How Chip Kelly has already had significant impact on Ohio State offense

Chip Kelly didn’t take long to have a big impact on the new and improved Ohio State offense in the spring.

Lettermen Row’s Spencer Holbrook noticed the changes that Kelly brought, such as designed quarterback runs, read options and more. Adding that dimension to the game could make the biggest difference.

Especially since Kelly has more talent to work with at Ohio State than UCLA.

“There’s a lot more run diversity Saturday than I’ve seen in a couple years at Ohio State and I think that’s a direct result of Chip Kelly,” Holbrook said on Andy Staples On3. “It was fun to watch him cook on Saturday against Jim Knowles and that defense and you know, there were a few different plays where instead of handing us a running back, Will Howard pulled it down and (ran it himself) … 

“You have to be very careful when you’re defending this team because Quinshon (Judkins) and TreVeyon (Henderson) can beat you to the edge and score a touchdown on any play. And then if you got the quarterback who can pull it, and again we saw Dorian Thompson-Robinson run it so effectively at UCLA … So you know, that can be very, very effective, especially when you mix in the talent that they didn’t have at UCLA.” 

Will Howard showed off that effectiveness at Kansas State. Now that the can work with Kelly, Ohio State’s projected starting QB can show off the new wrinkles.

“And the quarterback run I think is going to be a much bigger part of this offense,” Holbrook said. “We saw it time and time again on Saturday like I said, the quarterbacks pulling it down, faking some folks out and scoring and we saw a couple touchdowns on quarterback runs.

“I know it was two-hand touch, they’re not bringing the quarterbacks to the ground, but that’s an exciting development because people were wanting the quarterback run game for a while.” 

Basically, Kelly can take advantage of things that weren’t utilized over the last few years.

“Now you can’t go wrong when it comes to a running quarterback: Devin Brown, Will Howard, you know exactly what he can do with his feet. And that is music to Chip Kelly’s ears. I think Chip is gonna utilize those guys really well.”