Thompson or Delton...Why Not Both?

Disclaimer:

This is just a fun exercise. I’m not a coach and I’m sure there are 100 different practical reasons why this is a bad idea. At the same time, it’s fun to look at this stuff and play amateur O.C.

As the quarterback quandary limps along into another week, I think I’ve found the solution.

Why not play Thompson and Delton?

Yes, I’m fully aware that Kansas State is currently playing both Thompson and Delton , and that’s the problem, but I don’t see any reason why you can’t play Thompson and Delton together.

Hear me out, because I know this sounds strange, but at this point, strange may be preferable to bad.

When I look at the K-State offense, I see a desperate need for play makers.

This is how I rank the play makers on the roster

1. Alex Barnes
2. Isaiah Zuber
3. Skylar Thompson
4. Alex Delton
5. Dalton Schoen
6. Dalvin Warmack

Here is a common 4 wide out formation by the Wildcats

I want you to ignore who is on the field, and just look at the formation.

QB: 1 - Dark Blue

RB: 1 - Light Blue

WR: 4 - Green, Red, Yellow, Purple

In this formation, you’ve got 6 slots to fill, and yet, you don’t have your 6 best play makers on the field.

Let’s take a look at the wide receivers:

Green: Zuber

Red: Harris

Yellow: Schoen

Purple: Reuter (I think, hard to see the number)

Now look at who actually catches the ball

1. Zuber - 29
2. Shoen - 14
3. Reuter - 7
4. Warmack - 3
5. Harris - 2

When I look at this formation, I see 2 viable receivers and 2 decoys. Reuter and Harris are are both on the field, but the odds of them catching a pass are low.

This is my vision

Passing

Blue: Thompson

Light Blue: Barnes

Green: Zuber

Red: Delton

Yellow: Warmack

Pink: Schoen

Now you’ve got your 6 best play makers on the field, and you have options. If you want to pass on this third down play, instead of Delton at QB, you’ve got Thompson throwing the ball.

Can Delton catch? I have no idea, he seems like a decent athlete, but even if he can’t, it’s not like K-State has thrown to that position anyway. He still takes up a man in coverage as a decoy. Plus you can move him across the formation on the jet sweep or the pop pass.

The same goes with Warmack. He’s actually a decent receiver, and is good with the ball in his hands, I honestly don’t understand why they don’t use him in the passing game more. He seems like the perfect receiver for a quick screen. Again, even if Warmack doesn’t catch the ball, it’s not like he’s taking away opportunities, because K-State only throws it to two receivers.

Want to run the ball out of this formation?

Blue: Delton

Light Blue: Barnes

Green: Zuber

Red: Warmack

Yellow: Schoen

Pink: Thompson

You can run the QB power or the read option out of this package with no problem. It’s essentially just a Wildcat package, except, in theory, you’re running it with an actual quarterback, so you still have to cover Thompson at the top of the screen. Sure, you could take Thompson out, and replace him with a receiver but I’m running tempo. I want to go with these 6 guys and trap the defense on the field.

Running it at the defense hasn’t worked, and passing hasn’t really worked, so now I just want to create confusion. I want the defense trying to figure out who is playing QB, who is flanked out wide, and who is playing running back.

It gets really fun when you go with a two back look.

Two Backs

Look 1

I could see this going one of two ways.

Blue: Thompson

Red: - Delton

Light Blue: Barnes

Yellow: Warmack

Purple: Zuber

Green: Schoen

In this look, you’ve still got everything on the table. Thompson can throw the ball, hand off to Barnes, or hand off to Delton. I don’t want Delton as a lead blocker, but Barnes is up for the task if I want to run power with a lead to Delton. I’m running a counter, a quick hitter off the backside, or inside zone with Barnes.

If I want to more confusion, I can always motion Thompson out wide in this look, and move Delton into the QB spot, taking us back to the Wildcat look. This will take some time to get everyone set, but we’re running tempo, so we’ve got time to move people around at the line.

Look 2

Blue: Delton

Red: Warmack

Light Blue: Barnes

Green: Zuber

Yellow: Schoen

Purple: Thompson

This is my power option look. You can run the QB power with Delton behind Barnes, the inside zone with Barnes, or the speed option to either side of the formation.

Again, in theory, you still have an actual QB in the game who can throw the ball if defense cheats up off Thompson. Otherwise, Thompson just chills up top and occupies his man and waits for the next play, where I’m moving him back to quarterback.

In Summary:

Nothing else is working and this looks fun.

Disclaimer Reminder

I’m just having some fun here and trying to spark up conversation. What say you amateur OCs? Am I on to something or should I cut back on my drinking?