![]() It is a welcomed sign for a position that has been underutilized the past few seasons. Hecklinski clearly wanted to get his tight end involved in the passing game on Saturday. Credit Don De Mars/EVTĭespite not being targeted on the deep play described above, Redman led the team in receptions with four. That’s something that we will continue to do as we get ready for league play.” A Toledo defender brings down SDSU TE Mark Redman. We have to continue to work on throwing the ball. But we have to generate that earlier in one way or another. The big drive at the end when we needed it by the offense was nice to see. “Are there things we need to do better,” Hoke asked. After the defense held Toledo, SDSU got the ball back at their own 48. Another sign of the great design of the play is that one of the worst-case results, an interception, did not hurt the Aztecs. He threw it where only McDonald could make a play on the ball. Burmeister did not give Shavers a chance to use his height to make an attempt at a reception. Shavers stands 6’6 and was covered by 5’10 Chris McDonald deep on the right side of the field. With the passing game struggling, throwing the ball there was actually a baby step in the right direction. On more than one occasion a similar one-on-one opportunity presented itself last week but Burmeister did not let it fly. In fact, it is exactly the throw Burmeister refused to release against Utah. While throwing to Redman was clearly the best decision, choosing to hit Shavers deep was not a bad choice. Instead, Burmeister locked in on Shavers. A veteran QB should know within a few seconds that Redman was going to break wide open. He turned his back to the place where the ball was designed to go. Toledo safety Zachary Ford, who lined up in the box on the offense’s right side, paused and had to sprint to Burmeister’s left to get to his deep zone in the middle of the field. The LBs froze and did not get deep on their drops. A clean pocket emerged after the play action. Redman started on the left side and Hecklinski used his tight end’s elite speed to come across the field underneath Shavers. At the snap, Tyrell Shavers, who was split out wide right, went deep to clear an area for Mark Redman. Hecklinski used motion to move one defender from the right side of the field. On first and ten at their own 41, SDSU offensive coordinator Jeff Hecklinski utilized a two RB, two TE, and 1 WR personnel package to dial up a play-action pass with seven blockers and only three receivers in the pattern. Multiple times they broke open or cleared out space for their teammates and were not rewarded. Box score scouting will evaluate them very differently, but the wideouts did their job well on Saturday. Six receptions for 54 yards and no touchdowns are the final numbers for the receiving group. We were a heck of a lot more confident at the end.” Then confidence grows after you have a good run or a nice completion. “You don’t execute on two minutes if you’re not prepared and you haven’t prepared during the week. “Number one, preparation,” head coach Brady Hoke explained on how an offense could look so bad throughout but find life at the very end. The starting offense and defense play against each other creating competition and pressure to win in those situations. According to Hoke, unlike most teams, the Aztecs go live during the week practicing their two-minute offense. The Aztecs were clearly comfortable in the two-minute drill and that can be traced back to the design of practice by the coaches. The staff reduced the number of running backs used. The decision to stick with Braxton Burmeister when many would have pulled him for Kyle Crum paid off with a victory and a chance for positive momentum heading into conference play. Getting him ready to start yesterday was good coaching. OL Dean Abdullah committed to SDSU two weeks prior to the start of fall camp. There were things to like about the coaching on Saturday. Given the historic ineptness of the passing game, a “D+” is the highest grade possible. Multiple times the running back and quarterback turned opposite ways at the snap of the ball. Seventeen points, while being gifted great starting field position throughout the day, was not a good performance. The offensive staff has clearly failed during the non-conference portion of the schedule, but their performance over the first three weeks only sets a baseline for the current grade. Before explaining this grade, a note on the method.
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