2021 G5 Preview: Colorado State Is Still Learning About The Forward Pass
Steve Addazio is so committed to the bit
ICYMI: This is a part of The Outside Zone’s full 2021 G5 preview series, which last looked at UTSA. You can find a master list for all of the previews here.
I’m going to get to the preview and scheme breakdown part of this preview and scheme breakdown article, I promise, but I would like to start first with a note about the hiring of Colorado State head coach Steve Addazio.
For those of you that need a quick refresher, Addazio was hired directly from Boston College, where he had just seen his seven season tenure come to a close after a 6-6 season, the most fitting possible end for a 44-44, completely unimportant run as the head coach. He was expected to catch on somewhere, given that P5 head coaches rarely fall directly to coordinator roles if they don’t want to, and given the (relative) success that he had at Temple and his background as an Urban Meyer assistant.
However, Colorado State wasn’t really a team on that initial shortlist. Addazio has no connections to the school or even to the area – he’s never coached or potentially even lived west of Indiana – and his style isn’t especially different from what Mike Bobo was doing when he got fired from CSU after 2019. He’s a run-first offensive mind with deep ties to under center looks, even in the modern era of football. His commitment to pairing that with an up-tempo pace is interesting, but still, it’s not especially different from what Bobo was doing, and Bobo… failed. It didn’t work.
But, that wasn’t what mattered in hiring Addazio for Colorado State. What mattered was that it appealed to his former employer, who spent weeks palling around with athletic director Joe Parker, trying to get one of Addazio, Ohio State offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson or Ohio State running backs coach Tony Alford into this job, because that’s what Meyer does. He gets his friends jobs.
Parker didn’t even really deny that this was the dynamic. He had a tepid response when asked about it by The Denver Post, saying that Meyer was “advising” in the hire and that “there was no way where he was trying to shape the decision for us.” However, Parker noted that “it was a lot of fun to work with (Meyer)” and that he thought there was “a chance we might see more of him around Fort Collins.”
Of course, Colorado State landed on Addazio, who hasn’t yet earned a job without Meyer’s explicit blessing, and brought in Ohio State graduate assistant Louie Addazio as his offensive line coach and Ohio State quality control assistant Corey Dennis (Meyer’s son in law) as the quarterbacks coach, though he would eventually accept the same role at Ohio State to replace Mike Yurcich.
He populated his staff with Meyer guys. Former Meyer quarterback Kenny Guiton coached the wide receivers. Former Meyer assistants Brian White (running backs) and Chuck Heater (defensive coordinator) and Sean Cronin (linebackers) are here too. Parker can say that Meyer didn’t sway the decision, but he sure swayed Addazio’s first staff, even if not directly (and that’s giving a whole lot of underserved faith to Meyer).
All of that is to make a short statement long – Addazio is the head coach at Colorado State, he got the job because of Meyer, and his first season was just about what you would expect from a coaching staff built so far from merit. The Rams stunk. They stunk at silly things, like passing off assignments in the backfield or throwing the football to wide receivers. They looked like… well, an Addazio team.
This is what I’m talking about. There are positives here, and I will get to them momentarily, but there are also plays like this. This is a pretty innocuous touchdown, wheel route to a halfback for a Fresno State team that excelled at plays like this one. Colorado State blew its assignment. It was a weird season, defenses make mistakes, it happens. No harm no foul, just clean it up next time and move on.
However, the context is the killer here. This came after a full drive of plays that looked exactly like it. Fresno State threw to the running back – either Ronnie Rivers or Jordan Mims – eight times in this game, racking up a pair of touchdowns and 117 yards.
Now, you may be thinking, “Well, Fresno State threw to the running backs a ton last season! This isn’t rare!” That’s fair. Kalen DeBoer throws to the running backs out of the backfield with motion away from the intended target more than just about anybody, which seems like information that you may, you know, pick up on when watching tape for this kind of game? Even though this was the first game of the season, you would think that Colorado State might have seen, had it prepared for DeBoer’s offense before this game.
And you’re telling me that Addazio is a Meyer disciple? Not preparing well for a game?
Rushing Attack
Like I said, there are things here that I like about this team, there’s just a lot that I dislike, too. To avoid dwelling too much on the latter, let’s talk about the rushing attack, a longtime strength of Addazio and something that I thought was really strong on tape in 2020.
Now, offensive coordinator Joey Lynch is off to Vanderbilt, but I’m not sure how much he had to do with the rushing attack, given his status as the passing game coordinator in his new role. I think Addazio squared and White are taking the lead on this front, which is fine, because they’re pretty good at it. New OC Jon Budmayr is here from Wisconsin, in case there weren’t enough guys on this staff that can only coach a rushing attack.
Anyway, the top dog here is A’Jon Vivens, a former receiver that moved to halfback and looked very good in 2020, showing a surprising amount of power despite his relatively slight frame and managed to add a much-needed big play threat into this offense. Fullback Marcus McElroy returns too, and presumed quarterback starter Todd Centeio could basically only run competently last season.
The run game design is good. I like it. Addazio still has a lot of that under center stuff, which I honestly don’t mind when you’re running from it, and he’s more than comfortable working with some pretty unique gap scheme looks. Now, the line was way too patchy when it came to allowing tackle in the backfield, but when everything clicked well, you can see why Boston College produced so many good backs under Addazio’s guidance.
Here’s a sweep, with a pulling guard and center kicking out to lead for the sweep, while the rest of the line is just blocking straight. The tight end on the playside is absolutely whooping ass here, which, when paired with the pullers, creates a real nice seal and plenty of room for Vivens to work in.
Here’s that tight end again, Trey McBride, working essentially as third tackle on a similar outside run with pulls to the playside. He happens to be the best pass catcher on the team as well, and is back for 2021, which I am extremely excited about. He’s an awesome player.
Colorado State doesn’t get super creative with its running game, though there are a few fun wrinkles in here. You get two influence pulls here, which just means pulls away from the intended direction of the play, meant to influence the defense into slanting away from the ball carrier and toward those pulling linemen. It doesn’t work if you do it every time, but Colorado State pulls so frequently that the defense is completely fooled by it here, leaving a wide open lane for an easy touchdown. I would love to see more of this, just not so much that it loses the impact.
Run Defense
I don’t have clips of this, but I’ll mention quickly that Heater did a good job with the run defense in 2020 and I think it’s going to be similarly strong in 2021, because just about everyone is back. Colorado State blitzes like crazy, and when it wraps up on tackles, it becomes very dangerous against just about any rushing attack.
Everything Else
Colorado State can’t pass and can’t defend against the pass, and I fear that isn’t changing this season. The defensive secondary is seriously lacking for talent and was beaten badly in man coverage last year. With that blitz heavy approach, Colorado State either needs to get to the quarterback more or improve on the third level, and that first option just feels like asking too much.
On the other side of the ball, Centeio just isn’t it. He’s inaccurate and he panics badly under pressure. I like his ability as a runner, and he doesn’t have a terrible arm, but he’s several years away from being able to thrive as a passer in any offense, let alone this one, and I think it’s going to be another tough year for him. McBride and Dante Moore provide very strong receiving options, but I just don’t think he’s going to be able to get them the ball consistently.
With a strong rushing attack and run defense, Colorado State could contend for a bowl game, but this staff needs to do a better job in preparation, both schematically and in what it is telling its players to look for each week.