Written by Josh Chatham at Roll Bama Roll.com
Unsurprisingly, the quarterback competition at Alabama has been perhaps the most discussed position battle in the country this preseason. Also unsurprisingly, Nick Saban has stuck to his normal talking points when asked about what the coaches are looking for in their offensive leader: some combination of winning the locker room, managing the game, limiting turnovers, taking what the defense gives you. All of those are prerequisites to getting the keys to the offense – after all, you can’t lead if others won’t follow and you can’t win if you give the ball away. For today, let’s assume that any of the prime candidates can meet those criteria and focus instead on what an explosive runner such as Jalen Hurts can bring to the Alabama running attack.
From day one, offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin has heavily utilized run-pass option plays, or RPOs. These plays are designed to give the QB an option at the snap to hand the ball off on what is typically a zone run or throw a quick pass based on a read of a single defender. Alabama has had quite a bit of success with these types of plays, but for whatever reason have not used the QB as a running threat. This was particularly surprising in 2014 with the dynamic Blake Sims at the helm, leaving many to speculate that Blake was either banged up or that the coaching staff was being overly cautious in protecting him.
In any event, let’s take a look at a couple of plays from last season that highlight just how a dynamic running threat at the QB position can impact the Alabama running game. We’ll start with a first-half inside zone read (IZR) against Mississippi State:
A couple items of note: first off, take a look at the Bulldogs’ alignment. There are eight men in the box and packed tightly in effort to limit the running game of Derrick Henry. They were fairly effective in this regard, as evidenced by the paltry 34 yards of offense in the first quarter. Alabama ultimately won this game by busting some big plays, but in general the Bulldogs were a feisty bunch that gave Alabama problems offensively. Second, notice that Richard Mullaney is completely uncovered in the slot. The safety at the top of the screen is sending out an SOS, but neither the Alabama QB nor the Mississippi State coaches seem to notice. As we will see below, this play appears to be an RPO featuring a shallow cross paired with the IZR.
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