Changes to the 2012 Offense and Defense

[Killjoy]

One the many factors I believe that will help improve our team in 2012 is that we now be in year two with our new offense and defense. This additional experience in running our new offense and defense should move us much farther down the learning curve and allow with the coaches being able to add more bells and whistle to playbook. I may be wrong about his but I believe this will have a significant impact on our success in 2012.

Therefore, I have included the following in the Dave Mona questions string:

Last year you implemented both a new offense and defense. In doing this you and your coaches decided it would be best to simplify it from the version you ran at Northern Illinois. As part of this you also reduced the spacing between the offensive linemen and changed some of the blocking schemes to make it easier for the linemen to be successful. The question is what are you plans, if any, to increase the play book in 2012 to look more like what you did at Northern Illinois? Also are there any plans to move back to your more normal spacing and blocking for linemen that you have used in the past?

Lastly, if you do these things, what additional competitive advantages do you believe this could give you in 2012?

My question to the board is what do you believe will be the impact of this on our success in 2012?

 

[To Be Named Later]

I think that is a great question to ask, and I will be interested to hear Kill's response. While he will probably not go into detail, there are two main areas of improvement I would expect to see:

1. Speed. Everything will happen faster. Blocks will be made with more crispness, and you will see fewer holding penalties because their feet will be in the right place. Look for the OL splits to widen a bit as well. Remember that tight splits cut down on the DL's ability to get through, but they also shrink the gaps through which the RBs can go (this is why coaches are constantly harping at OL to widen their splits- OL hate getting beaten). Receivers will be better adapted to finding holes in the defense and making themselves passing options. They will also be better equipped to anticipate where and when contact will come. Backs will hit the holes with more confidence as they will trust the linemen to be in the right position. The wider splits should also open some things up for them.

2. More play diversity. You have to walk before you can run, and they learned to walk this past season. The improved crispness at the end of the year was proof that they had improved in a few areas. The offense will, most likely, build on itself. Look for more runs, more play action off of those new runs, and improved play diversity in the red zone/goal line areas. There will probably be a few more gadget plays in as well.

This, above all else, is why I am excited to see them play in the fall.

 

[Killjoy]

To Be Named Later

Thanks you! That's what I was feeling too but you put it into words. I will be looking to see if this is happening during spring practice and fall camp also. We may be getting ahead of ourselves but I believe Jerry Kill has the players attention and therefore we are going to see a great deal of aprovement. They know what to expect and what they need to do.

Go Gophers!