Bailey Zappe left. One downside is that he hasnt been anything less than a head coach since 2008, so getting him to slide back into a coordinator role might be a tough sell. Without him out there, people didnt know where to line up. The SEC considers only having one annual conference rival for each team. Some air raid coaches will teach their quarterback to note the depth of the cornerback pre-snap. A young coach, that is highly regarded by peers with a very efficient offensive system that is already giving defenses fits (example: vs. Ole Miss in the Alamo Bowl). That being said, his Illini offense left a lot to be desired this season. This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Warren Ruggiero is a name that not a lot of Razorback fans are probably familiar with but could be a solid option as offensive coordinator. When Zach played football in high school he started both ways on offense and defense. If he bails to cover the corner route, throw to the flat (cover 4 rules): The exception to this would obviously be if the outside linebacker flies out fast enough to adequately cover the flat. Houston Baptist also ranked second in the Southland Conference and 12th nationally after posting 426.6 yards of total offense that season. We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here. After the Birmingham Bowl we played in 2017, I had three years to be a GA and my time was up. At defensive coordinator, they replaced Barry Odom with up-and-comer Travis Williams and co-coordinator Marcus Woodson. Losing Briles is tough, but the right hire can definitely soften the blow. The Hilltoppers wont be passing the ball on every snap, however. I started doing my research, coach [Vic] Shealy was awesome to me and called me down for an interview me and my wife, we prayed about it, and we felt like it was the right move for us at the time I would never ever take back my time and that decision that I made.. Im really excited for Zach and this opportunity at Western Kentucky. Now that Kittley had proven himself as the leader of an offense, it was time to make the jump to the FBS level. Toronto had 94 field goal attempts to Chicagos 71 and outrebounded the Bulls 47-35, including a 19-6 advantage on the offensive glass. The offense averaged a whopping 33.8 points per game. We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here. The 6-4, 305-pound Spencer played in Zach Kittleys offense back at Western Kentucky and should help sure up the trenches in Lubbock. The success of the offense helped Kittley land the offensive coordinator role at Texas Tech under new head coach Joey McGuire. The read for the quarterback is simple-throw off of the cornerbacks movement and make him wrong. Zappe led the nation with 35 passing touchdowns in 2019 and ranked second in passing yards per game for a Huskies offense that was third nationally in passing offense with 334.3 yards per game through the air. Zappe, just the sixth quarterback in FBS history to record at least 5,000 passing yards and 50 touchdowns, was named the Conference USA Most Valuable Player as well as the winner of the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award. He took over as co-offensive coordinator at Florida Atlantic after Kendal Briles left for Houston in 2018. 58 in red zone offense and No. Familiar in South Carolina assistant coaching search circles, this wouldn't be the first time Longo is placed in the middle of the Gamecocks' crosshairs. This can be particularly tough on an inside linebacker, who must make his way through the corner and spot route runner in an effort to try and cover the back out in the flat. Poet Laureate reads her work at WKU, WKU professor shares insights about artificial intelligence in the classroom, Photos: 2022 Poetry Laureate Ada Limn Poetry Reading, WKU African American studies, history department to host 'Unbought'. He would always rave to me about this place, how awesome of an atmosphere it is, how great the town of Bowling Green is, and how awesome it is to work for coach Helton.. One of the young quarterbacks Kittley mentored was future 2018 NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes II. Kittley could tell immediately that Kingsbury was going to lead the Red Raiders to success. However, hes now face with arguably his most important hire to date. That was obvious early at Texas Tech and he did a tremendous job for us; I know he had a big impact on Patrick Mahomes and was critical to his development. Schedule & Results. Familiar staples of the system originally made famous by Hal Mumme and Mike Leach were omnipresent in WKUs offense, particularly a heavy dose of 4 verticals and Y stick (although they preferred the Y stick/slot fade variation). @KliffKingsbury #WreckEm pic.twitter.com/TxJpjm4l2n. WebZach Kittley, the architect behind one of the nations top offenses this past two years at both Houston Baptist at Western Kentucky, enters his first season on the were also second nationally in total offense and scoring offense in 2015. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Lunney had a pretty successful stint at UTSA in the two seasons that followed, which led to him being hired by Bret Bielema at Illinois before the 2022 season. Their combined success helped the Hilltoppers flip a 1-4 start to a seven-game win streak to end the regular season en-route to a C-USA East Division Title. Barbay rides a balanced spread-style offense for the Mountaineers and just finished his first season as play-caller with the nation's No. The Hilltoppers find themselves near the top of this list after totaling 6,857 yards of total offense, most in the country by a team that played 13 games during the season. Now Tech has the nation's best offensive coordinator of 2021. Im six foot seven, so growing up in west Texas I was the tallest guy on the corner all the time and I was a pretty decent basketball player so that was just a path that I felt I needed to take, just to kind of see how it went, Kittley said. WKU offensive coordinator Zach Kittley is returning to Lubbock, Texas, to become the next offensive coordinator for the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Oklahoma State lost a majority of its elite defense but Sanders and Gundy should have the offense in good shape. Western Kentucky co-offensive coordinators Zach Kittley and Bryan Ellis are reportedly leaving for new jobs. The offense ranks second behind only Mississippi State (another Air Raid attack) with 50 passes per game and the offensive line has the best pass-blocking grade in the country heading into the bowl season, according to PFF. Zappe completed 30-of-49 passes for 567 yards with four touchdowns, the most passing yards ever for an FCS player against an FBS defense. Kittley was an offensive interim for the Red Raiders in 2013 and 2014 before moving up to become the assistant quarterbacks coach from 2015-2017. Sign up for the Razorbacks Wire newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning, Not everyone is a fan of Sam Pittman's offseason moves. As this was happening, the Z would run a lazy slant/snag route (he was coached to fake a fade against a rolled corner) and take the Ys place on the stick. Most recently, Kittley turned Houston Baptist into one of WKU fans will get to see Kittleys offense in action firsthand on Sept. 2 when the Hilltoppers open their season at home against UT Martin. Led by transfers Its a tough spot for Pittman and the school to be in, but their track record with coaching hires this offseason has been really solid. The quarterback will now throw off of the flat defenders movement: If executed correctly, snag should be impossible to defend with zone coverage. My dad was never one that tried to force us into coaching, I got two older brothers, ones an oil guy, ones in a fertilizer business out there in west Texas. I felt he was going to be able to help me advance in my career as well this is a great family environment here at this program, and thats something thats important to me, having a wife and a two-year-old boy.. Theres a lot of things that those young men were going through in college that I was going through at the same time I was really able to click with those guys on a personal level, which I think was really instrumental for me as a young guy.. 21-ranked rushing offense and 26th-best total offense in terms of production. (LogOut/ Kliff Kingsbury got hired as the head coach and I said hey, this is a guy that I would love to learn from. Maybe there could be some hard feelings about returning to Fayetteville after 2019, but nonetheless his name is bound to be mentioned for the position. The majority of the Big 12 conference will also have new quarterbacks leading their offense in 2022. @Davis_Webb5 He earned his masters degree in interdisciplinary studies from the university in 2016. Promising sophomore Behren Morton will push Shough, but the Red Raiders are in good shape with either at the controls of coordinator Zach Kittley's offense. Barry Lunney Jr., the former Arkansas quarterback, tight ends coach and interim head coach, was passed over in the head coaching search that yielded Sam Pittman in 2019. Mahomes, who was also second in the school record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback (22), is one of three quarterbacks in FBS history to record 5,000 yards of total offense twice in a career, joining fellow Red Raider signal caller Graham Harrell (2007-08) and Houstons Case Keenum (2008-09, 2011). I think this offense can be successful in this conference, Kittley said. Kittleys version of the play is similar but puts the #2 receiver on a deeper 10 yard corner. He has this little joke that he says. The Sooners have all season to prepare for Kittleys new-look offensive attack. High schools were starting to run spread offenses and Zach just understood where to tell his teammates where to line up. I have no way of knowing for sure without access to their playbook, but it is possible that this is kind of an option route, where their outside receiver is coached to work back toward the sideline if he doesnt initially get the ball on the slant: Backside slant touchdown throw on a redzone 4th down: Again on 4th down, UTSA is in man free and Zappe works the vertical/out combo to the backside: Here against Marshall, Zappe works a high/low combo on the backside flat defender: Later on in the game they run snag and go, where the outside receiver basically fakes snag and then runs vertical. Youre probably thinking that it would favor Texas Tech by quite a bit, but you would be wrong. Like Trickett, Zach Kittley is another one of the top up-and-coming offensive coaches in the country. Satterfield was one an expiring contract with the Gamecocks and his future with the program prior to Matt Rhule's arrival at Nebraska was shaky at best. First reported by @AaronDickens. Offensive coordinator Zach Kittley, quarterback Bailey Zappe, and wide receiver Jerreth Sterns all made the move to Bowling Green. The corner route is in and of itself an excellent man beater route, especially considering the potential mismatch with a linebacker or safety on an inside receiver. The move was first reported by @AaronDickens. "The stats don't lie," Kittley said last week. Typically this play is designed to defeat split safety coverage, whereby the safety widens to carry the corner from #2, leaving a void in the middle of the field. Typically this would be double slants to fill the open void left by the Mike, or some sort of dig/pivot or levels concept designed to place a high/low stretch on the flat defender. Briles' play-calling decisions have come under fire at times this season for the Razorbacks, much of that due to personnel issues due to injuries, among other things. Kittley accepted the position at Houston Baptist and set to work revitalizing the Huskies offense. Welcome to the Zach Kittley era. His first season at Baylor in 2021, he completely turned around the Bears offense and helped them to a Big 12 championship and win over Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl. If he bails to cover the corner route, throw to the flat (cover 4 rules): The exception to this would obviously be if the outside linebacker flies out fast enough to adequately cover the flat. Graham Harrell should dramatically improve the passing game and overall quarterback play. Against 2 high zone structures, whether it be cover 2 or cover 4, the vertical component of the play should play out as the primary feature, with the cornerback being forced to choose between the corner and the flat route. The Cyclones are tasked with replacing All-American running back Breece Hall, longtime starting quarterback Brock Purdy and stud tight end Charlie Kolar. Watch out for the Red Raiders offense next season. Kittleys contract is reportedly a three-year deal - though this has not been confirmed. ZACH KITTLEY CAREER EXPERIENCE Zach Kittleys electric offense this past season at Western Kentucky put the normally below-the-radar Hilltoppers program onto the national scene. In fact, there's a chance the 35-year-old could be leading a team in the NFL as early as next season. The Jayhawks also return their leading rusher Devin Neal who had over 700 yards and eight touchdowns as a freshman. Hes spent 10 seasons at Wake Forest under Dave Clawson, so it might be difficult to see him leaving now without any solid connections to Sam Pittman. Texas Tech and West Virginia made moves to new offensive coordinators who specialize in the spread passing attack. @JoeyMcGuireTTU Kittley is the youngest coach to be named 247Sports' Offensive Coordinator of the YearKittley's quick rebuild at Western Kentucky was possible because of the transfer portal as four of his players at FCS Houston Baptist quarterback Bailey Zappe and three receivers followed him to the Conference USA school last offseason. 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