Return of the Mike:

Much excitement can be had from the return of Mike Denbrock to be the offensive coordinator of Notre Dame. Last year, Notre Dame ran a old-is-new-again scheme of drawing up many condensed formations and a huge variety in the running game. The RPO (Run-Pass-Option) and pass game weren’t employed as much as Denbrock was cooking up last year at LSU. If there were several complaints I could air about last year’s offense it would be 1) the condensing of the manpower near the center of the line of scrimmage made the running game actually more difficult and 2) the defense did not need to respect the deep ball shots and defend the entire width of the field on most snaps.

Access of Coaches’ Film:

I have received access to the all-22 film of 2023 LSU’s offense, and so far I have charted the 61 non-penalty plays during the Alabama game. From this experience, I can say that this offense is going to stretch the field horizontally and vertically and spread out the defense to enable the run game. Last year, Gerad Parker employed several tight ends and condensed under-center formations (Harrumph Fullbacks) with mixed success. Mike Denbrock is going to primarily operate a 11 personnel offense (1 running back and 1 tight end) from the shotgun with wide receivers positioned widely to force the defense to choose between defending the run game and the entire field. 2023 LSU did not bring to bear the pistol formation in many plays, but several times motioned out of it to hide the alignment of the running back till closer to the snap.

Offensive Metrics:

Mike Denbrock’s Offensive Coordinator Metrics (Credit @ND_FB_Analytics):

 

RPO & Run Game Overview:

2023 LSU majored in basically one run with some wrinkles: Inside Zone. There were a couple outside zone or jet runs but for the most part Denbrock wanted the Tigers to do one thing well in the running game and that was the quick hitting box run of inside zone. A LSU fan site has a nice breakdown of Mike’s Inside Zone running game. Denbrock hasn’t directed a very vertical RPO game, preferring to force the conflict with 1st and 2nd level defenders, generally horizontally, to open up the spacing inside the box (the area that the offense is trying to run). Denbrock doesn’t utilize a high percentage of play action, despite ranking 8th in the country in explosiveness, 2023 LSU ranked 124th in play action percent. Mike harnessed his past quarterbacks early and often in the running game. This is done by “reading” a defender and making them wrong either by handing the ball off or keeping the ball past the defender. The quarterbacks aren’t necessarily in any more injury danger than normal unless they are made of particular glass like well you know…

Inside Zone Copy RPO:


Mike wields two main RPOs to protect the inside run game. These are called by his terminology Skip and Copy. Basically a slot receiver or H-back will either run an arrow to the play-side or the flat across the formation at the snap. The QB will first read the edge and if he pulls will put the 2nd level defender in conflict. The best explanation of these concepts can come from the horse’s mouth himself: Denbrock has had clinics on these concepts skip (1) (2), copy. The LSU’s fan site breakdown of Denbrock’s RPO game.

Passing Concept Overview & Cross-Smash:

The new Irish Coordinator has a deep bag of pass concepts. These pass concepts often have deep shots concepts built into the normal progression of QB reads. Pass concepts I noticed in the 2023 LSU Alabama game were Shallow, Cross, Verts, Sail, Dbl Post, Shallows (Mills), Drive, Levels, Smash, Spacing, Mesh, Dagger, Slot-Fade, High-Low, Sail, Snag, Bow, HOSS (Hitch-Outside Slot-Seam). Needless to say Irish fans shouldn’t be able to be bored with the offense. In 2023, LSU ranked 8th in explosiveness, this was likely due to the success Jayden Daniels had in connecting on shot plays within the normal progression of the pass concepts. A LSU fan site has broken up many of the passing plays when Mike was hired for their team.

In this play-example is what I am calling Cross Smash. The H receiver runs a cross route, while the backside concept runs a smash concept. The over/cross route is a good man and zone beater if the protection holds up. The backside post forces the safety to choose between the routes. Smash is a particularly great Cover 2 zone beater as the outside corner is forced to choose between defending the hitch and defending the fade/corner. Saban’s Alabama is in a cover 1 man defense. Jayden Daniels throws the fade for a nice completion. This play exemplifies several of Denbrock’s characteristics in that this is a deep shot generating play. One of the negatives of this play is that the protection by the offensive line really has to hold up or else Riley Leonard is going to get murdered.

Conclusion:

We’ll see how many parts this series makes before the season starts, if there are any specific questions feel free to ask in the comments and I’ll try to get an (eventual) answer.

Finally, here are several resources on or from Denbrock:

A 43 minute clinic talk from Mike.

A breakdown from The Coordinator Project.

LSU fan site’s X&O’s section.

Coaches Caviar on 2023 LSU: (1), (2), (3), (4), (5).