Beavers to unveil new offense Friday - Gate House

Ashland Daily Tidings (Ashland, OR — Wayback)

2015-09-21

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By Kevin Hampton Albany Democrat-Herald September 03. 2015 2:00AM Beavers to unveil new offense Friday In this April 18, 2015, file photo, Oregon State quarterback Marcus McMaryion, right, evades defenders during the second half of a spring game in Corvallis. The Beavers will unveil their new offense Friday against Weber State. (AP Photo/Don Ryan, File) CORVALLIS — You can call it a spread offense. Oregon State offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin does. But the new Oregon State scheme implemented by Baldwin is that and more. Baldwin calls it "a multiple-personnel, multiple-formation spread offense." "We call it a spread. But our players, I've told them from Day 1, you'll dictate to me what the personnel (will be) and what plays will be called with your ability," Baldwin said. "So a multiple-personnel, multiple-formations, motion shifts spread offense." The key is matching the available talent to the offensive sets. For example, Baldwin and coach Gary Andersen like a large contingent of running backs on the roster. OSU has a few, but with junior college transfer Tim Cook out for the season and a young group behind Storm Barrs-Woods, Chris Brown and Damien Haskins, Baldwin adjusts accordingly. "If we had more running backs, we'd be in more two-back, three-receiver sets," Baldwin said. "We don't, so we're in three receivers or two tight ends and two receiver personnel groupings with one running back." Expect some read option run plays and yes, we'll see the quarterback take off with the ball at times. It's an aspect of offense that OSU fans have only seen used by opposing teams, but can be extremely effective in putting pressure on defenses. "The mobility of a quarterback is unbelievable for a defense," Baldwin said. "If you’re locked into a pocket then they don’t have to worry about their rush lanes and everything. "I’m looking forward to Seth Collins to take off out of the pocket and see what happens. We’ve told him, make your reads and then go. He could turn that potential drop to a back and (change a) 3-yard gain probably into a 25-, 30-yard gain with his speed. So now, what do you do defensively? Do you spy on them and keep somebody in that box and the throwing lanes open up a little bit more.” Said quarterback Nick Mitchell: "Having that pass-run option makes it fun as a quarterback and also it stresses a defense. It adds another element to where they're having to focus on the quarterback's ability to run the ball." Receivers will also be involved in the run game. That doesn't mean the ball won't be put into the air as well. Baldwin coached at Colorado State before coming to OSU and the Rams weren't shy about throwing the ball. CSU quarterback Garrett Grayson passed for 4,006 yards and 32 touchdowns in 2014. "We were supposedly more pro-style last year," Baldwin said. "We were no-huddle and the whole deal. We spread people out and had every unique formation in America. These people that say they're spread. What kind of spread are they? There's the team that's a quarterback-oriented run, there's a team that's a spread that's gonna run with tight ends, and there's teams that wanna throw the ball out of the spread like (Washington State coach) Mike Leach." The Beavers also go no-huddle, a switch from Mike Riley's pro-style attack. But don't expect the Beavers to look exactly like Oregon when the offense takes the Reser Stadium turf on Friday evening against Weber State. Some players have likened Baldwin's everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach to a combination of several Pac-12 offenses, with elements from Stanford and USC to WSU to Oregon. Defensive end/linebacker Jaswha James said it's most similar to what Colorado runs. "They did some pro-sets, but they also did their little spread deal, and they had a lot of quarterback-designed runs," James said. OSU defensive end Lavonte Barnett said the offense is difficult to defend because it presents so many options. "It's really a combination of everything and he does a great job of utilizing all the great parts of each different offense. It's a big pot of everything mixed together. "It brings a different facet to the game and I think that it will keep a lot of defenses off-balance and they'll never really know what's coming. They've got so many things to pull from, so many plays that he can run or different variations of the same play that he can run. I think it's a great weapon and it's really hard to stop." http://www.dailytidings.com/article/20150903/SPORTS/150909941 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->