GT Air Raid

[slugboy]

Kind of apropo this thread was dug back up. The other side of the Air Raid coin for teams:

I feel like it’s a moral imperative for us to take over the GT Counter run game

 

[Mattmc10]

It will be interesting to see how Faulkner uses tight ends at Tech. Reading the Athletic article, the knock on Air Raid is no tight ends for the defense to practice against.

 

[Techster]

It will be interesting to see how Faulkner uses tight ends at Tech. Reading the Athletic article, the knock on Air Raid is no tight ends for the defense to practice against.

Knowing how Key has said the run game is important, I'm certain we'll run more of a modified Air Raid than "pure" Mike Leach AR offense. I think this article will give us a big clue:

Western Kentucky’s Offense Isn’t a True Air Raid and That’s Okay

While many believe that Western Kentucky runs a true air raid, differences between the offenses exist.

www.underdogdynasty.com

The other fundamental difference comes in the personnel on the field, specifically with the tight end position.

Air raid offenses aren’t known for their use of tight ends, opting instead to use multiple wide receivers to create mismatches.

Western Kentucky, on the other side, is willing to use the tight end position within their offense. Last season, their tight end was Joey Beljan, who finished with 394 snaps according to Pro Football Focus data.

Looking ahead to the 2022 season, there’s a possibility that the Hilltoppers will see an increase in two tight-end sets. Not only does Beljan, who served as Western Kentucky’s offensive representative at media day, return but the Hilltoppers also see the return of Joshua Simon, who saw his season end in the opener following a knee injury.

“If you probably ask most coordinators, play callers, when it comes to just the tight end piece, what would be your favorite personnel? It’d be 12 personnel (one running back, two tight ends), two tight ends that can line out as wideouts because that gives the defense a headache, that’s a defensive nightmare that you can take two big tight ends that are athletic enough, though, to be in a 4-wide offense,” Helton said. “We have a couple of good-quality tight ends. I think you’ll see some of that. You know, last year, unfortunately, our best tight end, Josh Simon, got hurt first game of the season. So, we played with Joey Beljan … he did a great job for us but yeah, we’re always going to mix in personnel and do what we need to do to win.”

Using two tight-end personnel with air raid concepts is similar to that of the aforementioned Lincoln Riley.

According to a source with access to Sports Informations Solutions (SIS), Oklahoma ran 21 personnel 77 times on 469 dropbacks. While 21 personnel may not always mean 2 tight ends — there’s long been an argument on whether H-backs are considered to be running backs or tight ends — it’s clear that Riley isn’t afraid to use tight ends.

That much is evident when considering that three Oklahoma tight ends, including H-back Jeremiah Hall, finished the season with over 300 snaps.

“I give you a great example: Lincoln Riley, one of the best in the business. You watch him, I mean a third of the offense every week is he’s playing in 12 personnel,” Helton said. “I think of Lane Kiffin and what he’s doing at Ole Miss and he’s a great offensive mind but he’s still going to play time to time with a tight end. Maybe a little more 11, not 12, but he’s going to do that. There’s a time and a place for everything you just gotta know when to use it.”

Playing multiple — in this case with two tight ends — ultimately allows Helton and the offense to mix up their play calls while keeping defenses on their toes.

“I think it makes it easier on the quarterback, number one. When I say multiple, you gotta be able to play with a tight end, you gotta be able to go formation into the boundary, you gotta have motion to get safety rotation. All those things play into that to get what you want the defense to do, whether you’re running the ball or throwing the ball. So, really those are all the things that we look for that aren’t really air raid principles” Helton explained. [Air raid] would just be line up four wide, go fast, and let the quarterback have the keys to the Ferrari, and let’s go. We were fortunate last year to have Bailey, who’s so dang good, you could do that a lot but we played three games last year, we had to slow it down, and we got to look at the defense, see what they were giving us. We had to mix run, mix pass, mix play action, that’s what good football teams do and we’ll have to do it again this year.”

If you remember, that's where WR coach Crawford came from. Also, Faulkner came from UGA and was under Monken. UGA had the two of the best TEs (and probably THE best TE) last year. He saw first hand what good TEs can do for your offense. In today's offense, the TE can be a high level weapon that's a mismatch nightmare.

 

[g0lftime]

I hope our yards after catch are improved for our TE's this year. That position just hasn't produced big plays so far.
Can our speedsters block down field on running plays? Those guys should give us some over the top opportunity if the OL can hold their blocks.
The O has potential but can we stop anybody on D? Can we get pressure on the QB without White and can our new LB's drop into coverage? Lots of unanswered questions. I agree with others that we will learn a lot against Louisville but game 3 will really show what this staff is made of. I expect some experimentation early on to find who are the playmakers.

 

[iceeater1969]

The Gt WR coach was at Pensacola HS recruiting a very young wr. I happened to be there in lobby on a Memorial day matter when the head coach brought them to the lobby. I was in gt garb and they brought me into conversation - i said to gt coach - i know u are going run some AR since u are from WKU. He looked at tge WR and said we are going to sling it around.

When baylor moved into the running AR they went single back or no back """BUT WITH WIDE OL GAPS.""
EXCEPT FOR UNDER CENTER IT LOOKED LIKE THE GT LINE UP OL SPLITS. Also the put the small wr on bohndary and used the larger WR closer in. On every down at least 2 routes were go routes. The tall wr never went out for the safe pass in flat for short gain. (Damn i am scick of that gt pass play )
The wide gaps made the dl / lb have to spread out - and it opened up run lanes for rb and qb - kind of 7 on 7 - for very good gain. The ol / qb/ rb all knew the reads.
TFP has had terrible scheme that draws entire defense against weak ol as the qb as he is trying RPO. With everyone packed in - the ol weakness was exposed - unless Gibbs did magic