1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Asking Barry what Casey Thompson wants from his receivers and his o-line: July 21st, 10:25am

Episode Date: July 21, 2022

What will Casey be looking for from his receivers and what about the protection schemes?Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

You're listening to One-on-One with DP, sponsored by Mary Ellen's Food for the Soul, on 93-7 The Ticket and the Ticket FM.com. Husker Nation Undergrew. Nothing can stop us now. We need to remix that. We really do. Husker Nation under the group, Barry Thompson, quarterback's coach with us on this hour of sports radio,

937 ticket, brought to you by the folks from Mary Allen's Food for the Soul. And we're talking about Ambition Electric, Joe Davis and Company, for what they do in this space. Barry Thompson, we're talking about Casey Thompson and this Husker offense. And what I want to ask you is this. For Casey Thompson in his mind, for him to be the kind of quarterback he wants and needs to be for this team, what does he need, what sort of protections, what can you do to help this offensive line do what it needs to do for Casey Thompson. Well, Casey, and I'll just say this quietly,

so nobody's listening, and this is just a quarterback talk. So all the quarterbacks lean in real close because we don't want the outside world of year. But I tell quarterback that 70% of what goes wrong back there is their fault or their responsibility. So it starts with the quarterbacks, quarterback understanding his protection, like literally knowing his protection.

A lot of my guys that are heading into college, you know, I'll say, are you getting the information, and I'll say, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'll ask them to start, you know, tell him me, you know, teach me, you know, teach me to me, blah, blah. And they'll say, yeah, I say, okay, tell me that your protection. And they draw blank. And I put my arm around and I say, come here. Right. This is where it starts. You've got to understand. understand these things, and I explain to him why. So hopefully he has a firm grasp on his protections, and he's gone through the league tape,

I'm sure it's there. He's identified, done the homework. He's identified all the blitzes against those protections, drawn him up, and so he's gotten at least some mental repetitions as to how this could be handled. If he has questions, hopefully he's asked Coach Whipple, I'm sorry, I don't remember the line coaches, but ask them about, hey, how do we handle this situation? He's done that during the improvement season. Now, are there issues that are going to pop up?

Yes. Guys are going to miss assignments. And then sometimes there's going to be a guy, a one or a three technique or a defensive end that's going to present a problem. In that case, I don't know whether they have the ability, but maybe there's a different protection for that person. Now, that usually means a double team or if it's on the edge, you want to chip with the back if that's what you want to do. But that changes things, and he has to be aware of that as well.

It's probably going to free somebody up. Ideally, when you have to double team, what I like is for the free runner, the potential free runner to be in the quarterback's face versus his back. So, you know, hopefully all that's worked out, and he understands that. If he understands all that, then his next step is to, excuse me, to go through all of his passes with all those various combinations, and to understand what his, I call it a zero plan. Zero, cover zero means you're going to get maximum pressure, and it's probably going to overwhelm your protection scheme. So you face that, where are you going with the ball? Then it goes through every one of those plays, right? I've got my protection is overwhelmed.

I've got this protect. I've got 200 jet called. And they send four to the, you know, four to the zone side. I've got a free runner here. I've got this play called. Where am I going with the ball? I've got 300 jet called. This play's called.

They're sending three to the man side or four to the man side. My back can't pick up the extra one. Boom. Where am I going with the ball? Right. You have to, that's the type of work and understanding. that has to be developed before he hits a field. So that's why I say what goes wrong back there.

And, you know, in my world, I try to tell the quarterback to this your responsibility here, either to get the protection right or to understand it and know what to do if something bad happened. Right? And it takes a lot of work. Like I said, this stuff didn't for everybody. Then the last thing is you can recruit, right? Right. But, you know, that problem isn't going to show up tomorrow.

So we have to, you know, this is the point of season where, you know, whatever it is, this is the last conversation you have about whatever it is. From this day off, we're not talking about it. We're just, we're finding answers for it. So my right guard has one leg. All right, my right guard has one leg. After the day, we're not talking about that. Right.

We're not talking about that. Right. that would with today is the last day that we mentioned that the right guard has one list somebody interviews me in November hey you know pretty good right guard I didn't even know I don't know what you're talking about right I mean that's the mindset that has to be developed because you have what you have you know life is not perfect deal with it this is perfect though this is perfect though this is this I kind of I kind of want to talk about how great your right guard is with one

like, though. Yeah. And I know, it's just like, let's just go play football. You know, it's, it, you just have a choice to me. As a team, from a leadership standpoint, all that stuff. You know, you're not talking about the schedule. You're not talking about this. You're not talking about that.

It's like, man, let's come together and let's go do our thing. Yeah, because, I mean, now it's, look, results are, or everything. Like, yeah. What's the, the shirt that everybody's wearing now and says, Nobody cares. Work harder, get better. And this is the time. This is where that comes into play.

I'll ask you as a quarterback to go through, we give you, you're in the huddle and we trot out on the field a three receiver set. We send you the three best receivers or the three receivers that are going to run this play. We need six yards. Barry Thompson as a quarterback, what do you need from those three receiver positions? Let's start wide left. Let's call it at X. What do you need there?

Yeah. Your twins on one side, single, and the other? Yep. I just need, and I need six yards, I just need whatever comes in that package, a way for me to get, you know, seven yards. So I don't care how it's done. And I just need the answers to get to that.

You know, you can, you know, build in, If you have two backs or you're running splitbacks, right? So then now you essentially have trips on one side, doubles on the other. Right now I can start looking at numbers. You know, it's pretty common now to play four over three to the trip side. Are they playing my two-receiver's side plus my back that way? Or are they just manned up and they've got a backer tucked inside? Right.

So it's more of a game plan thing that when that situation comes up, I want to play that we can win on. So hopefully it's scripted, and hopefully it's adjusted to what you're likely to see. I just think that's the best way to do. If you have a system that's malleable enough without being confusing to the players, that, hey, this week, this is what we see on thumb,

this is what we're doing in this situation. Well, some, and Barry and I have been in this, Some coaching staffs work from route combinations. It's all route combinations. They have names for them and this is what they run. Some run from the route tree so that they can adjust. Let's say you think they're coming out in man coverage. They come out in zone.

You want to be able to adjust routes. The easiest way is not to call out either to call out a route combination or to call out individual routes that you want players to run. And they know, oh, I'm not. I'm the second number. You want me to run a post. Cool. What is your preference, Barry, and why?

All of it. Well, again, we're talking about a high school level, right? So at the high school level, the program that I'm with right now, they use a version of the route tree. So what they do is they name the number for the outside route. and then automatically what the players learn is that when that outside route is called the inside route has what they call a complement. So there's not two routes mentioned just one.

Okay. And it's how they do it. So that's one. And then within that, you have the language to mix and max. So something that seems really simple could be 88 curl H bubble. So now you're telling two receivers what to do. Okay. Right, which is a version of the Ratchit, sort of the numbers, right?

You're actually saying the word. So that really works well for high school. But we also have concepts like shallow or dig. So not too many of those. We have those. And then there are some just named, you talked about the two-man combinations. So there are some two-man combinations like we might call tosser or cookies or, right? and the kids all know what that means.

And those are things that we can use when we want to go faster or don't want to huddle or just want to get a play. So I like that kind of menu choice. You lean on this route tree thing. You have some concepts that you know work really well. And then you have these two-man concepts that you can pair and mix and match. So you could call cookies one side toss or the other if you wanted to

if you thought that worked well. what's important is that at the level that I'm at is that it's practiced. Right. You know, as you get older, you know, players are expected. You have meetings and, you know, you can get rid of that guy if he can't remember, you know, what to do. You know, that type of thing, you know, isn't a guy in. But you still don't want the menu to be so broad that it's not, it's typically less is more. You know, there are coaches out there who, the odds the level,

will only carry 15 past contacts. And they'll drill those concepts and just work on them. And then when they get up against something that might defeat, they'll just kind of tweak. But they stay within those concepts because they're pretty durable. Now, there's a balance between being simple and being complete, right? Because even if you go back to what I mentioned, well, you need to have a screen, right? Sometimes you need to deal with stuff.

you need to roll out from time to time, right? That's another answer to a protection issue. So you always walk in that line. How much is too much is what I have enough? And that's more the balance, I think, that's important, whether I like my combination or another coach likes his combination. Does that make sense? Yep.

And think of it this way. Casey's going to have his mother. to get ready for Dublin, Ireland. You're going to spend a week of that traveling and doing that thing. New offensive coordinator, new starting quarterback, probably two new starting receivers, maybe a new running back, a new tight-in at one position, maybe a new titan at another, two new offensive linemen as starters. there's a lot of things on the plate for whoever's manning the ship for them.

So the verbiage matters. The verbiage matters. The way you communicate matters. And then what Casey wants to do. So I'll ask you, if you're going to face a Northwestern, your Pat Fitzgerald defense, where they're sound, they make base decisions, then they just trust that they're going to be in the right place rather than have to outskill. Do you want, does the size matter in this thing? big receivers on the outside, big receivers in the slot,

scatbacks in the slot with option routes. What makes Barry Thompson rub his hands together against a base defense? Yeah. Well, what makes me rub my hand together give me the Kurt Warner, Greatestown turf offense, and give me Ray Lewis's defense. I'll rub my hands together. No, but I think that's just a strategic assessment about how you want to prosecute the game

versus what you do. So if you feel that you match up with them pretty well physically, then, okay, you're taking your chances. And Northwestern, and a lot of teams in the Big Ten, just pay like a base type of, you know, defense, right? They don't do a lot of stuff. They are designed to make you prosecute your offense, right, on that premise that if I give you enough chances

to prosecute your offense, you're going to make a mistake and give me back the ball? Right? You see a lot of that, right? You see a lot of that. So then offensively, it becomes, all right, can we execute for five? You know, can we get this four? Can we get the five? Can we not blow it when it's available to us?

It's going to come down to some relatively simple stuff, and can you do it consistently until they start to make an adjustment, if they make an adjustment? So that takes patient. It takes skill and kind of knowing that if you're not physically superior to them, that you're going to have to be a little patient, but the game will essentially come to you. Right? And it's like all football.

Don't put the ball in the turf. Don't give it to the other team. Try to end every offensive possession with a kick. Either you're kicking an extra point or punt in the ball. Right? those are not bad things offensively. So that's the type of thing that it takes. That type of game travels.

You know, talk about basketball, say defense travels. That type of offensive approach travels. It may not be the most exciting, but it travels. And it can win you ball games. Like I said, if you're playing relatively solid defense, not giving things up that you shouldn't be given up, and then offensively you can consistently move the ball. What happens is they wind up playing most of the game on their side of the field.

And just to the law averages, right, you keep getting enough chances at it. That defense is going to break. Somebody's going to miss that tackle that, you know, a little five-year-a-pass may tackle. At some point, he's going to miss it. And there goes your game. So that's the way you go about it if you don't have all these things. I think it's a baseline for all the newness that you talked about, which we won't talk about after today.

Right. Right. It's a baseline. And it travels. Can we complete a stick? Can we, if we have stick on the front side, can we complete a lookie? You know, do we have some little out concept? Do we have, hang, curl flat, curl flat over the ball basis?

You know, can we throw a bubble? Can we throw a step back? Can we throw a comeback? You know, those are just staking. can we throw a corner out? We get one high. You know, just little basic stuff that will move the sticks and keep them going. Because here's the thing, D.P. You got me wound up.

Listen, defenses can't defend everything. They just don't physically have enough people. Now, they know this. It's no big secret. They just don't have enough physical people. There's about 15 spaces on every offensive staff that need to be defended. They only have 11 people. And I know the two minimum sideline makes it 13. Even that, they're still short.

Yeah. So do you have the ability to either physically move somebody out of the way or get to the spaces that they're giving them? Right. As you say, take the lay-up. And that type of offense isn't exciting, but it's a great baseline. Because once you get kind of confidence in that, doing that.

It gives the basis for players to start to understand other things that you're trying to do with that. And in fact, in my experience, their intelligence finally kicks in. When you think that they don't have any football IQ, they don't have an IQ that you want them to have, you give them enough repetitions

at certain things, they'll start coming, hey, why can't we do this? I'm like, poor, I'm glad you asked. You know what I mean? Yep, yep. Golden across the border. All right, golden across the world. We'll throw a break. I want to shout out to folks for Renew Auto. They're tuning in, and they've got us on the big screen.

So we'll give him a shout-out. Barry Thompson will tell us what he's eating or cooking up next as we close out one-on-one. Watch live on Facebook, YouTube, or Twitch. You're listening to One-on-One-on-One with DP on 937 The Ticket and the Ticketfm.com.