Anatomy of Kalen DeBoer’s Running Game — It looks fancy, but it’s about whipping your ass up front

Kalen DeBoer is celebrated as something of a wunderkind in college football, one of the eclectic visionaries in offensive football who isn’t so much wedded to a scheme as he is to broad concepts. And when we break down the anatomy of a play, we also see an intentional study in contrasts.

I’m going to depart with Brent on this one: KDB does run a spread, but you can’t really call it an air raid, and probably not even a quasi-air raid. (The differences are largely technical, but that’s the point of this piece, huh?) There are very few RPOs in his offense, and no SPOs (screen-pass options). There is not a hot gap concept. Unlike the Air Raid, the WRs aren’t making adjustments on the route, nor is a four-wide look the default. The offensive linemen don’t take wide splits; in fact, you’re apt to see about as much running in traffic as you are stretch plays. And practically unique to his offense in the modern game, DeBoer runs something you simply don’t see anymore: true traps. There is as much man-on-man as there is pin-and-pull.

What you will find are a lot of three-wide sets. You could probably count on both hands and feet the number of times you’ve seen ‘Bama go empty with five-wide. Get used to that. DeBoer leans into it a lot. I know we tease this every year, but the scheme is a lot more physical than you’d expect at first blush. The 31 Ace sets are the default (to the extent that this team has a base offense), and tight ends are emphasized more than you would expect with a spread offense. At Washington and Fresno State, his teams ran a lot of 12 looks too: one-back, two-wide, two-tights. Verticality is baked into the scheme, and there are plentiful bunch formations, jets and orbits. Unlike the air raid, it also uses the middle of the field in two- and three-level play designs.

And above all, there is a dizzying array of motion.

In fact, that motion sets it apart from the Kiffin and Sark schools of thought. Kiffin emphasized forcing mismatches by isolating players in space. Sarkisian prodded defenses with his elaborate set-ups that often would not pay off for a few series, but that outschemed the defense against itself and manufactured busts. Meanwhile, DeBoer does a little of both: He puts players in motion well over half the time, revealing the defensive alignment, and then forces busts with a lot of confusion by his opponents. He’s not aiming for isolation in a space, so much as producing space to then throw to. When you combine that with a lot of vertical shots — and Washington led the country in air yards per throw the last two seasons — it is very taxing on a defense. In particular, it forces defenses to play 9-on-11, as those safeties can rarely jump up into run support. (As you would expect, that becomes very important in a moment).

So, a little bit of Sark’s scheming, with Lane’s motion and checkdowns, and Locksley’s kill-shot aggression. Throw in his own mad scientist scheming in the lab, and Tide fans are going to love it…even if they don’t always understand it.

While people have exhaustively cataloged the passing game, it is the running game that is underrated and often overlooked. However, it ties into the overall concepts above and works with the passing game by building off of those mismatches the passing formations provide.

Now that we know what’s going on under the hood, let’s take a look at how he uses them to create a running game that is as dynamic and versatile as what you’d expect under center. Yet, it is one that is instantly familiar to anyone who’s watched a football game since the 1950s.

RPOs

Here is that unique 12 look that we’ve not seen much at Alabama…at least in the last three decades. It is West Coast in formation, but like so much of the vast playbook, it is very modern in approach. There are your bog standard passing concepts out of the 12, but KDB will also use this look to trap defenders in traffic and then hit them with the RPO. The Miami Dolphins use this formation, as did Urban Meyer’s Utah and Florida teams. This is what we meant by mad scientist: it’s an old-school running play, using a modified Bill Walsh formation, but repackaged as an Air Raid RPO.

Inside Runs From the Bunch

Here is part of that study in contradictions that makes DeBoer so interesting. For a spread offense, the formations often begin out of a bunch. Bill O’Brien ran quite a few bunch formations, but rarely did he do so like this; in a way that uses the three-wides to then exploit a numbers games against the defensive front for interior runs.

This clip should start at the 24:00 mark, if not, then zip ahead.

Those Eclectic Empty Sets

DeBoer doesn’t just use empty sets to stretch the field or call designed QB draws from, though that is part of it. Rather, the empty sets are just that — formations; he can and does run much of the offense out of them: verts, screens, TE delays and clear-outs, even a little trickery. But, for my money, the one that will strain defenses beyond their capacity and keep DCs up at night, is the empty-set goal-line levels play.

The Alabama offense will run a great number of rubs and picks, and the levels is part of that rub. You want to get defenders moving against the grain in traffic and neutralize themselves. Besides creating chaos and space in the passing game, it can be used to keep the linebackers at home and win the numbers game up front for the offensive line.

But I don’t think it’s solely how Alabama is going to use this. No, I think instead Jalen Milroe gets the green light to run here. We will see the back seven in coverage, scurrying about in traffic, then nothing but grass ahead for Jalen inside the red zone. And I think we see it especially out of the levels plays. Color guys will call it a “bust,” but it’s not. Nor is it a true RPO: it’s just taking advantage of what the mismatches are going to create up front for football’s most athletic player.

See the clip below of the empty-set levels play that DeBoer wants to run. While Penix makes the throw here, it’s almost impossible to think that with this much space, and the line getting a hat-on-a-hat, that Milroe won’t be scooting into the end zone.

The Checkdown As Running Game

Now, this is the one part you can unequivocally say is pure air raid: the short throw as a running play. Not only are checkdowns critical to keeping the defenders on their heels and the chains moving, they’re encouraged in the offense. In fact, they’re treated as part of the running game.

“The thing you’ll hear me talk to the quarterbacks about, just constantly reminding them of is must completions, completions, completions,” DeBoer said. “And just letting all these other guys work for you. A checkdown to the running back at some point, that’s OK.”

According to DeBoer, that lets his coaches call aggressive plays without quarterbacks forcing the ball into bad situations. As the drive moves, it delivers more manageable second and third down distances, letting the playcallers be less predictable.

And in that Great Key West in the Sky, Mike Leach poured a shot for you, Coach.

Stretch Run

It’s not all cooking up esoterica in the lab, though. In some cases, the running game is painfully simple, and relies on good ole’ fashioned winning the physical battles up front, coupled with some vision and patience from the running back.

Here, you see back-to-back counters — one out of the stretch, one from a delayed handoff.

From there, we also see much of what we saw from Sarkisian — multiple threats from the same looks that give the quarterback multiple options and set up later plays.

Here it is when we put it all together: a play action QB boot, fake to the counter-stretch, motion from the receiver, out receivers running the safeties out of the play, a check-down option to the RB, and a wide-open, easy throw the tight end.

And if every one is executing, it’s going to be impossible to gain some sort of positive yards, no matter which of the four options the offense avails itself of.

There is a lot going on with this offense, particularly with the motion and isolation that is in the DNA of this scheme. But what is most striking the more film you watch, is how incredibly physical it is in the running game. While the passing game may be predicated on misdirection and confusion, at heart DeBoer’s system is good ole MANBALL. It wins the wars in the trenches. It doesn’t disguise what it’s going to do with the backs. It turns upfield in a hurry and then gets downhill even faster. It’s a quick offense, but it’s not a rushed one.

And, at the end of the day, it may have a new coat of paint, but we see the same thing that has won football games for 150 years: it is built to dominate the man in front of them.

Breathe easy, old timers. This is not soft by any definition of the word.

#RTDB