Dowell Loggains explains biggest differences between college, pro offense
Before coming to South Carolina, Dowell Loggains spent nearly all of his career in the NFL. He spent time with the Browns, Bears, Titans, Jets and others as he maneuvered his way through coaching.
But the Gamecocks’ new offensive coordinator had a two-year stint on his resume starting at Penn State then to Arkansas as the Razorbacks’ tight end coach.
In that 24-month stretch Loggains got to see up close and personal the innate differences between college and pro offenses, with one big discrepancy the hash marks.
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And, while it might not seem like a big deal, Loggains says it is.
“In college football, they set a lot of things field and boundary. For us, the spacing is different,” Loggains told GamecockCentral.
“(In college) you’re on the right hash and there’s so much space out to the left. So spacing and distribution of routes change. But how defenses play changes. There are some concepts that are better to the field than the boundary. That’s why sometimes you’ll see bunches into the boundary. Because some team has seen a deficiency in boundary defense. That’s why some things happen.”
It didn’t take long for Loggains to start talking about hash marks and the more things college coordinators can do because of that compared to NFL offensive coordinators.
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In college, the field side of the field is the one with the most space to it while the boundary side is the short one, guarded by the sideline.
The hash marks in the NFL are just over 18 feet (six yards) apart while in college the hash marks are spaced 40 feet (13.3 yards) apart.
So there’s a great deal more space to get creative and put playmakers in space to put stress on a defense compared to the NFL.
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Some defenses in the NFL just play pass strength. So wherever the second receiver is,” Loggains said. “In a pro set they’re looking for the tight end. They set everything that way.”
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One other piece that’s different in the college game compared to the pros is unbalanced formations and toying with which players can go out for routes or not.
For college offenses, all teams need is to have seven guys on the line of scrimmage and that can cause a few different wrinkles in the offense.
“In the NFL, there’s not a lot of unbalanced because you can’t create advantages. In college football, the unbalanced shifts drive defensive coordinators nuts. I got into it one day against Clayton in practice. I didn’t know it was such a big deal to him…Coach White’s over there having a meltdown. I’m standing there watching like, ‘Who’s he yelling at? He must be yelling at Stone.’ I’m like, ‘Is he talking to me?’” Loggains said.
“He came into my office after and I ask why. As an offensive coach, I’m watching him wig out over this and I’m like, ‘tell me what makes this so hard?’ so if it’s that hard to a defense, it’s something you better explore.”
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Loggains is tasked now with developing an offense to have the Gamecocks more consistent in 2023. The Gamecocks struggled for that for most of the season before exploding for big offensive days against Tennessee and Clemson.
