When it comes to predicting what this iteration of the Hokie offense will look like, one thing that jumps out at me is that there might be even more zone experience on this staff now than there was last year. That’s not just because Ron Crook’s teams specialized in it and the Moorhead offense used zone runs as a base play. As it turns out, Coach Brooks’ Maryland teams ran zone runs about 60% of the time. And you know what, I’d even say you could call new consultant Brent Davis a bit of a zone guy, too.

Now, you might be thinking, “Wait, he’s from a ‘Triple-Option’ offense, how can he help with zone stuff?” I can’t blame you for that, because that’s how Flexbone offenses are sold, but in reality these teams very rarely run true triple option calls. You’ll see more midlines, veers, traps, load/lead options, and, yes, Zone Dive and Zone Sweep than you will triple options calls. From my surveying, Army ran a good bit of Zone Dive, and it might even be a play they considered the base of their offense. Of the other plays I mentioned, they’re tough to run from the shotgun and/or they’re pitch-option plays that Tech was averse to unless Peter Moore and John Love were totin’ the rock. (That said, if the Hokies bust out a trap on the opening drive of the Spring Game, I’m donating my kids’ college savings to the football program.)

The flip-side of this is that we have a coaching staff that looks to be suspect in the traditional passing game. Crook’s teams had a habit of getting busted in pass-protection when good teams got them in third-and-long situations. Bowen might be the offensive savant Pry says he is, but even then, he’s learning on the job and he’s largely flying solo in terms of running the passing game, so I can’t realistically expect him to do anything besides keep things simple for his offense. You might give Fontel Mines a pass based on the players he had last year, but I don’t think you can just strike that season from the record, either.

Given the iffiness of the conventional passing game, the best avenue for the offense might be relying on packaged plays and RPOs. Brent Pry’s committed to running the quarterback more, and that means options aplenty in the running game, so packaged calls and RPOs fit right in. Packaged plays and RPOs are almost exactly the same thing: they’re just a simple running play and simple passing play smooshed together. The difference between packaged plays and RPOs is when the QB decides what he’s going to do with the ball. In a packaged play, he decides pre-snap; in an RPO the read is made post-snap.

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