Alabama’s evolving offense has scary skill weapons, but does it have the QB?

Due to his warm embrace of the run/pass option revolution, Lane Kiffin was able to transform the 2014 Alabama offense into a simple yet explosive attack, which catapulted Amari Cooper to a 1,727-yard season and the Tide into the College Football Playoff. Many were shocked to see Kiffin have such success, but he was inheriting a loaded roster.

The first test for the 2015 Tide, without Cooper and others, was the No. 20 Wisconsin Badgers, who had a strong-looking defense coming into the year. Kiffin was going to have his hands full fitting all the new pieces into a strong unit.

He accomplished exactly that, albeit against a defense that lost two potential star safeties before most of the snaps were taken. Tanner McEvoy was lost to the cause of scoring points on offense (he moved to WR) while Michael Caputo was out with an apparent concussion early.

Nevertheless, the Badger defense is no joke. Kiffin still assembled his personnel packages in ways that allowed new QB Jacob Coker to smartly distribute to a new cast of star skill players, who then put up some enormous numbers.

Kiffin took over an offense in Tuscaloosa with established principles. Namely, an intense desire to run the ball with inside zone, more or less the iso play of the modern game. Kiffin embraced it and designed the offense around Bama’s ability to impose its will in the trenches.

This is football’s version of the spread pick-and-roll offense dominating the NBA. Inside zone blocking is the high screen, and the QB is the point guard, making simple reads every play to determine where the ball needs to go. Dump it down to the running back crashing to the rim? Kick it out to the wide receiver spotting up for a jump shot? Pull it down and make something happen himself?

In 2014, Kiffin attached pass options to the inside zone, allowing Blake Sims to find Cooper on the perimeter or to allow T.J. Yeldon and the running backs to run on reduced defenses. This was highly effective for Yeldon and Derrick Henry, who combined for 1,969 yards and 22 touchdowns.

Cooper also served as the main target when Alabama was looking to find receivers on normal drop-back passes and when the Tide were looking to go deep. There was little in the 2014 offense that didn’t feature him.

Kiffin’s task for 2015 was to choose a running back who could punish reduced fronts, a weapon on the perimeter for quick passes in the RPO game, a possession receiver, and a vertical threat, all while making sure the QB was a capable distributor.

As good a back as Yeldon was, the Tide might benefit majorly from big, bad Henry owning a bigger role. Henry has a rare blend of size, power, and explosiveness through the hole:

This is inside zone with a trap block on the defensive end by H-back Dakota Ball. It reveals very clearly the way Kiffin has altered Alabama’s approach.

In the past, Bama would have lined up in big personnel on a fourth-and-1 and just looked to impose in as brutish a fashion as you could imagine. Here, the boundary side receiver runs a fade route and the slot runs a quick out. Coker was probably never going to use those pass options, but they drew DBs away from the action.

Henry’s performance against Wisconsin (13 carries for 147 yards and three touchdowns) had to be chilling for the SEC teams on Alabama’s schedule. Leaving the box undermanned to address Alabama pass options with bend-don’t-break pass coverage is going to be untenable for most opponents, who don’t want the consequence of Henry breaking into the second level with a full head of steam.

Without Cooper, Kiffin has now plugged flex RB Kenyan Drake into the role of attacking the perimeter with sweeps and RPO concepts, designed to further clear out the box for Henry.

Drake will get the ball as a constraint and as a backup halfback, and his blazing speed makes him a terror on the edge.

For the purpose of quick passing routes attached to the run or working as the possession receiver, tight end O.J. Howard is now going to play the major role fans envisioned when he started as a five-star true freshman. Against Wisconsin, single-tight end packages were Bama’s most consistent.

Outside receivers Robert Foster and ArDarius Stewart are already seeing targets in the possession game, as well as on deep routes:

Stewart managed to get well behind the Badger coverage here, but Coker drastically underthrew him, which leads us to a potential flaw.

What happens when the Tide face opponents who can answer Kiffin’s challenge to leave skill players in one-on-one matchups? Those who make Coker beat man coverage while loading the box to take away both Drake and the inside run? Can Coker handle disguises that goad him into throwing the ball where it shouldn’t go?

Wisconsin was able to trap the Tide at times, encouraging misreads from Coker on option plays, when he sent the ball into the teeth of the defense.

By stunting linemen into the interior gaps that are attacked by inside zone, parking inside linebackers in the lanes likely to be hit by backs, and dropping the strong safety over the WR motion, the Badgers fooled Coker.