Former Baylor quarterback calls Briles’ offense ‘controlled chaos’ for players

Fans may not understand the details of offensive coordinator Kendal Briles’ new offense, but he knows and the players — especially quarterbacks — are going to love it.

At least that’s what Briles’ former quarterback Seth Russell told Tye Richardson and Tommy Craft on The Morning Rush on Wednesday morning.

“Being a part of it you kinda consider it controlled chaos,” said Russell, who played quarterback at Baylor for five years while Briles was there. “There’s a lot of intricate parts and pieces when you dive into it.”

But it’s an offense the players seem to understand all that’s going on.

“Whenever you’re watching it it’s so exciting and being inside of it, it’s a tornado, a hailstorm,” Russell said. “Just amazing play after play, going deep, running the ball. You just never know what’s going to happen. Being a part of it was a chaotic sense in itself but everything was very controlled from the inside.”

That’s like most offenses these days. Russell said Briles knows the offense his father Art created and had success with at Houston and Baylor … and he wants his players to trust it.

“Early on they gave me a lot of freedom to adjust and audible,” Smith said. “I came to the sideline one series after I’d changed a couple of plays and he sat down beside me and said, ‘hey, Seth, trust the system … trust us, play football and quit thinking … just do what we need to do ’cause it’s proven time and time again that we’ve been successful with what we’ve been calling.'”

It’s part of what he said is a “quarterback friendly” offense.

“It’s going to be bigger plays,” Russell said. “We consider our short (passing) game our run game. A three to five-yard gain is a good run. Being able to execute on the run-pass option is big. It all starts with the quarterback putting the ball where it needs to be, making good, productive plays.”

Briles and his offense are big reasons the Razorbacks are getting into the conversation on some highly-rated quarterbacks, even after getting four-star Malik Hornsby in this latest recruiting cycle.

“It’s one of those systems you drool over,” Russell said about quarterbacks.

The offense is designed to maximize the quarterback.

“I don’t think any quarterback out there just wants to hand the ball off 75-80 percent of the time,” Russell said. “(Quarterbacks) want to throw the ball deep. They want to make big plays, put up big numbers. They want to win Maxwell Awards, win national championships. They want to be the face of the university and that’s exactly what type of system KB brings to Arkansas. It’s a highly sought-after system that quarterbacks want to be a part of.”

Russell also covered a lot of ground on Briles. He should know, having spent five seasons (including a redshirt year) in Waco. He was the next guy up when Bryce Petty graduated, but injuries de-railed his career.