College Football Recruiting 2013: 10 NFL Style Run Programs

With the NFL Draft taking place tonight, the focus is on the pro league right now, as it should be. However, when you watch the draft tonight and through this weekend, take notice to which programs are putting out prospects.

In recruiting, it's becoming more and more frequent that recruits pick schools that give them the best chance to be groomed for the NFL.

For this read, I'm just going to simply list 10 programs that are run like NFL teams.

Penn State

With Bill O'Brien taking over in Happy Valley and being an NFL guy through and through, you have to think Penn State is going to have a pro-feel to it moving forward.

Offensively, O'Brien will likely take a lot of what was done in New England and implement it at PSU. The Patriots run what you call a "Pro-Spread" offense with Tom Brady.

O'Brien likely will take that offense, and with the Big Ten style of play combined with the nasty weather in Happy Valley winters, add on a good running game. 

Pitt & Wisconsin

These two programs are connected by Paul Chryst, the former Badger OC that know is Pitt's head coach. If you watch the Wisconsin offense, you see a ton of West Coast offensive principles in their scheme.

Chryst takes the scheme and blends it with a power, nasty downhill rushing attack that has old school NFL principles too it.

Russell Wilson mastering this offense in three weeks is a more remarkable feat than he is given credit for.

Syracuse

Doug Marrone is an NFL guy as well, as he came to upstate New York after being the OL coach for the New Orleans Saints.

Marrone was Sean Payton's right hand man in the Big Easy and runs a ton of pro-stuff offensively with the Orange.

You see a lot of West Coast offensive schemes from Syracuse, with other elements of the NFL pro-style passing game when you watch them play.

Notre Dame's Defense

The Irish offense is not an NFL offense, as it's a spread scheme that works well for the college game. However, the Irish defense has NFL principles to it.

Bob Diaco runs a lot of 30 fronts in South Bend, creating a 3-4 alignment, which is the in vogue defense in the NFL right now.

NFL scouts for 3-4 teams love evaluating defensive prospects from Notre Dame, because Diaco puts them in a position where scouts can get a good look at the role their organizations would use them if drafted. 

Michigan's Defense

The Wolverines defense is led by DC Greg Mattison who also coached at Notre Dame in the '90s.

However, watching Michigan play defensive football, you see some things Mattison did while he was calling the defense for the Ravens a few years ago.

Michigan will flip their fronts, stand people up, show a couple different coverages, play some nickel, and that's only going to expand now that Mattison is starting to get players that fit his NFL system via recruiting. 

Stanford

It started with Jim Harbaugh and it continues with David Shaw, a Jon Gruden affiliate. Stanford runs a power run game offense with a ton of West Coast offense passing concepts.

If you watch the QB Camp special with Gruden and Andrew Luck, then you can see that Luck ran a lot of stuff Gruden ran when he was in Philadelphia as OC, and as HC in Oakland and Tampa Bay. 

On defense, the Cardinal employs a lot of 3-4 defensive schemes, which is another NFL sign. 

Florida

Yes, the Gators are an NFL-style run program now under Will Muschamp. In his first year, Muschamp went out and hired two coordinators from the NFL in Charlie Weis and Dan Quinn.

Weis has moved on to lead Kansas now, but now Brent Pease is taking over and will continue the pro-style look for the Gator offense.

Defensively, Quinn runs a multiple front scheme that shifts between 30 and 40 front looks, and mixes coverages between man and zone, which many NFL teams do today. 

Alabama

'Bama is run like an entire NFL organization from top to bottom.

Nick Saban is both head coach and GM, while his assistants serve as both scouts in recruiting and coaches on the field.

The Crimson Tide may have five players go in the first round tonight, with four being from a defense that is directly from the NFL. A 3-4 look in base, with 40 fronts mixed in well and a ton of mixed coverages that requires players to think on their feet, be aware, heady and instinctive.

I can go on and on and on about how Alabama's defense is straight from the NFL. Offensively, Saban employs a traditional NFL scheme with a power run game to base play action passes off of. 

USC

USC has run the West Coast offense since the '90s under Paul Hackett. Norm Chow ran a version of it when he was there, so did Steve Sarkisian and Lane Kiffin today (and back then too).

The Trojans, like Stanford, put a ton on the shoulders of the QB offensively, like NFL teams do. Their offense is a pro-style attack, with traditional formations, working under center a lot and has many"check with me" designs for the QB to audible the line of scrimmage.

Pete Carroll ran a pro-style 4-3 defense that also factored in big nickel packages. A few seasons back, Carroll then switched to a 3-4 look due to getting his best players on the field like Clay Matthews.

Today, the Trojans don't strictly run the "Tampa 2" defense as you might think. However, with Monte Kiffin being a prime father of the scheme, you see a lot of it with other NFL defensive principles.