Spread Offense

All the rage in college football, the spread offense has become somewhat of a scourge for NFL talent evaluators. "It gets more difficult with the evolution of the spread offense because the things they're doing in college, most of it won't transfer to the NFL," Kevin Colbert, director of football operations for the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers, said at the NFL scouting combine in February. "So you're really looking for physical characteristics. Like the footwork, even though you don't see a lot of footwork in the shotgun and the spread.

Pennsville visits Gloucester Catholic Nov. 6 in a West Jersey Football League interdivision clash of two of South Jersey's pass-happiest teams. "That game could take six hours," Pennsville coach Ryan Wood said. Pennsville and Gloucester Catholic have smart, strong-armed senior quarterbacks. Both teams run spread offenses that feature three or four wide receivers and showcase running backs in the passing game as much as the ground game. The same goes for Washington Township and Winslow Township, perennial playoff teams that will meet in the season opener on Saturday afternoon.

Many of the top college football programs thrive with a version of the spread offense. At Florida, it's the spread-option. It's the shotgun-spread at Purdue. Georgia Tech employs the triple-option spread. The popularity of the spread has reached high schools, too, making the game faster and more wide-open than ever. "It has filtered down from the colleges," La Salle coach Drew Gordon said. The premise of the spread is as the word suggests: The offense wants to spread the defense out, forcing it to cover more space.

While waiting for his turn in a drill yesterday at Temple's Geasey Field, Owls defensive back Terrance Leftwich was moved to exhort his teammates. "We have to get this thing working!" the senior shouted. It was the first day at spring practice at Temple, and Leftwich and the other Owls seemed to be on the same page with their enthusiasm. New offensive coordinator David Brock and defensive coordinator Ray Monica put their units through a spirited seven-on-seven session toward the end of the 2 1/2-hour practice.

Big Ten coaches are still fighting the perception that their conference is stuck in the dark ages of college football - all run and no pass - and, thus, one of the lesser weights among BCS conferences. They argue that they've been a bunch of sissies for years, passing as much as any league. Eight of 11 teams seem intent on running the pass-oriented spread offense. Purdue's Joe Tiller was among the first. He recalled the first time his team played Penn State in 1997 and the conversation with his old friend, Nittany Lions coach Joe Paterno, on the field before the contest.

When the Temple football team unveils its new spread offense tonight at Franklin Field against Richmond in the season opener for both teams, one thing will remain the same. The Owls, whose defensive leader is all-Big East tackle Dan Klecko, will again be counting on tailback Tanardo Sharps to carry the ball. Sharps, a 5-foot-11, 193-pound senior, is on the Doak Walker watch list as one of the nation's top runners. A 1,000-yard rusher as a sophomore, Sharps will be the featured back behind quarterback Mike McGann in Temple's no-huddle, no-fullback scheme.

Little morsels of information have been leaking out of the NovaCare Complex since Chip Kelly held his first practices with the Eagles last month, all of which were closed to the media. Running back LeSean McCoy said the first three-day minicamp felt like a track meet. Tight end Brent Celek said Kelly's method of communication would change the NFL. Wide receiver Jeremy Maclin revealed that Michael Vick was ahead of Nick Foles in the quarterback competition. It's what they in the entertainment business call "a soft opening.

Just as the Eagles did with Chip Kelly in January, Father Judge has tabbed an offensive innovator to direct its football program. According to multiple sources, Mike McKay, who has impressed observers with his know-how in running a spread offense, will become Judge's new head coach. He is expected to be announced at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the school. McKay, who quarterbacked the Crusaders to the city championship in 1975, installed his version of the spread offense last year at Archbishop Carroll.

  Matt Cookson Cookson, a three-year starter, directs the Bulldogs' spread offense working from a no-huddle, shotgun formation. He passed for more than 1,500 yards and ran for 700 more last year as Class A Morrisville finished 7-5. Coach Jim Gober said Cookson looked right at home playing in a 7-on-7 league earlier this summer at West Chester University. The schools in the league were usually much larger than Morrisville. "He's good academically, and he also plays baseball - he's a pitcher and outfielder," Gober said.

The newest innovation in high school football is the A-11 offense. But don't expect to see it here, at least not right away. The A-11 offense, devised by a couple of coaches in California - Kurt Bryan and Steve Humphries - makes all 11 players (wearing numbers 1-49 or 80-99) eligible receivers. It features two quarterbacks in the shotgun formation with no one under center, thereby meeting the criteria for a scrimmage kick formation under National Federation rules. Spreading the offense across the field forces the defense to account for every possible receiver on each play, although only five players can go downfield to catch a pass and at least seven players must be up on the line of scrimmage.

Jeremy Maclin was recently asked about Chip Kelly's offense and which skill-position players would thrive in it. The Eagles wide receiver did not mention obvious names such as DeSean Jackson, LeSean McCoy, or even himself. He singled out Damaris Johnson, the small and speedy receiver who made the roster last season as an undrafted rookie but hardly did enough to suggest a quantum leap in Year 2. Kelly's offense, though, offers a new dynamic. While details such as scheme and starting quarterback are great unknowns, the players, after more than a month of workouts, have intimated that they know enough about the offense to project.

Little morsels of information have been leaking out of the NovaCare Complex since Chip Kelly held his first practices with the Eagles last month, all of which were closed to the media. Running back LeSean McCoy said the first three-day minicamp felt like a track meet. Tight end Brent Celek said Kelly's method of communication would change the NFL. Wide receiver Jeremy Maclin revealed that Michael Vick was ahead of Nick Foles in the quarterback competition. It's what they in the entertainment business call "a soft opening.

Tale of the Tape Height          Weight        Arm length       Hands 6-foot-2         218 lbs.       321/2 in.            91/4 in. Combine Results 40-yard dash: 4.59 seconds    Vertical jump: 33.5 inches Broad jump: 124 inches Skinny Smith is a polarizing quarterback. But what cannot be disputed are the prolific numbers he produced at West Virginia. As a senior in 2012, Smith completed 71.2 percent of his passes for 4,205 yards and 42 touchdowns, with just six interceptions.

Just as the Eagles did with Chip Kelly in January, Father Judge has tabbed an offensive innovator to direct its football program. According to multiple sources, Mike McKay, who has impressed observers with his know-how in running a spread offense, will become Judge's new head coach. He is expected to be announced at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the school. McKay, who quarterbacked the Crusaders to the city championship in 1975, installed his version of the spread offense last year at Archbishop Carroll.

There may be plenty of reasons the Eagles won't draft Geno Smith with the No. 4 overall pick. But Chip Kelly's belief that his offense can thrive without a franchise quarterback suggests that a team with many needs will pass on the West Virginia prospect. Perhaps Kelly views Smith as being worth the investment. The Eagles coach would prefer to have his quarterback of the future as soon as possible, and if he considers Smith that guy, then he might as well take him with the team's first pick.

An Eagles contingent that included owner Jeffrey Lurie traveled to Morgantown on Monday to work out West Virginia's Geno Smith, considered by many to be the top quarterback prospect in this year's draft. The Eagles officially confirmed the visit, first reported by ProFootballTalk.com. That prompted speculation that they aren't really interested in selecting Smith with their first-round pick. More than likely, the Eagles were doing their due diligence on a top-rated quarterback that should be available when they pick at No. 4. Many draft analysts don't consider Smith a top 10 talent, but quarterbacks tend to go earlier than projected.

NEW ORLEANS - Want to know how Chip Kelly intends to use DeSean Jackson? Go to YouTube and type in the name De'Anthony Thomas . Jackson, at the Super Bowl media center on Friday being whisked from one radio row interview to another, said the new Eagles coach gave him an idea of how he will be utilized in the offense when they spoke a few weeks ago. "Kind of similar to what De'Anthony Thomas was doing at Oregon. He's like a little brother to me. I actually talked to him," Jackson said.

NEW ORLEANS - Alex Smith once met Chip Kelly. Roll out the green carpet. Cue up the news conference. Stitch his surname on the back of a No. 11 Eagles jersey. Smith is coming to Philly. While that may be the preference for some fans - and could very well be the end result - there is no proof that Kelly has such desires. And even if the new Eagles coach coveted Smith, it's a long way from being remotely possible. And yet, that hasn't stopped many from speculating where the 49ers' backup quarterback may land this offseason, even as he's preparing to play the Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII.

The way the story goes, 49ers quarterback Alex Smith was partly responsible for starting Chip Kelly's meteoric rise from assistant coach at New Hampshire to head coach of the Eagles. So it would be fitting, somehow, if Smith wound up being Kelly's quarterback in Philadelphia. More on that idea in a bit. First, the anecdote that jumped out while researching Kelly's background earlier this month. In 2003, Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti caught a glimpse of football's future in a game against Utah.

MOBILE, Ala. - Ryan Nassib, an Eagles season-ticket holder, met with his hometown team, and the Syracuse quarterback had the expected reaction. "That was cool as hell," Nassib said Tuesday in between practices for the Senior Bowl. Nassib, who grew up in West Chester and attended Malvern Prep, met with coach Chip Kelly and general manager Howie Roseman for a brief interview on Monday night. He wasn't the only one of six Senior Bowl quarterbacks to sit down with the Eagles, and the Eagles weren't the only team to meet with the 22-year-old.