hiveredtech
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First bit of information on the Paul Johnson offense:
http://old.irishsports.com/stories/subscription/2002/11/03/isr_football.20021103-isr-TRIB-SS8-Can_Johnson_get_Navy.fff.sto
Paul Johnson's innovative spread offense has piled up points, yardage and victories at every stop of his 20-year coaching career.
"This offense is a combination of things I've picked up over the years. It's a little bit of Wisbhone, a little bit of I-formation, a little bit of Veer, a little bit of Run-and-Shoot," Johnson explained. "I've grabbed and took bits and pieces from different sets and gradually evolved it into what we're doing today."
What's amazing is that Johnson has his offensive engine humming, despite subpar parts. Navy is averaging 22.8 points and 446 yards per game, despite not starting a single skill position player who runs the 40-yard dash in under 4.6 seconds.
"I think every team that plays Navy is worried about that spread. It's something you don't see very often, and they execute it so well," Scelfo said. "Paul Johnson is kind of the guru of option football these days. He's running that style of offense better than any other coach in the country."
Some have compared Johnson to Spurrier, the former Florida and current Washington Redskins head coach. Both are the architects of high-powered offenses only they truly understand. Other teams might line up the same way, but none are running the spread to the level of Johnson.
"This is Paul's offense. He designed it, he tweaked it, he knows it inside and out," said Navy assistant Ken Niumatalolo, who played for Johnson at Hawaii and has assisted him on three different occasions. "Just like Spurrier invented the Fun-and-Gun, Paul invented this version of the spread. Nobody runs it the way he does."
What's different and confusing to defenses is the myriad of plays Johnson has created out of the basic formation. He'll run the fullback on dives, traps, draws and tosses. He'll utilize the slotbacks on sweeps, reverses, option pitches and play-action passes. Hawaii's spread offense, from which it normally performed running plays, blossomed to its full potential against BYU, with quarterback Garrett Gabriel blowing the Cougars away play-after-play.
LaVelle Edwards of BYU on Johnson’s passing offense after getting beat 59-28.
http://starbulletin.com/2001/12/07/sports/story2.html
"I tell you what, the first one was a surprise to us. But 1990 was the year we beat Miami and Ty (Detmer) had just won the Heisman that day," Edwards said. "I think they surprised us with the passing and when they found us vulnerable to it so they kept going with it. Gabriel had two great games against us. The matchups were always a little difficult for us when they spread it out, particularly with the slotbacks."
Multi-dimensions of his offense:
http://www.newsobserver.com/122/story/504983.html
Johnson's spread-option offense -- which he used to win two I-AA championships at Georgia Southern and to lead Navy to three consecutive bowl berths -- is a combination of run-and-shoot, option and play-action.
Some fans have been quick to label it a boring one-dimensional attack; after all, the Midshipmen have finished in the top three in the nation in rushing yards per game the past three years and currently rank second in the country, averaging 310.9 yards a game.
But using the same system at Hawaii from 1987-94, Johnson's offense broke or equaled more than 160 Rainbows records -- many via the air, when he had quarterbacks with the talent to pass.
Johnson said his offense is actually similar to what third-ranked West Virginia and seventh-ranked Florida run out of a shotgun formation -- theirs with faster, bigger, more-heralded players.
"What's great about this offense is that you can emphasize whatever best fits your people," Johnson said. "... If you've got a great quarterback, of course you're going to throw; that's what you do to win. If your personnel is better rushing the ball; that's what you do, because that's what you do to win."
More information on the Paul Johnson offense:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/27/AR2006102701647.html
"That's the real joke: that people don't understand you have play to the personnel you have," he said. "We run because it better suits us. We run the ball because it kills the clock and keeps our defense off the field, because we don't have monster linemen to pass-protect, because we don't have a cannon-armed quarterback.
"Now, the other side of that is, we could pass 50 times a game and people could say, 'This guy can't coach a lick and they can't win a game.' But I was once told, I think before I got my first job, that they actually expected me to win."
Johnson used to throw, when he had the cannons. As an offensive coordinator in Hawaii, he called the plays that set all the school's passing records until June Jones took over.
http://old.irishsports.com/stories/subscription/2002/11/03/isr_football.20021103-isr-TRIB-SS8-Can_Johnson_get_Navy.fff.sto
Paul Johnson's innovative spread offense has piled up points, yardage and victories at every stop of his 20-year coaching career.
"This offense is a combination of things I've picked up over the years. It's a little bit of Wisbhone, a little bit of I-formation, a little bit of Veer, a little bit of Run-and-Shoot," Johnson explained. "I've grabbed and took bits and pieces from different sets and gradually evolved it into what we're doing today."
What's amazing is that Johnson has his offensive engine humming, despite subpar parts. Navy is averaging 22.8 points and 446 yards per game, despite not starting a single skill position player who runs the 40-yard dash in under 4.6 seconds.
"I think every team that plays Navy is worried about that spread. It's something you don't see very often, and they execute it so well," Scelfo said. "Paul Johnson is kind of the guru of option football these days. He's running that style of offense better than any other coach in the country."
Some have compared Johnson to Spurrier, the former Florida and current Washington Redskins head coach. Both are the architects of high-powered offenses only they truly understand. Other teams might line up the same way, but none are running the spread to the level of Johnson.
"This is Paul's offense. He designed it, he tweaked it, he knows it inside and out," said Navy assistant Ken Niumatalolo, who played for Johnson at Hawaii and has assisted him on three different occasions. "Just like Spurrier invented the Fun-and-Gun, Paul invented this version of the spread. Nobody runs it the way he does."
What's different and confusing to defenses is the myriad of plays Johnson has created out of the basic formation. He'll run the fullback on dives, traps, draws and tosses. He'll utilize the slotbacks on sweeps, reverses, option pitches and play-action passes. Hawaii's spread offense, from which it normally performed running plays, blossomed to its full potential against BYU, with quarterback Garrett Gabriel blowing the Cougars away play-after-play.
LaVelle Edwards of BYU on Johnson’s passing offense after getting beat 59-28.
http://starbulletin.com/2001/12/07/sports/story2.html
"I tell you what, the first one was a surprise to us. But 1990 was the year we beat Miami and Ty (Detmer) had just won the Heisman that day," Edwards said. "I think they surprised us with the passing and when they found us vulnerable to it so they kept going with it. Gabriel had two great games against us. The matchups were always a little difficult for us when they spread it out, particularly with the slotbacks."
Multi-dimensions of his offense:
http://www.newsobserver.com/122/story/504983.html
Johnson's spread-option offense -- which he used to win two I-AA championships at Georgia Southern and to lead Navy to three consecutive bowl berths -- is a combination of run-and-shoot, option and play-action.
Some fans have been quick to label it a boring one-dimensional attack; after all, the Midshipmen have finished in the top three in the nation in rushing yards per game the past three years and currently rank second in the country, averaging 310.9 yards a game.
But using the same system at Hawaii from 1987-94, Johnson's offense broke or equaled more than 160 Rainbows records -- many via the air, when he had quarterbacks with the talent to pass.
Johnson said his offense is actually similar to what third-ranked West Virginia and seventh-ranked Florida run out of a shotgun formation -- theirs with faster, bigger, more-heralded players.
"What's great about this offense is that you can emphasize whatever best fits your people," Johnson said. "... If you've got a great quarterback, of course you're going to throw; that's what you do to win. If your personnel is better rushing the ball; that's what you do, because that's what you do to win."
More information on the Paul Johnson offense:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/27/AR2006102701647.html
"That's the real joke: that people don't understand you have play to the personnel you have," he said. "We run because it better suits us. We run the ball because it kills the clock and keeps our defense off the field, because we don't have monster linemen to pass-protect, because we don't have a cannon-armed quarterback.
"Now, the other side of that is, we could pass 50 times a game and people could say, 'This guy can't coach a lick and they can't win a game.' But I was once told, I think before I got my first job, that they actually expected me to win."
Johnson used to throw, when he had the cannons. As an offensive coordinator in Hawaii, he called the plays that set all the school's passing records until June Jones took over.
