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.



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Walk-On Aaron Grubb

Image via Houston Chronicle

Learned of another new walk-on today in Aaron Grubb. Grubb is in fact the brother of current Roadrunner tight end and PAT holder Seth Grubb. Aaron assumed a do-it-all role at La Vernia, helping lead the team to a state quarterfinal match up with Columbia. Grubb saw time at running back, wide receiver, slot receiver, quarterback, safety, and returned punts last last year. That's just me counting off of his highlight reel too, so there's really no telling where all the kid contributed. Aaron is listed at 5'9", 165 lbs. on his Hudl profile with a 4.37 40 yard dash (woah), 10.76 second 100 yard dash (woah), and a 37" vertical (woah). 315 pounds on the bench press, 455 pounds on the squat rack, and 225 on the clean. Pretty solid numbers for a small guy. Grubb was first team all-district in all three years of his varsity career. Highlight video is available on the Hudl profile linked to above.

Promise we'll get back to talking about more realignment stuff soon. Also, some great news about the future of Coker Chronicles will be posted shortly, so be sure to be checking back.

"The Block"

As @RowdyTalk mentioned on Twitter as I was drafting this post, this play will be known as such until something even worse happens to usurp its namesake. While our program is still taking its baby steps, we have already developed a bitter moment of infamy. After a very strong showing against a solid South Alabama opponent, the Roadrunner marched down the field as regulation time dwindled, setting up a chip-shot of a field goal with mere seconds left on the clock. As South Alabama attempted to ice Sean Ianno, my blood pressure mounted to near-death levels. Damn Chachos' nachos, man.  Even though the kick was practically a PAT, I think everyone in the Dome had a small sense of dread in their hearts as Jesse Medrano snapped the ball to Seth Grubb. The Jaguars' defensive line put a very strong push on UTSA's offensive line, freeing up Clifton Crews and Gabe Loper to take a couple of steps up on the line and leap to, well...

From the stands, it seemed that the blocking was to blame for the block. And it was. But closer inspection will reveal that Sean Ianno had a huge part in allowing this season-defining kick to be blocked. Notice the way the ball bounces back behind the line of scrimmage after it is blocked. The ball goes directly south, indicating that Crews' and Loper's hand(s?) were completely above the football. This post would have a completely different tone had South Alabama barely graced the ball, sending it off course. Instead, the trajectory of the block shows us that Ianno's kick was inexcusably low-- destined to be blocked.

It would be foolish to pin all of the blame on Ianno. This was without a doubt a complete failure of the entire field goal unit. First off, notice how quickly South Alabama comes off the snap. It's tough to have an honest shot at containing the surge when you're getting beat off the ball. With the clock stopped, UTSA should have employed multiple phantom hikes or a silent count in order to prevent USA blowing them off the line. Instead, you can hear Grubb verbalize the snap count after he looks back at Ianno. This is just making it too easy for South Alabama.

Secondly, UTSA's offensive line got stood the eff up. Watch the video a couple of times while keying on the blue helmets. Draw a line on your monitor from where the helmets start and where they end. While blocking on a field goal attempt, you want your line to stay as low as possible in order to force the defensive line to keep their hands down. Rather, the UTSA offensive line attempted to block USA while standing up. Combined with USA's ferocious acceleration off the line, the offensive line really stood no chance. They were blown back off the ball, allowing USA's secondary to come in closer to the hold, lowering their necessary height to be able to get a hand on the ball. That's simple geometry.

Finally, Ianno has to put more loft under this kick. It really shouldn't even be a question on such a short kick where kicking power is at a minimum demand. Would the kick still had been blocked if Ianno had elevated it two feet higher? I can't tell you, but I can tell you that it would have been a hell of a lot harder on the Jaguars.