Good stuff from people who coached against him.
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports...head_s_offense_could_energize_Penn_State.html
The James Franklin era at Penn State - the whole thing - might come down to new offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead, the former Fordham head coach.
If Moorhead can put an efficient product on the field, the first couple of Franklin seasons of treading water will go down as the cost of doing business. If a Moorhead offense can't get moving, however, it's hard to believe Franklin will be in charge of picking a third coordinator.
We're not saying Moorhead gets only a year in Happy Valley. That would be absurd. Just that he's crucial to things now.
Don't be completely distracted by the assistants who just left Penn State. (Although losing defensive coordinator Bob Shoop to Tennessee was a big hit.) Offensive line coach Herb Hand, who left for Auburn, is a respected guy, but his departure could even be a positive, a sign that Moorhead has carte blanche to implement his schemes rather than just work his thoughts into Penn State's current packages.
Moorhead won't reinvent the wheel, by the way. You'll recognize what you're seeing.
"High tempo. Spread the field," said Villanova offensive coordinator Sam Venuto, who faced Fordham the last couple of years. "Like we do."
Moorhead didn't just get it done at Fordham. His offenses have a history of exceeding expectations. Connecticut won the Big East and went to the Fiesta Bowl when Moorhead was offensive coordinator. Previous stops at Akron and even Georgetown represented peak efficiency for those schools. He uses his running backs. This won't simply be Pass Happy Valley.
It so happens that Penn defensive coordinator Bob Benson hired Moorhead for his first full-time job, at Georgetown. Benson was the Hoyas' head coach and brought in a guy who had been a Pittsburgh graduate assistant. Benson quickly gave Moorhead more responsibility.
"Smart football coaches don't always equal successful football coaches," Benson said. "He has an ability to relate to people. He takes his Tommy Edison intelligence - that's really what it is - and he is able to communicate in a manner young people respond to, and they like being around him."
A coach at a Penn State high school clinic last year heard one of the Nittany Lions assistants talking about the blocking rules for the three-step passing game. "Too much," the coach said, meaning too complicated. This lifer was getting foggy, so he was imagining how 19-year-olds were taking to it.
Obviously, the Penn State guys had substantial success at Vanderbilt. It's not as if their stuff was unworkable. It just didn't work for the Nits. Even coaches who watched the Nittany Lions wondered about square personnel pegs fitting into round holes. Bottom line: The offense needed what it's getting, a fresh start.
As for what opposing defensive coaches feel facing Moorhead, Penn head coach Ray Priore put it this way: "We're real happy he's leaving."
"He's honestly one of the more challenging guys to prepare for, because he does a lot of things and plans for each team he's going to face specifically," said Villanova defensive coordinator Billy Crocker, whose team did a good job of keeping Fordham off the scoreboard the last couple of seasons. "He does a great job of attacking teams differently."
On game day, Crocker said, a Moorhead team employs a simple enough scheme but makes "it look a little more complex than it really is."
By that, Crocker means, "They'll change a lot of plays. They'll get lined up in a formation, and then he'll see it, and the quarterback will come back [looking] to the sideline, and he may put in a new play based on how you're lined up defensively. . . . We had to spend a lot of time. If they changed, we had to change. He does a great job of coaching on the run, per se, of adjusting as he goes, better than anyone we see on a week-to-week basis."
Priore, whose Quakers couldn't keep Fordham out of the end zone much the last couple of years, talked about the same thing, about how effective Moorhead was at adjusting on the fly.
"If you're in a two-deep, he converts to routes that beat two-deep best. Everything is basically a conversion in both the pass game and the run game," Priore said. "That's the part that gives you gray hair. You think you have the perfect play called defensively, and they're converting to the things that work against it. It's one of the offenses that's constantly trying to find the edge, not simply saying we're better than you. He's constantly trying to put stress on the defense."
If Moorhead succeeds at doing that in the Big Ten, call it a stress reliever on Franklin and the entire Penn State fan base, the folks looking for more than they've gotten lately.
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports...head_s_offense_could_energize_Penn_State.html
The James Franklin era at Penn State - the whole thing - might come down to new offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead, the former Fordham head coach.
If Moorhead can put an efficient product on the field, the first couple of Franklin seasons of treading water will go down as the cost of doing business. If a Moorhead offense can't get moving, however, it's hard to believe Franklin will be in charge of picking a third coordinator.
We're not saying Moorhead gets only a year in Happy Valley. That would be absurd. Just that he's crucial to things now.
Don't be completely distracted by the assistants who just left Penn State. (Although losing defensive coordinator Bob Shoop to Tennessee was a big hit.) Offensive line coach Herb Hand, who left for Auburn, is a respected guy, but his departure could even be a positive, a sign that Moorhead has carte blanche to implement his schemes rather than just work his thoughts into Penn State's current packages.
Moorhead won't reinvent the wheel, by the way. You'll recognize what you're seeing.
"High tempo. Spread the field," said Villanova offensive coordinator Sam Venuto, who faced Fordham the last couple of years. "Like we do."
Moorhead didn't just get it done at Fordham. His offenses have a history of exceeding expectations. Connecticut won the Big East and went to the Fiesta Bowl when Moorhead was offensive coordinator. Previous stops at Akron and even Georgetown represented peak efficiency for those schools. He uses his running backs. This won't simply be Pass Happy Valley.
It so happens that Penn defensive coordinator Bob Benson hired Moorhead for his first full-time job, at Georgetown. Benson was the Hoyas' head coach and brought in a guy who had been a Pittsburgh graduate assistant. Benson quickly gave Moorhead more responsibility.
"Smart football coaches don't always equal successful football coaches," Benson said. "He has an ability to relate to people. He takes his Tommy Edison intelligence - that's really what it is - and he is able to communicate in a manner young people respond to, and they like being around him."
A coach at a Penn State high school clinic last year heard one of the Nittany Lions assistants talking about the blocking rules for the three-step passing game. "Too much," the coach said, meaning too complicated. This lifer was getting foggy, so he was imagining how 19-year-olds were taking to it.
Obviously, the Penn State guys had substantial success at Vanderbilt. It's not as if their stuff was unworkable. It just didn't work for the Nits. Even coaches who watched the Nittany Lions wondered about square personnel pegs fitting into round holes. Bottom line: The offense needed what it's getting, a fresh start.
As for what opposing defensive coaches feel facing Moorhead, Penn head coach Ray Priore put it this way: "We're real happy he's leaving."
"He's honestly one of the more challenging guys to prepare for, because he does a lot of things and plans for each team he's going to face specifically," said Villanova defensive coordinator Billy Crocker, whose team did a good job of keeping Fordham off the scoreboard the last couple of seasons. "He does a great job of attacking teams differently."
On game day, Crocker said, a Moorhead team employs a simple enough scheme but makes "it look a little more complex than it really is."
By that, Crocker means, "They'll change a lot of plays. They'll get lined up in a formation, and then he'll see it, and the quarterback will come back [looking] to the sideline, and he may put in a new play based on how you're lined up defensively. . . . We had to spend a lot of time. If they changed, we had to change. He does a great job of coaching on the run, per se, of adjusting as he goes, better than anyone we see on a week-to-week basis."
Priore, whose Quakers couldn't keep Fordham out of the end zone much the last couple of years, talked about the same thing, about how effective Moorhead was at adjusting on the fly.
"If you're in a two-deep, he converts to routes that beat two-deep best. Everything is basically a conversion in both the pass game and the run game," Priore said. "That's the part that gives you gray hair. You think you have the perfect play called defensively, and they're converting to the things that work against it. It's one of the offenses that's constantly trying to find the edge, not simply saying we're better than you. He's constantly trying to put stress on the defense."
If Moorhead succeeds at doing that in the Big Ten, call it a stress reliever on Franklin and the entire Penn State fan base, the folks looking for more than they've gotten lately.
