The only drawback to Ridge’s old locker was its location: right in the middle of the offensive linemen section. He understood why Ridge had wanted to be placed there; his linemen were the ones protecting him during the games. The reason for Matt’s discomfort was that he would be right next to John Johnson, whom he’d characterized as a mouth breather in the past, and for good reason. Matt suspected that John was borderline mentally disabled at worst and just plain dumb as a box of rocks at best.
If it hadn’t been for the prospect of having to share space with John every day, Matt wouldn’t have thought twice about taking Ridge’s old locker. As it was, he would have to suck it up and make the best of it. Crystal was right. Appearances mattered.
When Matt walked into the John McKay athletics facility, Coach Thomas, USC’s offensive coordinator, stopped him.
“You ready?”
“I can’t wait to get started, even if it’s just practice. It’ll feel good to actually get on the field and run plays,” Matt said.
“Coach Clayton is excited to see what you can do. Ridge’s declaring for the NFL draft wasn’t ideal, but we’re confident we won’t miss a beat with you taking the helm,” Coach Thomas said.
“I heard that Ridge is working hard to get ready for the draft.”
“That’s right. I saw him today, and he’s starting to get buff. I just wish he’d worked that hard last year.”
“Is he still around?” Matt asked.
Coach Thomas shook his head.
“He’s a glutton for punishment. He’s watching the video of last year’s Notre Dame game in the small film room.”
The Trojans had gone 11–3 last year. Their worst loss had been to Notre Dame. At the start of the game, both teams had been ranked in the top 15 in the polls. The Trojans had gone into South Bend and by halftime were down 28–0. In the third quarter, they’d shown some life, but it hadn’t been enough as they lost 49–14.
“I’ll stick my head in and say hi after I get everything sorted out for Monday,” Matt said.
“Sounds good,” Coach Thomas said as he headed back to the coaches’ offices.
Matt went looking for Ridge. When he got close to the room, he heard Ridge talking.
“Now that you’ve seen my biggest fail tell me what you really think of our ‘smash and gun’ offense.”
Matt held up going into the room when he heard David Dawson answer.
“I don’t know how much it resembles what I would consider ‘smash and gun,’ but it has some positives.”
“We’ve been working on getting you up to speed with the playbook, and you have shown you’re learning it. I can tell you’ve had varied coaching, all of it at a high level by the way you broke down the game film. What I’m interested in is your assessment,” Ridge prodded.
Matt leaned forward so he could hear what David had to say. If David was going to be his chief competition down the road, Matt wanted to understand how he thought.
“The college game is constantly evolving. USC is running a spread and spread-option concept. But I can also see that they’re working in more runners in the backfield and tight ends on the line, which is more of a ‘pro set.’
“A couple of times, you ran the offense at a faster pace. I think the no-huddle, or up-tempo, can be run with any style of offense as long as you can get into enough formations to make the defense adjust. The ‘smash and gun’ is supposed to be an up-tempo style that wears the defense down, especially the big linemen.
“Lining up quickly and not substituting means the defense can’t change personnel either. You sometimes go quick, but often, you sit back and read the defense. Most of those times, you’re using up the full play clock,” David said.
“There are situations where we don’t really want to speed the game up. A nice long drive that eats up a lot of time keeps the other team off the field. I love looking over at the sideline and seeing them frustrated that we’re keeping their offense on the bench. To be effective, you need to be able to do both, run the clock and go fast when it’s called for. We play fast when we use a pro-style attack, more as a change-up option than as our base offense,” Ridge explained.
“No, I get it. I just think that we don’t go fast enough at times. It might be just a function of having you and Matt as our quarterbacks. You’re both more effective as pocket passers. If the coaches ever truly wanted to embrace ‘smash and gun,’ conditioning would have to improve dramatically. The offensive linemen were gassed toward the end of the half and at the end of the game.”
“If you were to recommend changes beyond conditioning, what would they be?” Ridge asked.
“The coaches need to give the quarterback more freedom. If he can read a defense, he’ll be able to see even minor differences in leverage and positioning pre-snap. Say the defense brings in five linemen to stop the run. What’s the defense supposed to do when you audible to an empty backfield? How is a lineman supposed to help in pass coverage?” David asked.
“My agent said that was something I would have to work on once I turned pro. I would guess every rookie quarterback needs to get better at pre-snap reads.”
“I would also start running more RPOs,” David said.
’Of course David would want the Run-Pass Option style of offense,’ Matt thought as he eavesdropped.
Ridge chuckled at what David had said.
“Can you even imagine seeing Matt run the ball?”
“If he could do it even a little, it would put pressure on the defense,” David replied. “Granted, he’ll never go Captain Chaos, as my high school team called it. But defenses would have to respect the possibility that he’d pick up yards with his legs.”
“Okay, what else?” Ridge asked.
“Something that puzzles me is why we don’t utilize our physical superiority more. I look at the roster, and we have players rated four and five stars in high school languishing on the bench. But it’s more than that. Those guys received their high ratings because they’re much better athletes than the players on opposing teams.
“Bottom line, they’re bigger and faster. Why aren’t we getting them in a space where they can excel? Weaker competition has to close and be physical to overcome what our guys have. If I were calling plays, I would be running quick slants, wide-receiver screens, and using my running backs to catch balls in the flat or run wheel routes,” David shared.
“If you read the press, it all comes down to coaching. We’re not developing the talent we have. On paper, we should be in the hunt for a national championship year in and year out. Right now, we have a season like the last every few years,” Ridge said.
“Do you think it really is the coaching?” David asked.
Ridge laughed.
“At this point, I don’t much care,” he admitted since he was off to the NFL.
“Something needs to change. Either they’ve badly misjudged talent while recruiting, or something else is going on. Personally, I would like to see 11–3 seasons be bad years,” David said.
Matt had heard enough. He quietly walked away so he could think.
Matt’s dad had always acted as a sounding board, so he called him.
“Only two days until spring ball begins,” his dad said to answer the phone.
“Ridge is helping David learn the offense while he works out to prepare for the draft.”
“What does that mean?” his dad asked.
“If anyone can teach him the offense quickly, it’s Ridge,” Matt complained.
“How will that matter if David is playing defense?”
It finally dawned on Matt that he had nothing to worry about.
“Good point. Somehow, he’d gotten into my head,” Matt admitted.
“What did you learn at Elite 11?”
“To compete against yourself. Don’t worry about the other guy,” Matt recited back.
“Sounds like good advice to me. Focus on what the coaches want, and you’ll be fine. Honestly, I suspect that David will work his butt off to excel on the defensive side of the ball. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”