A look into the D’Eriq King/Rhett Lashlee Quarterback run game for the Hurricanes

A look into another team’s past could unlock a piece of the Miami Hurricane’s future. Rhett Lashlee was given the reigns of the offense from head coach Gus Malzhan and was rewarded with a national championship appearance in 2013.

Nick Marshall was a mobile threat quarterback who was a pivotal component of the number one rated rushing attack that year. Auburn averaged 328.29 yards per contest. In full disclosure, I often believe a coordinator’s most recent stop is more the snapshot that provides the clarity.

However we would be naive to neglect the last time Rhett Lashlee had a very dynamic run threat at the quarterback helm. No offense to SMU’s quarterback from a year ago Shane Buechele but he didn’t run for 1068 yards on the ground. Marshall did.

The quarterback read option is a simple play in which the quarterback puts the ball in the belly of the running back and “reads” a defender and/or area. The quarterback then either keeps the ball himself and runs, or hands it off to his running back. (Jet sweep motion receivers could be a substitute here)

In this edition of Student of the Game, the video series will spend a ton of time focusing on this play variety. I feel this will be a big staple moving forward for the 2020 Miami Hurricanes offense with D’Eriq King at the controls.

So how does this stress a defense? What is the responsibility of the defensive end? The linebacker? What is the quarterback trying to do in different instances? What is a mid-line read? These are all questions we tackle, unlike most of the defenders trying to tackle the quarterback in these clips, in this SOTG edition.

In closing, the tempo and the ability to stress a defense into a few missteps a game is a simple recipe to create big plays in the run game. Time after time that was the backdrop for a big run in 2013. Can 2020 recreate some of those moments? With the Miami athletes on the offensive side of the ball to include King, my answer is yes.