Film Study: Ludwig bringing physicality to Vanderbilt offense

Out of all the coaching and personnel moves the Southeastern Conference saw this offseason — which included two of the best defensive minds in the sport in John Chavis (LSU defensive coordinator) and Will Muschamp (Florida head coach) being hired as coordinators inside the conference to Texas A&M and Auburn University, respectively — the most under-the-radar move had to be Vanderbilt University’s procurement of former University of Wisconsin offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig.

Let’s be honest here; the majority of the media aren’t checking for anything coming out of Nashville as they consider it to be a vastly inferior product to what the rest of the league is producing.

That’s a far cry from when many considered it to be only a matter of time before Vandy truly broke through among the upper-echelon of the SEC East — after back-to-back nine-win seasons in 2012-13.

But the shine has all but disappeared from the Commodores behind an extremely disappointing 3-9 season turned in by first-time head coach Derek Mason and his staff.

Well, former staff.

In true CEO fashion, Mason made some tough decisions to jettison quite a few assistant coaches — including both coordinators — in an interest of greater good of the program. Some labeled it an act of desperation as many called for the accomplished coach to be fired.

But if that’s the case, at least Mason is going out on his shield as he hit a home run on both coordinator hires. The Ludwig hire can potentially diminish the talent gap that the Commodores may be up against.

And the defensive hire — which was actually not a hire as Mason appointed himself — was genius for one reason: It’s hard to come up with many more names in the sport that can get the most out of personnel than Coach Mason.

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As a huge fan of the Badgers, dating back to the beginning of former head coach Bret Bielema’s tenure, I’m familiar not only with Ludwig’s scheme to the core, but I also have a deep understanding of how physicality can act as an equalizer.

And as we saw with Ludwig’s two-year tenure under former Wisconsin coach Gary Andersen, there may be some coordinating offenses as physical, but none more physical.

But when you factor in Ludwig’s teams prior to his stop in Madison — which included coordinating for spread outfits like Utah and Oregon — you can see just how well-rounded his philosophy can get. But Mason undoubtedly hired him to achieve the type of results he did with Wisconsin as the strength of the personnel is very similar on offense.

Ludwig operated, predominantly, out of “12” and “22 personnel” where he leaned on the between-the-tackles run game and tight ends to constrict opponents to the middle of the field — thus allowing the playmakers on the edge a ton of room to operate.

Last season, the Badgers managed to make it to the Big 10 Championship Game despite possessing a roster full of inept quarterbacks.

But that’s the thing; Ludwig’s offense doesn’t require a playmaker at the signal-caller position. Give him a competent QB who is efficient and takes cares of the ball, and he’ll give you results.

Ludwig walks into a situation where he’s provided with two more-than-capable backs in the 5’10”, 196-pound Ralph Webb, and the 6’1″, 225-pound Dallas Rivers. Coming off a Wisconsin season which saw backs Melvin Gordon and Corey Clement rush for 2,587 and 949 yards, respectively, expect Vandy to lean heavily on this aspect of its scheme.

I have no doubts on the type of success the Commodores will have on the ground running a ton of Power concepts. But they also have the ability to maneuver inside- and outside-zone concepts while excelling in the edge-bending run game.

While Webb may have generated the most publicity as a freshman, I believe Rivers may possess the type of skill set that may make Ludwig salivate: north-south, one-cut-and-go rusher who relishes contact.

This is big boy football, Commodore fans; “22 personnel.” (My personal favorite personnel grouping.)

Just look at how Rivers navigated that between-the-tackles run: He ran through a couple of arm tackles and finished it off with some emphasis; not many will want to continually tackle this guy over the span of four quarters.

Webb reminds me of a stud Ludwig had in his first season with Wisconsin who worked very well as a complement to Gordon, current New England Patriots back James White, whose ability to hit the home run as a change-of-pace option made the scheme go.

However, a lot of the success can be attributed to the versatility of his “Y” and “U” targets who were a major factor in both the run and throw game. Tight ends Jacob Pedersen, Brian Wozniak and Troy Fumagali worked as in-line and off-the-line “flex” targets who caused matchup problems no matter where they were deployed.

This is why Ludwig undoubtedly drooled when he found out the best player on the team happened to be a tight end, Steven Scheu, who can be moved all around the formation much like those aforementioned players.

In fact, a case can easily be made that the 6’5″, 250-pound senior is the best prospect to be under the coach’s tutelage during his entire career. The coach is also blessed with another TE who can be flexed out to generate mismatches in the 6’5″, 238-pound sophomore Nathan Marcus.

But the most exciting prospect may come in the form of a 6’3″, 215-pound hybrid player, sophomore DeAndre Woods, who was deployed as in-line target but has the skill set of a split end.

However, I was less than impressed by the receiving corps as a whole as it failed to help out the QBs at all during the spring game. There were way too many dropped passes and double catches.

That’s not to say the unit lacks talent.

Darrius Sims possesses the type of suddenness that will find him behind a secondary on any given snap, and he also adds value to the RB position which may include him terrorizing defenses by way of Reverses and “Buck Sweeps.”

But a lot of the success will hinge on the offensive line’s ability to make hay in the run game and protect whichever signal-caller gets the nod.

In the interest of honesty, there wasn’t one QB who impressed me during the spring game. But they also were let down a great deal by targets dropping passes and simply not finishing the play.

However, I do believe Shawn Stankavage is an interesting prospect with Johnny McCrary and Wade Freebeck possessing enough talent to man the scheme.

Here’s a nice throw from Freebeck on a 9-route. 

But I expect the QB battle to heat up when the squad reconvenes where we’ll see highly-touted freshman Kyle Shurmur, 6’4″, 205 pounds, vie for a spot in the starting lineup. His accuracy is only superseded by his knowledge of defensive concepts.

Check back for the next installment where I’ll break down Mason’s defense and how combining schemes from the University of Stanford and Wisconsin is the way to go in regard to physical football.