Shatel: Watson wants to keep foes guessing

[Nexus]

LINCOLN — Lunch hour with Shawn Watson:

 

College football is the sport that never ends, especially here in Football Town, and so the Nebraska coaching staff is busy on this wintry Friday in nonstop meetings. They're evaluating personnel and scheme — their own — and what they can do better in 2010.

 

Watson, the offensive coordinator who became a punching bag for media and fans in 2009, agreed to take a break and answer some questions. We haven't seen Watson since the Holiday Bowl, since his offense exploded, since Rex Burkhead ran the wildcat and Zac Lee ran wild, period. There are many questions. Watson, relaxed in his office, is happy to answer most. But he has a couple of surprises for those who think he's changing the offense, that Bo Pelini is leaning on him and that Lee is the guaranteed starter next season.

 

Q: I understand you and Bo met with Tom Osborne and Milt Tenopir recently to talk running offense. How was that?

 

A: We just met for two days. Bo and I are so much alike in this way; we never, ever want to stay the same, always want to be evolving. We sat down with Coach and (former NU offensive line guru) Milt and got an understanding of what they did, and also how they practiced. We'll put our spin on it, we'll find our place. It wasn't so much for plays, although you might see a couple. It was more to get a feel for the development of what they did.

 

Q: What did you learn?

 

A: The practice reps, the situational reps, the organization. They did a tremendous job of not only developing their starters but also their backups, and it seemed like once it started, it never ended. They did a lot, I mean a lot, in the run game but they were able to manage the volume by how they practiced.

 

Q: Bo has said he wants to be more physical on offense. What are you doing to get there?

 

A: What we've talked about is we need to be more detailed. Physicality comes from running the football. But we have to do more with detail and assignment.

 

Q: Does this mean you will be running more out of more power sets with two backs? Can you run the ball and be physical out of the shotgun?

 

A: Absolutely. But here's the thing you have to know about us, we're not just a spread team or a gun team. That's not us. We want to be multiple, yet simple. Multiple means we're running a tight zone play but when a defense tries to stop a certain aspect, there's things you can do off of that to take advantage of what they're not trying to stop. Like, in the (Holiday) bowl game, it's all sequential, so when the defense made adjustments, we just ran the next play. But conceptually we don't do a lot. To the defense it looks like we're doing a lot because it's set up to do what they're not lined up for.

 

Being beneath the center and in the gun is important because the game is evolving back a little bit. Everybody runs a shotgun offense. It's evolving. We want to be under the center, and we want to be in the gun. That gives us multiplicity.''

 

Q: Will we see more fullback next year?

 

A: Yes. That's another part of our multiplicity. What you saw us do in the Holiday Bowl, that's what we're going to be doing. So you saw us under center, saw us in the shotgun and in multiple personnel groups and multiple formations. We're not changing much.

 

Q: Where was that offense — the wildcat plays, quarterback runs — all season?

 

A: That had to do with healthy people. Plus, the fact that if we were healthy, we wanted to make it like an advance spring practice, and do what we want to do in the future, how we see ourself.

 

Q: Tell me about Zac. When did he get hurt? (Note: Lee had surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon in his right arm immediately after the Holiday Bowl.)

 

A: He did it against Virginia Tech. He took a shot on the elbow in Arkansas State, but it reared its ugly head midway through the first half of the Virginia Tech game, the way he fell on it. He had a little bit of an odd pop in there. He didn't say a lot about it. He kept playing, kept fighting through it.

 

Q: When did you know he was hurt really bad?

 

A: The next week in practice, he opened up to me about it more. I could tell it was a concern.

 

Q: Was there talk that he better shut it down now and get surgery?

 

A: No, because the way Zac handled it and managed it, he wanted to play and he'd fight his way through it. At that time, he wasn't saying a lot. He was telling me he's OK. In a lot of injuries like that, the doctors have to go off what the kid says. He had worked for years to get the job. He didn't want to just give it away.

 

Q: At Missouri, it was raining, you have a quarterback hurting. Why did you throw so much that game?

 

A: That game had a lot to do with (Missouri), with the way they were structured. You always had an extra hat in there to deal with. At that time, we weren't made like we were later on. We didn't have a lot of two-back in there. We were more spread oriented. We had five or six kids that had that swine flu, like Roy (Helu). It was like there was something every week. Here's the thing: We won the game. That's what is important.

 

Q: How much pain do you think Zac was in all season?

 

A: I don't know. You'd have to ask him. I just know he never backed off, never talked about it, kept fighting through.

 

Q: When did you find out he needed surgery?

 

A: Before the bowl game. After they came back from holiday break. He finally had to do something.

 

Q: Yet he looked good, ran and threw with authority, in the bowl game. How do you explain that?

 

A: I think he played that game with some purpose. He obviously had some criticism thrown his way. I think it was really important for him to play well, be a better runner, better passer ...

 

Q: Zac was taking a lot of heat from us, from fans, all season. He gets benched. Did you ever think about telling people that he was playing hurt?

 

A: No, because you don't want that information out to opponents. We're in management mode at that time.

 

We had a lot to manage. We lost Rex. Roy and his shoulder, he was never right, it chronically got worse as the season went on. In the Baylor game, one shot and he's done. The whole thing began with losing Jaivorio (Burkes) and Quentin (Castille) before the season, to Roy's situation. We lose Jacob Hickman in the Iowa State game. Mike Smith. Keith Williams, Marcel Jones, D.J. (Jones) had bad high ankles, both of them. We were battered in the offensive line.

 

Q: You got beat up pretty good in the media and by fans. Did you ever feel like saying, Hey guys, look at all our injuries, what do you expect me to do?

 

A: Human nature says you want to, but I don't ever want to do that. That's not my job. My job is to manage it, fix it, find a way. That's the thing about this staff, we're all pulling together. Everybody knew. Everybody got together and tried to manage it.

 

But it became really hard to manage. At practice, at times we had three healthy guards and tackles. We have high rep, physical practices. It changed how we could practice. We just managed it day to day, week to week. There was a different issue every week.

 

Q: Did you feel guilty? Have any sleepless nights?

 

A: No, because I know what my job is and that's to do my best. I'm human like everybody else. When my head hit the pillow at night, I never lost any sleep. We all did our best. It was like Apollo 13, we had to find a way to get it home, and getting it home was winning that final stretch. We decided that if we were going to win the rest of our games, it was going to have to be with a conservative style, to take the pressure off of the younger players we had and distribute it where we have strengths.

 

Q: You mean like Cody Green? Were you concerned that he wasn't ready?

 

A: Most coaches would tell you that when you recruit a (quarterback), you hope to bring him in as the third guy, let him sit behind a starter, and gain experience and compete the next fall. Cody got thrown into a tough situation. Cody is going to be a heck of a football player. I believe in his talent, his football intelligence, all those things will come together. He just needs time. If you remember the Oklahoma game, those lights were too bright there. Had we left him in there we might have ruined him and ruined our chances to win. He's 17. There's emotions involved. Everyone handles those different. Emotionally, he wasn't quite ready for that.

 

Q: Against Oklahoma was when we started to see the fullback and quarterback under center. Why then?

 

A: We felt we needed to beat them a certain way, the same way Nick Saban beat Texas. You want to run at speed. Oklahoma is like Texas. You want to run a physical game at them, knowing the liability is that it's going to look conservative. In the BCS championship game, I thought Alabama did a great job. They managed themselves into a win.

 

Q: Does that explain your conservative game plan against Texas?

 

A: Absolutely. Considering the pieces of the puzzle we had, now how are we going to make this work? You play to the strength of your team. Our strength was a great defense and a great kicker. We took shots downfield but you can't go crazy. That Texas defense is built for speed. That defense is built to win this league. Everybody in this league has some spread, right? Again, that's why we want to be multiple, to have a physical, two-back element to our offense, to go against teams like that. But, again, we weren't all there against Texas. In that game, a punt was not a bad play.

 

Q: I guess the obvious question is why not go to this style earlier in the year? Was it the injuries?

 

A: Yes. And, we didn't know what we had at quarterback yet. We decided that was the best style for us to finish the season, because of the youth at quarterback, Zac, his youth, and plus the fact that he's not totally there yet. And his backup is young. The offensive line was our strongest suit and they got healthier and better. A year ago, we evolved to what it took to win a game. That's why it's important to have a system. The system allows you do to that.

 

It's not about style points. Coach (Weeb) Ewbank, who was a mentor to me, once said there's one stat that matters. Did you win or did you lose? It's the job of the coordinator and head coach to manage a win.

 

Q: How good will the offensive line be this year?

 

A: I think we need to say this about the offense in general: If you look at the board, for the first time you see quality depth and competition at all positions. We're going to be young in the line, but we've got talent and we like what that talent suggests we can be.

 

The offensive line, and their work mentality and physicality, sets the character of your team. We're not going to be like some of these teams in our league that are pass first, run second. We are going to be run first, pass second. We believe we have to run the ball to win championships and run physically. Where people get lost is they think you can't run physically out of the shotgun. You can.

 

Q: Will Bo be more involved in the offense? There's a perception out there that he's leaning on you, he's forcing you to run the ball ...

 

A: You got to stop reading the Internet. Bo's been great. Bo is always involved and always has been, as in this is what hurts us defensively. Bo sits with us in our scheme evaluation and offers up suggestions on what he sees. We're on the same page, man.

 

Q: What do you want to accomplish with the quarterbacks this spring? Will Zac be involved at all?

 

A: Zac won't be there at all. He'll get back in the mix later. Nobody has the starting job. In our program, as you know, you have to earn it all the time. What that does do is give Cody Green, Kody Spano, Taylor Martinez and the other guys a chance to show themselves. I expect it to be a very productive spring. We'll find out a lot.

 

Q: Does Martinez have a chance to be a wild card, or a role player, with his running ability?

 

A: Yes. He has enormous ability to run. He's really talented. He offers us a different style of quarterback right now. We have to test him at other things, passing, the management aspects. Right now, he could be a role guy, for sure.

 

Q: There were reports that you talked with South Florida about their head coaching job.

 

A: I know the athletic director. He was the head coach at Southern Illinois and I used to go to his camps when I was in high school. We know each other very well. He's just a good friend. That's about all there was. We talked on a couple of occasions, but not about that. It never came to an interview. Skip Holtz took care of that before it got to that. (But) I still want to be a head coach.

 

Q: Do you seek Coach Osborne out a lot?

 

A: I always talk to him. He's a Hall of Fame coach. He never forces his opinions on us. Last year, when we were trying to manage the thing, he was very helpful. The thing he reminded us, it's not about style points.

 

LINK

[Nexus]

We're not going to be like some of these teams in our league that are pass first, run second. We are going to be run first, pass second. We believe we have to run the ball to win championships and run physically. Where people get lost is they think you can't run physically out of the shotgun. You can.

 

 

And there you have it.

 

[zoogs]

This is an outstanding piece, a great interview and a lot of opening up by Shawn.

 

I hope he's got himself a lot more of the Husker fanbase in his corner by now - dude deserves it.

[husker rob]

Q: There were reports that you talked with South Florida about their head coaching job.

 

A: I know the athletic director. He was the head coach at Southern Illinois and I used to go to his camps when I was in high school. We know each other very well. He's just a good friend. That's about all there was. We talked on a couple of occasions, but not about that. It never came to an interview. Skip Holtz took care of that before it got to that. (But) I still want to be a head coach.

 

Yes he deserves more people in his corner, but with this statement you have to remember he will not be here forever. My guess is that when the offense takes off next year, like it did the previous year, he will get his opportunity to be a head coach somewhere. I would like to keep the staff intact for ever, but i know that is not going to happen.

[Nexus]

Q: There were reports that you talked with South Florida about their head coaching job.

 

A: I know the athletic director. He was the head coach at Southern Illinois and I used to go to his camps when I was in high school. We know each other very well. He's just a good friend. That's about all there was. We talked on a couple of occasions, but not about that. It never came to an interview. Skip Holtz took care of that before it got to that. (But) I still want to be a head coach.

 

Yes he deserves more people in his corner, but with this statement you have to remember he will not be here forever. My guess is that when the offense takes off next year, like it did the previous year, he will get his opportunity to be a head coach somewhere. I would like to keep the staff intact for ever, but i know that is not going to happen.

 

I've already predicted that if NU lives up to the hype in 2010 and CU has another dismal season, then Watson will get a call for the CU job.

[Herd Husker]

great read! makes you feel like the offense is gonna turn it around this year. but like watson was saying we can be so much more multiple when everyone is healthy...hope injuries are cut down to very few this fall

[melscott62]

Q: Zac was taking a lot of heat from us, from fans, all season. He gets benched. Did you ever think about telling people that he was playing hurt?

 

A: No, because you don't want that information out to opponents. We're in management mode at that time.

 

We had a lot to manage. We lost Rex. Roy and his shoulder, he was never right, it chronically got worse as the season went on. In the Baylor game, one shot and he's done. The whole thing began with losing Jaivorio (Burkes) and Quentin (Castille) before the season, to Roy's situation. We lose Jacob Hickman in the Iowa State game. Mike Smith. Keith Williams, Marcel Jones, D.J. (Jones) had bad high ankles, both of them. We were battered in the offensive line.

 

I think people forget this... and he didnt mention spano and Witt. we didnt lose as much as OU, but we sure did lose a lot. compound that with the senors that we lost last year...... watson did not a have a group hat was even remotely close to full force.

[Enhance]

It was good to hear Wats say that the team is going to be run first, pass second. We'd been hearing it from Bo all along but not from Wats himself.

[huKSer]

Q: Will Bo be more involved in the offense? There's a perception out there that he's leaning on you, he's forcing you to run the ball ...

 

A: You got to stop reading the Internet. Bo's been great. Bo is always involved and always has been, as in this is what hurts us defensively. Bo sits with us in our scheme evaluation and offers up suggestions on what he sees. We're on the same page, man.

NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

 

Q: Zac was taking a lot of heat from us, from fans, all season. He gets benched. Did you ever think about telling people that he was playing hurt?

 

A: No, because you don't want that information out to opponents. We're in management mode at that time.

 

We had a lot to manage. We lost Rex. Roy and his shoulder, he was never right, it chronically got worse as the season went on. In the Baylor game, one shot and he's done. The whole thing began with losing Jaivorio (Burkes) and Quentin (Castille) before the season, to Roy's situation. We lose Jacob Hickman in the Iowa State game. Mike Smith. Keith Williams, Marcel Jones, D.J. (Jones) had bad high ankles, both of them. We were battered in the offensive line.

 

This hush hush is really frustrating to me. I don't have time to analyze game film everyday, but don't you think that the opposing staff knows more about our nagging injuries than we fans do? (Look, the RT isn't pulling as fast as he did early in the year, and he's planting off his left foot now, instead of his right) I blame Grandma Snyder, he started this.

[melscott62]

Q: Will Bo be more involved in the offense? There's a perception out there that he's leaning on you, he's forcing you to run the ball ...

 

A: You got to stop reading the Internet. Bo's been great. Bo is always involved and always has been, as in this is what hurts us defensively. Bo sits with us in our scheme evaluation and offers up suggestions on what he sees. We're on the same page, man.

NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

 

Q: Zac was taking a lot of heat from us, from fans, all season. He gets benched. Did you ever think about telling people that he was playing hurt?

 

A: No, because you don't want that information out to opponents. We're in management mode at that time.

 

We had a lot to manage. We lost Rex. Roy and his shoulder, he was never right, it chronically got worse as the season went on. In the Baylor game, one shot and he's done. The whole thing began with losing Jaivorio (Burkes) and Quentin (Castille) before the season, to Roy's situation. We lose Jacob Hickman in the Iowa State game. Mike Smith. Keith Williams, Marcel Jones, D.J. (Jones) had bad high ankles, both of them. We were battered in the offensive line.

 

This hush hush is really frustrating to me. I don't have time to analyze game film everyday, but don't you think that the opposing staff knows more about our nagging injuries than we fans do? (Look, the RT isn't pulling as fast as he did early in the year, and he's planting off his left foot now, instead of his right) I blame Grandma Snyder, he started this.

no.

[suh_fan93]

Q: Does that explain your conservative game plan against Texas?

 

A: Absolutely. Considering the pieces of the puzzle we had, now how are we going to make this work? You play to the strength of your team.

 

Thanks for the article. It's nice to hear we'll be trying some new things this year but I found it interesting that Shatel asked him if we'd be seeing more out of our fulbacks this season instead of our tight ends who weren't utilized nearly enough last year and were clearly one of the strenths of our team receiving wise.

[North Alabama Husker]

Wow my previous topic about wanting to run an offense like alabama really might come true. To hear wats talk about Alabama makes me so happy. If we start attacking the interior defense of texas and ou and avoid counter their speedy defense by punching them in the gut we will beat them consistently. Ever since the trend of spread offense took over the big twelve I have said the first team to go away from that will win. These teams are building defenses to stop spread offenses so therefore they should struggle against power run teams. Man I'm getting excited for this next season. Long live power football.

[carlfense]

Wow my previous topic about wanting to run an offense like alabama really might come true. To hear wats talk about Alabama makes me so happy. If we start attacking the interior defense of texas and ou and avoid counter their speedy defense by punching them in the gut we will beat them consistently. Ever since the trend of spread offense took over the big twelve I have said the first team to go away from that will win. These teams are building defenses to stop spread offenses so therefore they should struggle against power run teams. Man I'm getting excited for this next season. Long live power football.

I think KSU might have beaten us to the punch so far as being the first team to re-adopt a power running philosophy. I think our talent level is significantly better than KSU but you have to give OB Bill Snyder credit . . . the old man can coach.

[EZ-E]

Q: There were reports that you talked with South Florida about their head coaching job.

 

A: I know the athletic director. He was the head coach at Southern Illinois and I used to go to his camps when I was in high school. We know each other very well. He's just a good friend. That's about all there was. We talked on a couple of occasions, but not about that. It never came to an interview. Skip Holtz took care of that before it got to that. (But) I still want to be a head coach.

 

Yes he deserves more people in his corner, but with this statement you have to remember he will not be here forever. My guess is that when the offense takes off next year, like it did the previous year, he will get his opportunity to be a head coach somewhere. I would like to keep the staff intact for ever, but i know that is not going to happen.

 

I've already predicted that if NU lives up to the hype in 2010 and CU has another dismal season, then Watson will get a call for the CU job.

 

I dont think he will leave for CU. I remember reading somewhere where he basically said he doesnt want that job. I may be pulling a Clemens though and "mis-remembering."

[sarge87]

Q: Will Bo be more involved in the offense? There's a perception out there that he's leaning on you, he's forcing you to run the ball ...

 

A: You got to stop reading the Internet. Bo's been great. Bo is always involved and always has been, as in this is what hurts us defensively. Bo sits with us in our scheme evaluation and offers up suggestions on what he sees. We're on the same page, man.

NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

 

Q: Zac was taking a lot of heat from us, from fans, all season. He gets benched. Did you ever think about telling people that he was playing hurt?

 

A: No, because you don't want that information out to opponents. We're in management mode at that time.

 

We had a lot to manage. We lost Rex. Roy and his shoulder, he was never right, it chronically got worse as the season went on. In the Baylor game, one shot and he's done. The whole thing began with losing Jaivorio (Burkes) and Quentin (Castille) before the season, to Roy's situation. We lose Jacob Hickman in the Iowa State game. Mike Smith. Keith Williams, Marcel Jones, D.J. (Jones) had bad high ankles, both of them. We were battered in the offensive line.

 

This hush hush is really frustrating to me. I don't have time to analyze game film everyday, but don't you think that the opposing staff knows more about our nagging injuries than we fans do? (Look, the RT isn't pulling as fast as he did early in the year, and he's planting off his left foot now, instead of his right) I blame Grandma Snyder, he started this.

This is why players never draw attention to the extremity that is injured. A bandage, Ace wrap, or a brace in broad daylight might as well have a giant bullseye painted on it, especially at the skill positions.

 

You see what happened to Roy at the Baylor game, and the bowl game against Arizona. You can bet any DC worth his paycheck reminded his defense to pop him around the shoulders instead of hitting him low.