FanHouse SpreadOffense

The Justin Boren transfer saga continues to get weird. Did we say weird? We mean weirder.

Boren, as you'll probably recall, announced his decision to transfer from the Michigan football program on Tuesday. He tendered his letter of resignation or whatever to the media the next day, and it contained all sorts of ominous, nonspecific statements against the program's best interests, including the following excerpts:

I regret leaving behind my friends and teammates, but I need to stand up for what I know is right.

Michigan football was a family, built on mutual respect and support for each other from Coach Carr on down. We knew it took the entire family, a team effort, and we all worked together. I have great trouble accepting that those family values have eroded in just a few months.

I saw Rich Rodriguez throw Jimmy Hoffa into an active volcano in 1975.

If you want to get technical, the last excerpt may not actually exist in Boren's statement, but his decision to cite "family values" certainly leaves plenty of suspicion in a reader's mind. Sunday Morning Quarterback speculates further, and it reads like the "Woodland Critter Christmas" episode of South Park. SMQ also notes that this situation may be more closely related to the extreme duress of the no-huddle spread offense Rodriguez is implementing and the two offensive linemen who have already left, but let's not get bogged down on facts here folks.

Of course, the "fun" doesn't stop there.

Mercifully this cannot be blamed on the usual bogeymen: global warming and President Bush

"In our league, more and more people are spreading out (on offense), and I think it's happening pretty much around the nation," [Georgia coach Mark] Richt said. "The more (offenses) spread, the less (defenses) play their Sam linebacker. You could play Sam and play a certain team and play maybe 15 snaps or something. And then if you have two Sams who are ready to play, you are splitting time like that."

When offenses spread out their formation, defenses have to replace the Sam linebacker with a defensive back, a player who is expected to be faster and better in pass coverage. With a linebacker in the game against a spread offense, Martinez said, quarterbacks and offensive coordinators know the defense will be playing zone defense, giving the offense an advantage.

"They know a linebacker is not going to play man (coverage)," [Georgia defensive coordinator Willie] Martinez said. "He's going to play zone."

Cry not for the SAM backer, Argentina. We're talking evolution here, not extinction.

From now on, the head coach said, Georgia's strongside linebackers will have to be able to either play defensive end in passing situations or play more than one linebacker spot to ensure themselves playing time.

"You are going to see us more and more where that guy is a jack of all trades," Martinez said. "No doubt, it's a special kind of guy. You want the strength, you want the power, you want the size, but at the same time, you don't want that guy out there in space, trying to defend the spread."

Just the same, the position's changing and wise high school coaches, parents and players will adjust accordingly. This is the trickle-down from the change in the quarterback position at the college level.

Exit question: how long before these changes in the college game manifest themselves on the pro level? The NFL is stuck in its one way of football and has been for the better part of 30 years. Can it continue to resist the changes happening at the college level?

(H/T: Get The Picture)

The Arizona Wildcats start Fall Camp with a new offensive coordinator and quarterback Willie Tuitama has more to worry about than concussions: he has to learn a new offensive scheme, the spread.

Popularized by Urban Meyer at Utah and Florida, the spread offense coming to Tucson and breathing some fresh air into the steadily-improving Wildcat team. Tuitama sounds confident in comments to the Tucson Citizen: "We should be able to go out there and air it out and torch our defense. That is our goal every day when we get on the field. We have to start right away."

In some respects, it looks like Arizona may be starting a trend in the Pac Ten. While the perennial conference favorites USC have one of the best defenses in the country, the one offense that has given Pete Carroll teams the fits is the spread. Virginia Tech, Cal, Oregon, Texas, Hawaii and Notre Dame have all used the scheme at one point in the last five years and managed to control the ball and the tempo--even if all were not successful in the end.

If Tuitama can bring the new Wildcat spread offense to Los Angeles in October and beat the Men of Troy, well, he'll be more than just a Heisman dark-horse.