Pretty decent stuff from his talk at the Montgomery QB Club last night. Just talks on adapting Malzahn's O to his personnel for the most part. I have to say, I get the "fast" part and all the talk about how many plays they want to run. But, I just don't recall his offense at Auburn being fast in the true sense of the word. Yeah, it's a worn out cliche', but Oregon is what I think of when you say, "They're just so fast". Under Kelley, they tried to beat you back to the line after every play and snap it before you were set. Under Malzahn, I know it was no huddle, but it seemed they still go to the line, checked the D, prarie dogged, and then ran the play. N-E-Whey...
cops -n- pastas al.com
MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- The basic principles of Gus Malzahn's hurry-up, no-huddle offense haven't changed at all. Nobody knows that better than Rhett Lashlee. What makes Malzahn's offense work with so many different types of personnel, Lashlee told the Montgomery Quarterback Club on Tuesday night, is that the coach's high school roots have taught him to adapt the scheme to fit his players.
"We believe in playing fast, playing physical the entire game," Lashlee said. "At the same time, you've got to evolve, and we've done that over the years, we've changed things, we've tweaked things."
Back in 2010, Malzahn rode Cam Newton's dual-threat ability to the national championship, but his hurry-up no-huddle also produced the nation's top passing numbers at Tulsa, transformed Chris Todd and helped Arkansas State quarterback Ryan Aplin throw for 3,342 yards, 24 touchdowns and four interceptions last year. Aplin also rushed for 438 yards on his way to Sun Belt Player of the Year honors, but Lashlee said the system was different, at least in subtle ways, from the one Newton directed at Auburn.
"We’ve evolved as you get certain players, when you have a Cam Newton you learn some new things, we had Ryan Aplin last year we got some new things," Lashlee said. "You’re continuously trying to improve and make it better and add to it and tweak some things here and there and that’s kind of the fun part for us – you’re never really there, your wheel’s always spinning, you’re always trying to make it better." The core principles remain the same.
Using the shotgun and spread formations, Auburn will run out of two-back sets using smashmouth plays like the trap -- or the counter trey -- the zone-read, the veer option, counter and power. After establishing that base, the Tigers then stretch the field -- Lashlee said Auburn wants to take eight shots per game downfield -- and run trick plays or "special plays" in hurry-up, no-huddle terminology, to keep the defense off-balance.
"It gets our playmakers the ball more, keeps the defense honest, we take shots down the field," Lashlee said. "A lot of good things can happen doing that. We're an aggressive, attacking style offense." And, of course, the hurry-up, no-huddle's core element is still based on speed.
Expect Auburn to return to the breakneck pace of 2009 and 2010, a pace designed to get an offense more plays in a game, wear down opposing defenses and keep defenses from substituting to match Auburn's personnel.
"It's going to be fast," Lashlee said. "It's going to be exciting for players, it's going to be exciting for fans, it's going to be exciting to practice, and we hope it's going to be exciting because it's putting points on the board, that's what it's gotta do."
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