The mad scientist: How Kevin McGiven's unique schemes have improved Utah football

SALT LAKE CITY — It's a scheme that goes by many names inside Utah football's playbook, and one that has seemingly infinite variations.

At one point Saturday night, Kevin McGiven put out a unique set, which included quarterbacks Devon Dampier and Byrd Ficklin, and running backs Wayshawn Parker and Daniel Bray all standing in a horizontal line in the backfield.

It was not your typical arrangement in the backfield — and yet with the skillset and versatility of each player in the line, it quickly became a diabolical play design to utilize against opposing defenses.

How does the defense scheme for that? Where do they line up? Where's the read? Is it the quadruple option?

"Just to see all four of us back there, it's kind of like a — it's a crazy sight to see," Ficklin said. "It's something you never really see, but McGiven has been really good at playing around and messing around with these type of things throughout spring and fall that it's became normal to us. It might look crazy to y'all, like what's going on, but to us, it's kind of like, all right, let's go."

In short, it becomes a bit too much to diagnose for a defense in less than 25 seconds, especially on first view, and that's the point.

McGiven is the mad scientist in the laboratory concocting play designs, hoping he can unlock something never before seen — or at least interesting wrinkles to standard play calls. And while he may not be intentionally trying to revolutionize offensive schemes, he may have a penicillin situation on his hands — an accidental discovery that changes the sport.

"I don't know that we sit and, like, pat each other on the back with those," head coach Morgan Scalley said Saturday night. "It's just, we try and be as efficient as possible — creativity's part of that. You're trying to give opposing defenses a lot to handle when it comes to personnel groups and stuff like that."

That includes lining up in unique schemes that don't tip off the defense before the snap. At several points throughout the first half Saturday, McGiven didn't have anyone lined up in the backfield, including a quarterback — talk about an empty set!

But just before the snap, Dampier or Ficklin (or Parker) moved into the QB role and quickly snapped the ball to execute the team's intended play. It gave the Arkansas defense about 2-3 seconds of time to try to figure out what Utah was doing out there, which is not enough time to have a read on what to do.

And Utah exploited that throughout the night en route to a 43-10 win over Arkansas.

Want to employ a spy to contain Dampier?

Great, McGiven just lined him up in the backfield as a running back, with Ficklin in shotgun to accept the snap. Ficklin handed off the ball to Dampier, who exploded toward the A-gap before he suddenly stopped and pitched the ball back out to Ficklin, who escaped off the edge for a big gain against a defense that bit hard on Dampier's run.

It was creativity at its finest, and Arkansas had no answer.

"It's something we've been working on for a little bit, but if all of a sudden it doesn't work, then it's like, 'Oh, you were too cute,'" Scalley said. "But it worked, so hooray us! But no, I'm excited. The amount of players that we have, playmakers that we have, allow us to do quite a bit, and I'm proud of that game plan. They work their tails off."

Scalley, who previously served as a defensive coordinator, explained on Monday that McGiven's approach with various schemes, mixed with a diverse offensive personnel, provides a major headache for all involved on the defensive side — and none more than the "personnel guy" in the booth who is expected to read out over the headset what the personnel groupings appear to be.

"The most stressed out person in the entire stadium on game day is your personnel guy up in the booth," Scalley said. "They're trying to — 'It's 12 personnel. No, no, no, it's 10 personnel.' All the while the coach is like, 'Let's go, let's go.' So they have a hard time.

"The more you can create chaos with guys coming on, guys going off, and still be able to snap it in time and be efficient, that's what we're trying to do," he added. "Creating different tempos, as well. You go from being a huddle team to quick on the ball, and so teams don't get into a rhythm of 'OK, they're always going to huddle, they're always going to break the huddle, and we get to see the formation.' You've got to be able to mix that stuff up, as well."

Scalley said the team is constantly "having conversations back and forth" on what is "too much" and "what can we get away with" in those settings. And while it worked Saturday, and provided an interesting scout for future opponents, he cautioned about getting "too cute" with it all if they can't get the ball into their playmakers' hands.

Fortunately, he added, his team is made up of several people who are unselfish and willing to be team players. Star receiver Braden Pegan may have the hot hand one game and then get only a handful of targets the next, while tight end Noah Bennee goes for a career night.

That gives McGiven the latitude to work with several different schemes and looks.

"I'm having a lot of fun, more than I can explain," Ficklin said. "We're out there having fun, and everybody's putting their athletic ability on stage for the world to see."

"I love it," Bennee added. "That's something I was thinking about today. That's the great thing about this offense is anybody can get the ball. Anybody can kind of have their game. ... That's the beauty of the offense, it makes it really fun."

It's a mix-and-match game that allows Utah, and more specifically McGiven, versatility in the offensive play-calling. It keeps opponents guessing and unable to hone in on one set scheme. And that's only possible if every player is bought in to making the system work and not chasing their own accolades or stats.

"Do you want to be someone or you want to do something? If you want to be someone, anywhere you can go," Scalley said. "You can go some place and go start. Or you can be a part of a great team and do something. And our guys have a great attitude right now, great mentality. You may get yours one week, you may not get as much the next week, but it doesn't matter who scores. It matters that we score, and guys are bought into that right now."

And it's all led to a sort of weaponized offensive scheme under McGiven, where anything and everything is possible.

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