Washington State Football: Fiver on How Offense Will Change in Year Two of Leach

October 8, 2011; Pasadena, CA, USA; Washington State Cougars running back Rickey Galvin (5) runs the ball against the UCLA Bruins during the XXXX half at the Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Doing some of my player evals recently, it occurred to me that certain players will play slightly different roles within the offense/defensive concepts and gameplans this upcoming season.

This could be based on any number of factors and there’s no way to absolutely say for sure what’s going to happen from the coaches angle until at least the Spring game when we can get some concrete viewage for ourselves. But we’re gonna give our best educated guess anyway, because that’s just what we do. We’re going to focus on putting points on the board today, so here are five quick bullet points on what we think may change in year two of Leach’s offense.

• More Aggressive Plays For O-Line: Leach will want to give his defense more time to rest this year, but he also wants to use the added experience, athleticism and size on his O-line to his advantage. Running the ball will accomplish both and throwing more HB screens will allow his big guys to get out in space and have some fun. Not to mention the backs have a chance to be a lot better than last years’ group as a whole so finding ways to put the ball in their hands will be paramount to offensive success.
• More Dump Routes: In addition to the first point, this will help WSU’s QB’s to continue breathing. They were nearly killed off last year due to all the vicious hits they took.
• Trickeration: Leach and Co. really didn’t do anything out of the ordinary in year one, which is generally the norm for any offense that is getting installed for the first year. Don’t expect Leach to go crazy, he’s not that kind of coach. However it’s safe to say we can expect a few wacky looks this season, just for a change of pace. It also helps that the Cougs have a few pieces this year that they didn’t last year, that make this possible.
• Redzone Runs: Bigger backs, bigger line. What’s not to love about zone read handoffs in the redzone this year?
• More Pistol: The Jim Mastro influence with the “Pistol” was very limited last season. A combination of bad blocking and slow scheme pickup by the entire offense made it nearly impossible to implement. However we know that Leach wants to use all available resources to diversify his offense. It’s why Mastro and Yost are in the fold.