The Hawaii football team’s merger of two prolific offenses — the run-and-shoot and Air Raid — now has a name.
“We call our offense the ‘run and gun,’ ” said Todd Graham, who was hired as UH’s head coach in January. “That’s what we’re calling it with (co-offensive coordinators) G.J. Kinne and Bo (Brandon Graham). We’re going to be a run, play-action-pass, quick-rhythm-throwing team.”
Last season, the Rainbow Warriors’ read-and-attack, run-and-shoot offense produced 33.9 points per game. Graham said he is adding concepts culled from his four previous head coaching jobs.
“We’re going to take the things they’ve done well (in 2019) and continue to do them,” Graham said. “Why would we not do them? We’ll take what the defense gives us. If they give us the pass, we’ll throw it every down. If they give us the run, we’ll run it.”
The new hybrid offense is designed with several elements. There are fast-paced plays, such as hitch screens and quick outs, in which the snap-to-release will be no more than two seconds. There also is the vertical approach, with Graham’s goal of throwing deep between 10 and 15 times per game. As Tulsa’s head coach in 2010, the Hurricane had 96 completions of 15-plus yards.
“We want to push the ball down the field vertically,” Graham said. “That’s something the crowd loves. I love it. Everybody loves the one-play touchdowns.”
Graham said a physical offensive line and a running attack are key to complementing the passing game. “You’ve got to be able to block on the perimeter,” Graham said. “You’ve got to be able to block inside.”
Because of the pandemic, the Warriors did not have any of the 15 allowable spring practices. Through video meetings and peer-mentorship groups, the coaches have tried to instill what Graham termed “elite discipline” to cut down on penalties and turnovers. Last season, the Warriors were 121st nationally in penalties (103) and 99th in penalty yards per game (61.2).
“I like our players,” Graham said. “I like they have a toughness and hard edge about them. … The No. 1 thing I’d like to bring is a physicality with elite discipline. Elite discipline is what can affect us the most.”
In Zoom meetings, the offensive players are being taught the schemes. They also have access to videos of each play.
“We’ve got to make sure we come out with at least the knowledge of what we’re doing,” Graham said.
But while the players understand the concepts, Graham said, “knowing it and mastering the fundamentals of it are two different things. You cannot master it without executing it physically.”
In Zoom meetings and video chats, Graham said, “we’re overloading it. Showing them the film. Showing them the execution. Showing them what it looks like. Asking questions. That’s what we’re doing now. … We have no practice time with our players right now, we’d better maximize. We’d better maximize teaching them through the internet as much as we can. We can all be on the same terminology. We can all be understanding what we’re supposed to do.”
Graham said the goal is to fully implement a fast-tempo offense. Graham has coached teams that ran plays every 21 seconds.
Whenever training opens, Graham said, “We have to adapt to what our players can do, and then add things as the year goes on so we can do the things we want to do. … By not being able to work out (as a team), by not being able to condition, and work our players and get our players in shape, that’s going to hurt our ability to go as fast we want to go (initially). What’s really important is we want to make sure we don’t go too fast and make mistakes. As our discipline improves, as our conditioning improves, we’ll probably get faster with our tempo as the season goes on. We are a tempo team. We want to go fast and efficiently.”
