Burgeoning Wolverine Star on the inverted veer (vs UMass)

Who says that

(1) At times last year (against Ohio) they blocked the player that other spreads would option (and against Bama)

(2) Against UMass, they left the DE unblocked and optioned him

(3) Hopefully, we will see more of (2) than of (1).

I thought that too, plus there's no guarantee Barnum can get out there on the safety before Denard gets there. I think Brian mentioned this to some degree but I think Hoke and Borges's philosophy on run blocking is to put priority on getting hats on Dline and linebackers, getting the 5-6 yards everytime vs a chance for big plays some of the time.

It might be just me, but I thought that one thing was critiqued that actually went right in the beginning of the play anyway. The DE committed, which is exactly what should have happened and Denard seemed to get away cleanly (rather than "scraping by", or at least it looks pretty clean in motion rather than still shots), and you say, taking on the LB is probably a good idea here since one of the normal responses to this play is the "scrape exchange", I believe, which employs LBs to confuse the read. I wouldn't think UMass has the LB corps to pull that answer off though.

One item note as well, for general consumption - we run this play with some success. As examples, we ran it 7 times in the Ohio game last year for 84 yards, and 4 times against Purdue for 54 yards. I don't remember seeing it more than once or twice in the Nebraska and Illinois games, but in the Purdue and Ohio games alone, we averaged 12.5 yards on the inverted veer.

The "Veer" is what Air Force uses where the QB "opens" his shoulders for the running back to be optioned on the same path as the QBs shoulders.  This is typically with one shoulder pointing to the LOS and the other away from it.  Denard has his shoulders parallel to the LOS in the option read, thus is inverted. The QB has the inside path and the RB has the outside path.

flips the QB and RB, QB closer to the LOS, RB back. The Veer is the other way, RB closer to the LOS, QB back.

http://smartfootball.com/defending-spread/tcus-inverted-veer-option

In the typical veer play from a spread set, the line blocks down and double-teams the defensive linemen on up to the linebackers. They leave the defensive end unblocked (except when they run midline veer, in which case it is a defensive tackle) and read that man. If he steps down for the runningback, the QB just gives the ball and steps around him. It is just the old first-read of the triple option adapted for spread sets.

In the inverted veer:

The runningback runs a sweep or outside zone action laterally. If the defensive end takes him, then the quarterback shoots up inside the defensive end. If the defensive end sits for the QB, the runner should be able to hit the corner. Remember, the defensive end is often the hardest guy to block, and especially so when you want to “reach” him to seal the corner.

A veer is when you option off a lineman on the strong side of the play. Inside Veer means you option off the first guy over or past the guard (DT). Outside Veer means you option off the second guy (DE). In either case, the RB is running into the line and the QB has the option to pull and run parallel to the line.

An inverted veer is the opposite of the Outside Veer where the RB runs parallel to the line and the QB has the option to pull and run into the line. The strong side is the side that the RB is running toward. You can see in the video that the DE on the strong side goes unblocked. Denard has the option to give the ball to the RB and let him out-run the DE to the outside or take the ball and run into the hole that the OL opens up for him. The DE is trying to be in the middle of everything, so Denard keeps it and runs toward the line instead of giving it to the RB and hoping he can make it back to the line.