A 'marriage of run and pass' with Liam Coen

UK Athletics

After a search that lasted just over one week, Mark Stoops announced today that Rams assistant Liam Coen will be his new offensive play-caller. Coen, at age 35, put up some really good numbers while playing quarterback at UMass after being named the Rhode Island Gatorade Player of the Year following his senior year of high school in 2003. While in college, Coen played for current Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown and in 2006 the Minutemen were the Division I runner-ups after falling to Appalachian State. After a very brief stint in the Arena Football League, it was time for the next chapter.

You’ve all heard about the coaching background today from multiple people. Coen went back to work for his alma mater with a couple of stops in the Ivy League. He called plays at the FCS level for Maine from 2016-17 before moving to the professional ranks. Coen has spent the last three seasons in the Los Angeles Rams organization and has become another branch of the ever-growing Sean McVay coaching tree. Due to all these stops, we aren’t really sure what specific type of offense the new play-caller will utilize but we have a good idea.

After grinding over some tape from Coen’s time at Maine and with the Rams, here are some basic staples that you will see when UK takes the field in 2021. First things first, this is an offense that wants to establish the run and build the passing game off of that. However, Coen will want to do it much differently than what we saw from Neal Brown, Shannon Dawson and Eddie Gran during the Stoops tenure.

Outside Zone

Perhaps no play-caller in college football leaned more on inside zone than Eddie Gran the last five seasons. It was a base staple of the Kentucky offense and led everything the offense did. The Wildcats included all kinds of RPOs off of this action to go with zone reads as they often times kept an edge player unblocked. It led to UK getting some combination blocks on the interior and if the offensive line was able to climb to the second level to block the Mike linebacker it could result in a chunk play.

You won’t be seeing much of that starting next fall with the Wildcats likely going to the outside zone scheme heavily used by the Rams. Made famous by Mike Shanahan with the Denver Broncos winning multiple Super Bowls, it is now a very popular attack and is one UK must defend against multiple opponents. See Louisville and Missouri tape from recent years if you’re looking for an example. This play is all about moving the line of scrimmage laterally.

Inside zone wants to push defenses vertically while outside zone looks to move the defense laterally as every player on the line runs a track and in a perfect world attempts to reach block their defender. Look how the entire offensive line literally sprints left on the snap.

This base run play sets up everything the Rams want to do and should be something Coen brings with him to Lexington. See the wide receivers line up tight, close to the line of scrimmage? Get used to it. The boot action from the quarterback who is running away from the play is not just a cute design. Multiple times per game the quarterback will keep it for a pass play to go back against the grain while the defense is flowing in the entire opposite direction. Remember the wideouts in a condensed formation? This is where they sneak out to hurt defenses on shallow cross or deeper over routes. Everything is going to start with the outside zone run action.

Marriage of Run and Pass

There are multiple tweaks that can be made to the base outside zone such as setting up something called “flow” for the playside tight end that can allow him to kick out block the backside defensive end or sneak out for a pass route. Wide receivers being inside near or behind offensive tackles can allow them to get lost in traffic and sneak out for routes. This run can help lull defenses to sleep and create big play opportunities. Cooper Kupp is lined up in the slot to the top of the screen and goes drag first before getting vertical for the shot play. Separation is created and it’s an easy touchdown if the ball is delivered. The linebacker stood no chance.

Everything is going to start and end with outside zone. It is imperative that the offense get really good at running this concept because it is going to open up everything for the offense. You can use things such as jet sweeps, naked bootlegs and quick pitches the opposite way to make sure defenses are staying honest and not overflowing. The action and passing off of it is going to help create easy throws for the quarterback and move the launch point so opposing pass rushes are not able to tee off.

Creativity

Pre-snap motion is going to be a key component of the new offense and the eye candy will be an important tool in Liam Coen’s bag. All of the moving parts are going to force opposing defenses to account for a bunch of different things and it can cause some confusion. It also helps when you can sneak a screen in every once in awhile. However, there aren’t many outside bubbles but more in the middle of the field with the backs and tight ends.

The jet motion gets the defense flowing right only to bring them back left with the run fake. Just watch the two inside linebackers. after faking a block, tight end Gerald Everett releases for the screen to help move the chains. This is what some will call innovation as figuratively Coen will try to get the running backs and tight ends involved in different ways.

On his Maine tape, the elusive fake spike play was found in the wild and the end result was beautiful. Far too many times recently, UK’s pass attack was stale, lacked innovation and was boring. That won’t be the case moving forward.

There is no denying the fact that the Kentucky football program has a problem at both quarterback and wide receiver. They have struggled to recruit both positions and the development piece has been lacking. However, recent recruiting efforts have started to turn that around and now they need to see the results on the field. It’s no surprise that Mark Stoops found an offensive coach with “expertise in both of those areas”. Coen has that from his time working with both quarterbacks and wide receivers in the NFL in addition to serving as the pass game coordinator at both Rhode Island and UMass. UK found a coach with a unique offensive background and experience coaching areas where UK has struggled.

Now he will be tasked with running his first offense since his days at Maine on top of being in the Power Five for the first time in his coaching career. There are going to be some growing pains, but the hope is the innovation and creativity should help provide a buzz and keep things from getting stale again on the offense. That should happen as long as they succeed at running outside zone.