I just can't see doing what everyone else in the conference is doing as all that beneficial. Pretty much everyone is hellbent on 4wr base, so first and foremost I'd continue locking up TE, FB, more pure runners than spread runners (a guy like Gerhart or Ingram). You gotta find the right type of guys for the OL. This doesn't necessarily mean you offer all the highest stars. Tough, consistent, athletic run blockers. This is kind of a risky deal. Do you offer the in state kid that has choices of going to either a lower division or maybe a lesser program like CSU or ISU or something, who in the older days would have just walked on? You need to look at the success Boise has had finding hidden gems to play up front, IMO.
For the OL system, I'd like to see wider splits. No more two point stances even in the shotgun, it sends the wrong message, you are thinking backwards that way. With the type of OL you have and the wider gaps from the splits, you use your athleticism to move and get good angles, essentially some flat pulls. I'd really put a focus on good trap blocking and having lots of plays involving traps, folds, and the flat or quick pulls. All the defenses out there now are super aggressive and DL's are huge on penetration. I think this reversion to an older style from the heavy on zone blocking offenses you see today would be interesting. Not that you can't still use zone blocking plays too. Should just be able to change a letter or number to alter the play to zone.
The offense needs the philosophy that everyone on the field is a potential ball carrier. You can't have a run heavy offense where nobody but the IB is a real running threat. But it doesn't just mean you run a FB dive or a reverse once in a while either. The plays have to play off each other. I'd want something distracting on every play. whether its a WR in a zoom or jet motion coming across, or a quick fake to the fullback or whatever, offense needs to have a great deal of deception.
Perhaps most importantly though, it needs to essentially be a college level system in complexity. The offense needs to be as complex as possible and as simple as possible at the same time. In other words the concepts need to be easy to remember and somewhat interchangeable, and the verbiage short and efficient so you can control offensive tempo. You need to be able to run multiple formations, but the actual formations should not be very confusing at all, but you need to line up differently espescially early in a game to see how the defense lines up and how they react to different sets might help show some exploitable areas. Also, you can't forget to be creative and have fun. Even Callahan was able to do this from time to time.
