Rhett Lashlee wants Miami Hurricanes offense to be power spread
New Miami Hurricanes offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee told the 247Sports YouTube series Social Distance he wants the offense to be known as a power spread.
Appearing on the 247Sports YouTube series Social Distance, new Miami Hurricanes offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee stated he wants the offense to be known as a power spread. The spread is commonly mistaken to be primarily a passing offense. That often depends on who is running it and the system utilized.
There are many different forms of the spread offense. Lashlee has stated he has taken elements from the Air Raid system, what he learned playing and coaching under Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn and the Baylor offense that was run under the Bears former head coach Matt Ruhle.
Expect all three of those systems to be incorporated with Miami. The Miami Hurricanes rushing offense needs more of a resurgence than their passing offense Miami was 120th averaging 118.1 rushing yards per game in 2019. Lashlee has shown the ability to adapt to his personnel as an offensive coordinator.
In his first year as a Power Five offensive coordinator and just his second season in the position overall, Lashlee oversaw an Auburn offense that led the nation in rushing in 2013. Led by quarterback
, the Tigers averaged 328.29 yards per game. Auburn was ahead of the run dominant offenses of Army and Navy.
Auburn made it to the final BCS Championship game in 2013 losing late to Florida State. Marshall threw for 1,976 yards, 14 touchdowns and six interceptions and ran for 1,068 yards and 12 TDs. Running back
ran for 1,816 yards 23 TDs and added 12 receptions 163 yards and one TD.
Mason led the SEC in a multitude of offensive categories, diminishing third in the country in rushing and earned the SEC Offensive Player of the Year. Lashlee spoke to Brandon Marcello of 247 Sports about the future of the Miami offense, how he runs the spread and what its principles are.
"“I believe in balance. You’ve got to run it and throw it. I’ve always believed that you’ve got to run the ball to win, but you’ve got to throw the ball to score. It’s a fancy way to say balanced. Actually, putting that together has been fun. People ask me all the time, ‘What kind of offense do you run? Is it a spread? Is it no-huddle?What’s the name of it? It’s got to have a name. You’ve got Air Raid, you’ve got No Huddle, you’ve got this and that, I couldn’t tell you. It’s probably more of a Power Spread offense.But I’ve been blessed to take pieces of the Gus Malzahn system that I grew up in, systems of some things with the coaches I’ve worked with over the last three years to have a little more Air Raid principles to them stuff I truly believe in anyways and even some of the stuff they were doing at Baylor over the years…We kind of married it together and made a system where I want our guys to play fast, I want us to be aggressive, I want us to be attacking, and be simple for our guys where we can play fast not only physically, but mentally.”"
Asked about the Miami offense in 2019, Lashlee told Marcello he has not watched a full game from 2019. Lashlee wants the offensive player for the Miami Hurricanes to have a fresh start. Lashlee compared being hired at Miami to moving with Malzahn from Arkansas State to Auburn for the 2013 season.
The addition of D’Eriq King as a graduate transfer QB was compared to Marshall arriving at Auburn as a junior college transfer for the 2013 season. The experience that King has playing at a high level and that Lashlee has earned over the last three years as a play-caller has the new Miami coach optimistic about the 2020 season.
Miami will be more experienced at key positions from their players and coaches entering the 2020 season than Auburn was in 2012. Lashlee emphasized the difference between what he ran at Auburn under Malzahn and once he branched out on his own at Connecticut and SMU is the fast tempo.
Next. Lashlee and King give Miami offense identity. dark
Miami is going to spread the field and play fast with Lashlee as the offensive coordinator. That doesn’t mean that Miami will be throwing the ball all over the field. With Junior Cam’Ron Harris leading the running back corps expect Miami to have a balanced offense as Lashlee modernizes what the Hurricanes run on the field.