Will Stein is Bringing a Malleable Offense to Kentucky

Will Stein is considered one of the best young offensive minds in college football. His resume is impressive. During his three years at Oregon, he’s had three top-five offenses, has sent two different quarterbacks to the Heisman Trophy ceremony, and has three Joe Moore Award finalists on the offensive line. Not too shabby.

We know the what, but how has he made it work? Stein has a one-size-fits-all approach.

“He seems to tailor the offense to the pieces he has, rather than make the pieces tailor to what he does,” Geoff Schwartz recently told KSR. “We see a lot of times, coaches, the ones that fail, just tend to say, ‘We’re running what we’re running. That’s what we’re doing.’ In Will’s situation, he has changed the offense to fit the quarterback.”

Schwartz is a FOX Sports analyst who spent eight years on NFL offensive lines after an All-Pac-10 career at Oregon. He’s not just a proud fan of the Ducks. Schwartz breaks down the tape after every game and loves that Stein always plays to his quarterback’s strengths.

“The offense with Bo Nix was a lot of empty protection. It was letting Bo read the field, giving him a lot of freedom to make decisions as far as checks and where to go with the ball. Dillon Gabriel, there was less of that. That wasn’t what Dillon was good at. It was sort of eliminating some of the over-the-middle throws that Dillon Gabriel wasn’t great at. Dante Moore, as he’s gotten more confident and comfortable with more, he’s gone back to allowing him to use more of the Bo Nix-type scheme,” said Schwartz.

It hasn’t been easy for Moore. His top pass-catchers were sidelined with injuries near the end of the season, but Stein still found a way to put up points.

“Also, Oregon has been down a bunch of wide receivers, so he’s adjusting the offense to add the tight ends. They basically played Washington last week in 12 personnel the entire game. They had two tight ends and two wide receivers on the field for most of the game,” said Schwartz.

“I think that’s what Will’s done so well with this offense is that he’s not been stubborn and really made it about him. He’s made it about his players.”

No Tempo for Tempo’s Sake

Tempo can cripple a defense. Kentucky fans have been on the wrong end of it against Tennessee for years. Defenses get stuck on the field, unable to substitute or set up pressure packages. However, tempo can backfire. If you try to play too fast, it can result in a three-and-out that forces your defense back onto the field. Stein’s offense utilizes tempo, but it’s just one iron in his bag.

“One thing I like that Will Stein doesn’t do: He doesn’t tempo to go fast on third and short or fourth and short,” said Schwartz. “I absolutely hate when teams run up to the line of scrimmage really fast, and they run inside zone. He finds the right opportunities to go tempo, and it’s typically a package of plays.”

Simply put, there will be a drive or two a game where Oregon goes all GAS, an abbreviation for “Get your Ass Set.” It’s only a handful of plays, but it’s incredibly effective and can result in three or four-play touchdown-scoring drives.

Stein will have an Offense that Plays with Purpose

After watching Will Stein orchestrate a top-five offense for the last three years at Oregon, Schwartz sees a group that can beat you in a variety of ways. That’s hard to defend. Most importantly, it doesn’t matter what the plan of attack is. The offense is all beating the same drum.

“Offensively, you’re going to see a purpose,” said Schwartz. “To be fair, I have not watched a lot of Kentucky football. I can’t tell you whether or not that was a problem. But purpose, a purpose; that’s what you watch with this offense. There’s a reason they do things, and there’s a real drive to do it correctly. That’s what you watch when you watch Oregon football on offense.”

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