Penn State Football offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich met with the media for the first time earlier today and gave some insight into what he will be bringing to Happy Valley.
Coach James Franklin has been aggressive this offseason and shown a sense of urgency we have not seen before during his time in State College after a disappointing 4-5 season.
Part of that aggressiveness led Franklin to replacing offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca after just one season with Penn State Football, to land his white whale, the guy he’s admittedly been chasing for years, offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich.
Yurcich will join the Nittany Lions after spending a year each with Texas and Ohio State on the heels of six seasons with Oklahoma State as the offensive coordinator under head coach Mike Gundy.
Coach Franklin cited ‘offensive philosophy’ as a reason for bringing Yurcich aboard, and getting back to the spread attack Penn State Football featured in the past and had success with when Joe Moorhead was calling plays.
Yurcich met with the media Tuesday for the first time, here are three key takeaways:
Yurcich will bring clear cut offensive philosophy, but it will be Penn State’s offense
New offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich fielded a lot of questions about his offense, and what his offense will look like in 2021 and beyond in Happy Valley.
However, he was quick to put a stop to that notion, and make sure those inquiring knew this would be a Penn State Football offense, not a mike Yurcich offense.
"“You can’t fit a square peg in a round hole,” Yurcich said. “Your system has to be adaptable to your talent level, it’s about the players.”"
Three traits; physical, smart and skilled, he said would be what to expect out of the Nittany Lions next fall.
Winning up front and putting speed on the field is how you win games at this level, and needing a quarterback who can get the ball out to his playmakers, and get the ball out accurately, Yurcich explained.
The former Oklahoma State play caller is going to bring a spread, air-raid attack and expect the offense to move quickly and with tempo, but Yurcich warned of how tempo can work against you as well.
"“Tempo really helps us as an offense,but tempo can hurt you if you are not careful” Yurcich said."
He was asked in what ways tempo can help Penn State Football’s offense, and he said it is used to “exhaust and eliminate communication” of the defense.
When going fast, it makes it tough for the defense to substitute or make defensive calls, and then ultimately tires them out. Look for a lot of hands-on-hips out of opposing defenses next fall as the Nittany Lions look to push the tempo.
That will be a noticeable difference from this past season in Kirk Ciarrocca’s offense where the offense seemed to be looking over to the sidelines for calls and letting the defense rest for 20-30 seconds in between each play.
Yurcich mum on assessing quarterback situation …
Yurcich said first things first upon arriving in Happy Valley was to organize the coaching staff around him and get them all on the same page before installing schemes with the players, which he said they are now in the process of doing.
As expected, he would not offer any assessment of the quarterbacks or any players on the roster right now. Yurcich said he would wait till after spring practice, when he’s had a chance to see guys on the field before offering any type of insight into what he thinks of certain players.
However, Yurcich did go into what he expects out of his quarterbacks and how he has molded quarterbacks in the past. Eyes and feet he said were the keys to giving a quarterback a chance to be successful. The quarterback needs to be able to know what he’s looking at, go through his progressions and then physically have good footwork which will give him a chance to be accurate.
This was an interesting comment when you think about quarterback Sean Clifford because accuracy was his biggest issue last season, routinely throwing high and behind open wide receivers.
Yurcich also touched on how potentially no matter who is behind center, the Penn State Football can be brought to the next level; ball security, scoring and explosiveness.
He explained that explosions are huge in what correlates to scoring and wins, as well as not turning the ball over. Making sure every possession ends with a kick, either a extra point, a field goal or a punt, making sure the opposition is always working with a long field, especially with the defense Penn State Football has, Yurcich explained.
The Nittnay Lions struggled with explosive plays last season and struggled turning the ball over, something they did not do in their 11-2 season in 2019. If Yurcich can get big plays out of Doton, Washing and the rest of their weapons while cutting down turnovers for Clifford, this could be a dangerous offense next fall.
Could we actually see some “power football”?
It would not be a Penn State Football press conference unless someone asked about a fullback, and potentially the use of a fullback in the offense.
Yurcich though however, did not rule it out, or at least, rule out some ‘power football’ from the Nittany Lions next season.
"“I love power football,” Yurcich said. “Its how I was raised.”"
He went on to talk about the quarterback playing from under center and how that sets up the play action passing game much better then out of the shot gun because it gives the quarterback the chance to turn his back to the defense.
Don’t hold your breathe on seeing a fullback, but it seems that Yurcich will make great use of the very young, but very talented tight ends Penn State Football has, whether it is with them in the backfield or flexing them out to be a wide receiver.
he said you can use multiple tight end sets and accomplish a lot of what you can with a fullback, but a tight end gives you the flexibility and versatility to flex them outside where they can be a playmaker.
Theo Johnson and Brentan Strange are both well over 200 pounds and great blockers who can run all the routes you could want. It will be fun to see what Yurcich draws up for them, but either way, it seems like we can expect to see a lot of both of those guys.