Earlier this month, SuperTalk Mississippi’s Richard Cross sat with Ole Miss offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. in what was a standard preseason media interview, minus the juiciest of nuggets.
After asking Weis about quarterback Austin Simmons, Cross turned to the ultimate GRIND MY GEARS issue of 2024: the Ole Miss run game (full interview is here). He asked Weis how the run game will look differently in 2025 than it did last season.
Of note, this appeared on the crawl at the bottom just as the question
was being asked/answered:
BRING THE BEAR MASCOT BACK. WE COOKIN’.
Anyhow, Weis said just like Ole Miss needs to lean into things Simmons does well in the passing game, they need to do the same in the run game. And then came the interesting part of his answer:
We went out there and did a lot of research on what could we have done better (in the run game). Where are some areas we could improve, different types of run schemes, and really doing a big deep dive into that. So we’ve definitely had to implement new schemes going into this year.
We tested a bunch of different things out. Some things have worked really good, some things haven’t. So we’re gonna pick the things our backs do really well that our o-line executes really well…
Note: That quote was edited to for clarity, mainly removing “you know” that we all love to say way too much.
The initial important takeaway is praise little tiny baby Jesus that Kiffin and staff acknowledged last year’s run game flaws weren’t tied solely to personnel. They recognized the schemes were some combination of broken, too predictable, ill-suited for the personnel they had, and poorly executed.
Now, what the distribution percentage among those four options is I don’t know. However, that they did a deep dive into the run game and decided to overhaul the scheme tells me they think it was more about being broken and getting found out.
So, you may be asking, if they’re changing schemes, what does that mean for 2025? An excellent question, friend.
First, let’s start with the two general run schemes, which are zone and gap. To keep your eyes from glazing over and you starting to think about what’s for lunch, I’m going to keep this as basic as possible. If you want to get into the finer details, this is an excellent resource.
In a zone scheme, all offensive linemen step in unison to their left or right at the snap. They are blocking an area, and it may involve combination blocks on defensive linemen and then one of them climbs to a linebacker or safety. The offensive line will not block the backside defensive end (or edge defender).
A great example of this is Quinshon Judkins’ touchdown run against Auburn in 2022. Everyone (including the tight end) takes a step to their left, and Judkins finds the cutback lane.
The idea behind a zone scheme is to make it difficult for defenders to find their run fit gaps, as well as keep them from getting vertical and into the backfield.
In a gap scheme, the offensive line will block down on defenders and use pullers to wipe out unblocked players on the playside to create angles and a numerical advantage.
Since we’re piling on Auburn, a good example of this was Jaxson Dart’s touchdown run against them in 2023. This is Toss QB G/H Counter, where Dart fakes the toss to Quinshon Judkins and then follows the pulling blocks of Jeremy James and Caden Prieskorn.
That’s 4 down blocks to wreck all the backside defenders, and two pullers to take on the unblocked defenders on the playside. As you see here, now it’s simple math. One defender is caught between Dart and Judkins (and out of the play), and it’s Dart, James, and Prieskorn versus two Auburn defenders.
And now let us come to present day here in the Year of Our Lord 2025. Like most functioning offenses, Kiffin and company rely on a combination of gap and zone schemes.
According to Clark Brooks of SECStatCat fame (his website is awesome), who charted every concept, Ole Miss leaned more on gap scheme ideas than zone in 2024. In particular, a concept called Duo Dive in which the offensive line tries to create two double team blocks with tackle and guard/center and guard before one of those players climbs to a linebacker.
So when Charlie Weis Jr. says Ole Miss will incorporate new blocking schemes, does that mean they will become more of a zone run scheme offense? Or is it more about dropping things that didn’t work and pinpointing gap and zone schemes they think they can execute well?
The answer to that is a resounding who knows! Clearly, things are going to change, but we don’t know the degree of those changes yet. As I noted earlier, the positive takeaway as of August 19th is that Kiffin, Weis, and staff know they can’t run back the same ideas from 2024.
We shall see whether the combination of new schemes, running backs, and offensive linemen lead to less GRIND MY GEARS in the running game. For everyone’s sanity, let’s hope it does.
