2008 -- Spring Practice
I understand that Hart is working on new offensive and defensive primary schemes. Any comments?
posted by Hart Dad @ 1:08 AM
4 comments
Hart Dad
Commentary, analysis and statistics about Hart High Indians' Football team with occasional interesting, flattering or unkind comments about other teams and their followers.
4 Comments:
Hello Hart Dad,
I think the new wrinkles added to the Hart offense with the 2-back set will be beneficial, and I feel that D'Autremont will end up being a fine offensive coordinator. I think that Hart is suffering a bit in the summer passing league for two reasons; 1) they have a lot of players going both ways, and fatigue becomes a factor in a long tournament 2) the rotation of the quarterbacks is not allowing either Sholes or Souza to be as efficient as they could be on their own, and it throws off the continuity of the offense. Both QB's are only getting half the reps in practice and games, and by having to sit out while the other plays, it's hard for either to get into a rythum. The one time that they departed from this approach was during the Bonita tournament, when they let Sholes take over in the final Friday night game, and had him play exclusively at QB on Saturday. Hart went 5-1 during that stretch, so it seems to me there is something to be said for continuity with one quarterback. I read that Herrington might consider going with a dual quarterback offense this season. Do you ever remember Herrington doing this before during the regular season? How do you see this QB competition playing out?
I'm excited about some new offensive formations and plays. When Hart went to the spread in 1989, it was a novelty. Virtually no one used it and not surprisingly, hard a really tough time stopping it. Generally, against teams with equal talent, the Hart offense trampeled people, particularly late in the season. Occasionally the offense shutdown on it's own, shooting itself in the foot (1992 quarterfinals come to mind). Things started to change markedly about 2002 when a lot of teams started using a spread offense including Valencia and Canyon. It works very well but there's little in the way of surprise. Everyone pretty much knows what you do and how you do it and what it takes to stop it (hence, one of the reasons for a considerable dropoff in scoring over the last few seasons).
Hart has never run a two-QB offense. In 1984, there were a lot of injuries so multiple QBs got a lot of time. To my recollection the only reason a non-starting QB has gotten any significant playing time in the Herrington era was due to injury (1991 [Delmatoff], 2000 [Matt Moore], 2003 [Jimmy Moore], 2005 [Pettee]) or because Hart had a really big lead. The only exception I can think of was Boller in 1997 who took over from David Neill on a few occasions because of his huge arm (Neill usually went to WR).
Hart has rotated QBs in the SUMMER -- Neill and Boller in 1997 and Lyon and Moore in 2004. I had more than one person tell, including a member of the coaching staff, tell me that the 2-QB rotation in 2004 was a real mistake because (1) it was clear from the first passing contest that Lyon had far more ability (way bigger, far bigger arm, faster), (2) Lyon desperately needed as many reps as possible because he had played very little as a freshman and a soph because of injuries; depriving him of 50% of the reps in the summer slowed his development considerably and (3) it allowed a "controversy" to fester long into the season; that problem would have been gone a week into the summer had there been no rotation.
So -- I wonder at the rotation this summer. Some good reasons to do it (1) truly unsettled; (2) want to develop a new scheme with more variants, particularly QB running (Souza runs better) which may REALLY confuse defenses.
HD
Hello Hart Dad,
Thanks for your response to my comments. After watching the passing league this summer, and from what I've heard about the two quarterbacks (Sholes & Souza)during Freshman and JV, I see Souza as more of a "change of pace" guy at quarterback if the coaches decide to platoon. I see him coming and using his speed to add more of a running dimension to the offense. I see Sholes as the reliable pocket quarterback who can move the chains with his passing. He seemed to be more productive in the passing league games I saw (more TD's, fewer interceptions). If they do decide platoon, I would hope that the Hart coaches are still planning to use Souza at receiver on offense some of the time. He played well there last year, and, while used sparingly, I noticed that he is one of the few guys who had the speed to get behind the defense consistently in passing league. The other issue is whether Souza will also have to be used as a defensive back due to the lack of depth there. I think this team is capable of playing very well this year. They were up and down in passing league, but I think that had a lot to do with learning the new offense and defense, and a lack of concentration at times (dropped passes, missed assignments). But when this team comes to play, I think they can be competitive with just about anyone. Now that the summer program is over, I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on what you expect for the upcoming season.
Hart Dad,
Have you heard anything about who will start at QB for Hart this season? Did you get to see much of the passing league this summer? What is your prediction for who will start (Sholes or Souza)? Do you think Hart has enough to win Foothill League this year?
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