Film Study - Andy Kotelnicki's debut vs. West Virginia

[CaliLION79]

KOTELNICKI FILM STUDY WVU

See link. Video specifically diagrams and unpacks the concepts and schemes that resulted in explosive plays on Saturday. Some of these -- the wingback/TE & Slot vertical switch TD off power read playfake -- you've seen us breakdown from his Kansas tape. Other stuff, specifically the scissors concept to Wallace, was new-ish. Enjoy.

 

[OKLionFan]

Wow, AK making his presence known already. Fun to watch.

 

[PSU Soupy]

I liked AK's analysis of his offense. He compared it to a DQ Blizzard. When you get the product it looks complicated, but in reality it is mostly vanilla ice cream and a little bit of your favorite candy crushed into the ice cream. Simple but looks complicated. He thinks that our offense will play faster due to the ease of the plays. The misdirection and changing of the timing of the plays will help to break longer plays. Going against our defense certainly will help our offense to grow. Our DBs are very good. Front line Lbs seem very good (a little thin), especially if Robinson is hurt at all from yesterday. Our DTs are good and Deep and our DEs are elite but we only go 3 or 4 deep. Hoping that Zuriah F. can come back as he was really improving in 2nd half of 2023.

 

[lazydave841]

Observations:

-Tre Wallace. WR1. I'd rather have him play like this than our offense rely on 3-4 to catch similar passes. Make no mistake, the more people we can rely on the better, but having a guy defenses HAVE to scheme around only opens up other guys.

-Fleming did excellent work in this game without being targeted. He ran his routes like the ball was coming to him, he blocked his butt off, and carried himself like the leaders we hoped for. He will get his opportunities (he was open on the Wallace TD, but not as open as Wallace and would have been a lower % throw, same as the Warren TD, but Beau took the first open guy instead of the second).

-AK schemed a lot of different guys open. The way our RBs could assist on blocks or slip into the middle of the field was very tough to defend. I know people wanted more ball distribution, but it's near impossible to argue the results when the best read was made.

-we barely scratched the surface on what can be done with the TEs. And they are going to play a lot. Watch Rappleyea's block on the Bubble Screen to Singleton: pancakes! his guy (looked like Hollis, who Wallace burnt on that deep out along with the Fade TD). The setup for that HBack over to Reynolds was going to go for 10+ yards, but WVU jumped offsides and got a man in Allar's face earlier than they should have. Fox didn't do a good job of relaying this as they talked through a replay and we come back to 1st and 5 (or I missed it).

-anybody get the feeling AK is setting up something with that Pistol formation with Wallace as the sidecar RB?

-I love the mix of Pistol and Shotgun. Easier to run downhill out of the Pistol.

 

[LandoComando]

How AK describes his offense

"It might look complicated, but at the end of the day it's just vanilla ice cream and your favorite candy," Kotelnicki said after Penn State's 34-12 win in which his offense did have plenty of eye candy to on top of an effective run game and enough vertical passing to be dangerous.

I think this is a great way to explain it. It's really nothing fancy but it's effective and it designed to confuse the opponent while not requiring your team to overthink--they can just play.

 

[GregInPitt]

I liked AK's analysis of his offense. He compared it to a DQ Blizzard. When you get the product it looks complicated, but in reality it is mostly vanilla ice cream and a little bit of your favorite candy crushed into the ice cream. Simple but looks complicated. He thinks that our offense will play faster due to the ease of the plays. The misdirection and changing of the timing of the plays will help to break longer plays. Going against our defense certainly will help our offense to grow. Our DBs are very good. Front line Lbs seem very good (a little thin), especially if Robinson is hurt at all from yesterday. Our DTs are good and Deep and our DEs are elite but we only go 3 or 4 deep. Hoping that Zuriah F. can come back as he was really improving in 2nd half of 2023.

One of the biggest positives from yesterday was the play of Vilbert. He's huge and pretty quick, especially for his size. He's going to be an excellent 4th DE this season. DDS, Carter, Vanover and Vilbert. The next two exhibition games should give Barnes the opportunity to get the younger DE's some snaps to help him sort out a 5th and 6th DE's until Fisher returns. Plenty of talented young DE's on the roster practicing to get ready for prime time from the 2023 and 2024 classes.

 

[NealPaige]

Agreed Greg. "Vilbert", auto correct keeps switching to "Gilbert", looked like an angry Sasquatch on a Jack Links commercial when he caused that strip fumble. I was like, "damn, who is that beast".!

 

[CaliLION79]

Observations:

-Tre Wallace. WR1. I'd rather have him play like this than our offense rely on 3-4 to catch similar passes. Make no mistake, the more people we can rely on the better, but having a guy defenses HAVE to scheme around only opens up other guys.

-Fleming did excellent work in this game without being targeted. He ran his routes like the ball was coming to him, he blocked his butt off, and carried himself like the leaders we hoped for. He will get his opportunities (he was open on the Wallace TD, but not as open as Wallace and would have been a lower % throw, same as the Warren TD, but Beau took the first open guy instead of the second).

-AK schemed a lot of different guys open. The way our RBs could assist on blocks or slip into the middle of the field was very tough to defend. I know people wanted more ball distribution, but it's near impossible to argue the results when the best read was made.

-we barely scratched the surface on what can be done with the TEs. And they are going to play a lot. Watch Rappleyea's block on the Bubble Screen to Singleton: pancakes! his guy (looked like Hollis, who Wallace burnt on that deep out along with the Fade TD). The setup for that HBack over to Reynolds was going to go for 10+ yards, but WVU jumped offsides and got a man in Allar's face earlier than they should have. Fox didn't do a good job of relaying this as they talked through a replay and we come back to 1st and 5 (or I missed it).

-anybody get the feeling AK is setting up something with that Pistol formation with Wallace as the sidecar RB?

-I love the mix of Pistol and Shotgun. Easier to run downhill out of the Pistol.

As far as ball distribution, Allar's 17 attempts were the lowest of any game he started and finished in his career. Almost felt like Franklin's main concern was finishing the game before another lightning sighting. As for Wallace in that Pistol Sidecar spot, that was peculiar, which does suggests there's going to be an 2.0 evolution to that formation down the road. We didn't include it, but on the next wide zone run after the long wide zone run, Wallace unintentionally tackles Singleton and probably prevented a TD from happening lol.

 

[lazydave841]

As far as ball distribution, Allar's 17 attempts were the lowest of any game he started and finished in his career. Almost felt like Franklin's main concern was finishing the game before another lightning sighting. As for Wallace in that Pistol Sidecar spot, that was peculiar, which does suggests there's going to be an 2.0 evolution to that formation down the road. We didn't include it, but on the next wide zone run after the long wide zone run, Wallace unintentionally tackles Singleton and probably prevented a TD from happening lol.

I agree 100% re: JF finishing the game. Once we scored to reach 27-6, the offense wasn't attacking. When WVU scored their TD, we went right back and retook our lead (plus one where we stopped their 2 pt).

I foresee a Wheel route coming off the sidecar as well as a Trap Run, perhaps to Wallace in the sidecar.

 

[CaliLION79]

https://fortheblogy.com/play-of-the-other-day-scissors-concept-vs-west-virginia/

Blog post goes into a little more depth on the first TD. Author, a former d3 WR, explains that without Fleming's foot-to-the-floor approach on the first Wallace TD, the score likely doesn't happen.