Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1543434
3 8 M A R C H 2 0 2 6 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M / / / / / / / T H E C L A S S O F 2 0 2 6 / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / Ames. While we cannot say that all of these principles apply to Mouser's of- fense, there's certainly an overlap. Passing Game Concepts We bring up the COVID season be- cause it was an inflection point for Campbell and his staff. In a separate talk, Campbell discussed the need to stop and reflect on how he was doing things both in his career and in how he interacted with his team. With spring football cancelled and everyone at home, Campbell used the time to refine his process in a way that typically only out-of-work coaches get to do. For Campbell's staff, that meant cutting short the subsequent offen- sive install in order to streamline their teaching. Ahead of the 2020 season, Scheelhaase broke his passing plays down into four groups: quick game, crossers, play action/movement, and shot plays. The idea behind grouping plays this way was to help the quarter- backs process information, learn the playbook and play to their strengths. At his clinic appearance, Scheelhaase used clips from 2021, when Iowa State sported a pair of future NFL starters — quarterback Brock Purdy and running back Breece Hall — in its backfield. The strengths of those two players and the offensive roster as a whole don't per- fectly correspond to what the Lions are currently building, with redshirt senior Rocco Becht as its centerpiece following his transfer in January from Iowa State to Penn State. However, Campbell's program-level philosophy of "player, formations, plays," which Mouser in- corporates into his offense, will skew these ideas toward Becht's skills. Here's a breakdown: Quick game: This is a general term used for passing concepts that aim to get the ball out of the quarterback's hands in less than two seconds. Routes are typically no farther than 6 yards downfield. Scheelhaase spent much of his time during the clinic focusing on the different subfold- ers in the quick-game category. The most notable subdivision in this group of plays is the m a n - v e r s u s - z o n e split on quick-game plays. When Scheel- haase felt the Cy- clones had a good bead on the oppo- nent's pre-snap man and zone looks, Purdy chose which side he would target based o n t h e d e f e n s i ve concept, not a rigid progression-based look. To our best understanding, former Penn State coach James Franklin pre- ferred progression-based passing to eliminate the mistakes a quarterback can make reading the defense and sim- plify his job. Plenty of teams do this, but Scheelhaase's willingness to use concept-based reading helps explain why Iowa State has been successful in developing its quarterbacks for the next level. Crossing routes: This is one as- pect of Scheelhaase's talk that we can be sure is coming to Penn State. Over the past two seasons, the crossing route was the fifth-most-targeted route in Iowa State's playbook. That's impres- sive considering that it was never part of the primary concept on a passing play. The goal of the crosser is to bring another route from the backside of a progression-based passing play to the front side as a secondary option. If the defense takes away the first concept, the quarterback does not have to look far to find another option. Scheelhaase broke these crossers into three categories: big, intermediate and Iowa State's Offense By The Numbers * Season Yds/Game FBS Rank Pts/Game FBS Rank 2016 421.6 60 27.7 T-71 2017 386.0 86 29.2 T-56 2018 371.0 95 26.8 82 2019 444.3 27 32.2 39 2020 436.3 34 32.9 34 2021 424.5 49 31.3 41 2022 369.8 82 20.2 113 2023 364.9 79 26.2 70 2024 416.2 39 31.1 41 2025 396.1 59 27.4 69 * During Matt Campbell's head coaching tenure Former Iowa State offensive coordinator Nathan Scheelhaase (second from left) poses with quarterbacks JJ Kohl (left), Rocco Becht (center) and Tanner Hughes (right), along with then-analyst Jake Waters (second from right), following the Cyclones' 42-35 win at Kansas State in November 2023. Becht threw for 230 yards in what would turn out to be Scheelhaase's final regular-season game at Iowa State before leaving for the NFL. PHOTO COURTESY NATHAN SCHEELHAASE