The Red Foxes looked very solid at home in their first two games, and they picked up an impressive road win against the Wagner Seahawks, sending them into their bye week 2-1.
The Red Foxes delivered an excellent performance to secure a 21-10 victory, returning their record to above .500. The team even had two players, sophomore defensive back Nate Robinson Jr. and graduate student running back Tristan Shannon, receive Pioneer Football League Player of the Week honors.
On this early first-and-ten, first-year offensive coordinator, TJ Weyl, made a creative call. A run-pass option (RPO) that gets graduate student tight end Connor Hulstein (No. 84) wide open in the flat to create a chunk play after the catch.
An RPO is a play in which the quarterback, in this case Redshirt junior Sonny Mannino (No. 12), has the option to either hand the ball off or, if a defensive player is caught out of position, throw the ball.
This RPO plays off the run blocking concept “split-zone,” a play in which all the offensive linemen are responsible for their play side gap, and the tight end will go across and kick out the backside defensive end. This play is designed to look like that, but the tight end doesn’t kick out the defensive end; instead, the tight end goes out into the flat for a pass.
This flat route becomes the linebacker’s responsibility, in this case, junior linebacker Armani Itote’s (No. 0). He can either drop back into coverage, leading Mannino to hand the ball off, or he can do what he did here – defend the run and leave Hulstein wide open in the flat.
Robinson Jr. (No. 25) won the PFL’s Defensive Player of the Week award after having two interceptions. Robinson’s awareness in coverage has made him the best weapon in the Red Foxes’ secondary.
On this second-and-nine, defensive coordinator Mike Horan called cover-one with the boundary corners tight to the line of scrimmage and Robinson as the high safety, meaning he is one of two defenders (the other being a linebacker in the “hook-curl” area) playing in zone coverage and is free to keep his eyes on the quarterback instead of a receiver.
The tighter man coverage on the outside allows the corners to be more physical with the receivers and throw them off their route. This throws off the timing, which is crucial for a rollout pass like the one the Seahawks are running here.
When in zone coverage, a defender is much more capable of making a play on the ball and forcing a turnover. This allows him to see the quarterback, sophomore Jack Stevens (No. 7), eyeing down the post route from the boundary receiver and make a play on the ball to not just prevent a completion, but cause a turnover.
Later in the game, quarterback Sonny Mannino went down with an injury, making way for freshman Will O’Dell (No. 18) to take over under center.
This throw in the middle of the fourth quarter further proved what the freshman quarterback may be able to provide this offense as O’Dell hits redshirt freshman Reed Shumpert (#15) on a go route down the sideline.
The passing concept creates a one-on-one for Shumpert as the slot receiver’s crossing route, run by graduate student Irene Ngabonziza (No. 2), forces the high safety, junior Jouvenson Romulus (No. 13), to vacate and leave senior defensive back Jayden Brown (No. 8) on an island with Shumpert.
Along with the simple but effective route combination, Shumpert’s combination of speed and route-running nuance to get outside of Brown creates a great open target to be on the receiving end of this 39-yard chunk play as O’Dell shows off his arm a bit.
In must-have moments, defensive coordinator Mike Horan’s go-to trick is the sim pressure. Sim pressures are great ways to give offensive lines problems without taking a body out of coverage. A sim pressure is when a defense shows blitz but ultimately rushes four, causing confusion for the people protecting the quarterback.
On this third-and-16, the defense has five men lined up on the line of scrimmage pre-snap, two of whom end up dropping back into coverage. The fourth rusher, graduate student linebacker Garrett Carter, comes in on a disguised blitz from the linebacker spot. The Seahawks’ offensive line braced to block five other defenders. They were completely unprepared for Carter, and he gets through the line unblocked for the sack.
Why couldn’t Stevens get the ball out hot and simply replace the blitzer with the ball? Because of junior safety Kade Werner (No. 29) dropping back after showing blitz and covering his zone.
Due to the down and distance, the delayed blitz from James had minimal drawback as Wagner essentially had to call a passing play that took longer to develop.
A great play-call, along with flawless execution, closed the door on a potential comeback and locked in a Marist win.
With Mannino’s availability up in the air, other players need to step up and in this game, several players did exactly that. Shannon has been an explosive play machine on offense and defense, Nate Robinson’s ball-hawking ability is making him a true Pioneer Football League Defensive Player of the Year candidate, and linebackers redshirt sophomore James Kratchovil and graduate student Garrett Carter are having phenomenal years, too.
The pressure is on this young coaching staff to continue to put these players in a position to step up and be impact players as they face off against an intimidating Butler team this weekend.
Edited by Hayden Shapiro and Ben Leeds
Photos from Quinn DiFiore
Graphic by Xavier Angel
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