Triple option presents challenge

CLEMSON -- During ESPN's conference call Tuesday -- which the broadcast team uses to acquire information for its Thursday telecast -- Clemson defensive coordinator Kevin Steele was asked if the Georgia Tech triple option can be viable long term.

To Steele, the effectiveness of the triple option has never been in question.

Option offenses worked with great success at Oklahoma and Colorado when Steele was coaching linebackers at Nebraska in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The scheme has also worked well for Paul Johnson at Navy, at Georgia Southern (Division I-AA titles in 1999, 2000) and now with the No. 15 Yellow Jackets, who finished fourth in the nation in rushing last season.

The problem is the scarcity of labor willing to work as cogs in the triple option, and perhaps, shaky approval ratings among alumni who prefer style points.

"What happened, I think, was recruiting," Steele said. "Everyone wanted to go to the NFL, so the quarterbacks wanted to be at the schools where they were throwing it around. That's why you walk out here in the summer time now, or any other college campus, and they have 50 teams in a passing league. That's been the case for years in California and it kind of swept through the country.

"You just don't see it at high school games. Go to high school games now and you barely see a running back."

Navy gave Ohio State fits with the triple option last weekend.

Asked by a Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter about the feasibility of the offense at other schools, Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo said it can be a great equalizer -- but -- "Do guys want to do it? It's a selfless offense. You've got to block for each other, you can't worry about who's getting the ball, and we're in the age of the spread offense, of throwing the ball all over the place.

"But I think it would work anywhere. Maybe for a lower-tier team in (a power conference), whatever team that may not have the same talent."

When Johnson took the ACC by storm last season, posting a 9-4 record in his first season with Tech, he also inherited several blue-chip talents that might have elected to go elsewhere out of high school had they known they were slated for duty in the triple option.

Exhibit A: Georgia Tech wide receiver Demaryius Thomas.

Steele called him the best receiver in the ACC on Tuesday.

Thomas, a junior, is a matchup nightmare with skills and speed at 6-3, 229-pounds. He would likely put up prolific numbers if placed in a standard offense.

With Tech only passing on 20.4 percent of plays last season, Clemson will challenge their corners to cover him on one-on-one.

Clemson corner Chris Chancellor said he is up for the task, noting the team's philosophy of "111." Translation: 11 defenders, each with one assignment.

It was Chancellor who was beaten by Thomas for a game-winning 24-yard touchdown last season in Tech's 21-17 win.

"I tried to make a big play," Chancellor said. "They had been running curls all game, so I broke in front of the curl. Like I said, everybody has their own job, me trying to make a play, I broke in front of the curl, he did a hitch-and-go and was gone."

While Georgia Tech could get along OK without Thomas, they would not have the same success without running back Jonathan Dwyer, who was ranked as a top-100 player nationally in 2007, when Tech reeled in the 18th-best recruiting class, according to Rivals.com.

Tech's last two recruiting classes have ranked 49th overall by the recruiting service.

So while the triple option works just fine for Johnson at Tech, is it sustainable in Atlanta? And if it proves to be, will it proliferate throughout the country, much like the spread offense has?

"I know they are good at it and they are still in a state or a region where there is still just enough of it," Steele said. "They are not probably going to start running it at Cal in the three years or the next 30 years.

"I've seen (trends) change so many time, hopefully I'm around to see it change again."

Reach at tsawchik@postandcourier.com and check out his Clemson blog at
www.postandcourier.com/blogs/tiger_tracks.