Hello: Tim Drevno, Offensive Coordinator
Previously: Ty Wheatley (RBs), Jedd Fisch (WRs), Greg Jackson (DBs), John Baxter (ST).
If you like manball there's no better guy to have as your offensive coordinator than Tim Drevno. As both a TE coach and OL coach, he was one of the main architects of the thumping Stanford lines that brought the Cardinal to their recently-elevated level. Afterwards Drevno transitioned to the NFL and got a plum job at USC. Now he rejoins Jim Harbaugh at Michigan.
After a small-school tenure as an offensive lineman, Drevno's coaching career started with a few years coaching TEs and RBs at smaller schools. In 1999 he transitioned to OL at San Jose State. Since then he's been exclusively an OL coach save for his first two years at Stanford, when he handled TEs. He also held the offensive coordinator title for Harbaugh's extremely successful San Diego teams. (Harbaugh in fact inherited Drevno from the previous administration.)
At Stanford, Drevno was a key part of the machine that actually got up and running in Harbaugh year two:
[Ranking out of about 120]
YEAR | TEAM | DREVNO | Rush S&P | Overall S&P | Main back(s) | Results |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2006 | Stanford | N/A | 105 | 113 | Kimble Gerhart | 220 rushes, 900 yards,3.8 YPC |
2007 | Stanford | TE | 37 | 83 | Kimble Stewart McGraw | 280 rushes, 1150 yards, 4.1 YPC |
2008 | Stanford | TE | 6 | 31 | Gerhart Kimble | 330 rushes, 1850 yards, 5.6 YPC |
2009 | Stanford | OL | 12 | 6 | Gerhart | 340 rushes, 1870 yards, 5.5 YPC |
2010 | Stanford | OL | 30 | 3 | Taylor Wilkerson Gaffney | 370 rushes, 1800 yards, 4.9YPC |
2011 | Stanford | N/A | 18 | 8 | Taylor Wilkerson Gaffney | 370 rushes,2100 yards, 5.6 YPC |
It's hard to separate Drevno out from the general Harbaugh effect, but again the continued success of Stanford after coach X's departure bodes very well in this case. This wasn't Texas or Alabama when they were up and running. This was a program transformation that stuck; that Stanford continued to excel after Drevno left is pretty good since he was one of the major molders of guys like David DeCastro and Jonathan Martin.
Drevno went with Harbaugh to San Francisco, where he was the OL coach; oddly, NFL veteran Mike Solari was also the OL coach. The two guys had the same title. In any case, the San Francisco OL was up and down.
[rankings out of 32 teams]
YEAR | TEAM | Rush DVOA | Line Yards | Power Success | Adj Sack Rate |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | San Francisco | 17 | 13 | 23 | 30 |
2011 | San Francisco | 24 | 21 | 29 | 25 |
2012 | San Francisco | 3 | 1 | 12 | 29 |
2013 | San Francisco | 14 | 29 | 28 | 22 |
2014 | San Francisco | 8 | 10 | 32 | 30 |
After a step back in year one, the 49ers had a terrific rushing offense in year two; they then took a major step back. At no point was their sack rate anything other than bad, but he did inherit that and quarterbacks do have a significant, often-unacknowledged hand in that. Kaepernick is a guy who prefers to extend plays even if that results in additional sacks because when it doesn't he frequently lopes downfield for thirty yards.
Despite those numbers, San Francisco sent two OL to the Pro Bowl in 2013 and had their entire line named as either a starter or an alternate in 2012. Margins in the NFL are razor thin.
L to R: true FR, redshirt FR, junior, true FR, redshirt SO
Last year, Drevno returned to college at USC, picking up a run game coordinator title and inheriting a line that thinks last year's Michigan line is impressively experienced. Three true freshman saw extensive time, with Toa Lobendahn moving to left tackle midseason when sophomore Chad Wheeler went down with injury. Redshirt sophomore Zach Banner moved into the starting RT job; Max Tuerk was the only upperclassman, and even he ended up moving to center.
This is like last year's Michigan line if you replaced the starting guards with freshmen instead of a redshirt junior and redshirt sophomore.
/shudders
Despite that, the numbers were middling:
Offense | Adj. LY | Rk | Opp. Rate | Rk | Power Success Rate | Rk | Adj Sack Rate | Rk |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
USC | 104.4 | 54 | 38% | 76 | 62% | 104 | 107.9 | 56 |
USC was about average in line yards and adjusted sacks, a bit below that in "opportunity rate"—the percentage of run plays that go for five yards—and bad at short yardage. Top USC back Javorius Allen almost hit 1500 yards at 5.4 a carry. That's impressive for what must have been one of the youngest lines in the country.
PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE
Drevno has extensive Harbaugh experience and did very well considering the situation in his single year at USC; he was one of the primary guys driving the Stanford rushing renaissance whether it was as a TE coach or an OL coach. A lack of OC experience is not a problem since Harbaugh has a major role in coordinating his own offense, and Drevno worked with Harbaugh in that capacity at San Diego.
At 45, he's probably looking at this job as an opportunity to impress and get a head job. Given the history there that's not exactly a longshot.
UPSHOT FOR REST OF STAFF
Ain't no more upshot.
January 16th, 2015 at 11:43 AM ^
January 16th, 2015 at 11:45 AM ^
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January 16th, 2015 at 11:56 AM ^
Schemes, gameplan, looking for weaknesses in oposing defenses and figuring out how to exploit them. There's a lot more to being an OC than just choosing which play to run.
January 16th, 2015 at 11:58 AM ^
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January 16th, 2015 at 2:00 PM ^
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January 16th, 2015 at 3:19 PM ^
Hang di
January 16th, 2015 at 1:37 PM ^
But, it appears based on what little we know from the job titles, that this offense will be somewhat of a committee system with Harbaugh being the chairman. Wheatley, Drevno, and Fisch will all have roles helping with strategy, researching opponents, and many other issues.
January 16th, 2015 at 11:58 AM ^
Very optimistic about the OL this year. Seven months from now I'm hoping the Utah and Oregon St games show us what upper classmen and elite OL coaching can do.
January 16th, 2015 at 12:01 PM ^
Great write-up. You correctly note
It's hard to separate Drevno out from the general Harbaugh effect, but again the continued success of Stanford after coach X's departure bodes very well in this case.
Of course that's not a concern (not to say that Brian implied it was), since we don't need to separate Drevno from the Harbaugh effect. That's maybe my favorite thing about the Drevno hire. We know they can work together seamlessly. None of this nonsense we saw when Casteel did not join Rich Rod and the ensuant square peg-round holing that went on.
January 16th, 2015 at 12:25 PM ^
January 16th, 2015 at 12:05 PM ^
Man I hope John Bacon covers what went down with Andy Moeller as OL coach in his next book. Supposedly these texts and some of the "edge of the interent" stuff was coming from Moeller about getting the band together etc. At that point - with Drevno at USC - I thought no chance at getting him, so I was pleased beyond believe that the guy who was part architect of the manball at Stanford and the first 3 years of quite good OLs at San Fran was coming here.
No idea how he will do as an OC but as an OL coach we hit a home run here. Guys like DeCastro and Martin at Stanford were 3 stars he developed into high NFL picks. I think he and Baxter will have the most impact in the next 24 months, outside of Jim himself.
January 16th, 2015 at 12:12 PM ^
I read the other day that Zach Banner is Lincoln Kennedy's son. I hadn't heard that before. Kennedy was in the news for making it to the College Hall of Fame. Whatever it's called.
January 16th, 2015 at 12:14 PM ^
Really excited to see what he can do with some of our boom-or-bust linemen that we recruited in years previous. He's definitely got bodies to work with, it'd be great to see how they develop.
January 16th, 2015 at 12:25 PM ^
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January 16th, 2015 at 12:26 PM ^
Outside of the advanced metrics, most knowledgeable NFL commentators (specifically Mays and Barnwell at Grantland) considered San Francisco's OLine to be the best in the league over the past 2-3 years and then not so great this year.
January 16th, 2015 at 12:32 PM ^
in his twitter account, Jedd Fisch's list himself as
University of Michigan Passing Game Coordinator & QB's/WR's Coach
Guess that Jedd will help out the regular OC duty in some capacity. Won't be surprised to see him sitting in the box during the games.
January 16th, 2015 at 12:34 PM ^
January 16th, 2015 at 12:47 PM ^
Love the picture of Drevno as an OL player. Put that on the locker room wall
I so want to be a fly on the wall in the staff meetings. I want to see how a staff so loaded with strong personalities is managed by Harbaugh, and how the energy these guys all have individually is channeled into the collective whole. What a freakin' study in leadership dynamics.
If I were Jay Harbaugh, I'd be buying Drevno beers and begging him for TE coaching insights.
January 16th, 2015 at 12:58 PM ^
Welcome to Michigan, Tim not-Borges!
January 16th, 2015 at 1:07 PM ^
Don't get me wrong. I'm glad Drevno's at Michigan now. But I guess I don't fully understand why would he would leave Jim Harbaugh and the 49er's, where he finally hit the big time and NFL, and shared the title of OL coach, just to go back to a college team (USC) for the same position? Could USC have paid more money? Or was the lure simply returning to his home in Southern California? I mean, it's not the same as Michigan offering Harbaugh a return to his alma mater as the head coach with a raise in pay (and prestige). Drevno never attended USC, and position coach pay just doesn't seem like it would be better at college than the NFL. What am I missing here?
January 16th, 2015 at 1:49 PM ^
Maybe he prefers college to NFL coaching so when USC came calling with an attractive offer, he made the switch. Also got a bit of a promotion with being the run game coordinator as well and there appear to have been 2 OL coaches with the 49ers.
January 16th, 2015 at 2:43 PM ^
I was wondering if there may have been some internal power struggle with sharing the title with someone else. Wondered if maybe a step away that situation might be a healthy move. Obviously no issues with Harbaugh.
January 16th, 2015 at 2:06 PM ^
January 16th, 2015 at 2:32 PM ^
Was wondering this. Thanks for the info!!
We have a new TIMMMMMAY
January 16th, 2015 at 2:34 PM ^
Didn't know that about Steve Sarkisian. Just searched about him and noticed both Sarkisian and Drevno are from Torrance, CA and both attended El Camino Community College (a few years apart). Small world. Thanks.
January 16th, 2015 at 1:14 PM ^
January 16th, 2015 at 1:56 PM ^
How does Drevno effect Isaac as RB? Did they overlap for a year or just miss each other?
January 16th, 2015 at 3:30 PM ^
Since Isaac played two years ago and Drevno coached last year, I'd say they just missed each other.
January 16th, 2015 at 6:34 PM ^
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January 16th, 2015 at 7:15 PM ^
Nobody
Enthusiasm UnKnown to Mankind
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January 17th, 2015 at 9:38 AM ^
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