Behr: Speed, tempo keys to ASU offense
by Steve Behr Sports Editor
When Appalachian State’s football team won its three national championships, the Mountaineers’ biggest overall physical weapon was speed.
It was Marcus Murrell’s speed pass rush that caught up with Northern Iowa quarterback Eric Sanders and forced him to fumble the football.
Jason Hunter scooped up and ran 15 yards for the winning touchdown in the 2005 Division I-AA title game.
It was the speed of Kevin Richardson, and the Mountaineers’ offense in general, that capped a 14-game winning streak and a 2006 championship game win over Massachusetts.
It was the speed of players such as quarterback Armanti Edwards, receivers Dexter Jackson and Hans Batichon that carried the Mountaineers’ nearly unstoppable offense to a victory over Michigan and eventually a 2007 FCS title over Delaware.
The architect behind the offense of those three teams was quarterbacks coach Scott Satterfield. It’s quickness and speed that Satterfield wants to bring back to the Mountaineers’ in 2012.
Physically, Appalachian State has plenty of guys who can run fast. Running backs Steven Miller, Rod Chisholm and freshman Tysean Holloway can all motor.
Receivers Tony Washington, Andrew Peacock, redshirt freshman Sean Price and incoming freshman Malachi Jones run like gazelles.
But Satterfield wants his players doing more than running fast down the field. He wants them running fast back to the line of scrimmage when the play is over.
Tempo is the buzzword with the Appalachian State offense. Satterfield combined about 60 percent from what he learned previously as an assistant, and combined it with 40 percent taken from his stints at Toledo and Florida International.
It’s new terminology to the Mountaineers that four new assistant coaches had to learn first, and then translate to a potentially exlopsive offense.
Satterfield conceded that there will be times when ASU’s offense won’t be on overdrive. Trying to eat some clock while holding a lead late in the game comes to mind.
But make no mistake that the Mountaineers want to attack, and do it quickly, when they have the ball.
“If we have to wait for the referees to place the ball, that’s a good thing,” Satterfield said Saturday.
It was Marcus Murrell’s speed pass rush that caught up with Northern Iowa quarterback Eric Sanders and forced him to fumble the football.
Jason Hunter scooped up and ran 15 yards for the winning touchdown in the 2005 Division I-AA title game.
It was the speed of Kevin Richardson, and the Mountaineers’ offense in general, that capped a 14-game winning streak and a 2006 championship game win over Massachusetts.
It was the speed of players such as quarterback Armanti Edwards, receivers Dexter Jackson and Hans Batichon that carried the Mountaineers’ nearly unstoppable offense to a victory over Michigan and eventually a 2007 FCS title over Delaware.
The architect behind the offense of those three teams was quarterbacks coach Scott Satterfield. It’s quickness and speed that Satterfield wants to bring back to the Mountaineers’ in 2012.
Physically, Appalachian State has plenty of guys who can run fast. Running backs Steven Miller, Rod Chisholm and freshman Tysean Holloway can all motor.
Receivers Tony Washington, Andrew Peacock, redshirt freshman Sean Price and incoming freshman Malachi Jones run like gazelles.
But Satterfield wants his players doing more than running fast down the field. He wants them running fast back to the line of scrimmage when the play is over.
Tempo is the buzzword with the Appalachian State offense. Satterfield combined about 60 percent from what he learned previously as an assistant, and combined it with 40 percent taken from his stints at Toledo and Florida International.
It’s new terminology to the Mountaineers that four new assistant coaches had to learn first, and then translate to a potentially exlopsive offense.
Satterfield conceded that there will be times when ASU’s offense won’t be on overdrive. Trying to eat some clock while holding a lead late in the game comes to mind.
But make no mistake that the Mountaineers want to attack, and do it quickly, when they have the ball.
“If we have to wait for the referees to place the ball, that’s a good thing,” Satterfield said Saturday.