Bryan Driskell used to be the Xs & Os guy for Blue and Gold (the Notre Dame Rivals site). He's now with Sports Illustrated's The Maven. Bryan wrote about Notre Dame Xs & Os topics for years and before that was a Division-III coach. I spoke to him earlier today:
What sort of system did Sanford run at Notre Dame?
“It’s a pro style, but the offense was never entirely his. In 2015, he was never the primary playcaller. In 2016, Mike Denbrock was heavily involved. (Sanford) called plays at Boise State, and he had a lot of success there… He’s definitely a pro-style guy. There was some RPOs, read zones, a lot of dropback, spread-style concepts… He tries to be a QB-friendly coach.”
Was the QB always in shotgun when he was at Notre Dame?
“It wasn’t that way at Boise State, wasn’t that way at Notre Dame. They’d get under center (but were mostly in shotgun.
“The thing that I think will be good for him at Minnesota is he is going to be getting direction. (Minnesota) has a head coach that is an offensive guy, and I believe (Sanford) is going to be a co-coordinator. I think Mike’s a good playcaller. Where Mike needs help sometimes is direction of the other areas. If I were to pick a job for him knowing his personality and strengths and weaknesses, it’s the Minnesota job, honestly. The culture is already created by PJ Fleck. Fleck is an offensive mind that already knows what he wants to do. (Sanford) just has to come in and say here’s the concepts, here’s what we can exploit from the defense this week. I think he’s a good fit with PJ Fleck.
“At Notre Dame, it was mostly an 11-personnel shotgun-based offense.
“He was co-offensive coordinator at Notre Dame. I don’t know if that was his specific title. Mike Denbrock ran the show the first year (2015). (Denbrock) was the primary playcaller and the top of the food chain offensively in year one.”
Were there any commonalities to when the offense succeeded or struggled?
“I think one thing that the offense was really about in both years was the first quarter. They went 4-8 in 2016. I believe they were winning in eight or nine of those games. They were great with a script, knew where they could exploit a defense’s weakness from what they saw on film, would push tempo, attack where they wanted. That was definitely a strength of the team.
“One thing that hurt them in 2016 was two spots on the offensive line, one especially that was abysmal. They had some injuries defensively, which put a lot of pressure on offense where they felt they had to score every possession. DeShone Kizer had pressure to score every possession and play mistake-free.
“As an offense there were too many tendencies that could be found which would limit the offense’s effectiveness against good defenses. There were certain tells with how tight ends and running backs would line up. If the tight end was to the right of the quarterback and the running back was to the left of the quarterback, if the back was offset to the left and behind the quarterback, they’d run inside zone and one other concept. But if the tight end was lined up (to the right) and the running back not offset, they were running counter 75% of the time. A lot of their tendencies I thought they were slow to figure out. They had two All-Americans on the offensive line, Josh Adams was a Heisman candidate at one point, DeShone Kizer maybe one of the best running quarterbacks of Notre Dame history and they still had problems running the football because of tendency issues.”
Maybe it’s hard to tell with him being at Notre Dame just two years, but did Sanford have a skill set preference at quarterback?
“I wouldn’t look at what he had in the lineup, look at what he recruited. The one QB he landed was Ian Book, and he tried to recruit Brandon Peters. The kind of QB he recruited is someone that can throw the football and also someone that can run. I woudn’t say ‘dual-threat,’ would say ‘mobile passing QB’ is what he looked for at Notre Dame. Throwing the football is imperative for what he wanted to do with his offense.
“When I’ve watched PJ Fleck offenses, it’s a QB that can manage the game, make plays with his legs ideally, doesn’t make mistakes with the ball, and makes plays downfield with the arm. That’s not going to change with Mike Sanford as a coordinator.
“A guy like Sanford has an advantage. He’s coached in different offenses and with different quarterbacks. The Stanford quarterbacks would never run. Boise State didn’t have mobile QBs. Then at Notre Dame he had two very mobile quarterbacks in Malik Zaire and DeShone Kizer. He has experience with different styles at quarterback.”
How is he as a recruiter?
“Good. He was very personable. He’s very young, very smart. He works hard on the recruiting trail, and he’s really good at selling the program. At Notre Dame, he did a really good job of selling what made Notre Dame unique rather than selling himself and saying ‘hey, look at me, I’m a great coach.’ He really tailored his message to Notre Dame and did so in a way that really registered with kids. I think he’ll do a great job at that with Minnesota and selling what makes their culture unique.
“He signed some really good football players. The 2016 class was really the one that he was involved with, and that brought Chase Claypool, Ian Book. And especially at a place like Minnesota; he liked to find under-the-radar guys. Ian Book wasn’t a top recruit and turned out to be a really good player. He recruited Kevin Stepherson who would have been a great player if he stayed out of trouble. Tony Jones, who just declared for the draft, Tommy Kraemer, Liam Eichenberg, a lot of really good players Mike recruited.
“He’s a very personable, energetic guy and wants to be heavily involved in recruiting. He’s a great guy.”
How about player development?
“That’s one area that’s really hard to tell because he just hasn’t been anywhere long enough.
“Kizer had 2800 yards, 21 touchdowns, ten interceptions in 2015, and in 2015, had 2900 yards, 26 touchdowns, nine interceptions, but his passer rating and completion percentage dropped a few points. Kizer probably didn’t get the reps in fall camp (in 2016) because there was competition with Zaire in fall camp, then they rotated in the first game of the year. There were also some things that it’s hard to hold an assistant coach responsible for because of mistakes from the head coach.
“From a pure statistical standpoint, Notre Dame put up good numbers in 2016 offensively despite losing Will Fuller, CJ Prosise, a lot of good players that went to the NFL.”
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I'm also adding quotes from a call I just had with Blue & Gold editor Lou Smogyi.
“Being head coach of Western Kentucky was maybe too much, too soon for him. He needed more seasoning and I’m not sure if that was the right place for him. I’m not an analyst as far as Xs & Os. He’s obviously thought well enough to take over by PJ Fleck in that area. PJ Fleck is one of the rising young coaches in the ranks, and if he thinks enough of him, that’s enough for me. I’m not in the daily meeting rooms and stuff to make a judgement on his Xs & Os capabilities. I think with the success that some younger coaches have had recently that fans think some young coaches can be fast-tracked maybe sooner than they’re actually ready, but we’ll see. I think when you tie in with PJ Fleck, you should have a pretty good future ahead of you.”
‘Mike Denbrock was a veteran (at Notre Dame) and was still offensive coordinator and calling plays. (When Sanford came) at that point there may have been too many cooks in the kitchen. When everyone has an opinion, there can be problems. The fact that (Brian Kelly) didn’t bring back Denbrock after the 4-8 season and Dunbrock’s having great success at Cincinnati, Sanford went off on his own and was ready to start new. Now, there’s something to be said for having co-coordinators as well. I think all four teams in the Playoff have co-coordinators. But I think it helps to know who’s leading the charge for what.”
“He had a very good reputation as a recruiter, and of course was the lead (recruiter) for Ian Book. Book was kind of under-the-radar. He had committed to Washington State and (Sanford) did a good job to pull him out of California from Mike Leach. Sanford’s young and personable. I think there’s an appeal with him for prospects.”
“He came here in 2015 and was leading the quarterbacks and helping Denbrock. (Starting QB) Malik Zaire got an injury, and DeShone Kizer hadn’t really played before and went off to have a really outstanding season, so you have to credit Sanford there. They were 10-1 and in contention for the College Football Playoff. (In game 12) they went ahead with 30 seconds left and Stanford drove the field and kicked the winning field goal. He had a first round pick in Will Fuller at wide receiver, he had a phenomenal line, an absolutely phenomenal line. Ronnie Stanley and Quenton Nelson are NFL All-Pros, Mike McGlinchey, and Nick Martin were first and second round picks. There was tremendous talent on that team. DeShone Kizer became a second-round pick. CJ Prosise was a third round pick that year and Josh Adams his backup became a star the next year. There was a lot of tools to work with, and the next year, there was some rebuilt.
“(In 2016) they had their ebbs and flows on offense. They had some outstanding games and some that were baffling and mind-boggling. They played in hurricane conditions at North Carolina State and dropped back something like 40 times; whether that’s Denbrock or Sanford or Kelly, I don’t know. The next game they lost 17-10 and just took some heat that year. It was definitely a year where you went from a very, very good offense in 2015 to not bad in 2016 but just so many instances that left you scratching your head.”
What sort of system did Sanford run at Notre Dame?
“It’s a pro style, but the offense was never entirely his. In 2015, he was never the primary playcaller. In 2016, Mike Denbrock was heavily involved. (Sanford) called plays at Boise State, and he had a lot of success there… He’s definitely a pro-style guy. There was some RPOs, read zones, a lot of dropback, spread-style concepts… He tries to be a QB-friendly coach.”
Was the QB always in shotgun when he was at Notre Dame?
“It wasn’t that way at Boise State, wasn’t that way at Notre Dame. They’d get under center (but were mostly in shotgun.
“The thing that I think will be good for him at Minnesota is he is going to be getting direction. (Minnesota) has a head coach that is an offensive guy, and I believe (Sanford) is going to be a co-coordinator. I think Mike’s a good playcaller. Where Mike needs help sometimes is direction of the other areas. If I were to pick a job for him knowing his personality and strengths and weaknesses, it’s the Minnesota job, honestly. The culture is already created by PJ Fleck. Fleck is an offensive mind that already knows what he wants to do. (Sanford) just has to come in and say here’s the concepts, here’s what we can exploit from the defense this week. I think he’s a good fit with PJ Fleck.
“At Notre Dame, it was mostly an 11-personnel shotgun-based offense.
“He was co-offensive coordinator at Notre Dame. I don’t know if that was his specific title. Mike Denbrock ran the show the first year (2015). (Denbrock) was the primary playcaller and the top of the food chain offensively in year one.”
Were there any commonalities to when the offense succeeded or struggled?
“I think one thing that the offense was really about in both years was the first quarter. They went 4-8 in 2016. I believe they were winning in eight or nine of those games. They were great with a script, knew where they could exploit a defense’s weakness from what they saw on film, would push tempo, attack where they wanted. That was definitely a strength of the team.
“One thing that hurt them in 2016 was two spots on the offensive line, one especially that was abysmal. They had some injuries defensively, which put a lot of pressure on offense where they felt they had to score every possession. DeShone Kizer had pressure to score every possession and play mistake-free.
“As an offense there were too many tendencies that could be found which would limit the offense’s effectiveness against good defenses. There were certain tells with how tight ends and running backs would line up. If the tight end was to the right of the quarterback and the running back was to the left of the quarterback, if the back was offset to the left and behind the quarterback, they’d run inside zone and one other concept. But if the tight end was lined up (to the right) and the running back not offset, they were running counter 75% of the time. A lot of their tendencies I thought they were slow to figure out. They had two All-Americans on the offensive line, Josh Adams was a Heisman candidate at one point, DeShone Kizer maybe one of the best running quarterbacks of Notre Dame history and they still had problems running the football because of tendency issues.”
Maybe it’s hard to tell with him being at Notre Dame just two years, but did Sanford have a skill set preference at quarterback?
“I wouldn’t look at what he had in the lineup, look at what he recruited. The one QB he landed was Ian Book, and he tried to recruit Brandon Peters. The kind of QB he recruited is someone that can throw the football and also someone that can run. I woudn’t say ‘dual-threat,’ would say ‘mobile passing QB’ is what he looked for at Notre Dame. Throwing the football is imperative for what he wanted to do with his offense.
“When I’ve watched PJ Fleck offenses, it’s a QB that can manage the game, make plays with his legs ideally, doesn’t make mistakes with the ball, and makes plays downfield with the arm. That’s not going to change with Mike Sanford as a coordinator.
“A guy like Sanford has an advantage. He’s coached in different offenses and with different quarterbacks. The Stanford quarterbacks would never run. Boise State didn’t have mobile QBs. Then at Notre Dame he had two very mobile quarterbacks in Malik Zaire and DeShone Kizer. He has experience with different styles at quarterback.”
How is he as a recruiter?
“Good. He was very personable. He’s very young, very smart. He works hard on the recruiting trail, and he’s really good at selling the program. At Notre Dame, he did a really good job of selling what made Notre Dame unique rather than selling himself and saying ‘hey, look at me, I’m a great coach.’ He really tailored his message to Notre Dame and did so in a way that really registered with kids. I think he’ll do a great job at that with Minnesota and selling what makes their culture unique.
“He signed some really good football players. The 2016 class was really the one that he was involved with, and that brought Chase Claypool, Ian Book. And especially at a place like Minnesota; he liked to find under-the-radar guys. Ian Book wasn’t a top recruit and turned out to be a really good player. He recruited Kevin Stepherson who would have been a great player if he stayed out of trouble. Tony Jones, who just declared for the draft, Tommy Kraemer, Liam Eichenberg, a lot of really good players Mike recruited.
“He’s a very personable, energetic guy and wants to be heavily involved in recruiting. He’s a great guy.”
How about player development?
“That’s one area that’s really hard to tell because he just hasn’t been anywhere long enough.
“Kizer had 2800 yards, 21 touchdowns, ten interceptions in 2015, and in 2015, had 2900 yards, 26 touchdowns, nine interceptions, but his passer rating and completion percentage dropped a few points. Kizer probably didn’t get the reps in fall camp (in 2016) because there was competition with Zaire in fall camp, then they rotated in the first game of the year. There were also some things that it’s hard to hold an assistant coach responsible for because of mistakes from the head coach.
“From a pure statistical standpoint, Notre Dame put up good numbers in 2016 offensively despite losing Will Fuller, CJ Prosise, a lot of good players that went to the NFL.”
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I'm also adding quotes from a call I just had with Blue & Gold editor Lou Smogyi.
“Being head coach of Western Kentucky was maybe too much, too soon for him. He needed more seasoning and I’m not sure if that was the right place for him. I’m not an analyst as far as Xs & Os. He’s obviously thought well enough to take over by PJ Fleck in that area. PJ Fleck is one of the rising young coaches in the ranks, and if he thinks enough of him, that’s enough for me. I’m not in the daily meeting rooms and stuff to make a judgement on his Xs & Os capabilities. I think with the success that some younger coaches have had recently that fans think some young coaches can be fast-tracked maybe sooner than they’re actually ready, but we’ll see. I think when you tie in with PJ Fleck, you should have a pretty good future ahead of you.”
‘Mike Denbrock was a veteran (at Notre Dame) and was still offensive coordinator and calling plays. (When Sanford came) at that point there may have been too many cooks in the kitchen. When everyone has an opinion, there can be problems. The fact that (Brian Kelly) didn’t bring back Denbrock after the 4-8 season and Dunbrock’s having great success at Cincinnati, Sanford went off on his own and was ready to start new. Now, there’s something to be said for having co-coordinators as well. I think all four teams in the Playoff have co-coordinators. But I think it helps to know who’s leading the charge for what.”
“He had a very good reputation as a recruiter, and of course was the lead (recruiter) for Ian Book. Book was kind of under-the-radar. He had committed to Washington State and (Sanford) did a good job to pull him out of California from Mike Leach. Sanford’s young and personable. I think there’s an appeal with him for prospects.”
“He came here in 2015 and was leading the quarterbacks and helping Denbrock. (Starting QB) Malik Zaire got an injury, and DeShone Kizer hadn’t really played before and went off to have a really outstanding season, so you have to credit Sanford there. They were 10-1 and in contention for the College Football Playoff. (In game 12) they went ahead with 30 seconds left and Stanford drove the field and kicked the winning field goal. He had a first round pick in Will Fuller at wide receiver, he had a phenomenal line, an absolutely phenomenal line. Ronnie Stanley and Quenton Nelson are NFL All-Pros, Mike McGlinchey, and Nick Martin were first and second round picks. There was tremendous talent on that team. DeShone Kizer became a second-round pick. CJ Prosise was a third round pick that year and Josh Adams his backup became a star the next year. There was a lot of tools to work with, and the next year, there was some rebuilt.
“(In 2016) they had their ebbs and flows on offense. They had some outstanding games and some that were baffling and mind-boggling. They played in hurricane conditions at North Carolina State and dropped back something like 40 times; whether that’s Denbrock or Sanford or Kelly, I don’t know. The next game they lost 17-10 and just took some heat that year. It was definitely a year where you went from a very, very good offense in 2015 to not bad in 2016 but just so many instances that left you scratching your head.”
