Keaton Upshaw (Vicky Graff Photo)
“We want to develop a passing game. We’re gonna be able to, because our passing game is getting better, mix it around a little more and keep people off balance in just a different manner than we did last year.”
That is a quote from UK Co-Offensive Coordinator Eddie Gran in late August talking about his plans for the offense this season. Every year that he has been at UK I’ve heard Gran make a statement similar to this. And each year we see UK morph into a “run first, pass only when necessary” offense. Sometimes, like last season, it is a necessity but in other seasons it seems like it is more of a comfortable strategy.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love Gran as UK’s offensive coordinator and I like the “run heavy” offense that he runs. I think it fits perfectly well with the defensive personality of his head coach, Mark Stoops. Stoops loves to play lock-down defense that tries to turn opponents into one dimensional offenses.
Last season his defensive Cats took away the passing game from opponents and forced teams to try to run the ball. That allowed UK to be the 14th best scoring defense in the country last season – one spot behind Alabama and fourth best in the SEC.
Stoops loves to control the clock by playing a possession game on both sides of the ball. The strategy of forcing opponents’ offenses to consistently run the ball and come up with multiple play drives to score has consistently worked in Kentucky’s favor. It quickly becomes apparent that not all college teams have the discipline and consistency necessary to run a 10-play or more drive every time they score a touchdown. Usually their offense makes a mistake and fails to move the chains or they are called for a crippling penalty that kills the drive and they are forced to punt the ball.
That strategy of controlling the clock and playing Eddie Gran’s ball possession offense and Stoop’s lock-down defense has paid huge dividends for this program since Eddie Gran arrived as offensive coordinator. One need look no further than participating in bowl games four years in a row and winning the last two against tough competition — namely Penn State and Virginia Tech — as proof that the strategy is working.
So the quote from Eddie Gran this season led me to think about how he can continue to use a ball control offense and still pass the ball in a more traditionally balanced run/pass option offense. For me the most attractive option would be to use the tight ends much more frequently in the passing game. Here’s why.
Based on past history Stoops, and consequently Gran, prefer to run the ball on offense. To that end they like to use a personnel package that is heavy on tight ends. Usually two tight ends with one lined up behind the other as an H-back. This allows the tight end to act as a lead blocker for the running back.
Last year, when describing the advantage of this personnel package UK running back AJ Rose said, “It’s an extra blocker, an extra read. You’re getting an extra person blocked and getting more one-on-one matchups with safeties or corners.”
So for the running backs that is the beauty of the system. It allows them to get one-on- one matchups running the ball with a cornerback or safety as the only man they have to beat. If they can make them miss it is at the very least an explosive play and quite possibly a touchdown.
So that package is great for the running backs but what about the passing game? Here’s the beauty of the system. If opposing defenses decide to key on the run that will allow the tight ends to release out of their block and become a receiver in the run/pass option set. And with a throwing quarterback — remember that Terry Wilson has a 67 percent career completion percentage — that creates one more scenario that opposing defensive coordinators have to plan for. The more complexity to account for on defense means more possibilities that a defender will make a mistake which will lead to a Kentucky touchdown.
With the type and quantity of tight ends that Kentucky has on the roster — Justin Riggs, Keaton Upshaw, Brendan Bates and Nik Ognenovic — Wilson should be able to regularly find a tight end in a favorable matchup against a linebacker or even a defensive end. That should lead to some explosive plays by the offense in the passing game.
So in the next article I’m going to discuss who each of the tight ends are, what the strength of their individual games are and how the coaches see each one fitting into the new and improved passing game.
It could be that this is the year Gran will prove to be prophetic and the UK offense will develop a passing game.
Vaught’s note: Keith Peel is a regular contributor for vaughtsviews.com.
