How will the Gophers Offense Look Under Sanford and Simon?

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Guys, keep in mind that play-calling, while a highly visible part of what an OC does, is actually a relatively small chunk of their time. Film analysis, gameplan development, and team management is big.

If Simon is ultimately being groomed for a broader OC role, he needs more experience with gameplanning et al. I suspect that PJ is being deliberate about letting Sanford take on play-calling so that Simon can develop in those other areas. If Sanford isn’t getting it done, I imagine Fleck will make a quick adjustment.
 

Mitu said:
Guys, keep in mind that play-calling, while a highly visible part of what an OC does, is actually a relatively small chunk of their time. Film analysis, gameplan development, and team management is big.

If Simon is ultimately being groomed for a broader OC role, he needs more experience with gameplanning et al. I suspect that PJ is being deliberate about letting Sanford take on play-calling so that Simon can develop in those other areas. If Sanford isn’t getting it done, I imagine Fleck will make a quick adjustment.
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I don't believe he needs more experience with gameplanning .... he was already doing that this year as the passing-game coordinator.

He needs more experience in game calling. That I can buy. One game is not a large enough sample size. I can go with that.
 

MplsGopher said:
I don't believe he needs more experience with gameplanning .... he was already doing that this year as the passing-game coordinator.

He needs more experience in game calling. That I can buy. One game is not a large enough sample size. I can go with that.
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It’s a fair point. The reason I think he gets an elevated role in game planning (rather than just contributing) is because Simon is now the main point of continuity for our “base” offense. As the 247 analysis showed, there’s a lot of what Sanford did at USU that likely won’t carry over.

I’m not savvy with the details, but it’s tough to say how much influence a PGC has in game-planning. At LSU, Joe Brady (their WR/PGC) basically does 75% of it and Ensminger (their OC) does the play calling. At Clemson, Jeff Scott and Tony Elliott (their Co-OCs) likely use a different model.
 

I think @Mitu is right. There are a lot of learning for the OC job other than play calling. All the stuff that Ciarrocca used to do behind the scene not necessarily game planning. There are lots lots of managing duties other than game planning or play calling.
 

It won't change very much. PJ has an offense he runs, and he always preaches consistency. He would not bring in someone who wasn't going to keep things at least 90% the same.

My guess, maybe a few plays are added and a few are removed (or just used less) from the playbook, but basically everything stays the same. The biggest change may be in the "agressiveness" of the playcalling.
 


Time will tell Sanford's success here under Fleck. We do have great players coming back so he has no excuses to get us WINS. Sanford also better respect and hear what Simon has to say. None of this, I'm the official OC card BS.

If Sanford start to use our TEs this season, then I'd be more inclined to buy into his schemes. We need to get back to Matt Spaeth's days.

Time will tell....but y'all read it here first! If we end up 6-7 for the season...it's ALL Sanford's fault :ROFLMAO:
 

Pompous Elitist said:
Saban was asked how he deals with a revolving door of coordinators and his response was basically there is a firm understanding he hires someone to coach up his system, not bring in a new system and playbook. The exception to that was of course when Alabama committed to the spread several years back, a mission LSU committed to last year after bringing in a young consultant from the NFL.

My guess is PJF has a similar understanding with Sanford that it’s easier for one guy to adapt than to train an entire team and staff to change to Sanford’s offense which by recent history was less than stellar anyway. Yeah, it’s a curious hire but there must be some elite intangibles or coaching ability PJF really likes otherwise the hire doesn’t make sense. Have to wait and see what happens and it will likely be fine but agree it does introduce more uncertainty than we would’ve liked. If it ain’t broke...
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I would agree with this take and I don't expect many changes at all to the overall look of the offense. Some new wrinkles and tendencies to be sure with different play callers but overall scheme should stay basically the same.

My guess is that Sanford was hired in large part for recruiting. Young guy with some west coast connections. KC didn't seem to be much of a recruiter, my guess is that Sanford will be. Will be interesting to see how it all plays out but I don't expect things to be much different on offense..
 

Yah-E said:
Time will tell Sanford's success here under Fleck. We do have great players coming back so he has no excuses to get us WINS. Sanford also better respect and hear what Simon has to say. None of this, I'm the official OC card BS.

If Sanford start to use our TEs this season, then I'd be more inclined to buy into his schemes. We need to get back to Matt Spaeth's days.

Time will tell....but y'all read it here first! If we end up 6-7 for the season...it's ALL Sanford's fault :ROFLMAO:
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I would think Fleck would make sure everyone understands the dynamic which will avoid the in-fighting. If he didn't think Sanford would mesh well with Simon it would be pretty stupid to hire him and make him a co-coordinator.
 




PMWinSTP said:
A new thread about if/how the offense will change. Awesome.
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Maybe I’m missing something but this seems like the first thread on the topic?
Mitu said:
Guys, keep in mind that play-calling, while a highly visible part of what an OC does, is actually a relatively small chunk of their time. Film analysis, gameplan development, and team management is big.

If Simon is ultimately being groomed for a broader OC role, he needs more experience with gameplanning et al. I suspect that PJ is being deliberate about letting Sanford take on play-calling so that Simon can develop in those other areas. If Sanford isn’t getting it done, I imagine Fleck will make a quick adjustment.
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Simon is 34 years old. He's not gray at the temples yet but not like he’s some kid fresh off the boat. Sanford was an OC at Boise at a younger age. To me this hire means Simon does not have ”it” in PJF’s mind which is ok. It is what it is. Sanford will likely be moving on soon enough one way or the other and maybe Simon shores up whatever deficiencies he’s exhibiting at that point.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
Maybe I’m missing something but this seems like the first thread on the topic?


Simon is 34 years old. He's not gray at the temples yet but not like he’s some kid fresh off the boat. Sanford was an OC at Boise at a younger age. To me this hire means Simon does not have ”it” in PJF’s mind which is ok. It is what it is. Sanford will likely be moving on soon enough one way or the other and maybe Simon shores up whatever deficiencies he’s exhibiting at that point.
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Pompous Elitist said:
Maybe I’m missing something but this seems like the first thread on the topic?


Simon is 34 years old. He's not gray at the temples yet but not like he’s some kid fresh off the boat. Sanford was an OC at Boise at a younger age. To me this hire means Simon does not have ”it” in PJF’s mind which is ok. It is what it is. Sanford will likely be moving on soon enough one way or the other and maybe Simon shores up whatever deficiencies he’s exhibiting at that point.
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Part of it might be that Simon is the WR coach which is Fleck's specialty as well. From this recent interview with TJ6, it sounds like Fleck spends a good amount of time with the receivers.

Q. (On the impact Coach Fleck has had on his career.)

TYLER JOHNSON: Coach Fleck is a heck of a coach. Him being able to be around the receivers because he played receiver in the past, it's basically like having two coaches in one room, Coach Fleck and Coach Simon. If one doesn't say something, the other one will say it even better, something like that. Just being able to hear and be around him all the time, know and understand what he's doing and why he's doing it, has definitely been helpful.
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Fleck might therefore be a little more critical of Simon than other position coaches because that is his area of expertise as well. Whereas another coach may get most of the credit in Fleck's mind for a position group excelling, Simon may not get the same amount of credit for the receivers if Fleck is spending time coaching the receivers as well.
 
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