devin gardner world's fastest jogger
read option [Fuller]
I am determined this spring to mine every possible stat for every possible insight. This week I delved into quarterback rushes. Not sacks. I wanted to know which offenses tended to have their quarterbacks take off, or planned runs for them into their game plans.
Baseline: here's Michigan and their opponents last year. Sacks and yardage lost to them are not counted, but I couldn't tell from scrambles and QB sneaks, or stuff like if he took off for 10 yards on 3rd and 15 that defenses are happy to give up:
| Season Avg | vs Mich | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opponent | QB Rush | Yards | QB Rush | Yards | |
| Central Michigan | 1.8 | 8 | 5 | 11 | |
| Notre Dame | 1.5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Akron | 4.6 | 19 | 3 | 11 | |
| Connecticut | 2.5 | 3 | 3 | -4 | |
| Minnesota | 14.4 | 77 | 18 | 69 | |
| Penn State | 2.4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | |
| Indiana | 8.9 | 42 | 10 | 60 | |
| Michigan State | 4.5 | 17 | 4 | 1 | |
| Nebraska | 8.8 | 35 | 12 | 31 | |
| Northwestern | 10.8 | 58 | 24 | 92 | |
| Iowa | 5.2 | 25 | 5 | 26 | |
| Ohio State | 14.7 | 119 | 14 | 165 | |
| Kansas State | 19.2 | 97 | 14 | 76 | |
| NCAA Avg | 7.5 | 40.0 | 8.8 | 41.4 | |
Indiana, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, and Kansas State ran option games. Minnesota's offense was QB power running (thing it is like: Michigan's 2010 offense when Rodriguez gave up on trying to make Denard into a zone reader). According to the UFR database Minnesota quarterback running plays vs Michigan were as follows: 7 QB powers; 2 draws; 2 zone read keepers; a false zone arc sweep thing, a QB sneak, and 7 scrambles.
The stats can't tell the difference between this kind of offense and a dedicated Richrodigan spread 'n shred. There aren't many teams who run this as their base offense, as simple as it may be, but a lot of teams have a mobile change-of-pace quarterback and a small package built around him. Notable teams who deployed a second guy:
| Player (2014 Elig) | Team | % of Snaps | % Will Pass | Rush | Pass |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austin Boucher (graduated) | Miami(NTM) | 51% | 73% | 80 | 211 |
| Austin Gearing (So.) | 35% | 35% | 129 | 70 | |
| Drew Kummer (Jr.) | 14% | 71% | 22 | 55 | |
| Nate Sudfeld (Jr.) | Indiana | 61% | 94% | 22 | 338 |
| Tre Roberson (Jr.) | 38% | 62% | 84 | 139 | |
| C.J. Brown (11th year Sr.) | Maryland | 73% | 72% | 119 | 303 |
| Caleb Rowe (Jr.) | 26% | 91% | 14 | 136 | |
| Philip Nelson (transferred) | Minnesota | 59% | 72% | 79 | 200 |
| Mitch Leidner (So.) | 38% | 51% | 89 | 91 | |
| Gary Nova (Sr.) | Rutgers | 68% | 93% | 25 | 328 |
| Chas Dodd (graduated) | 32% | 87% | 21 | 143 | |
| Tommy Armstrong (So.) | Nebraska | 39% | 68% | 63 | 135 |
| Ron Kellogg III (graduated) | 31% | 90% | 16 | 141 | |
| Taylor Martinez (graduated) | 30% | 77% | 34 | 116 | |
| Trevor Siemian (Sr.) | Northwestern | 63% | 92% | 29 | 315 |
| Kain Colter (graduated) | 36% | 50% | 98 | 99 | |
| Braxton Miller (Sr.) | Ohio State | 72% | 65% | 150 | 276 |
| Kenny Guiton (graduated) | 25% | 74% | 39 | 110 | |
I included Rutgers to show Chas Dodd wasn't a Drew Henson-ian run threat except in comparison to Gary Nova.
[Jump: Okay spread zealots, do teams with running QBs have an advantage?]
[Fuller]
The weekly roundtable wonders about this whole "let's not get another Gardner" plan (that isn't the plan). Our depth chart:
 |
| What, my Henson-ian athleticism isn't good enough for ya? [Upchurch] |
- Brian Cook: Field General!
- Seth Fisher: Legit 4.4 Speed!
- Ace Anbender: Top Recruiter!
- Heiko Yang: Huge Arm!
- Blue in South Bend: Super Accurate!
- Coach Brown: Reads Defenses!
- Mathlete: Academic All-American!
This one comes from the mailbag, a guy appropriately named "Dual Threat." If you notice a whole lot of positivity in it, it's because it was sent before last Saturday. I'll posit his question as he sent it:
My point of view is we should be recruiting more dual threat-ers. While Morris and Speight are no doubt going to be good pocket passers, leaving the running aspect of the position off the table leaves a huge hole in the offensive arsenal going forward.
I feel dual threat QBs are going to be the future of dominant college football programs going forward (I see Alabama as a current exception, not the norm in the future). Would you not sacrifice a bit of QB passing ability for a chunk of QB running ability to open up that attack dimension? Wouldn't you be foolish not to? Thoughts?
Brian: It's clear that all things being equal, Michigan's going to prefer advanced passers to guys who can glide for 35 yards without looking like they're moving particularly fast. And that's a little bit of a bummer to me, since a guy who can make people pay with his legs opens up many more possibilities in your offense.
What remains to be seen is whether Michigan is going to completely eschew athletic types that need some molding. Would they go the Charlie Weis route and recruit Terrelle Pryor as a wide receiver? I have nothing to base this on but I don't think so. If there's a Gardner or Pryor in the area, Michigan will probably go after them as hard as they would Morris.
[Jump]
After securing my copy of the Akron game, which somehow didn't instantaneously melt my hard drive, I solicited GIF requests on Twitter. A sampling of your responses:
There were also requests for kittens, corgis, Henrik Zetterberg, and a Men In Black-style memory erase. This quickly devolved into people sending me GIFs of adorable animals. I may have requested this, too.
Worst win ever? Worst win ever.
[After THE JUMP: actual football GIFs. Well, for the most part.]
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