UM’s Enos dishes on Martell, QB battle, offensive struggles, the spread and his system
UM offensive coordinator Dan Enos said Wednesday that Tate Martell is being given a fresh look in the quarterback competition, made clear the QB job will be open next spring, and showed no inclination to switch exclusively to a spread offense to try to boost a unit that finished 73rd in scoring, 120th in rushing and 130th in third down conversions.
Asked whether he would consider going primarily to a spread, Enos said: “What is the spread offense? I don’t know what it is. Is it shotgun? Is it quarterback run? We do all that; we run RPOs [run/pass options]. We’re in 11 personnel most of time, which is three wide receivers, one back. We’re in shotgun or pistol most of the time. People define spread offense; it’s a very ambiguous term. I don’t really understand it because systems don’t win championships. Players and coaches do.”
He said UM’s offense is “on the cutting edge of everything we’re doing from a schematic standpoint.”
He also said he has adapted plenty this season.
“We’ve changed; I’ve adapted more this year than I’ve ever adapted as a coach,” he said. “I’m not hard headed to say ‘no this, no that.’ We’ve gone to a lot of pistol stuff because Jarren Williams is more comfortable with that. I’ve not been a big pistol guy over the years. We’ve adapted quite a bit of the things we’ve done.
“We’ve RPOed more [run/pass option], thrown screens, run the ball. We’re trying to do a lot of different things to get him comfortable and to play well. We are not ram rodding a system down anybody’s throat. We are going to constantly try to make the system have adjustments. We’ve adapted our scheme.”
So how should the offense be fixed? “We’ve got to coach better, block better, run routes better, be more consistent, catch the ball when we need to, got to do a better job navigating the pocket [and] keeping our eyes down field and as coaches, do a better job of putting these guys in better situations.”
Asked whether it would be a good idea to go to a no-huddle offense more, he said: “We tried to go no huddle a few times and we weren’t very successful at it. So we stayed away from it. We’re not very successful at it right now but we’re so young.”
Meanwhile, UM practiced for the fourth time on Tuesday in advance of the Dec. 26 Independence Bowl against Louisiana Tech, and Enos said Martell is being given a fresh look in the starting battle, and that repetitions in practice are being shared among Martell, Jarren Williams and N’Kosi Perry.
“He has to do it on the field and it’s been very inconsistent,” Enos said of Martell. “He hasn’t done anything to have earned a chance to do that yet. He’s been really good [in four practices]. And he’s done a nice job. I don’t know where it will end up. He’s in the right frame of mind, and we would like to see the best version of him.”
Enos acknowledged that Martell being away from the team on two occasions this season for personal reasons has been one factor affecting his ability to push for playing time.
Enos made clear next year’s QB job is open and four-star freshman newcomer Tyler Van Dyke - who signed Wednesday - will be given a shot to compete: “Nothing will be given. Jarren is 19 years old. There are growing pains that go along with playing that position. Sometimes when you’re not playing as well as other spots it magnifies your performance. We’ve got to play better [at quarterback] than we did. Nobody has given up on [Williams]. We are going to play the best guys.”
Enos shared responsibility for offensive struggles among everyone (including coaches) but said: “It starts at quarterback. I’ve talked to coach [Manny] Diaz - when you’re getting really good quarterback play, it covers up lack of other things. When your quarterback is playing really, really well, you don’t notice it as much. When we were getting really good quarterback play, we were good. If not, we were very average.”
Beyond erratic quarterback play, what else led to inconsistencies in the offense?
“I think it’s preparation,” Enos said. “Young players, I think sometimes players need to handle success; when we scored 52 against Louisville, when people can’t handle success, they get a little complacent and don’t prepare like they should. That leads to upsets and bad days.”
The offensive line - which allowed the fourth-most sacks in the country - was obviously a huge issues, and Enos said the receivers were inconsistent this season.
He admitted this has been perhaps his toughest season in 30 years of coaching.
“It’s been a very difficult year,” Enos said. “My dog still likes me. My kids still love me and my wife loves me most of the time unless I don’t take the garbage out.”
▪ Couple quick news notes: Diaz said he expects defensive end Scott Patchan to return for a sixth season, and said no juniors have told him if they’re turning pro or returning beyond NFL-bound Jon Garvin and Jeff Thomas. Injured running back DeeJay Dallas remains in question as far as whether he’s returning for 2020.... Diaz said 13 of the 18 signees on Wednesday will enroll in January... He said UM will look at grad transfers, including on the offensive line.
This story was originally published December 18, 2019 at 5:25 PM.
