'QB Camp' Breakdown: Gruden Praises Coach Mac Attack
Monday, March 30, 2015 | Football, Chris Harry
"This is a system I actually recognize. It warms my heart.”
-- “Monday Night Football” color analyst Jon Gruden
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- The set is inside a portable trailer, tucked away on the west side of Disney's Wide World of Sports. A placard above the door says “Innovation Lab.”
And boy, they're not kidding.
Former NFL coach and Super Bowl champion Jon Gruden has partnered with ESPN in branding his pre-draft “Gruden QB Camp” series of sit-down interviews and workouts with top collegiate quarterback prospects into entertaining -- sometimes fascinating -- episodes of analysis and a give-and-take. A pop culture football phenomenon, if you will.
Gruden (right), who guided the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the Super Bowl XXXVII title following the 2002 season, comes to his darkened mock-office lair exhaustingly prepared with background information and video clips from his subjects' high school and college days. Nothing is off the table and his young QBs know it.
Take Garrett Grayson, for example, the former Colorado State standout and 2014 Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Year. He took his turn grinding with Gruden last week. The two took to each other faster than you can say “Spider 2 Y Banana.”
“I like this guy's story. I like his background,” said Gruden, who granted GatorZone.com full access to the day's session. “And I really like that offense he played in at Colorado State.”
That would be Jim McElwain's offense.
The 6-foot-2, 213-pound Grayson is being hailed as the sleeper quarterback of the 2015 draft pool -- he drew raves at his Pro Day in Fort Collins, Colo., last week -- in great part because of the development, growth and fundamentally sound mechanics learned under McElwain's tutelage and in an NFL-style system. McElwain, now four months into his tenure as head coach at the University of Florida, came to CSU after four seasons as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Alabama. He took over a program that went 3-9 three consecutive years and led the Rams to a 22-16 mark in his three seasons -- including a 10-2 record in 2014 -- before bolting for Gainesville in December.
Former Colorado State quarterback Garrett Grayson in action last season.
Grayson, who completed 64 percent of his passes for 4,006 yards, 32 touchdowns and just seven interceptions as a senior last fall, is a testament to what McElwain achieved at CSU.
If his numbers aren't, his words certainly are.
Treon Harris and Will Grier, take note.
“Florida is going to see a difference this year, I guarantee that,” Grayson said. “I don't know how big a difference because our offense did not really take off until the second year. But that was our program. I will tell you this: we were way, way worse off than Florida when Coach Mac arrived. They are going to put up points and yards there. It's going to be fun in The Swamp.”
After pouring over oodles of CSU tape, Gruden came to a similar conclusion, saying McElwain's system of pro-style route concepts, shifts and quarterback progressions is one he actually recognized as opposed to the garden variety spread.
“I'm tired of the garden variety spread, I really am,” Gruden said. “You see the same offense Friday night, Saturday, Saturday night and now you're starting to see it on Sunday. No huddle, everybody talks about tempo, reading the end -- and they've all got the built-in bubble screen. It's the same thing over and over and over, and I can't stomach it anymore.”
That's why he's so fond of what McElwain rolled out at CSU. And a lot of video from that Rams team was what Gruden rolled out in his 3 hours, 25 minutes with Grayson last week, a session that will be edited down to just 20 minutes when the Grayson episode debuts on ESPN April 18.
Before grilling Grayson on McElwain's offense, Gruden rolled tape of the kid's miserable 2011 season, the last under Coach Steve Fairchild, when an injury to starting quarterback Pete Thomas forced Grayson into action as a true freshman.
It wasn't pretty.
“I want you to remember the dark moments, the down moments of your career. Like 3-9 and eight straight losses to end your freshman season. They fired the coach. You lost to Wyoming, your rival, to end the year. What is that you play for? A boot? The “Boot Game?” That's a big game. And those doggone Wyoming Cowboys got the boot, didn't they? ... Look at that poor Colorado State fan up there by himself. This is not good. Snowballs being thrown on the field. And Wyoming gets the boot. ... Is that a real boot?”
The Rams didn't get the boot back in 2012, but they had a plan in place (and an offense) after McElwain's first season finished at 4-8. Grayson, though, suffered a broken collarbone against Air Force that cost him eight games.
Gruden flashed video of Grayson gingerly being helped off off the field.
You having a fun time with me today so far?
The mood and video clips picked up soon.
In 2013, McElwain's second year and Grayson's second in the system, the Rams went 8-6. Along the way, they destroyed Wyoming by 30 and won three of the last four by tallying 172 points, including a rousing 48-45 upset of Washington State in the New Mexico Bowl.
Gruden was fired up by the cut-ups from that bowl game, especially after hearing Grayson say the Rams had presented the Cougars with 42 right-handed formations. CSU, the quarterback explained, went into every game with 15-20 different shifts.
“We wanted to dictate to defenses, that was our MO at Colorado State,” Grayson said.
The Rams cranked out 595 total yards in that bowl game and carried the momentum -- and innovative offense -- into the 2014 season.
That was the season's tapes that really caught Gruden's eye. Not for its gimmickry, but for its pro-style concepts.
Jon Gruden diagrams a "Y Stick Dragon X-Indian" for Garrett Grayson during their "QB Camp" sitdown last week. Said Gruden: "I love a good Indi route in the red zone."
“When I watch Colorado State, I see some plays that I recognize. There's a lot more going on than I'm used to seeing, with the pass protections and communication,” Gruden said. “I mean, some dynamic multiple shifts. Motion and motion landmarks. Different protections and route combinations. They're very deep in their playbook. Gap runs, zone runs, a tremendous bootleg package. They get the ball on the perimeter and know how to isolate a great receiver. The verbal and non-verbal communication. The hand signals. It's an extensive attack.”
Under McElwain in 2014, CSU ranked 13th in the nation in total offense at 497.8 yards per game and averaged 7.2 yards per play (fourth nationally). The Grayson-led passing game averaged 326.3 yards per game, which rated seventh, and 9.2 yards per pass attempt (second).
The Rams scored 35.9 points per game.
“There are so many spread offenses around the country and they put up a lot of points. We tried to do it with a pro-style system,” Grayson said. “Most of those spread teams, they're trying to spread you out and beat you with athletes, but Coach Mac still wants to pound you and pound you and get you out of your game.”
Once Gruden got through Grayson's background, he went to his clicker and warped into Fired Football Coaches Association nirvana.
* “Watch this. You don't huddle a lot, but the way you guys operate at Colorado State is bizarre to me. Somehow, you orchestrate some of the craziest shifts and play calls I have ever seen. ... What is this two tight ends, shifted to the right? Then you bring a man in motion and now you're running Fire 2 All-Go. How can you pull that off in a no-huddle offense?”
* “This is a beautiful sight to me. You have four shifts and motion a guy all the way across. ... This is awesome. ... You guys have to be the kings of unbalanced craziness. What's going on with all these unbalanced formation when you set everybody to the short side of the field? You don't even have a receiver [to the far side].”
* “I saw this and nearly fell out of my chair. It's a shift that came out of one of my old playbooks; our grenade shift triple-tap. I swear I hit my head on the floor.”
Gruden flashed one play where Grayson brought his offense to the line. On his call, the entire offensive line moved to its right, with the left guard sliding into the center position. The Rams, it seemed, had three starting lineman that could play center, so McElwain installed a “Phat Ox” shift that allowed all three players to snap the ball during a game, thus causing pause -- and confusion -- on the defensive front.
“That's a lot of moving oxes, man.”
After their classroom skull session, Gruden took Grayson out of the lab and onto the field, where the coach ran a series of passing drills -- three-, five- and seven-step drops -- to test his accuracy in every route of the passing tree. Gruden gave Grayson some terminology and cadence counts in the meeting and challenged him to implement them almost instantaneously on the practice field.
The pupil was a quick study.
Gruden (right) surveys Grayson's methods during the on-field portion of the camp.
“Playing in Coach Mac's offense was a huge boost for me, confidence-wise. Mastering the concepts, the protections and all the different checks, it's just huge to know that I could get it done and take it to the next level,” said Grayson, noting McElwain was the most “detail-oriented person” he'd ever encountered. “His knowledge was off the charts, and to be a part of the whole process of changing CSU football was pretty special.”
The last few months -- and certainly the upcoming ones -- will go a long way toward determining the future of McElwain's latest challenge. He has to change Florida football.
McElwain has the endorsement of the FFCA chairman.
“Say what you want, but the Gator culture needs to be rejuvenated,” Gruden said. “When you have five-star recruits, five-star tradition and a five-star stadium, maybe it's time to start acting like five-star players. I think he's going to challenge these guys, but he's going to do it in an optimistic and relentless fashion. He proved what he could do ... and he proved it at Colorado State.”
Pass the clicker.
