Alabama Football will face four new SEC Offensive Coordinators in 2017
By Ronald Evans
Ole Miss Offensive Coordinator Phil Longo
Not long ago the conventional wisdom was that no one, short of Archie Manning could save Hugh Freeze’s job. No one doubted the NCAA hammer was coming down hard on the Rebels/Black Bears. Many fans were surprised and some shocked tp learn Freeze was given a new contract extension.
Even before final NCAA sanctions are added to the Ole Miss self-imposed sanctions, recruiting has slumped. In 2016 based upon 247 Sports Composite rankings, Ole Miss was No. 5 nationally and No. 3 in the SEC. The 2017 recruiting class dropped to No. 30 nationally and No. 12 in the SEC.
The 2017 drop in elite players will not have much impact before the 2018 season. The 2016 class can sustain Ole Miss in 2017. The most significant player in the 2016 class was 5-Star quarterback recruit, Shea Patterson.
In the 2016 recruiting cycle Patterson was rated the No. 1 Pro-Style passer in the nation. More than a passer, Patterson has been compared to Johnny Manziel in his ability to make plays and keep plays alive with his feet.
As Chad Kelly’s backup last season, Patterson followed Kelly’s injury with three starts including a came-from-behind victory over Texas A&M. In 2017 Patterson will be the center of the Ole Miss offense.
New Ole Miss offensive coordinator Phil Longo has never coached on a stage equal to the SEC. At FCS Sam Houston State, Long’s offense put up more than 49 points a game last season. Can Longo replicate such firepower against SEC defenses? Hugh Freeze believes he can.
Longo is an “Air-Raid” devotee, who credits Mike Leach and Kliff Kingsbury as his tutors. Long-time college football fans will remember the “Air-Raid” goes back beyond Leach, to Hal Mumme and Lavell Edwards at BYU. College football historians will add that the true father of the “Air-Raid” was the old NFL “feast or famine” offense of Sid Gillman.
What Lavell Edwards taught Mike Leach was that a simple, open-field, pass-heavy attack did not require elite offensive players. Average athletes thrived in BYU’s “Air-Raid” attack.
This same offensive premise, utilizing above average athletes, eventually came to dominate the Big 12. Can it succeed against SEC defenses? The Longo offensive approach is not very different from what Texas A&M and Ole Miss have already used against SEC defenses.
Phil Longo told Alec Shirkey of SEC Country why he thinks Shea Patterson is perfect for his offense:
"“It’s a skill player-driven system. We create space both horizontally and vertically. Shea is a great space football player. He’s mobile. He can make any throw on the field. He can run the ball and he can extend plays in the pass game with his legs. To put an athletic guy that can think and throw in this system, it’s a perfect fit.”"
Not since Hal Mumme’s time as Kentucky’s head coach has the SEC seen what will explode this fall in Oxford. That is unless the Ole Miss Rebels/Black Bears football program implodes first.