Savannah State University's football team, which began the first of 14 spring practice sessions Wednesday, has adopted some new ideas after the Tigers' coaches consulted with coaching staffs at Oklahoma State, Florida State and other programs throughout the country.
SSU head coach Steve Davenport took notes about some of the things he envied about his opponents. One of those things was the quick-strike offensive concepts the Cowboys and Seminoles used.
“We'll continue to be (a multiple offense) but more than anything we're working on pace,” Davenport said after 78 players participated in the Tigers' practice from 7-9:15 a.m. at T.A. Wright Stadium. “I think it's a driving thing around a lot of college programs now. You're trying to go as fast as you can, and we're going to work on being a faster-paced offense.”
Davenport, who is preparing for his third season at the helm, also will be the Tigers' offensive coordinator. He fills the void left by Terance Mathis, who resigned from the position Jan. 1 after two seasons.
From the sound of the whistle until the start of the next play, Oklahoma State's offense averages 23 seconds, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal in October 2010. On average, it takes traditional offenses 34 seconds between plays. Oklahoma takes 21.3 seconds and Oregon averages 23.2 seconds, according to the report.
Davenport and SSU's defensive players know all-too-well how overwhelming it feels to try and stop the Cowboys' high-octane attack. The Tigers hope to duplicate that quick-strike offense during their third season in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
“We not only studied Oklahoma State and had an opportunity to sit down and share thoughts with their staff but we've been studying some other people,” Davenport said.
“This is really a copy-cat business, to be honest with you. To see somebody have success like Coach (Mike) Gundy and his Oklahoma State staff, you want to copy it and emulate the best. And they don't mind sharing.
“There were others. We studied a little bit of Oklahoma, a little bit of Florida State's offense in terms of their two-backs package. There were some concepts that we really liked. And I think what you have to do is start with the base of what you want to be and if there's a wrinkle or two you see from somebody else that you like then you implement that.”
Davenport, who came to SSU after serving as the University of Alabama-Birmingham's running backs coach since 2006, said no-huddle spread offenses are a growing trend in college football.
“I tell you, what drove it home to me was that SEC championship,” Davenport said. “I saw Alabama do it (for a 32-28 victory over Georgia). It really does put a defense at a disadvantage. If you go fast it makes them line up and be kind of vanilla with what their looks are. We're going to play around with it. We did a little bit of it at UAB so it's not something that's foreign to me.”
SSU used a no-huddle offense last season so it's nothing new to the Tigers. What is new is Davenport wants the pace to be faster between plays. From the time the whistle blows until the start of the next play, Davenport wants to see all 11 Tigers spring into action.
“Absolutely,” Davenport said. “And that's the hard part, getting the kids to understand that they need to go get lined up and don't worry about the last play, whether it was good or bad. We're going to move on to the next one.
“The biggest change will be how fast we snap the ball. We didn't snap the ball quickly enough to make defenses not be able to get lined up. What we've got to work on is being able to call some plays at the line and get it going.”
To help the Tigers' offense execute plays faster, SSU's coaching staff has simplified the game plan.
“We have to simplify some of the plays that we run so they don't have to do too much thinking,” Davenport said. “They don't have to visualize where the defensive guy is. It's more zone than anything. No matter where the defensive guy is, I'm stepping into that zone because somebody is responsible for that gap. It's a lot more zone concepts.
“We've added some concepts but it's not a total makeover. I thought Coach Mathis did some good things with last year's offense. It's not a total makeover. More than anything, we want to try to get people lined up faster. Even the new stuff that we've put in, we've kind of vanilla'd it down.”
Davenport, who last week attended the MEAC's annual winter meetings in Norfolk, Va., said he will continue to coach from the sideline and not from the press box despite his additional duties as offensive coordinator. Former Florida A&M head coach Billy Joe often coached the Rattlers from inside the press box, a strategy that Morgan State head coach Donald Hill-Eley currently uses.
“It's amazing you said that. I rode on an airplane with Billy Joe this past weekend, coming back from Virginia,” Davenport said. “No, I think there's too much game management that I've got to do on the sideline, dealing with the referees, that I think should be done by the head coach and not an assistant. Don Ely does that at Morgan but it's not my cup of tea.”
Davenport said he and his fellow MEAC coaches discussed upcoming rule changes and shared ideas during the winter meetings.
“We talked about some of the new rules,” he said. “We talked about some of the things that occurred in our conference. And we talked about some of the things going forward. After the meeting was over we had the opportunity to socialize with each other.
“There are some gentlemen like (South Carolina State head coach Oliver) 'Buddy' Pough that you can sit down with and have conversations with and learn some things, and get some historical references to things. Buddy and I have established what I consider a really, really good relationship. He's one of my mentors. And I enjoy tossing some things at him. It's always a good time when I get to talk with him.”
