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The other day, when BYU offensive coordinator Robert Anae said "we do not have one bona-fide starter" on the offensive line, I was reminded of his two-year tenure as offensive line coach at Arizona (2011-12)--a tenure that began with Anae inheriting the least-experienced offensive line in all of college football. Anae's 2011 offensive line featured exactly one career start among its returning players.
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Running a version of the ‘Air Raid' offense, the Wildcats were understandably pass-heavy in 2011, ranking 3rd nationally in passing offense and 114th in rushing during the season. Ranked 38th in scoring, Arizona finished 59th nationally in sacks allowed. Following a shaky start to the season as multiple green players saw their first starts, the offensive was judged to have made significant improvements throughout the season, as players gained experience.
Those improvements helped make Anae the only survivor from Mike Stoops' coaching staff, after Stoops was fired at the end of 2011. Incoming head coach Rich Rodriguez kept Anae on board and retained him to run the offensive line, with Anae relinquishing his run-game coordinator responsibilities as Rodriquez introduced and installed his zone-read attack. At the time, Rodriquez was quoted in the Arizona Daily Star as saying the Wildcat linemen were "overwhelmingly positive" in recommending Anae to the new head man.
"I could tell there was a great deal of respect for him as a coach and as a person," Rodriguez said in 2012. "It's been a great fit. He's a good recruiter and a great person, and I think he's done a really, really good job on the offensive line."
Learning an entirely new offense, Anae and his line adapted and helped Arizona become one of the most prolific teams in the country last season, ranking 15th in scoring, 15th in rushing, 23rd in passing and 28th in sacks allowed.
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Anae now brings many of the principles of the Arizona offense to Provo for his second go-round as BYU's OC, which will also include oversight responsibilities for the offensive line, assisted by position coach Garrett Tujague. While Anae is introducing a brand-new offense to his BYU charges, his 2013 offensive linemen will have more starting experience than the group with which he began in Tucson more than two years ago.
Anae's pronouncement that he lacks a bona-fide starter notwithstanding, linemen Ryker Mathews (13), Manaaki Vaitai (9), Solomone Kafu (8) and Brock Stringham (3) have combined for 33 starts during their BYU careers.
After day one of camp at BYU, Anae said "we're going to try a bunch of different rotations...hopefully by the end of camp, we'll have a pretty good idea of who our top eight, ten guys are up there." Anae has indicated that he will certainly need more than five linemen ready to play, due to the demands of the Cougars' new hurry-up scheme. "Shoot, there were years at Texas Tech (offensive line coach, 2000-2004) where I rotated ten guys all year, and man, we were killer because they were always fresh."
Now comes a fresh approach to offense in Provo, and a drastic change from the previous way of doing things. Last season, during Wildcats camp, Anae was asked by the Daily Star about the differences between Arizona's previous offense and the new zone-read. He said at the time:
"Nothing changes, no matter what offense you run. Nothing changes. You block on runs, you block on passes. There's not one change. Now, the terms are different, the schemes are different... but nothing changes in the game of football up front. It's really that simple. We don't have plays where guys don't block anybody. There's no such thing."
It's a no-frills philosophy attached to a dynamic offensive game plan. Recent history indicates that Anae will be able to incorporate theory into practice and have his guys ready to go--and ready to run--on August 31st at Virginia.
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Camp notes:
After a "media dead-day" on Tuesday, reporters will be allowed to observe the final 30 minutes of Wednesday afternoon's practice session.
Look for a report on "Cougar Tracks" at this space later this evening.
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