Film Room: Breaking down Miami offensive coordinator Dan Enos

Dan Enos is officially the Miami Hurricanes offensive coordinator. Manny Diaz has made a big time splash hire with the former Alabama quarterbacks coach spurning a possible promotion in Tuscaloosa to come to Coral Gables. Enos, a former Michigan State quarterback (1987-1990) has put together a really nice resume in the coaching world working along side of the game’s best.

Enos quarterbacked the Spartans under head coach George Perles. Perles made a name for himself under Chuck Noll as the defensive line coach of Mean Joe Greene and the eventual defensive coordinator of the Steel Curtain. Alongside Noll, Perles coaching the Steelers to four Super Bowl victories in the 70’s. Perles then returned to the college game and became the head coach at MSU.

Enos served as a position coach and coordinator at the lower levels of college football before his first major OC position at North Dakota State in 2003. Enos then coached at Cincinnati under Mark Dantonio before following the Spartans now head coach to East Lansing. Enos then took the Central Michigan head coaching position from 2010-2014.

Enos did a great job of maintaining success after Butch Jones departed CMU. Central Michigan was slowly built into a 7-6 program. Then Enos left for the OC job at Arkansas where he guided the Arkansas offense from 2015-2017, and served as the Tide’s QB coach in 2018 working with Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts.

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Analytics

Central Michigan

When Enos arrived at Central Michigan they were coming off of a big season in 2009 but had lost the majority of that talent and weren’t being built up for the future under Butch Jones. Enos inherited a barren cupboard and struggled through back-to-back 3-9 seasons before finishing 7-6, 6-6 and 7-6. His offenses weren’t statistically eye popping but then again CMU can’t compete with the big boys. From 2010-2014, his offenses were ranked 93, 98, 75, 116, and 88, respectively.

Do you remember Cooper Rush? I don’t either but Enos relied on the quarterback as his starter at CMU for his first two seasons in college. Rush left CMU with over 12,000 passing yards (7.8 yards per attempt) and a 90:55 TD:INT ratio, but his best season was his sophomore year under Enos where he averaged 8.2 yards per attempt while completing almost 64% of his passes.

Arkansas

Enos left CMU for the chance to be an SEC coordinator under Bret Bielema at Arkansas. Enos ran the Razorbacks offense from 2015-2017 with two different Allen’s at quarterback for the bulk of his time there. In 2015 the offense finished 4th in the S&P+ scoring 35.9 PPG which was good for 27th in the nation. In 2016, the Razorbacks offense was ranked 39th per the S&P+ and 43rd in 2017 under the same metrics. In 2016 Arkansas scored 30.3 PPG (57th) and 28.8 PPG in 2017 (62nd).

The first Allen brother Enos had at Arkansas was Brandon. Brandon Allen threw for 3,440 yards (9.3 yards per attempt) and a 30:8 TD:INT ratio under Enos in year one. Brandon has hung around in the NFL for a couple of seasons as a backup. Austin Allen then took over for Brandon and threw for 3,430 yards (8.6 yards per attempt) and a 30:8 TD:INT ratio in his first season as the starter. His second season was marred by injuries and the Razorbacks struggled in 2017. Allen threw for 1,427 yards (7.6 yards per attempt) and 10:5 TD:INT ratio as a senior battling through shoulder issues.

Alabama

After the Arkansas staff was let go following the 2017 season, Enos resurfaced as assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach at Alabama under Nick Saban. The combination of Mike Locksley and Enos turned the Crimson Tide offense from 23rd per the S&P+ to 2nd overall on the strong performances of Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa.

Hurts improved from 8.2 yards per passing attempt the year prior to 10.9 in 2018 under Enos. Tagovailoa threw for 3966 yards (11.2 yards per attempt) and 43 touchdowns with only six interceptions in 2018. At times, Tua looked like the best QB in the nation as only a sophomore but eventually gave way to Oklahoma QB Kyler Murray for the prestigious award.

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Personnel

While at CMU, Enos employed a pro style attack using fullbacks, tight ends, and an under center approach. It’s the same style that Enos ran under Bielema down at Arkansas, although with the Razorbacks there were even more tight ends and fullbacks.

At Alabama, the Tide have really converted their game to a more “NCAA Offense” approach, ie. 11 personnel using a tight end / h-back and a shotgun and pistol based running game. The Tide employed run-pass options, quarterback read options, and even a single wing type of set with Josh Jacobs in the backfield at the quarterback position.

The Tide are obviously one of the most talented teams in the nation. The Miami Hurricanes have some talent but can use a boost at positions like wide receiver, quarterback (duh) and along the offensive line. Enos has been able to adapt his system to different talent whether it was at CMU, Arkansas, or Alabama and I have no doubt that he will continue to adapt at Miami to what Manny Diaz’s overall vision is of the program and offensive system.

Take a look at what Irv Smith did with the Tide. I can’t image a coach like Enos seeing Smith and not thinking, ‘that’s what Brevin Jordan can do for the ‘Canes.’ At the same time Miami has Will Mallory and 2019 tight end Larry Hodges. Jordan, Mallory and Hodges can all get on the field as they have different skill sets.

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Alabama Scheme

Knowing his affinity for tight ends, I’m going to be presumptuous here and assume that Brevin Jordan will be the cog that makes this offense work, and what it’s built around. Deon Butler was a converted wide receiver for the Chippewas who caught 30 balls while averaging 14.1 yards per catch in 2014. Irv Smith was used all over the field for Alabama and I can see that’s what Enos will envision for Jordan.

Below- Smith goes in motion and the Tide use a smash route to hit him in the back corner of the end zone.

Below in the GIF, Smith runs another corner route off of a smash concept, but this time from the slot. The mismatches with a super athletic tight end like Brevin Jordan are blatantly there if the quarterbacks can hit him.

Down in the red zone, Smith is lined up as an inline tight end and breaks over the middle of the end zone. Readers know I like hitting the middle of the field in the red zone as opposed to forcing the fade inside the +20 or even +10.

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What will Enos’ run game plan include? I won’t be surprised if you see the classic staples of an offense like inside zone, inside zone read, and power. What I’m happy to see on Bama film is my favorite play- split zone. They used it all over the field, including in the red zone.

Below- you’ll see a GIF of dart with the left tackle pulling to wrap as a lead blocker for the running back. If the back side defensive end squeezes with the pulling tackle, the quarterback will pull and run. If the defensive end sits the running back gets the ball and scores like he does in the GIF.

21 personnel down inside the red zone with a shift of the HB from the wing to the backfield. The hole opens up and Harris scores easily. This is split zone again.

If Jalen Hurts comes to Miami, or if he doesn’t, expect to see the quarterback play improve drastically. Under Enos Tua and Hurts both looked drastically improved. Enos is a quarterback expert and has gotten a lot out of Hurts, and the Allen brothers as well as making Tua look like a young Heisman candidate.

Simply think about what went on in the quarterback meeting room balancing Tua taking over the job, Hurts staying on campus, and keeping them both engaged and performing at a peak level. When Alabama needed Hurts to step in and win he did in the SEC Championship Game.

Watch the highlight tape below from Hurts’ performance as he runs swing-draw for a game winning touchdown but also carves up the Bulldogs defense through the air by spreading the football around.

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Summary

I’m extremely excited about this hire, more so than Larry Fedora, Tee Martin, Major Applewhite, Danny O’Shea or whichever offensive coordinator was rumored to be moving to Coral Gables. With Enos in town the quarterback play will improve drastically, and the scheme will design itself around the personnel like it did at CMU, Arkansas and Alabama.

Hopefully Jalen Hurts comes with him and we can see what could be the most exciting Miami offense since the 2002 season with Hurts, Jordan, Mike Harley, Mallory, Asa Martin, Deejay Dallas, Cam Davis and Lorenzo Lingard all on the offensive side of the football.