You Call That Balance?!?!?

I thought I would try and post a column before the upcoming Georgia Tech/Miami game. I still had some major issues with what I am seeing on the field that I had to get it out of my system until the next game. Who knows what could happen against Miami? Maybe all the stuff I am about to say will be seen as bunk or the gospel based on the team's performance on Thursday night. Right now, I am hoping on bunk.

Balance. The next most popular word in the football vocabulary next to “Wildcat”. Every coach on the planet speaks of a “balanced attack” or “a commitment to balance”. Even our own Coach Paul Johnson said that even though his option attack is based on the run, he wants to achieve a level of balance to keep defenses of their heals. Sounds good, right? Of course it does!

*On a personal note, I remember watching the Wishbone offense years ago as a child. I could never understand why the offense would put that lone wide receiver out there. Honestly, there was a 98% percent chance that they were going to run the football but that receiver would go out there and run his route, knowing he would only touch the ball if the running back fumbled. So my first concept of football was a run dominated offense, so the idea of balance always strikes me a funny.*

In the Clemson game, we actually got to see that there was a commitment to integrating a passing attack in the game plan. There were even several plays IN A ROW in which the intention was to pass the ball. I want to stress the IN A ROW aspect of the previous statement. I never knew the option to include that much passing! Actually, I was pretty thrilled until it dawned on me.

A passing game only works if the quarterback can make throws.

In the Clemson game, it became apparent that there would be no true balance to the Georgia Tech option attack until Nesbitt can learn to throw the ball again. In again, I mean that his high school football team played a pass heavy system and that Nesbitt excelled in that system. So what happened? How did Nesbitt go from a passing freak to not being able to get the ball closer than five yards from the receiver? I think it had to do with his gradual indoctrination into Georgia Tech football.

When Nesbitt first starting coming onto the field about two years ago, when Chan Gailey was coaching, he was put in very simple package plays that all had one thing in common: running. My group and I would often laugh that when the ball was hiked to Nesbitt, you knew exactly what was going to happen, he was going to run. Chan was never a creative coach but every thing he put in front of Nesbitt could be broken down into three categories: run right, run left, run straight. So from that step it has been more about running than passing. Running the option, learning the option, etc. Passing? We'll work on that tomorrow.

I even think that Nesbitt's throwing motion has degraded from the lack of passing drills and usage. In the Clemson game, his throwing motion looked more like a pitcher than a quarterback. He would heave the ball instead of passing the ball. In football terms, he was “forcing”. I understand that many of those throws were done because Tech was behind and they were not running the ball well, but pushing down field throws instead of small tosses to those fast running backs was not the best of moves.

I don't fault Nesbitt. He is a good player that has been forced to learn two different systems that could NOT be more opposite. He plays with a young offensive line and a coach that demands perfection. The game plan last year was to run, run and, if possible, run some more. So now he faces the demands of passing out of an offense that is predicated on the run. In most cases, his  drop back would not be traditional but would stem from an attempt to run. Have you ever tried to start to run, then stop on a dime, change your body mechanics to then throw an accurate pass? Me neither but I would imagine it is pretty hard to do. But then again, I don't have to worry about getting away from a couple of 300 lbs linemen added to the mix.

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