Chad Morris hasn’t conducted a single practice yet and everyone is already wondering who will play quarterback.
The overwhelming view of many is that it won’t be Cole Kelley. While that may be true, the fact is the quarterback in Chad Morris’ offense isn’t necessarily a running threat.
Oh, it’s nice to have someone who can make some yards when things break down, but there’s not a lot of required
At SMU last season redshirt sophomore Ben Hicks didn’t do a lot of running, averaging less than four carries a game. But if you look at some offenses that come out of the same bag as Morris’ desires, the quarterback averages 9-10 carries a game.
Some of that is not designed. He scrambles out of trouble, but there will be some option in the offense, too.
What the quarterback has to have in Morris’ offense is quick feet. Really quick feet. That is something you can count on, based on what people who do know that offense say.
That is not exactly something we’ve seen from Kelley.
In looking at who Morris has offered (that we know about) in less than a week on the job, three of the offers have been to quarterbacks: Highland Park’s John Stephen Jones (a blueshirt offer), Greenwood’s Connor Noland and Earle’s Gerry Bohanon.
All three have eye-popping stats and run an offense similar to what Morris wants to employ. Noland is more ready to step in immediately, Bohanon may be the best athlete and Jones has a lot of development potential.
Ty Storey, who’s already on campus, may have the best upside of any of the quarterbacks already there. Yes, I know Daulton Hyatt’s on campus, but he redshirted and from what limited things I’ve seen he’s not ready.
Morris’ offense won’t be the problem in 2018, I’m guessing. There are players on campus that can run his offense better than the one they were trying to run. You may not buy into that, but some of the former offensive assistants believe that.
Yes, people are concerned no one’s talking about the defensive coordinator much or even the defense in general.
That’s because football has changed. You may find this shocking.
Offense wins championships now. Defense will win you a few games.
Look at the championship teams the last few years, especially the last three national championship games.
Ohio State outscored Oregon, 42-20. Alabama outscored Clemson, 45-40. Clemson outscored Alabama, 35-31.
You’ve got to score more than 40 points a game to win a championship and you’re probably going to give up more than 30 a game.
That’s not what any traditional football thinker has in mind.
The rules favor offense. Until that changes, most coaches are going to place a major emphasis on it.
You have to score points to win these days. To do that you have to have a quarterback that makes lightning-quick decisions and have really quick feet.
Unfortunately, Cole Kelley hasn’t shown either one of those two things.
