Analysis: Can John O'Korn Execute Multiple Reads?
John O'Korn is the man of the hour. He was terrific against Purdue. We are busily considering how far he can take the team as the starter, trying to understand his strengths and weaknesses.
One of the potential weaknesses: does John O'Korn lock on to receivers, neglecting to progress through reads? It was a worry after Indiana. It has been observed by fans this week. Speight's continued hold on the job suggested that it might still be an issue. How'd he do Saturday?
Let's look at the tape.
This is taken from the WD highlight video. We are analyzing the key drive of the game, the go-ahead drive in the third quarter, the drive in which O'Korn miraculously avoided a sack to hit Perry in stride. I am not overly concerned with that play, however; I'm interested in his pocket passes. The important plays begin at 10:53 of the video, and the plays are listed by video time (I will embed the video in comments). Note: I disclaim any actual knowledge or expertise.
10:53
It is 1st and 17 at the Michigan 7, midway through the third quarter. From a heavy set Michigan snaps the ball and O'Korn looks to the right, where the TE is releasing to an out route. There is zone coverage and the TE has three guys surrounding him. O'Korn then looks to the center of the field where Gentry is crossing underneath the zone, wide open thanks to a Wheatley clearout. He fires and Gentry turns upfield for an 11 yard gain.
11:07
2nd and 6 from the Michigan 18. O'Korn throws on the first read, a quick out to Gentry. It's the first read, but he fires as Gentry makes his cut, before the defender can respond. It's not a perfect pass but Gentry has a good opportunity and drops it. This was not a progression but it was a correct read and a decisive throw.
11:19
The escape. O'Korn is locked in on Perry here, waiting for him to come open, a bit of a lock on. It's not actually that relevant to this analysis but we all want to watch this play again anyway because it's awesome.
12:02
3rd and 7 from the Michigan 34. Michigan is 5 wide. At the snap O'Korn looks right towards Evans wide right and the slot receiver. Evans is running a vertical and the slot receiver is crossing with man coverage. O'Korn then looks center, sees Mckeon crossing beyond the slot and nails him instantly for a huge gain.
I'm no expert, but I doubt that Chris Evans running a fly is the first read, so either O'Korn was looking right to read the coverage (the slot man may have been the primary target if Purdue had dropped to zone) or that was a designed lookoff. But he clearly didn't turn to Mckeon until the moment it was time to pass, and his execution was perfect.
12:17
The Eubanks targeting play. It's playaction with Perry split wide left running a deep out, which appears to be the primary read. O'Korn appears to hesitate a bit, waiting on Perry to get open, before looking to Eubanks and throwing instantly. Eubanks was open in a space in the zone, but it wasn't a great throw.
13:19
This is a very encouraging play. 1st and 10 from the Purdue 22. O'Korn looks first downfield left to a TE running what I believe to be a seam route into the endzone, then right to either a TE running a post or the WR in the corner (both covered). He checks down from these reads to Evans, who is open for a short gain. Not a huge gain but a very impressive job of quickly and decisively making the correct reads and checking to an open man, gaining some yards and giving a playmaker a chance to move with the ball in space.
First, the negative: O'Korn can occasionally wait too long for a primary receiver to get open, and he has some rough edges. And I believe his decisiveness could allow clever defenses to bait him into errors with disguised coverages.
September 26th, 2017 at 1:50 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 8:06 AM ^
we still have dear diary in the schedule; i just don't like writing it and have two kids and a lot more interesting things to write about now, and we tend to have other content get delayed into its spot.
September 28th, 2017 at 10:20 AM ^
while also feeding me a bunch of free well written content. Shame, shame.
Unsolicited advice, I enjoy your new feature of breaking down the different alignments. Dear Diary is great, but diaries are sticking on the front page all week, and the board is the board, so I like the different content right now.
Keep up the good work Ace.
September 26th, 2017 at 9:13 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 12:38 PM ^
The OP did a good job using his own analysis and shared his opinion. This is the stuff that makes the blog great. The unquestionable love affair of Brian's words is asinine. Brian also does a great job and I love reading through the UFR every week but his opinion is just another based on his own analysis. From things Brian said on here you would be led to believe Kovacs, Des Morgan, and Speight were all-world players. Norfleet was a special talent. Our new freshmen receivers were going to be a quick upgrade over last years. O'Korn should never have seen any more meaningful reps. Bunting would be our best TE.
My point being is respect those who put the effort in to analyze what they see themselves rather than those who just follow what they are told to believe. That includes Brian, the OP, and anyone else who takes time to re-watch fine details of the game and share their key points with us. When people analyzed games and concluded Speight is a weakness the sheep on here instantly called them trolls because it was in their "gospel." Let's keep this blog high quality and not another RCMB couch fire.
September 27th, 2017 at 8:46 PM ^
September 27th, 2017 at 6:33 PM ^
As of right now, I'd say at least 43 people read it.
September 28th, 2017 at 1:50 PM ^
You could have just read it and moved on... Didn't need an essay on why you didn't like it lol
September 26th, 2017 at 6:13 AM ^
I was interested in knowing the answer to this question. It's nice to have a preliminary answer before we see the UFRs. Makes me feel a bit better going into Beat Bye week.
September 26th, 2017 at 8:00 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 9:15 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 8:23 AM ^
While everyone (rightfully) talks about O'Korn and the great escape, that play doesn't happen if Perry doesn't reverse field. He was cutting right to left and when he saw the escape, reversed back left to right and gave his QB a target. It was a great play all around (other than the OL failure).
September 26th, 2017 at 11:59 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 1:13 PM ^
Higdon in pass protection.
September 26th, 2017 at 4:15 PM ^
was the one who missed the block and most of the blitz pickups were on him and he failed at it.
September 26th, 2017 at 10:18 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 10:34 AM ^
it looks like you are right that there's considerable reason for optimism. We can assume O'Korn has his hiccups, but there's a possibility that he can be a more than adequate replacement for Speight, and if the offense--for whatever reason--starts to play more inspired ball with him at the helm, Michigan will be a better team.
One fact that may weigh in his favor for PT going forward is that, I assume, planning not just for MSU but Indiana and PSU is likely underway these next two weeks. If he's the guy in practice, and handles it, coaches may be likelier to stick with him as starter down the stretch.
September 26th, 2017 at 12:27 PM ^
Really enjoyed this analysis - thanks much for posting!
September 26th, 2017 at 3:06 PM ^
for letting me relive this drive. This is what a Michigan offense should look like against Purdue.
September 26th, 2017 at 3:25 PM ^
Thanks for your analysis! Purdue has a terrible secondary if I understand correctly so I don't know how much we can take away from this game when O'Korn plays against a better secondary as far as him following his progressions. There's reason for some optimism, but we'll have to wait for full confirmation.
What I liked was that his first read was often open and he made a quick, decisive throw. That's not been true with Speight, and it may show that O'Korn is making better pre-snap reads than Speight has been doing. He might also be checking at the line better than Speight has been and thereby getting into a better play. It's difficult to tell outside of the Michigan tape room whether either of these are true, but he looked much more decisive and poised than Speight has this year.
The Indiana game was one game last year. He had something going for him for him to do so well his freshmen year and for Harbaugh to offer him a scholarship. Let's hope that he is finally coming into his own. It would be a great story of preseverance and help this team immensely. Nothing against Speight. I hope he recovers quickly and plays up to his ability. Nothing against Peters. He threw a line to the boundary on the last play.
The plays called-run were defintiely different than before he came into the game. Why I don't know. But MSU will be better prepared for them than Purdue was. On the other hand, Harbaugh knows this and the MSU defensive genius coach is now at Pittsburgh.
September 26th, 2017 at 3:25 PM ^
Thanks for your analysis! Purdue has a terrible secondary if I understand correctly so I don't know how much we can take away from this game when O'Korn plays against a better secondary as far as him following his progressions. There's reason for some optimism, but we'll have to wait for full confirmation.
What I liked was that his first read was often open and he made a quick, decisive throw. That's not been true with Speight, and it may show that O'Korn is making better pre-snap reads than Speight has been doing. He might also be checking at the line better than Speight has been and thereby getting into a better play. It's difficult to tell outside of the Michigan tape room whether either of these are true, but he looked much more decisive and poised than Speight has this year.
The Indiana game was one game last year. He had something going for him for him to do so well his freshmen year and for Harbaugh to offer him a scholarship. Let's hope that he is finally coming into his own. It would be a great story of preseverance and help this team immensely. Nothing against Speight. I hope he recovers quickly and plays up to his ability. Nothing against Peters. He threw a line to the boundary on the last play.
The plays called-run were defintiely different than before he came into the game. Why I don't know. But MSU will be better prepared for them than Purdue was. On the other hand, Harbaugh knows this and the MSU defensive genius coach is now at Pittsburgh.
September 26th, 2017 at 3:41 PM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 3:28 PM ^
I'm wondering if O'Korn changed his reads as the game progressed. In his first few drives he threw more to the outside receivers. The reads took longer and his DSR was low. However, as the game progressed, he came off those reads a lot quicker and got the ball to his tight ends and slot receivers.
September 26th, 2017 at 8:25 PM ^
That was my preliminary assessment as well - whether we call it "simplifying the offense" or whatever other term, it seems like O'Korn was asked to read low-to-high rather than high-to-low...Brian has talked about the long-developing passing plays that have beenc called with Speight in the game this year and I agree, it seems like the staff was calling more deep shots/deep crossing routes in the prior games than the calls made against Purdue. The result on Saturday was lots of crossing and intermediate routes -- the passing offense with O'Korn in the game played with a rythmm that frankly we have not seen from Speight (this year or last year, Speight was sailing/missing on throws he should have made against Penn State and Wisconsin a lot last year).
I'm not etching O'Korn in stone as our starting quarterback for the rest of the year; having said that, my gut reaction after 3.25 games in 2017 was that this year's version of the passing offense with Speight (which admittedly could be the result of a combination of factors including a downgrade in Pass Pro and receiversfrom last year) was not beating OSU, Penn State or Wisconsin. Not sure if O'Korn can, but if Trace McSorley is the conference's best QB, I'd like to see what Harbaugh and company can do with O'Korn.
September 26th, 2017 at 8:29 PM ^
This performance from O'Korn came against Purdue. One of Speight's biggest strengths, at least last year, was his ability to either hang tough in the pocket and deliver throws or evade a free rusher. O'Korn breaking out of the pocket to salvage that third down throw to Perry was nice, but we're talking an extremely small sample size in terms of O'Korn's ability to throw under durress.
Also, I always felt comfortable that Speight knew the offense back and forth over the past year+, with the ability to make audibles, etc. when necessary. I assume this was one of the factors that played into Harbaugh's decision to name Speight starter this year with a young offense -- an assumption, but I think a fair one to make.
September 26th, 2017 at 6:17 PM ^
Hell, even if he doesnt go past his first read, does it matter that Speight does if he can't get the ball to them because of accuracy and hesitancy issues?
September 26th, 2017 at 6:19 PM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 7:48 PM ^
Brian did before the season started about Speight and that didn't work out. I hope your analysis is more accurate. Sorry Brian.
September 27th, 2017 at 12:35 AM ^
I think the important thing to remember as we analyze performances - is data. We have more than enough data on Speight. He has been at times very good. He has been at times fairly bad. Sometimes he's performed just ok. The data on O'Korn is limited, so right now it is just about a guess as to how this last week could translate.
That said, I was very impressed with how O'Korn performed on Saturday. It was nice to see the offense finish drives. I do wonder though how this will translate moving forward. I would very much like to take the approach that O'Korn will continue to play very well. There is also a part of me that wonders why he didn't earn the starting role for the last two years. I do hope he continues to play well and will be looking for more data (as I think we all will) before I can make any kind of solid conclusion. I'd honestly like to see him get that chance.
Another point of optimism is that we have some weapons that can catch the ball. Perry is pretty damn good. Gentry is long, rangy, and fast enough to cause chaos up the seam. We figure out how to get the ball to DPJ a few more times a game and I think we will be set. McKeon seems to have found a role with the offense as well.
Appreciated the break down of the QB play and enjoyed the post. Thank you for sharing.
September 27th, 2017 at 7:04 AM ^
I haven't rewatched the film to see if I agree with the takes, but I'll be really happy if you're right (and therefore if earlier me, who was openly worried about JOK locking on, was wrong). I do still think he's going to throw a ton of interceptions either way, but I also look forward to being proved wrong about that.
September 27th, 2017 at 2:35 PM ^
Thanks a lot for adding great content.
The thing is, I agree with you. But I also REALLY want to believe. So the questions are, just how good (bad) is the Purdue defense and just how good is O'Korn? I hope O'Korn and all of us have a chance to find out.
Thanks again.
September 27th, 2017 at 3:05 PM ^
September 27th, 2017 at 7:22 PM ^
enjoyable read, and much appreciated that you took the time to put this together.
September 27th, 2017 at 8:33 PM ^
September 28th, 2017 at 10:22 AM ^
When going through the gif of the weeks, I watched the gif over and over where he dropped the ball in the bread basket (I think) and watched his head and noticed it was a second read. Glad that it appears to happen more.
October 1st, 2017 at 8:31 PM ^
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