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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Jason Beck is entering his fourth season as an offensive coordinator, but he's doing so at his fourth school. Yet, in the previous two years, his offenses had the exact same result: fourth overall in the country with the No. 2 rushing attack, nationally.
Even going from New Mexico to Utah, the 45-year-old coach has been remarkably consistent.
So, why is that? Why was he able to change schools, with some players following him from the Lobos to the Utes, but certainly not all, and maintain the same level of excellence? WolverinesWire asked him just that on Tuesday, and he shared his secret to success.
"A lot of things go into that," Beck said. "A couple of the main highlight bullet points: it was really good quarterback play -- drives a lot of that; staff that the majority of the guys know the system, so we're able to kind of come in and really get rolling, installing it and teaching it fast, which was able to do here as well. And then our whole thing is just to try to build it around the player's strengths. So we really want to find the strengths of the offense and build it around them to let them play at their best when game day hits."
When Kyle Whittingham took over the program in December, he had a line that went viral among the maize and blue faithful -- 'You will become us, we will not become you.' But that speaks to the culture, not to the scheme or system. In fact, quite the opposite is true in terms of how the team will be run in that regard.
This new Wolverines staff looks at it like this: however the talent can be maximized, however best deployed, then that's what should be done in order to win games. It's not just about strategy as much as it is taking what a player does best and finding a way to get them on the field doing exactly that.
So, if that calls for multiple tailbacks in formation on the same play, the maize and blue will do that. If it's having six offensive linemen, then they'll do that, too. There's no secret formula; it's finding the best players and putting them in the best positions.
"If two of our running backs or three of our running backs, if that's a really strong position and they're some of our best players, then let's get two backs on the field and play with both guys at the same time," Beck said. "If the tight end group's a strong position, let's get 12 personnel. Whatever those skill players are that are going to help you score points to win games, let's get those guys on the field and adapt it to them."
That concept even goes so far as to take what this team is already good at.
Beck says that while watching games from last season, there was an outside zone run play that he felt the team was excellent at executing. So, despite him having his own ideas flourishing throughout the offensive playbook, he decided that that play, and those concepts, are being kept from the previous regime.
"As I was watching through games, like I saw this concept come up, like once, twice a game, every game, and it was really good for them," Beck said. "So we were like, 'Well, let's take that,' you know? So we put that in and named it the exact same thing because we literally copied it.
"So, yeah, those kind of things that you see are guys have done well, has been successful for them, then great, let's do it, you know? So we did, we picked up a couple of things that way that they've ran and had success with and just kind of try to keep building on where they were at.
"So one example of that, like super generic, is they were a pretty good outside zone team. So it's like, 'Hey, let's pick up' -- you know, we ran outside zone too, but let's pick up on some of the ways they were running outside zone and just build on the good things they had going. You don't have to start everything from scratch."
Fans will get to see the Beck offense in action on April 18, when Michigan football hosts the annual spring game at The Big House.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan football offense Jason Beck's secret to success
Continue reading...
Even going from New Mexico to Utah, the 45-year-old coach has been remarkably consistent.
So, why is that? Why was he able to change schools, with some players following him from the Lobos to the Utes, but certainly not all, and maintain the same level of excellence? WolverinesWire asked him just that on Tuesday, and he shared his secret to success.
"A lot of things go into that," Beck said. "A couple of the main highlight bullet points: it was really good quarterback play -- drives a lot of that; staff that the majority of the guys know the system, so we're able to kind of come in and really get rolling, installing it and teaching it fast, which was able to do here as well. And then our whole thing is just to try to build it around the player's strengths. So we really want to find the strengths of the offense and build it around them to let them play at their best when game day hits."
When Kyle Whittingham took over the program in December, he had a line that went viral among the maize and blue faithful -- 'You will become us, we will not become you.' But that speaks to the culture, not to the scheme or system. In fact, quite the opposite is true in terms of how the team will be run in that regard.
This new Wolverines staff looks at it like this: however the talent can be maximized, however best deployed, then that's what should be done in order to win games. It's not just about strategy as much as it is taking what a player does best and finding a way to get them on the field doing exactly that.
So, if that calls for multiple tailbacks in formation on the same play, the maize and blue will do that. If it's having six offensive linemen, then they'll do that, too. There's no secret formula; it's finding the best players and putting them in the best positions.
"If two of our running backs or three of our running backs, if that's a really strong position and they're some of our best players, then let's get two backs on the field and play with both guys at the same time," Beck said. "If the tight end group's a strong position, let's get 12 personnel. Whatever those skill players are that are going to help you score points to win games, let's get those guys on the field and adapt it to them."
That concept even goes so far as to take what this team is already good at.
Beck says that while watching games from last season, there was an outside zone run play that he felt the team was excellent at executing. So, despite him having his own ideas flourishing throughout the offensive playbook, he decided that that play, and those concepts, are being kept from the previous regime.
"As I was watching through games, like I saw this concept come up, like once, twice a game, every game, and it was really good for them," Beck said. "So we were like, 'Well, let's take that,' you know? So we put that in and named it the exact same thing because we literally copied it.
"So, yeah, those kind of things that you see are guys have done well, has been successful for them, then great, let's do it, you know? So we did, we picked up a couple of things that way that they've ran and had success with and just kind of try to keep building on where they were at.
"So one example of that, like super generic, is they were a pretty good outside zone team. So it's like, 'Hey, let's pick up' -- you know, we ran outside zone too, but let's pick up on some of the ways they were running outside zone and just build on the good things they had going. You don't have to start everything from scratch."
Fans will get to see the Beck offense in action on April 18, when Michigan football hosts the annual spring game at The Big House.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan football offense Jason Beck's secret to success
Continue reading...
