Kevin Wilson Has Been Here Before

May 14, 2018
By Tony Gerdeman

Ohio State offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson has been around and has run a variety of offenses in his time. He’s had run-first quarterbacks, pass-only quarterbacks, and dual threats that allowed him to be whatever he wanted whenever he wanted it.

So while moving from a dual-threat quarterback like J.T. Barrett to a pass-first guy like Dwayne Haskins might be jarring for the Ohio State identity, it is nothing new for Wilson.

When he was at Indiana, his quarterbacks had a disastrous 2014 thanks to injuries and inexperience. Starter Nate Sudfeld missed the final six games with an injury, which then threw the situation into a tailspin. Things got so bad that the Hoosiers were eventually playing a linebacker at the position.

In 2015, however, Sudfeld was good to go and played in 12 of Indiana’s 13 games. He ran the ball 46 times, most of which were actually sacks. He was a pass-first guy, but the offense didn’t suffer because of it.

In fact, Indiana led the Big Ten in total offense that year, averaging 504.3 yards per game. They were first in passing with 293.8 yards per game. Perhaps most impressively, however, was that they were also able to finish second in the conference in rushing, averaging 210.5 yards per game.

The Hoosiers had a pair of 1,000-yard rushers that season. Jordan Howard carried the ball 196 times for 1,213 yards and Devine Redding carried it 226 times for 1,012 yards. Only Northwestern (600 att.) ran the ball more than Indiana (592 att.) in 2015.

The quarterback may have been pass-first, but the offense was as balanced as any in the country. And Kevin Wilson hasn’t forgotten it.

“We basically ran the same offense at my previous school,” he said. “So all of the sudden when I had a quarterback that wasn’t a great runner, there was two kids with 1,000 yards because those carries went to the second tailback. And then all of the sudden we were, instead of the quarterback pulling it and keeping it, he was throwing it and that’s why he had three receivers with over 50 catches.”

Looking at Ohio State’s offense, they currently have two tailbacks that have rushed for 1,000 yards in a season. Now, with the quarterback carries dropping considerably, there is a legitimate shot at both Mike Weber and J.K. Dobbins rushing for 1,000 yards in 2018.

The offense will still be recognizable, because the staples won’t change. Just like Indiana in 2015, the running game will be the key, but the distribution of the ball from the quarterback is what will be different.

“But it was still inside zone, power,” Wilson said. “It was the same plays, but where the balls got distributed. So again, as we go, the offense isn’t changing. We’re going to develop what we got and then those quarterbacks, in time, we put it together to, is it read, is it run, is it, you do a little bit of both.”