Augusta -
My history with the Air Raid - and how it could work here with an accurate passer that has a cannon.
in 93 my sons team - cypress creek high adopted the air raid after running the power I for years. We were imitating the Stephenville team where art brilles was wildly successful at running it. We destroyed folks and turned the defense loose on them = undefeated season..
Son played ol and we did keep tight spacing on the ol because of some weak links and we ran the ball at end of games to get it over with.
Proud dad moment = We played Yates in the first round of playoffs - they had only lost to Dallas Carter (mean red team in the movie "Friday Night Lights"). We were very good because we had good talent that was disciplined by Texas hall of fame coach. They were huge and fast and well coached - 20,000 standing room only. We come out in the power 1 and ran it down there throasts in the first half- score 10_0 at half and should have been more- 2 passes. Second half they come out fired up and we went to air raid empty back field, some single back with qb keeper. Fond memories of the final death march power i drive to thier 5 yard line as time expired.
NEXT year - the back up qb took over - BJ Symons was also a star pitcher - we did great again but it was more of a one man show and a new system. lots of talent to ncaa
The key for the air raid is that the field is wide open because at least 2 routes are going long.
No way to half way show pressure.
Made it simple for the wr to make right routes and for qb to get ball out in a few second.
BJ had wild stats, went on to be QB for Texas Tech under leach where he had all kinds of passing records - Sammy Baugh trophy.
Change
At Texas tech they did open up the gaps on the ol at select times.
Time passed and my other son was at Baylor so we went to those games - Baylor under Kevin Steele and other coaches were "end of 2021 gt season" bad for years - no wins in SWC for 5 years. Baylor played bend but don't break and ran the ball so the clock kept running. NOTHING MAKES YOU LOOK WORSE THAN A BAD OL. During that time Baylor placed several stud ol guys in the pros
My son came back to teach at Baylor when Brilles moved to Baylor from u of h. After RG Griffin blew up the SWC with the Air Raid
CHANGE I NOTED During the early time Brilles went to placing small track guys on the boundary and sending them long on every play. Also the put the taller wr in the slot. Of course RGIII would take off like Sims does and just wear the other team out. With certain defensive fonts there were call run for the back or qb.
PROBLEM
They scored so fast their own bend and don't break defense wore out as well.
SOLUTION
This was later made better by having a more aggressive defense (at strategic times) and by having more called runs. During this time they went to wide gaps all the time.
IMO - The air raid with wide gaps and some FAST WR and a good TALL WR makes it easier for the ol , rb and especially for the QB.
The field opens up and the weak point is easy to see. Of course we need other schemes, We can be a well prepared as the 1993 cypress creek high school...