Joe Burrow goes into detail on LSU's new offensive scheme: What we are doing right now is very innovative
Looking ahead to the 2019 season, Joe Burrow is thrilled to return to an offensive style that he knows better than any other in Baton Rouge.
We will never know what LSU’s offense would have looked like last season had Burrow not decided to transfer into the program from Ohio State as a graduate but it’s safe to say the Tigers would likely not have come close to winning 10 games and capturing a win in the Fiesta Bowl over UCF. In his debut for the Tigers, Burrow completed just under 59 percent of his passes for 2,894 yards with 16 touchdowns and five interceptions. He also added another 399 yards and seven scores on the ground.
Those numbers may not wow compared to some of the video game numbers quarterbacks across the country produce but Burrow’s presence certainly played a role in the team’s opening-season win over Miami, he came through in the clutch on the road at Auburn in Week 3 and finished the season with a masterful performance in the bowl game after nearly getting decapitated by a cheap shot from a UCF defender during a pick six run back.
This time last year, Burrow was trying to win the quarterback competition at Ohio State, which was eventually won by Heisman finalist Dwayne Haskins, but now that he’s taking in his first spring in Baton Rouge, the story of the spring with the Tigers is the program’s offense under new passing game coordinator Joe Brady. According to Burrow, Brady’s influence on the offense is something that should result in something LSU’s opponents have not seen from the Tigers previously.
In fact, he didn’t even want to reveal too much before the team puts the offense on film.
“I think the stuff we are doing right now is very innovative, it’s a change of direction from what we were last year but we are still going to have some of what we did last year,” Burrow said during his first media availability of the spring. “We’re just building on these new things as well and I think, you know, we don’t want to give too much away before the season so people are going to have to wait and see when they watch the film.”
When a new system is put into place, there’s a danger that things could too complex and in term hinder the players’ production on the field. While that’s a fine line, according to Burrow, he doesn’t believe that will be the case next fall in Baton Rouge. Here’s what he had to say when asked if the new offense could be too complex.
“I don’t think so,” he continued. “I think if you get too complicated then you are out there thinking instead of playing. I think you just have to find that balance between complicated and not so complicated so you can just go out there and play.”
There may not be a player more excited about the program’s new offense than its quarterback. Coming from Ohio State and playing under Urban Meyer, Burrow is very familiar with an offense featuring RPO concepts. In fact, he even ran this type of offense in high school back in Ohio.
“Yeah, I’m fired up about it. This is the kind of offense I’ve run since I was 13, 14 years old so this is what I know so I can have a lot of input in it and tell them what I like,” Burrow commented. “I think we are all fired up about it.”
Finally, considering LSU will apparently have a staff featuring what is essentially two offensive coordinators in Brady and Steve Ensminger mixing their styles and systems together, Burrow was asked if that made for any issues this spring.
“It’s been seamless. I know I’m not in there all the time but I don’t think there’s been any clashing,” Burrow continued. “There have been ideas flowing all the time and coming up with new ideas every day and it’s really felt seamless to me.”