps like a basketball player. i hate to compare him to winslow because that guy is an asshole but yeah its sick we have some firepower for sure. i dont think avg. 40 a game is out of the question. i think we might red shirt some good talent this year
Serious. whats with the game against USC this year? where did that come form