As we slide into August the echoes of shoulder pads popping around Husky Stadium isn’t far off. Fall Camp just around the corner kicking off the Kalen DeBoer era.
Known as one of the great offensive minds in college football, DeBoer and his offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb will have an abundance of talent to utilize in a scheme that has racked up a ton yards, points and of respect whereever they’ve gone.
While at Fresno as the head coach with OC Ryan Grubb the impressive offensive numbers continued.
Last season Fresno State finished first in the MWC and 14th in the nation in total offense and averaged nearly 5 touchdowns a game.
Meanwhile, on Montlake Jimmy Lake’s offense, loaded with offensive weaponry sputtered, tallying 14 points less a game in stumbling to a 4-8 record.
Lake was known as one of the premiere defensive backs coaches in the nation. When he got his shot as the head coach he looked for a coordinator who could develop a scheme that was hard for Lake to game plan against, namely Stanford.
He found John Donovan who once was considered a great offensive mind, in his own right. However, the offensive struggles were a big part of the undoing of the Lake era after just 13 games.
The philosophies between DeBoer and Lake could not be more different.
Firstly, let’s take a look the ill-fated Jimmy Lake and John Donovan scheme. The goal from their style of offense was to bludgeon defenses at the line of scrimmage and take shots down the field when defenses were fatigued, similar to how quality Stanford teams have worn down Washington over the years.
Lake’s goal was not to outscore an opponent in a shootout, but control the clock and win in a gradual fashion.
Lake inherited a talented and veteran offensive line, but they struggled to move nimbly at their size. They were often outnumbered with eight or nine defenders in the box. Predictable play calls up the middle made the defense’s job easy.
Kalen DeBoer and Ryan Grubb, on the other hand, look to be explosive at all times. They rely more heavily on a passing attack. Similar to spread and air raid like philosophies Washington’s new offense will look to put defenses in awkward positions.
But don’t confuse it with an air raid or spread schemes. DeBoer utilizes nimble linemen and look for the weak spots to exploit in defenses.
If their mismatch is a running play they will execute, but often look for soft spots in the defense out of bunch receiver sets.
The quarterback is then tasked with finding the correct route and hitting the receiver that gives the best opportunity for an explosive play that gains twenty or more yards.
As philosophies go, the Deboer/Grubb is as close to the polar opposite of the Lake/Donovan as one can get. While both men talked about the necessity of being attacking or explosive their ideas of how to execute deferred.
While no one can be sure of the success of a new head coach in his first year at the power five level, history shows that DeBoer and co. will continue to see success on Montlake.
Note: Trevor Muller and Mike Martin contributed to this report.
