UTSA's improved rushing attack

Coming in to the 2012 season, it was no secret that UTSA's number one offensive goal for the season was to run the ball more efficiently. We're one game through the sophomore season and it looks like the Roadrunners have already made serious progress towards that goal. In 2011, the Roadrunners were only able to average over 4.5 yards per carry against a Division I opponent once, with their best statistical performance coming against Southern Alabama (176 net rushing yards, 4.6 average). UTSA rushed for 183 yards on Saturday, while averaging a very respectable 5.9 yards per carry.

New offensive coordinator Kevin Brown utilized many different looks to achieve these numbers. Soza lead many option plays with Okotcha, Armstrong, and Glasco all taking snaps at his side. Walk-on brothers Aaron and Seth Grubb were both used from wide out-- Aaron on a jet sweep and Seth on a four wide reverse. David "El Magnifico" Glasco was the day's leading rusher, seeing 70 yards on just nine carries (7.8). While Okotcha's and Armstrong's stats were mediocre, they did a great job of taking more than simply what the defense gave them with hard running and wise cuts. Similar to last season, UTSA was extremely efficient rushing from the wide receiver position. The Grubb bros combined for 34 yards on two carries, and Kam Jones brought in 15 yards on his sole carry.

Let's break down the day's biggest carry to see where UTSA found success:

All screenshots via ESPN3

Following a William Ritter fumble recovery of a botched snap to C.J. Bennett and an ill-advised pass attempt to a covered Brandon Freeman, the Roadrunners come out of the huddle with split backs out of a spread shotgun look-- Okotcha acts as the halfback, making the Runners strong on the left side, while Glasco becomes the tailback on the backside.


As Soza reads the defense before the snap, we see the Jaguars run up in their typical 3-3-5 look with the free safety shaded to the strong left side where UTSA has two receivers and a blocking threat in Okotcha. The defensive line looks normal --7 and 1 techniques-- with the weak side linebacker shaded out and up a little bit more than usual.

As Soza receives the snap from Leonard, the defensive line attempts to fire up the field while all three linebackers begin to read their keys. Slot receiver Kam Jones looks in for a screen, causing South's nickleback to sprint up to cover him. If Kevin Brown is as good of an OC as I think he is, Jones should be a legit option for a screen pass if South Alabama threatens with a blitz here. Fortunately for Glasco, they do not. Hoog seals off the strongside end with a perfect hook block. Leonard and Harris combo block the noseguard while Walker leaves the weakside end for Soza to read off of. Okotcha releases in front of Soza and Glasco to take out the weakside linebacker. No decoy or fake necessary. Thankfully Hoog has blocked off the strongside end so well that Soza has two good options on the play (again, three being a screen to Kam if Brown is smart).

Here's where the Roadrunner's luck on the play begins to turn. Both the middle linebacker and weak side linebacker play up to the line of scrimmage after seeing the end left open. At this point in the play, Glasco already has the ball and a half yard of separation from Soza, yet the two Jaguar defenders are looking and standing elsewhere. Afraid of the play action threat, the Jaguar secondary is slow to react.

Oh baby. South Alabama's defense has totally taken themselves out of this play to the point where poor Cody Harris doesn't even have anyone to hit, nor does Josh Walker have anyone to kick out on. Leonard manages to pancake the noseguard after receiving an assist from Harris. Soza does a great job of faking a keep, which leads to the linebackers biting away from the ball. Hoog has his defensive end three steps away from Glasco and Inskeep makes sure to seal off the strongside backer on his right shoulder, ensuring he won't be able to sneak by to blow the play up. Weakside end Romelle Jones tries to chase after David, but 275 pound guys aren't very good at that.

And with that, it's off to the races. USA's free safety takes a horrible, lazy angle on Glasco, who wisely cuts away. The Jaguars will finally catch up to El Magnifico 51 yards later.



Talk about this post on Twitter and on the Forum

33 Big Blowout Spectacular Season Preview

This week on the show we have WackJack, aka Jack Hopkins of Bobcat Report fame and WacJack blog, Darrell of RowdyReport and of course, Adam, Shafer, and Jared.

We cover the schedule, the depth chart, Soza/Carter, expectations, attendance and much more. Get in contact with us at podcast@cokerchronicles.com or @cokerchronicles.


You can find the links to the episode on the iTunes on Stitcher or just subscribe directly to the podcast.

Download

Talk about this post on twitter and on the Forum

Summer Walk-Ons

In today's latest reminder that college football has no off season, UTSA has recently released an updated roster for us nerds to devour. I've been preaching the team's advancements in the realm of strength and conditioning for months, and now we have hard evidence that I'm not crazy. Also that I'm really good at judging guys' bodies ;)  

'murica. happy early fourth o' july.

David Morgan is up to 240, Josh Walker down to an athletic but under-sized 260, Cody Harris is suddenly up to 300, and Kurfehs is down to 215 to point out a few of the most notable changes. Walker will get his weight back up-- he needed to slim down in order to get his footwork quicker and shift his body type to a more athletic stature. Look for him to play at 280 this season then max out around 290 in the future. Harris is now a picturesque FBS offensive lineman with his long arms at 6'5". The 300 pounds behind those long arms will pack a punch at the line of scrimmage. I'm hoping Kurfehs's drop in size will keep him healthy and mobile. He probably put on too much weight coming out of O'Connor where he was a scrawny corner back just a few years back.

The updated roster is available here if you'd like to really get a sense of how much bigger this team is. From a physical stand point, there's not much difference in size from this roster to other low-tier FBS programs. Don't forget the guys still have another whole month to bulk up before they report to camp. Give Coach Dudley a damn raise and buy more MET-Rx..

While there were a couple of unfortunate defections from the team in Malcolm Scott, Marlon Smith, and possibly Mason Russell, UTSA was able to land some pretty good talent in this class of walk-ons. The first to catch my eye was Christian Wood. After losing one converted basketball player in Marlon Smith, I guess UTSA felt they needed another. Wood transfers from Southwestern Assembiles of God where he had signed an NLI for their basketball squad. Side note: Why doesn't this school roll with the SWAGU acronym? Grammatically incorrect, but c'mon man!

An athletic 6'3" linebacker, Wood garnered every reward a 3A basketball player can get, including Mr. Basketball in Texas. While we'll have to wait a few months to see if Wood's hardcourt skills can bring value to the gridiron, Wood received high praise from Refugio head coach Jason Herring whom I consider one of the best small-school coaches in Texas. After playing Halletsville in 2010, Herring told the Victoria Advocate "The best thing I like about [Woods] is the kind of kid he is. He's one of the best we've ever tried to defend. We tried about five different kids on him. He kept making plays. He was also all over the field at linebacker. We've played him for three years and he's very hard to block. He's very active. He shows up and he plays hard".

Next up is Brent Swanson, a 6'0", 280 pound lineman from Corpus Christi Carroll. Brent played guard his senior year but also trained at center. Swanson has impressive size and power, but is much too slow for FBS play. He's a project that could pay dividends with hard work in the weight lifting and nutrition department.

UTSA has done a pretty good job of scoping out talent from up I-35 in New Braunfels, with four NB kids on the roster. The latest to suit up is Gage Hadlock, a 5'11", 190 lbs safety that also took reps at wide receiver at Canyon last year. After giving his tape a brief look, I haven't decided if I like him more as a free or strong safety, but he definitely fits the hard-hitting safety precedent that the program has set with Triston Wade, Nic Johnston, and Cody Berry.

While some of the other walk-ons have already been written about, Codie Brooks is the crown jewel of the latest batch of walk-ons that fans haven't already been made aware of. At 6'1", 240 lbs., Codie Brooks has the strength and modest agility to become an FBS strong side defensive end. Brooks was a menace at Seguin the past two years. From watching some tape on him, I think Brooks has a really, really high ceiling after DI weight lifting and technique coaching enter the picture. A lesser version of recent signee Brendon Brinkmann, if you will. My biggest take-away from checking out all of these new walk-ons is that they're all hard workers and high characters kids. The silent killer asset for any good football program.