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By Greg Madia
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Back in September of 2012 when Baylor visited Morgantown for West Virginia’s inaugural Big 12 Conference game, both offenses showcased the “Air Raid” to perfection. In WVU’s 70-63 triumph, the two teams combined for 1507 total yards and 19 touchdowns, giving every incentive for the average football mind to believe it was time to bury below a casket full of Three-Fours, Tampa Twos and Cover Sixes.
On that Saturday afternoon, Mike Leach disciples Dana Holgorsen and Art Briles had their fast-paced, quick twitch offenses, parading up and down the gridiron.
For West Virginia, six different receivers touched the ball, and their quarterback, Geno Smith finished the game 45 of 51 for 656 yards, and eight touchdowns, while completing an absurd 88.2 percent of his passes. The simplistic base that the “Air Raid” is founded upon allows a guy like Smith to have that much success.
WVU’s offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson is a large part of the “Air Raid” fraternity. Having played in the system under Holgorsen at Wingate and spent time working as an assistant for the “father” of the ‘“Air Raid,” Hal Mumme at Southeastern Louisiana, Dawson believes the key to success is sticking to the foundation of the scheme.
“We’re trying to distribute the ball equally around to whoever of the five guys on the field can catch the football,” Dawson said. “We are trying to get the ball into playmakers’ hands, in space as fast as we can get it there and then give them the opportunity to make somebody miss and get up the field.”
A common misconception of the “Air Raid” scheme itself is that it’s complex. While many believe it takes a genius to understand the scheme, the reality concerning the WVU offense and others like it, is comprehending the genius that is the “Air Raid” is quite simple.
The scheme is setup so that playmakers on the field do not have to overthink. For example, Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey had defined roles for the two years that they played in the system. Practice to practice, week to week and game to game they primarily would run the exact same routes. With Austin, an underneath, slant or drag route, served West Virginia well and for Bailey, he ran fly or post routes to offset the two stars. With two years in the system, Austin and Bailey were efficient and nearly perfect at running the same set of routes repeatedly.
“We don’t want it to be complicated. The beauty of our offense is that kids can play instinctively. Because they rep it so many times, it becomes where their natural instincts take over, that’s what you want. You don’t want kids out there thinking a whole lot while they’re playing,” Dawson said.
Austin and Bailey, now members of the St. Louis Rams, were special talents for West Virginia. Entering 2013, West Virginia will have an answer to the cliche question that tries to separate scheme from talent.
Because Holgorsen and his staff are confident with the foundation of their playbook, it is going to stay the same in terms of plays, packaging and grouping.
Even if one area of personnel isn’t as strong as another, or if a specific position group isn’t as strong as the year before, the simplistic style of the “Air Raid” allows for inexperienced athletes to have immediate success. So, while slight tweaks are made week to week, a major adjustment isn’t made .
“I think there’s a certain adjustment that goes in, for instance, if we have a great running back, we’re probably going to run the ball a little bit more,” Dawson said. “But the plays we run will never change. We have the same number of plays in our package that we’ve had for years, we don’t add stuff. If you add stuff, then you have to take something out, because we believe in compact and condensed packages.”
Those compact and condensed packages enable speedsters to run, strong arms to be highlighted and great hands to catch the football. While Holgorsen and Dawson have put their spin on the scheme by running plays out of the pistol, increasing the run game, throwing off play action and being more physical, the notion of giving athletes uncomplicated yet special opportunity to shine, has been passed down from Mumme.
Through repetition of the same throws for a quarterback, same routes for a wide receiver, and same blocking scheme for an offensive line, the “Air Raid” is special.
“The kids will be able to play a lot faster if they’re one-hundred percent sure of what they have to do,” Dawson said. “The whole saying is a ‘clear mind equals fast feet,’ and a ‘clogged mind equals slow feet.’”
Going into 2013, the West Virginia coaching staff is unsure of who will make the two deep and be those athletes with ‘clear minds and fast feet.’ The one constant remaining is belief in the simple, yet potent “Air Raid.”
“This isn’t the first time we’ve lost really good players, so we know guys in that locker room, that maybe we’ve never heard of are going to catch one hundred balls,” Dawson said. “I don’t know who those guys are going to be, but I guarantee it’ll be somebody.”
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.thedaonline.com/sports/dawson-gives-look-inside-simplicity-of-air-raid-offense-1.3047255#.UcpOkPnVDh4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.thedaonline.com/sports/dawso ... cpOkPnVDh4</a>
Back in September of 2012 when Baylor visited Morgantown for West Virginia’s inaugural Big 12 Conference game, both offenses showcased the “Air Raid” to perfection. In WVU’s 70-63 triumph, the two teams combined for 1507 total yards and 19 touchdowns, giving every incentive for the average football mind to believe it was time to bury below a casket full of Three-Fours, Tampa Twos and Cover Sixes.
On that Saturday afternoon, Mike Leach disciples Dana Holgorsen and Art Briles had their fast-paced, quick twitch offenses, parading up and down the gridiron.
For West Virginia, six different receivers touched the ball, and their quarterback, Geno Smith finished the game 45 of 51 for 656 yards, and eight touchdowns, while completing an absurd 88.2 percent of his passes. The simplistic base that the “Air Raid” is founded upon allows a guy like Smith to have that much success.
WVU’s offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson is a large part of the “Air Raid” fraternity. Having played in the system under Holgorsen at Wingate and spent time working as an assistant for the “father” of the ‘“Air Raid,” Hal Mumme at Southeastern Louisiana, Dawson believes the key to success is sticking to the foundation of the scheme.
“We’re trying to distribute the ball equally around to whoever of the five guys on the field can catch the football,” Dawson said. “We are trying to get the ball into playmakers’ hands, in space as fast as we can get it there and then give them the opportunity to make somebody miss and get up the field.”
A common misconception of the “Air Raid” scheme itself is that it’s complex. While many believe it takes a genius to understand the scheme, the reality concerning the WVU offense and others like it, is comprehending the genius that is the “Air Raid” is quite simple.
The scheme is setup so that playmakers on the field do not have to overthink. For example, Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey had defined roles for the two years that they played in the system. Practice to practice, week to week and game to game they primarily would run the exact same routes. With Austin, an underneath, slant or drag route, served West Virginia well and for Bailey, he ran fly or post routes to offset the two stars. With two years in the system, Austin and Bailey were efficient and nearly perfect at running the same set of routes repeatedly.
“We don’t want it to be complicated. The beauty of our offense is that kids can play instinctively. Because they rep it so many times, it becomes where their natural instincts take over, that’s what you want. You don’t want kids out there thinking a whole lot while they’re playing,” Dawson said.
Austin and Bailey, now members of the St. Louis Rams, were special talents for West Virginia. Entering 2013, West Virginia will have an answer to the cliche question that tries to separate scheme from talent.
Because Holgorsen and his staff are confident with the foundation of their playbook, it is going to stay the same in terms of plays, packaging and grouping.
Even if one area of personnel isn’t as strong as another, or if a specific position group isn’t as strong as the year before, the simplistic style of the “Air Raid” allows for inexperienced athletes to have immediate success. So, while slight tweaks are made week to week, a major adjustment isn’t made .
“I think there’s a certain adjustment that goes in, for instance, if we have a great running back, we’re probably going to run the ball a little bit more,” Dawson said. “But the plays we run will never change. We have the same number of plays in our package that we’ve had for years, we don’t add stuff. If you add stuff, then you have to take something out, because we believe in compact and condensed packages.”
Those compact and condensed packages enable speedsters to run, strong arms to be highlighted and great hands to catch the football. While Holgorsen and Dawson have put their spin on the scheme by running plays out of the pistol, increasing the run game, throwing off play action and being more physical, the notion of giving athletes uncomplicated yet special opportunity to shine, has been passed down from Mumme.
Through repetition of the same throws for a quarterback, same routes for a wide receiver, and same blocking scheme for an offensive line, the “Air Raid” is special.
“The kids will be able to play a lot faster if they’re one-hundred percent sure of what they have to do,” Dawson said. “The whole saying is a ‘clear mind equals fast feet,’ and a ‘clogged mind equals slow feet.’”
Going into 2013, the West Virginia coaching staff is unsure of who will make the two deep and be those athletes with ‘clear minds and fast feet.’ The one constant remaining is belief in the simple, yet potent “Air Raid.”
“This isn’t the first time we’ve lost really good players, so we know guys in that locker room, that maybe we’ve never heard of are going to catch one hundred balls,” Dawson said. “I don’t know who those guys are going to be, but I guarantee it’ll be somebody.”
