When you are taught offensive philosophy by all-time great coaches like David Cutcliffe and Mark Richt, you might know a thing or two about giving defenses headaches.
New South Carolina co-offensive coordinators Kurt Roper and Bryan McClendon were lucky enough to have learned under these two great offensive minds. Roper coached with Cutcliffe for years, and McClendon played for and coached with Richt for almost 13 years.
McClendon played wide receiver at Georgia from 2002 to 2005, where he won two SEC titles under Richt's coaching. In 2007, McClendon decided to return to Georgia to try his hand at coaching, where he would get to learn under his former coach. He worked his way up the ranks of the Georgia coaching staff, and in 2015 he was named assistant head coach.
Roper followed a slightly different path. He played quarterback at Rice in the early '90s. In 1996, he got his first coaching job as a graduate assistant at Tennessee with Cutcliffe, then the Volunteers' offensive coordinator.
When Cutcliffe was hired as Duke’s head coach in December of 2007, he asked Roper to leave Tennessee and join him as his offensive coordinator. Cutcliffe obviously liked and trusted Roper enough that he felt he could bring him to Duke and groom him to run his offense.
It took several grueling seasons at Duke before the right players were on campus. However, in 2013 Roper’s play calling lead to Duke’s offense scoring a school record 60 touchdowns and star wide receiver Jamison Crowder setting ACC single-season records for receptions and receiving yards. His quarterback, Brandon Connette, also became the school’s all-time leader in rushing touchdowns during the 2013 season.
So what kind of offense did Roper run to utilize the talent he had to work with at Duke? He doesn't turn to the massive volume of plays and tempo that teams like Baylor and Tulsa run. It isn’t a pro-style, under center that one would see at Stanford or Vanderbilt.
Instead, his offense is the new variation of the spread offense that Cutcliffe adapted while at Duke. Prior to Duke, Cutcliffe and Roper ran a pro-style offense that utilized lots of play action and zone running while the quarterback managed everything from under center. Once he got to Duke, things changed. There started to be less single-back sets and I-formations and more shotgun and pistol formations. They started to recruit dual-threat quarterbacks to run their new offense.
Richt didn’t follow this trend of switching to a spread, up-tempo offense. He stuck by his old pro-style offense with the QB playing under center, handing it off to stud running backs, and throwing screens, short passes and play action passes to keep the defense honest.
That wasn’t much different than what Roper was doing at Duke. The only difference was alignment and pace of the offense. This overlap between the two coaches’ offensive background is good for the Gamecocks. These two like-minded individuals come from basically the same school of thought as far as offensive philosophy, so they should be on the same page as far as how the plays are run, what types of plays are run, and when each specific play is used.
Roper and McClendon’s offense is not fundamentally new, however. It has simply gotten a new look and a new tempo. The big difference is that the offense relies on no-huddle and checks to the sideline to keep a moderately fast tempo. The play calls are still based around zone- and gap-blocking schemes, short to intermediate passing routes, and play action.
Those are all things Cutcliffe and Richt have been teaching Roper and McClendon since the beginning. The offense is just a little flashier now that they like to use dual-threat quarterbacks and a fast tempo. Brandon McIlwain is tailor-made for this offense. He is the dual-threat QB that Roper needs to run this offense effectively. His running ability will bolster the run game, and his strong arm is perfect for throwing tight, accurate passes to receivers and tight ends running short and intermediate routes.
Tight ends are another big part of Roper and McClendon’s spread attack. Both use a lot of one and two tight end sets where the tight end is utilized as a blocker and pass catcher. Hayden Hurst and K.C. Crosby must have strong performances this season for the offense to run at full power. They are required to help any blitzes that take advantage of zone blocking, and they also have to be taken seriously as receiving threats, otherwise defensive coordinators will be able to run coverages to put maximum pressure on wide receivers.
Still, the run game is the most important part of this offense. These guys have put running backs like Jamal Lewis, Arian Foster and Todd Gurley into the NFL. While he was at Florida, Roper’s run game was very productive. Matt Jones, Kelvin Taylor and Treon Harris combined for over 1,700 rushing yards in 2014. McClendon always seemed to have two or three great backs ready for Georgia. Gurley, Keith Marshall, Isaiah Crowell and many others put up All-SEC and All-American type numbers while being coached by McClendon.
The importance of the run game cannot be stressed enough. This offense is predicated on getting chunks of yards from runs between the tackles and then using this steady running attack to set up big plays in the play-action passing game. David Williams, A.J. Turner and the offensive line are the keys to success for this team. The offensive line is going to be pretty good this year, so if Turner and Williams' talent is tapped into properly, then the offense will be good to go.
It would be unfair to expect Roper and McClendon to turn this offense around in one year, given that the Gamecocks will likely start a true freshman at quarterback most of the season and have to rely on young running backs and receivers. The right players are in the program for this offense to run at a very high level. South Carolina fans just need to be patient and allow everyone to gain experience. In a season or two, Gamecocks could be fielding one of the best offenses in the SEC.