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Buddy Ball Stanford's Teevens brings Gators' Fun 'n' Gun westPosted: Monday April 29, 2002 11:35 AM
In explaining his departure for the NFL in January after 12 years at Florida, Steve Spurrier said he wanted to find out if his unique offensive system could work at a different level. Fair enough. But could it work at a different school? Around the same time Spurrier was being named Head Ball Coach for the Washington Redskins, trusted assistant Buddy Teevens was checking out his own new locale. What he found was an academically rich environment befitting of a Dartmouth graduate. A talent-rich team coming off a nine-win season and only a few years removed from the Rose Bowl. And a program perfectly suited to embrace the offensive philosophy he once championed in head-coaching stints at his alma mater, Maine and Tulane, and spent the past three years perfecting under the tutelage of noted mastermind Spurrier. "It's very, very similar," Teevens said of the Fun 'n' Gun-style offense he installed at Stanford this spring. "Steve Spurrier does as fine a job on the offensive side of the ball as any coach in the country, and I've been fortunate enough to work for him for three years and grow as a coach." The fast-paced vertical attack Cardinal fans watched at Saturday's spring game may have Spurrier's imprint, but the locals already have given it a new moniker: "Buddy Ball." "We will run the football, there will be an element of balance," the 45-year-old New England native said. "But when you can present three, four or five receivers on the field at the same time, it's really difficult for the defense as a group to lock into what you're doing." For a guy with designs on lighting up the scoreboard, Teevens could have hardly asked for a more ideal core of returning players from Tyrone Willingham's last Cardinal team. They include third-year QB Chris Lewis, receiver and Pac-10 co-freshman of the year Teyo Johnson, experienced running back Kerry Carter and three all-conference caliber linemen. "It's a natural transition," Teevens said of implementing a pass-heavy offense at the house John Elway and Jim Plunkett built. "Stanford is already identified as a place that will pass the ball, it's very attractive to players around the country who have an interest in the pass. With a history of great quarterbacks and the ability to recruit athletes nationwide, and the intelligence of the players, when it comes to grasping some of the things we've done at Florida, they see it and they understand it."
Three years after arriving on The Farm as USA Today's second-team All-America QB (behind only Texas' Chris Simms), the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Lewis takes over full-time duties this fall following two seasons of extended fill-in duty (182-of-367, 2,456 yards, 20 TDs, 13 INTs) for the oft-injured Randy Fasani. Learning Willingham's system, Lewis admits, took nearly two years. Now, in just a few months' time, he's been expected to master an all-new vocabulary -- "It's like the former staff was teaching Russian, then we come in and start teaching Spanish," Teevens said -- and execute a system that asks the quarterback to make decisions at the line on nearly every play. If the early results are any indication, Lewis is coming along just fine. In Saturday's Cardinal and White game, the Long Beach, Calif., native completed 12 of 18 passes for 176 yards and two touchdowns. "I got a little taste of what the offense can be like and I'm loving it," Lewis said afterward. "It's hard not to find a 6-foot-7 guy streaking down the sideline. You can't go wrong." The 6-7 guy he speaks of is Johnson, a gifted athlete and starting forward for the Cardinal basketball team who caught six balls for 83 yards and two TDs on Saturday. In his first season, Johnson caught 38 passes last fall for 565 yards and seven touchdowns, many of them on "jump-ball" situations with cornerbacks 6 to 10 inches shorter than him. His numbers are expected to skyrocket this season in the new offense, as could those of returnees Luke Powell (40 catches, 790 yards, seven TDs) and Ryan Wells (31, 519, 3). The Cardinal may need every last bit of that offensive firepower. A whopping nine starters must be replaced on defense, including NFL draftees Coy Wire and Tank Williams. It's a lot to ask of the unit, even with promising youngsters like freshman LB Michael Craven and sophomore DE Amon Gordon on hand. "There's certainly talent here," said Teevens, who this fall welcomes QB Trent Edwards, a consensus Top 10 recruit, and Top 40 DE Julian Jenkins. "Depth is a concern. The numbers at some positions where we don't have depth, we will develop over time. "We have the ability to identify prospects who have the academic background to take advantage of what Stanford has to offer. If you have the skills to play at the [NFL] level, you're going to be seen, but you don't have to compromise your academic values." And you can throw long as much as you want.
South Bend's mystery menNotre Dame's first spring drills under Willingham were marked most notably by secrecy, even inspiring a couple contemptuous columns from local media accustomed to watching Irish practices. The veil came up, if only a little, for the 73rd Blue and Gold game, played before 17,025 fans willing to sit through rain just to see a West Coast offense devoid of the option style preached by predecessor Bob Davie.Seeing as the current roster was recruited for Davie's offense, ND's strength is still the running game. Tailbacks Julius Jones and Ryan Grant return along with four starting O-linemen, including stalwarts Jordan Black and Jeff Faine. But the passing game remains an overriding concern for Irish faithful who saw their team finish 114th nationally in that department a year ago (101.5 yards per game). Willingham and coordinator Bill Diedrick have promised to open up the field. "The thing that stands out [about fall] is that we will have the offense in and the mistakes will go away as people start to feel comfortable with it," Black said. "We just open it up a bit more because we have that confidence with it." The question of which quarterback will run the new offense remains unresolved. Sophomore Carlyle Holiday, last year's starter, and junior Matt LoVecchio, the freshman sensation on ND's Fiesta Bowl team two years ago, will continue their battle into the fall, when they'll be joined by highly touted recruit Chris Olsen.
Time for a new pictureAlmost a year after Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington and Oregon State running back Ken Simonton graced the cover of Sports Illustrated's season preview, the two programs are beginning new eras without them. And much like last season, one appears farther along than the other. The Ducks, who managed to exceed even the most grandiose preseason hype by finishing 11-1 and No. 2 in the country last fall, have found a worthy successor to No. 3 NFL pick Harrington in rising junior Jason Fife. The quarterback distanced himself from redshirt freshman Kellen Clemens late in the spring, capping it with a 12-of-15, 217-yard, four TD performance in Oregon's Green and White game. If Fife's spring success carries over to fall, the Ducks should contend for the Pac-10 title once again. Among the weapons at Fife's disposal will be last year's top three receivers, Keenan Howry, Jason Willis and Sammie Parker, and 1,000-yard rusher Onterrio Smith. The mood is less auspicious in Corvallis, where the Beavers are coming off a disappointing 5-6 season and now must replace stars Simonton and QB Jonathan Smith. Sophomore Derek Anderson, the No. 2 quarterback recruit in the country two years ago, seemed to be progressing much of the spring but had a nightmarish finale, going 7-of-30 with three interceptions and five sacks. Simonton's successor, sophomore Steven Jackson, carried 18 times for a more becoming 73 yards and a touchdown.
Worth notingThe first-team defense had 11 sacks at Washington's spring game, a promising sign for a team that had only 20 all of last year and gave up at least 47 points in three of its last four games. ... Sophomore Darren Sproles, despite standing only 5-7, has emerged as Kansas State's clear No. 1 running back, carrying 15 times for 100 yards in the spring game. ... With Naoka McElrath graduated and Mike Bush sitting out with an ankle injury, Washington State used spring to find new targets for QB Jason Gesser. Florida State transfer Devard Darling was one standout, while juco transfer Jerome Riley led the spring game with eight catches, 108 yards and two TDs. ... Northwestern redshirt freshman Jeff Backes has distinguished himself among a pack of five possible candidates to replace star tailback Damien Anderson, while early high school grad Alexander Webb is pushing first-stringer Tony Stauss and redshirt frosh Brett Basanez at the QB spot vacated by Zak Kustok. ... The NCAA Board of Directors last week approved several football measures. Most important are the stricter standards for Division I-A membership that could purge as many as 30 smaller schools by 2004. They also lifted a moratorium on bowl certification, likely paving the way for a new game in Hawaii, and made 6-6 teams eligible for the postseason. Stewart Mandel covers college football for CNNSI.com.Got a comment, question or scoop for Stewart? Click here.
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