Scott Dochterman likes the Tim Lester hire (Podcasts w/ Leistikow from Feb 1 & Feb 7)
- Thread starter Franisdaman
- Start date
Can he develop the Iowa QBs?
I thought I read somewhere that during his last year at Western Michigan he was down "several strings" at the QB position (which was a huge reason why they struggled).
we've been begging for an average offense for a couple years now...we're not asking for much
That may have been his year as OC at Syracuse. They were down to something like the fifth string QB.
His last year at WMU, his QB unexpectedly went to the NFL, and they weren’t prepared for that, so a Freshman was playing.
They may have had injuries too?
Some context there - the previous year had been his best but the starting QB and WR bolted for NFL (the receiver, Moore, will suit up for Chiefs on sunday), and Western Michigan otherwise got raided in the portal.
From what the sports media have dug up - he at least partly got canned after that year because the new AD wanted his own guy in the job.
Thank you for the clarification. I remember the 5th string thing; thought it was Western Mich.
Who would have been Iowa's 5th string QB last season?
expect Iowa to go for it on most 4th downs
and, as you can infer, QBs who turn it over will be disciplined.
and, as you can infer, QBs who turn it over will be disciplined.
Yeah, advancing the ball would be nice. Scoring it would be nice, too.
Check this out & watch. Dochterman asked about RPOs.
Check this out & watch. Dochterman asked about RPOs.
More about putting players in position to succeed.
Full text of the tweet:
Tim Lester on wide receivers:
"Putting them in position, I think, is the biggest key… There’s a lot of of ways to do that (get the ball in their hands). Whether it’s screens, whether it’s just straight drop back, whether it’s putting them in the backfield. The flexibility of an offense is key. And so I haven’t had a chance to meet all the wide receivers yet. But I want to make sure that the quarterback understands that we’re going to spread the ball around.”
Full text of the tweet:
Tim Lester on wide receivers:
"Putting them in position, I think, is the biggest key… There’s a lot of of ways to do that (get the ball in their hands). Whether it’s screens, whether it’s just straight drop back, whether it’s putting them in the backfield. The flexibility of an offense is key. And so I haven’t had a chance to meet all the wide receivers yet. But I want to make sure that the quarterback understands that we’re going to spread the ball around.”
Kirk Ferentz addressing Tim Lester's struggles at Syracuse:
“I don’t read a lot of feedback but I did read somebody took a shot at that one. And my first thought was, OK if you evaluate my career at Maine, I probably wouldn’t still be standing here — I never would’ve been standing here. Proud owner of a 12-21 career record at Maine.
So you can go back, and I think you have to quantify and qualify everything you look at…
What I’ve looked at and focused moreso (on) the job he did with David Blough at Purdue and then the entire body of work at Western Michigan... And then last year's experience (with Green Bay) really factored in, too."
We’ll see two RPO plays in the opener.
Then never again as Kirk doesn’t feel comfortable with it
Maybe…..
I tend to go back on a few examples over the years.
JVB really seemed to be tailored for a up tempo, spread ball around offense. That was key to the comeback against Pittsburgh, but we never saw it again outside a few rushed series.
3 TE set against OSU. Iowa lost that game but gave OSU everything they could handle. Marched up and down the field. Our TEs were weapons and the offensive gameplan was brilliant. Never used again.
And all the times where a RB never sees the field cause they fumble. Wadley had a monster 200 yard game only to follow up the next week against MN with very few carries and Mark Weisman having an insane stat like of like 19 carries 1 yard in the first half.
Kirk usually allows the offense to open up one game a year. That didn’t happen in 2023 because the offense skill set was so bad Iowa couldn’t score on a empty field
There is a chance that Lester’s changes take a year to settle in.
Then never again as Kirk doesn’t feel comfortable with it
Maybe…..
I tend to go back on a few examples over the years.
JVB really seemed to be tailored for a up tempo, spread ball around offense. That was key to the comeback against Pittsburgh, but we never saw it again outside a few rushed series.
3 TE set against OSU. Iowa lost that game but gave OSU everything they could handle. Marched up and down the field. Our TEs were weapons and the offensive gameplan was brilliant. Never used again.
And all the times where a RB never sees the field cause they fumble. Wadley had a monster 200 yard game only to follow up the next week against MN with very few carries and Mark Weisman having an insane stat like of like 19 carries 1 yard in the first half.
Kirk usually allows the offense to open up one game a year. That didn’t happen in 2023 because the offense skill set was so bad Iowa couldn’t score on a empty field
There is a chance that Lester’s changes take a year to settle in.
Have to think those 4 were Philbin, Chryst, Johns, and Lester.
I just read an article in yesterday's(Tues) Wall St. Journal by Andrew Beaton on Kyle Shanahan and his approach to offense which he learned from his dad ,Mike.
This analytics firm, NFL Next Gen Stats, uses literally billions of data points to track strategic trends in pro football.
What this guy,Keegan Abdoo, found was that one of the most powerful x's and o's innovations of the past decade boiled down to something incredibly simple:
Where the 11 players line up before the snap.
In an era where spread offenses have become the norm the 49ers go counterintuitive and feature the most condensed formation in the league at 19.9 yards.
League average is 24.6
All the Shanahan tree coaches , at rams dolphins Houston and Packers are tighter than league average.
The theory is by bunching up you create big spaces to cover to the outside which then creates more space in the middle.
It also puts more uncertainty in defense on run or pass options.
The 49ers for the last six years have targeted in-breaking routes more than any team.
Purdy led the league with in breaking routes at 9.6 yds per pass attempt from tight formations.
There is a lot more data thrown out there but I just hope that Lester exposure to leflore in green Bay has cemented this concept with him as he takes over the Iowa offense.
Shanahans offense runs the ball very effectively which should be music to KFs ears but it passes extremely effectively especially over the middle to kittle ,nd hopefully lachey and ostrenga.
This analytics firm, NFL Next Gen Stats, uses literally billions of data points to track strategic trends in pro football.
What this guy,Keegan Abdoo, found was that one of the most powerful x's and o's innovations of the past decade boiled down to something incredibly simple:
Where the 11 players line up before the snap.
In an era where spread offenses have become the norm the 49ers go counterintuitive and feature the most condensed formation in the league at 19.9 yards.
League average is 24.6
All the Shanahan tree coaches , at rams dolphins Houston and Packers are tighter than league average.
The theory is by bunching up you create big spaces to cover to the outside which then creates more space in the middle.
It also puts more uncertainty in defense on run or pass options.
The 49ers for the last six years have targeted in-breaking routes more than any team.
Purdy led the league with in breaking routes at 9.6 yds per pass attempt from tight formations.
There is a lot more data thrown out there but I just hope that Lester exposure to leflore in green Bay has cemented this concept with him as he takes over the Iowa offense.
Shanahans offense runs the ball very effectively which should be music to KFs ears but it passes extremely effectively especially over the middle to kittle ,nd hopefully lachey and ostrenga.
Oh my.Thank you for the clarification. I remember the 5th string thing; thought it was Western Mich.
Who would have been Iowa's 5th string QB last season?
It literally may have been Cooper DeJean.
Iowa was the only school in the country who would have improved greatly if the fifth string QB had to play.
one thing that alarms me is that lester hasn't even met any of his WRs or QBs but is already gushing about the new punter. hope he doesn't think punting yardage counts for offense.
one thing that alarms me is that lester hasn't even met any of his WRs or QBs but is already gushing about the new punter. hope he doesn't think punting yardage counts for offense.
I believe he said he hadn’t met all of them yet, not none of them. And he never mentioned the new punter save to say he was from Australia.
Check your thesaurus. Those two aren’t at all alike.
Lester said quote unquote, all the right things yesterday for an introductory presser.
Doesn’t mean a thing if he doesn’t improve the offense next fall.
Sober…dude.
No, they are extremely different words. I’m on your side here. He was indeed not gushing.
They are not alike at all. Not even a little bit. That’s the joke.
I think it's fair to say that without Beth (and the UI President), we wouldn't have gotten a change at OC.
Do you remember I think the first TD Iowa scored against Nebby in 2016? Beathard at QB. I dont know if it was sort of CJ's read to make but at the snap he fakes a run into a pretty stacked box and McCarron is running a short down and in or slant . CJ hits him in stride and Riley splits two defenders to take it about 75 yards for a TD.
Maybe that was the playcall from the bench or maybe he had it as an audible. But it is basically a quick RPO type play.
Kirk has done this before and had his OCs use it before except it is called a lower %age of time.
And RPO works better now because of the relaxation of not calling blockers being illegally downfield.
Iowa might be one of the few teams that doesnt take advantage of those new rules
If Cade's knees are totally healed as much as they can be and he has maybe some orthotic braces on for stabilty he will still be able to run.
The last few years I have seen a fair number of running backs with big linemen type braces on and they still cut and shift like normal. The announcers have said they have recovered from knee injuries.
You may very well be right. But I kind of got a sense that any mutual interest between Iowa and Philbin had fallen off a while ago. And we didn't know about either Johns or Lester until the last minute, so there very well could have been another candidate who got a serious look while staying under the radar.
Lester said his QB left for the nfl or something so they went into what turned out to be his last season and WMU with QBs with little to no experience. And as others have said there was a new AD at WMU who decided to fire him and bring in another coach.
He also had hired an OC for that season who must not have worked out and he took over play call duties again the last 4 games.
Thinking WMU is gonna regret getting rid of him.
She is as tall as Kirk with the heels on.
600 seems like a bit too many unless you have Peyton Manning under center.
There was an article about the Chiefs simplifying their offense this year after going through their rough stretch. Shall we just say, it helped.
To be clear, it was 600 pages of plays to draw from in creating the playbook. The actual playbook would be much shorter, I would assume.
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