 Marc MorehouseHi, I'm Marc Morehouse. I've covered sports for more than 15 years, mostly in Eastern Iowa. I've had Hayden Fry [...] |
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Paint still wet with Iowa’s ‘paint ball’
Introduced to the Hawkeyes this spring, the 'back shoulder' throw remains a work in progress
Northern Iowa Panthers defensive back Varmah Sonie breaks up a pass in the end zone intended for Iowa Hawkeyes wide receiver Keenan Davis during the second half at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa on Saturday , September 15, 2012. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette-KCRG TV9)
IOWA CITY — They tried it last week and they were close.
On second-and-goal from Northern Iowa’s 7-yard line, quarterback James Vandenberg zipped a pass toward wide receiver Keenan Davis that looked high and outside. The high and outside was a Vandenberg’s intent, a “back shoulder” throw. Davis made a beautiful play on the ball, but a UNI defensive back slapped it out of his hands.
Vandenberg went to another back-shoulder toss on third-and-goal from the 6. He targeted Davis again, but this time left too much lead and failed to connect.
“We’re working on it,” Davis said. “It’s a ball that Vandy feels really comfortable throwing, so it’s something we’ve got to spend some more time on. I think it’s definitely a throw we can make and complete.”
You’ve heard the term “back shoulder” throw for a few years now. This is the throw that Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers has made a living on. It creates space where there isn’t any and, when executed, it is impossible to defend.
It’s not something Iowa tried or really taught receivers until first-year offensive coordinator Greg Davis arrived last spring.
“It’s something that definitely came over with coach Davis. It’s something they definitely did a lot at Texas,” Vandenberg said. “It’s something to keep the defense off balance. It’s hard to run by guys every time.”
But it’s not as easy as Aaron Rodgers and Greg Jennings make it look, especially with it being introduced to Iowa receivers just last spring.
“It’s definitely a tough ball for the receiver, you’ve got to flip your hips, but you have to make the catch,” Keenan Davis said.
Yes, it looked as though Vandenberg and Marvin McNutt went to that during McNutt’s record-breaking 2011 season, but that was more McNutt being 6-3 with long arms and a 215-pound frame. For a defensive back, McNutt was like trying to cover a parachute.
“Marv had a quality of getting on top of defenders that was second to none,” Vandenberg said, “so you could throw it over the top. . . . It’s not that our guys can’t do that, when they are guarded tightly or running shoulder-to-shoulder, there are still plays to make.”
Upon arrival, Greg Davis talked about Iowa’s lack of speed on the outside. The back shoulder can create separation where there isn’t any. An ancillary benefit is a chance at more pass interference penalties.
Iowa’s receivers smile about it. They know the back-shoulder throw is a chance for them to show athleticism. They talk about it as though one of them wants to be the first to put a back shoulder on video.
“It’s a great technique for us, [but] I don’t think it works for us yet,” sophomore Kevonte Martin-Manley said. “We’ve been working on it, it’s going to work sometime.
“I’m conscious that I haven’t had one yet. It’s a very good catch. You’ve got be an athlete, you’ve got to have very good hands. If I get one, I want to make the play.”
The tight ends are in on this, too. Junior C.J. Fiedorowicz said everything has to be perfect.
“It’s one of those routes where you’ve got to know it’s coming,” he said. “It’s got to be the perfect ball. If he [Vandenberg] throws it ahead of you, it’s probably going to bounce off the DB’s back. It’s almost got to be perfect timing, perfect placement. It’s got to be there every time.”
The receivers and Vandenberg are in this together. Ultimately, it’s Vandenberg who pulls the trigger on a back-shoulder attempt.
“The whole key is the receiver doesn’t determine if it’s going to be back shoulder or not,” Vandenberg said. “If he goes as hard as he can and he can’t get over the top, then you try throwing the back shoulder.”
Vandenberg needs to see the defensive back turn his back to the play, make eye contact with the receiver and then deliver a ball that he just started targeting in March.
“It’s one of those things that when you first start doing it, it’s just hideous,” Vandenberg said. “It’s a really weird angle of a throw. You’ve really got to trust where you’re throwing it, but we’ve gotten better and better. We stunk at it in the spring, but we got better during fall and by the end of camp, we got some confidence. It’s something we feel we have to be able to do in games.”
Keenan Davis called it a “paint ball,” with the target being the back of the receiver’s helmet. “It’s scratching the paint on the back of your helmet. Back-shoulder, paint ball, same thing,” he said.
And indeed the helmet is the target, an adjustment for everyone involved.
“You think of the balls down the sideline are usually going to be up and over, kind of drop it in the bucket,” Vandenberg said. “This one’s completely different. It’s like throwing a comeback. It’s a bullet and you just try to hit him in the head.”
Maybe over time, the paint ball will become a work of art for the Hawkeyes.
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I am against this play – we do not have the talent for this. Slants, middle routes and running the ball in the red zone is where we can prosper.
Legendary football coach Richard Selby has weighed in on the post.
Let’s be respectful, please.
I am only a legend at fighting the Ukrainian mafia. I just have followed Iowa long enough to know what we can and cannot achieve on the gridiron.
I don’t know about the “back shoulder” thing, but I know that CJ is 6’7″ and most of the corners and safeties he faces are 6 foot nothing or so. How about “jump ball”? I have not seen us try that this year. We are hurting for end zone penetration in the passing game, and I wince when one of our receivers is pulled down inside the ten yard line because I know that as sure as there is money in reality TV that we will struggle to get more than three points.
Right on, Paul. In basketball, I believe they call it “posting up…a mismatch.” You get a 6-0 guy guarding a 6-7 guy, the 6-7 takes him to the low post, the team feeds him the ball up above his head and it’s an easy score. To fail to take advantage of that in a B-ball game would be unthinkable. But in FB, apparently, the mismatch and posting up in the end zone must be illegal. At least based on watching Iowa.
Instead of something as basic as posting up, let’s try snychronized gymnastics. Yah, that’ll get Hawkeyes flying into the end zone so often you’ll be able to count the TDs on one finger…I mean, well, eventually you will.
And I can’t help but mention again that Iowa has seldom had great speed at receiver in the last 35 years, and yet the Iowa passing game under Fry, and often under Ferentz, has been top notch. So what has changed that, all of a sudden, Iowa can’t pass because it doesn’t have enough speed? Ask Dave Moritz, Brad Reid, Peter Marciano, Ed Hinkel…even DJK and Marvin McNutt. No blazers, but plenty catches, plenty yards, and plenty TDs…but not much speed — and no back shoulder. How DID they do it?
I’ll play the role of Ferentz advocate (kidding, kinda): Turnovers are a lot more expensive in football than they are in basketball. I’m sure the post-up has been considered. Maybe it’s just something that Iowa isn’t comfortable with?
Also, KF seemed extremely dismayed at the “god-ing” up of players, citing Fiedorowicz and Nico Law specifically.
I’ll throw out the usual disclaimer — we don’t see practice, we don’t know what the coaches know, if a player doesn’t show it in practice, coaches aren’t going to roll the dice on a whim on gameday — and hang up and listen.
These are all good points and I’m not necessarily disagreeing. Logic dictates something to CJF on the goal line.
The back-shoulder throw is utilized from the high school level on up. I’m glad to see it’s made it to Iowa – for all of the reasons that Marc mentioned above. It’s a tough play for a WR, but those that can perfect it become uncoverable in man coverage regardless of speed, size, etc. I just hope they figure out how to use it as a weapon before this season’s over – and meanwhile, all the “2′s” that Rudock is working with are even better at it by next year.
I thought it was odd that it was just introduced at Iowa. I’m sure it’s a difficult concept to master. Aaron Rodgers and Greg Jennings can do that all day. They don’t have organic bio-chem III to gum up their day.
Fry was a ‘play’ coach — he designed plays, he didn’t run a system. This is how Chris Peterson describes Boise State. No one ever knew what he was going to do. He installed, effectively, a new offense in 1985 in one week because he didn’t think he could beat Michigan if he played what Bo already had on tape.
Ferentz is a system coach. Our advantages under KF and KOK declined asymptotically each year as our system became better and better understood.
So now we have GD and he’s offering a bit of innovation. Had we caught one or two of those back shoulder passes last week we’d all be thrilled with JVB’s new toy. I was pretty surprised Keenan didn’t catch his. I’m glad we’re trying new things. Doing so is smart.
Excellent observation.
One thought, the “exotics” have been romanticized to the bone. I would argue that the plays Fry ran were more of the Iowa system — meaning more within the players’ abilities — than they were departures. But, I could be wrong. I do, however, feel the “exotics” have been lifted to commandment status and I believe Fry ran those an extremely small percentage of the time.
Agree on the back shoulder. It’s a smart move for receivers who often find themselves stalemated by speed.
Marc, don’t be so tentative. The Gazette needs to lighten up.
Anyway, Fry’s Michigan game was more than 5 exotics. He installed a new O. Both head coaches said it was so.
Meanwhile, we’re trying to catch passes on a back shoulder and it’s a big deal? It’s a wrinkle. It’s an NFL move of 15 years standing.
Most competitive football games turn on four or five plays. It would help, not hurt, Iowa to have a small portfolio of plays for those moments.
My comment relates to the contrast between Fry putting in a new O and Fry putting in four trick plays. He, Bo, and I assert it was the former.
See, I was a college freshman for the ’85 game.
I was not a sentient being.
I stand corrected on the Michigan game. Fry harnessed nimble minds on that staff. There is master genius that goes along with that.
Fry also was creative in personnel, something that Ferentz doesn’t budge on (or if he does, it’s a LB to FB, for the most part). Torrey Campbell should be tried at WR. He’s fast. Iowa needs speed on the outside. Campbell is stuck in depth chart limbo on defense. Fry would’ve activated that.
The back shoulder a big deal? For this offense, yeah. But, frankly, I was surprised it hadn’t already been introduced. It’s not a make-or-break item. It would be and should be effective from inside the 10.
I need to study up on my Fry knowledge.
The Long bootleg was not just a trick or exotic; it was, according to one account I read, that quotied Hayden, simply designed and called on the spot by Hayden. They had a conventional power-I and a dive called, but supposedly Hayden told Long to keep it and bootleg out; supposedly it was not a play that had been practiced or schooled.
Perhaps the days of improvisation are over, but Hayden would both improvise and install radical changes in his schemes mid-year. By comparison, the idea that we are teasing fate by throwing to a back shoulder, shows, I think, how conservative this head coach is.
Phil Parker makes a good tackle on Ronnie Harmon at the 3:59 here. There were some mighty good athletes on the field that day (Rison, White, Station, Ronnie, Long, I think Mike Devlin). I was in the north end zone stands and had an unusual look at how relaxed and accurate Long could be. He was one very cool cat.
Here’s the URL with the Parker tackle on Harmon at 3:59.
I think I recall Hayden discussing the bootleg at one of the recent Fry Fests. I believe he said that in the timeout before the play he told Long not to hand it off, but not tell the rest of the offense. It sure looks like that was the case as the corner and DE read their keys and crashed down.
Duh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDBrQiHLHwQ