In the following link, Austin Appleby discusses a number of topics relating to Florida's offense from questions presented by ITG subscribers: https://florida.rivals.com/news/appleby-itg-subscriber-q-a-i-going-in-depth-on-florida-s-offense
Below, he answers a few questions from ITG subscribers about quarterbacks.
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@Smtcity1: Do you think offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier should simplify the offense a little more, so that the younger QBs can do less thinking and more reacting?
Appleby: I don’t know, it’s kind of a double-sided question. The last time I talked to you, we talked about through the reps, it’s the same picture. So, when you get through the layers of the onion and all the different ways that we call stuff, all the verbiage, all the text and all that stuff, we really have at the core of it maybe 12 pass plays, eight runs and a couple wrinkles. Now, we have 30 formations and 10 shifts and six motions. How many different ways can we get to the same play? There’s millions of different ways that we can get to it.
So when you get to the core of it and as you train the quarterback and the more that he can get into his head that what’s the play. Think of the people who play Madden – everybody knows the “Drive” play or “Curl Flat.” At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how they get there, who gets there, if they go in, out, up or down. They’re going to get to the same spot. So the play to the quarterback really is the same thing.
What we’ve been working to do as far as the simplifying of it goes, is drilling and getting that rep to the quarterback so that it’s the same play as far as the quarterback is concerned. His eyes are in the exact same place. With his back and his hips, he’s throwing it to No. 1. If No. 1 is covered, you go to No. 2. Then, get to No. 3. There’s the exact same play – that picture is exactly the same. Now, the presentation of the picture, that’s endless.
Defenses pattern match so much, meaning if they see you release the same way, they’re going to jump it. It’s what Teez Tabor and Quincy Wilson did so well. If you’re in a bunch, they know that the seam receiver or the guy on the outside, if he releases outside, he can only do two routes based on the offense. They pattern-match it. So those guys are dialed in to those two routes. If they see you break out, they are gunning it ready to get a pick-six.
That’s what our defense does, that’s what Bama, LSU does. You can’t do the same play, because if they see it twice, it’s over. They’re that good. You can run the same play, though, but it has to be out of a different presentation. Instead of a bunch, it’s got to be out of a motion to get to that same play.
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@WNewsom & @branden22: Can you predict which quarterback Florida starts against Michigan?
Appleby: It doesn’t matter what I think, but I would say that Coach Mac and Coach Nuss have a really good handle on things. They’ve got a really good problem, if they have one. They’ve got four, some would argue even five, options at that position. I really don’t know.
I think if you had to make a pick, Feleipe Franks was in the lead coming out of spring camp taking all of the first-team reps, I think you just look at the reps and that can tell a lot to you by the reps in practice. But, with the addition of a new quarterback in Malik Zaire, and then you get Luke Del Rio healthy, which he hasn’t been since the Kentucky game where he was playing good with the ball. Now you go in there with a three-headed or four-headed monster in a competition, with Kyle Trask – the biggest thing I’m hoping for is the guy who is the starter gets the reps he needs with the first team to get ready to produce.
I’m hoping that decision is made relatively quickly, just so it can be put behind. The media is going to do what it’s going to do with it, but the team needs to rally behind whoever the quarterback is, if that makes sense. Then again, what I think doesn’t mean anything, but let’s let it go a couple weeks. Let somebody separate. Let’s name it and let’s rally behind the guy and get everybody moving in the same direction in rallying behind that quarterback, so we can go be 1-0 in the first game of the season.
Nothing else matters. Again, Coach Mac and Coach Nuss, they know what they’re doing. They’ve got a lot of evaluating to do, and they’ve been evaluating every single day going through spring, OTAs. They’re going to do it through training camp. The separation will happen. It always does.
You just don’t want it to linger. The last thing you need is a separation in the locker room where guys are taking sides and picking teams. Everybody has got to rally around one guy. The media and the fans are going to do whatever they want, they’re going to pick their favorite. But, when it comes time to play football, there can’t be any uncertainty from the coaching staff or any of the players. That’s kind of my two cents, however it works out.
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@Vinny B: Franks has a strong arm, but how's his accuracy? What specific steps has he taken along those lines to improve?
Appleby: Yeah, the dude’s got an absolute hose. To put in baseball terms, he’s the guy that’s throwing a 95-mile-per-hour fastball, maybe harder. As far as what that arm talent looks like, I don’t think that’s any secret. He’s just working hard to fix his accuracy. I wouldn’t say it’s fixed, I wouldn’t say it’s broken either. He’s young and he’s coming in and he’s learning so many things.
What we’ve been trying to create when we go through our drill work, and I’m out there with him, working with these guys. It’s kind of interesting. When you drop back to pass and you’re just throwing mindlessly, meaning like, “Hey, we’re throwing a corner route, drop back and throw a corner route.” There’s no thought process going on, you’re not reading a defense, whatever. You hardly miss. I think if you get to the University of Florida, if you’re a Division I college quarterback, you can kind of drop back and throw any ball you need. Once you make people have to think a little bit, then you add a defense, then you add a pass rush, and now you add a crowd maybe.
You start adding these different variables, you start making someone’s mind race, it’s hard to multitask. And I’ve said it a couple of times to you: As you go through your practice, as you go through your drill work, as you go through OTA’s, leading up to that game, how can we recreate the game?
Let’s create drills, let’s create environments where you’ve got to think, you’ve got to react. You got to get out of the way of a pass rusher. You got to throw your corner route now a little bit off balance. But you have to do it again. You very rarely ever get to take a three-step drop, hitch-and-throw, without anybody approaching.
That’s what we’ve been creating. If you can be accurate and work to be accurate in that environment, and make it so hard in practice and overcome that, then what you have going into the game, it doesn’t change. And he’s made such big strides, as have all the quarterbacks, and trying to make it as smart as we can in practice. Not just dropping back and throwing corner routes for the sake of doing it, we’re not just on the driving range. But let’s work on the shots that are really real. And let’s get really, really good at the throws that matter. And I’ve seen them improve, especially Feleipe, just by recreating the throws that he’s going to have to make in real life. I’ve been experimenting with it too. Why just go out there and drop back and throw a pass for the sake of doing it?
Let’s have purposeful routes that are really going to make a difference when it comes time to play the position. We’ve all gotten better. I’m excited to see what happens when they strap it on here in a week.
Below, he answers a few questions from ITG subscribers about quarterbacks.
------------------------------------
@Smtcity1: Do you think offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier should simplify the offense a little more, so that the younger QBs can do less thinking and more reacting?
Appleby: I don’t know, it’s kind of a double-sided question. The last time I talked to you, we talked about through the reps, it’s the same picture. So, when you get through the layers of the onion and all the different ways that we call stuff, all the verbiage, all the text and all that stuff, we really have at the core of it maybe 12 pass plays, eight runs and a couple wrinkles. Now, we have 30 formations and 10 shifts and six motions. How many different ways can we get to the same play? There’s millions of different ways that we can get to it.
So when you get to the core of it and as you train the quarterback and the more that he can get into his head that what’s the play. Think of the people who play Madden – everybody knows the “Drive” play or “Curl Flat.” At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how they get there, who gets there, if they go in, out, up or down. They’re going to get to the same spot. So the play to the quarterback really is the same thing.
What we’ve been working to do as far as the simplifying of it goes, is drilling and getting that rep to the quarterback so that it’s the same play as far as the quarterback is concerned. His eyes are in the exact same place. With his back and his hips, he’s throwing it to No. 1. If No. 1 is covered, you go to No. 2. Then, get to No. 3. There’s the exact same play – that picture is exactly the same. Now, the presentation of the picture, that’s endless.
Defenses pattern match so much, meaning if they see you release the same way, they’re going to jump it. It’s what Teez Tabor and Quincy Wilson did so well. If you’re in a bunch, they know that the seam receiver or the guy on the outside, if he releases outside, he can only do two routes based on the offense. They pattern-match it. So those guys are dialed in to those two routes. If they see you break out, they are gunning it ready to get a pick-six.
That’s what our defense does, that’s what Bama, LSU does. You can’t do the same play, because if they see it twice, it’s over. They’re that good. You can run the same play, though, but it has to be out of a different presentation. Instead of a bunch, it’s got to be out of a motion to get to that same play.
-----------------
@WNewsom & @branden22: Can you predict which quarterback Florida starts against Michigan?
Appleby: It doesn’t matter what I think, but I would say that Coach Mac and Coach Nuss have a really good handle on things. They’ve got a really good problem, if they have one. They’ve got four, some would argue even five, options at that position. I really don’t know.
I think if you had to make a pick, Feleipe Franks was in the lead coming out of spring camp taking all of the first-team reps, I think you just look at the reps and that can tell a lot to you by the reps in practice. But, with the addition of a new quarterback in Malik Zaire, and then you get Luke Del Rio healthy, which he hasn’t been since the Kentucky game where he was playing good with the ball. Now you go in there with a three-headed or four-headed monster in a competition, with Kyle Trask – the biggest thing I’m hoping for is the guy who is the starter gets the reps he needs with the first team to get ready to produce.
I’m hoping that decision is made relatively quickly, just so it can be put behind. The media is going to do what it’s going to do with it, but the team needs to rally behind whoever the quarterback is, if that makes sense. Then again, what I think doesn’t mean anything, but let’s let it go a couple weeks. Let somebody separate. Let’s name it and let’s rally behind the guy and get everybody moving in the same direction in rallying behind that quarterback, so we can go be 1-0 in the first game of the season.
Nothing else matters. Again, Coach Mac and Coach Nuss, they know what they’re doing. They’ve got a lot of evaluating to do, and they’ve been evaluating every single day going through spring, OTAs. They’re going to do it through training camp. The separation will happen. It always does.
You just don’t want it to linger. The last thing you need is a separation in the locker room where guys are taking sides and picking teams. Everybody has got to rally around one guy. The media and the fans are going to do whatever they want, they’re going to pick their favorite. But, when it comes time to play football, there can’t be any uncertainty from the coaching staff or any of the players. That’s kind of my two cents, however it works out.
-----------------
@Vinny B: Franks has a strong arm, but how's his accuracy? What specific steps has he taken along those lines to improve?
Appleby: Yeah, the dude’s got an absolute hose. To put in baseball terms, he’s the guy that’s throwing a 95-mile-per-hour fastball, maybe harder. As far as what that arm talent looks like, I don’t think that’s any secret. He’s just working hard to fix his accuracy. I wouldn’t say it’s fixed, I wouldn’t say it’s broken either. He’s young and he’s coming in and he’s learning so many things.
What we’ve been trying to create when we go through our drill work, and I’m out there with him, working with these guys. It’s kind of interesting. When you drop back to pass and you’re just throwing mindlessly, meaning like, “Hey, we’re throwing a corner route, drop back and throw a corner route.” There’s no thought process going on, you’re not reading a defense, whatever. You hardly miss. I think if you get to the University of Florida, if you’re a Division I college quarterback, you can kind of drop back and throw any ball you need. Once you make people have to think a little bit, then you add a defense, then you add a pass rush, and now you add a crowd maybe.
You start adding these different variables, you start making someone’s mind race, it’s hard to multitask. And I’ve said it a couple of times to you: As you go through your practice, as you go through your drill work, as you go through OTA’s, leading up to that game, how can we recreate the game?
Let’s create drills, let’s create environments where you’ve got to think, you’ve got to react. You got to get out of the way of a pass rusher. You got to throw your corner route now a little bit off balance. But you have to do it again. You very rarely ever get to take a three-step drop, hitch-and-throw, without anybody approaching.
That’s what we’ve been creating. If you can be accurate and work to be accurate in that environment, and make it so hard in practice and overcome that, then what you have going into the game, it doesn’t change. And he’s made such big strides, as have all the quarterbacks, and trying to make it as smart as we can in practice. Not just dropping back and throwing corner routes for the sake of doing it, we’re not just on the driving range. But let’s work on the shots that are really real. And let’s get really, really good at the throws that matter. And I’ve seen them improve, especially Feleipe, just by recreating the throws that he’s going to have to make in real life. I’ve been experimenting with it too. Why just go out there and drop back and throw a pass for the sake of doing it?
Let’s have purposeful routes that are really going to make a difference when it comes time to play the position. We’ve all gotten better. I’m excited to see what happens when they strap it on here in a week.
