The Unofficial Furman Football Page

https://www.si.com/college-football/201 ... orgia-tech

Covers history, lineage
Clay Hendrix
Cut blocks
Good read

I saw this a few days ago on AGS and was so enthralled by it (and STOKED to see Furman mentioned in several ways and places) that I forgot to post it here. It is an excellent read and I thought CCH's comments on the new cut block rule to be especially prescient.

It is really cool to see the variations of the wishbone developed in so many ways and in so many different schools. There is more than one way to run the triple.

Great article and all but they missed a lot of good content by not interviewing FUBear.

Paul C wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 03, 2018 6:02 pm

Great article and all but they missed a lot of good content by not interviewing FUBear.

True.

I was a Veer QB in Jr. High in Raleigh when Lou Holtz was there running it at NC State with Johnny Evans & Dave Buckey @ QB and Willie Burden, Charley Young, Stan Fritts, & Roland Hooks as the split backs.

I used to stop by practice and give them a few pointers from time to time...if they asked.


And, seriously, a lot of people don’t realize that Furman ran the Veer Option Offense from the I-Formation from the mid-70’s with David Whitehurst @ QB until...well, I don’t know when, exactly, we more or less shelved it...maybe during Jordan Sorrells’ years? Because we were in the I and ran so much Toss Sweep and ISO, people just didn’t realize the blocking schemes were PURE veer schemes on all of those QB Options.

I’m sure Coach Hendrix learned a few different wrinkles from Coach Calhoun and that Jim Brakefield/Wofford/Appy branch of the “Tree” from which he descended, but CCH’s option DNA is much more directly descended from the Bill Yeoman/Houston branch, which I imagine Coach Baker brought with him from TX when he came from Texas Tech to become Head Coach at FU.

They would have known that if they had called my agent and set up a call.

Thanks for the link to this great article that resonated with me for a reason other than my always proud and grateful Furman connection. We have run the veer at Morris Knolls High School here in Joisey since the early 1970s. Wikipedia article says 1975 and mentions Coach Bill Regan, who by the way is still steering the ship there, but is off by a few years. For the sake of historical and hysterical accuracy, Morris Knolls ran the veer prior to Wild Bill’s appointment as head man in 1975, when he served as offensive coordinator under the legendary John P. (The P is for Pigskin) Deibert.

FUBeAR wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 03, 2018 7:36 pm

Paul C wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 03, 2018 6:02 pm

Great article and all but they missed a lot of good content by not interviewing FUBear.

True.

I was a Veer QB in Jr. High in Raleigh when Lou Holtz was there running it at NC State with Johnny Evans & Dave Buckey @ QB and Willie Burden, Charley Young, Stan Fritts, & Roland Hooks as the split backs.

I used to stop by practice and give them a few pointers from time to time...if they asked.


And, seriously, a lot of people don’t realize that Furman ran the Veer Option Offense from the I-Formation from the mid-70’s with David Whitehurst @ QB until...well, I don’t know when, exactly, we more or less shelved it...maybe during Jordan Sorrells’ years? Because we were in the I and ran so much Toss Sweep and ISO, people just didn’t realize the blocking schemes were PURE veer schemes on all of those QB Options.

I’m sure Coach Hendrix learned a few different wrinkles from Coach Calhoun and that Jim Brakefield/Wofford/Appy branch of the “Tree” from which Coach Calhoun descended, but CCH’s option DNA is much more directly descended from the Bill Yeoman/Houston branch, which I imagine Coach Baker brought with him from TX when he came from Texas Tech to become Head Coach at FU.

They would have known that if they had called my agent and set up a call.

Not sure how I ended up quoting myself here when I was trying to Edit.

I blame Stumpy.

That was a great trick, BeAR. Does it hurt much?

FUBeAR wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 03, 2018 7:36 pm

Paul C wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 03, 2018 6:02 pm

Great article and all but they missed a lot of good content by not interviewing FUBear.

And, seriously, a lot of people don’t realize that Furman ran the Veer Option Offense from the I-Formation from the mid-70’s with David Whitehurst @ QB until...well, I don’t know when, exactly, we more or less shelved it...maybe during Jordan Sorrells’ years? Because we were in the I and ran so much Toss Sweep and ISO, people just didn’t realize the blocking schemes were PURE veer schemes on all of those QB Options.

I think the offense began to morph with the hiring of Bobby Lamb in 2002. The offense still ran a lot of split back looks, but incorporated a lot more passing and moved more heavily into a shotgun based set. By the time Jordan Sorrells was QB, it wasn't too far away from "air raid lite."

Just for example, in 2001 (Bobby Johnson's last year) Furman attempted 271 passes (in 15 games). In 2002 (Lamb's first season), we attempted 301 (in 12 games) with the same QB. Those passing numbers continued to creep up over the next few seasons, and by 2008 Jordan Sorrells was attempting 368 passes in a 12 game season. Under Hendrix, those numbers went the other way, with Blazejowski attempting only 233 passes last season in 13 games.

At the same time, you saw a de-emphasis on the running back position. We lost the stable of running backs and lead fullback in favor of more single back sets out of the shotgun. We went a number of years with sort of one guy being "the guy" at running back (Uhaa, Brown, Williams, McCloud).

Hendrix certainly seems to be trying to develop that running back depth. The group back there now is the first time we've really had significant backfield rotational depth since Mays/Carter/Gipson/Felton.

During the Lamb years, the offense generally followed the skill set of the QB. We tended to throw the ball more during the Jordan Sorrells years because his skill set leaned that way and away from the option. And as I recall we had an offensive coordinator who was partial to the QB.