The Scarlet Knights enter Saturday’s Big Ten East matchup with Ohio State on a high note after erasing a 25-point deficit in a 55-52 victory over Indiana last weekend to keep their bowl hopes alive. The offense will need more of the same to keep pace with a Buckeye offense that is hitting its stride after putting up 38 points against Penn State's 16th-ranked defense (FBS). If the Scarlet Knights hope to play a competitive football game this weekend, they must rely on big plays from 6-foot-1, 205-pound senior wide receiver Leonte Carroo, whose availability remains a question after leaving the Indiana game with an ankle injury.
In just over 13 quarters of play, Carroo has amassed 21 catches for a gaudy 22.5 yards per completion. The wideout is averaging 118 yards per game and has three three-touchdown games this season against Washington State, Michigan State, and Indiana. Carroo has a nose for the end zone, amassing 28 career touchdowns in just 26 games.
His speed, vision, route running, and natural pass-catching ability make him a legitimate threat to score every time he touches the ball. After being named to the media’s 2014 All-Big Ten Team, many were surprised when Carroo elected to return for his senior season in lieu of entering the 2015 NFL Draft. His decision appeared to backfire after an indefinite suspension for his role in a Sept. 12 incident after a 37-34 home loss to Washington State. After missing two games, Carroo was reinstated to the team and hasn’t looked back, with consecutive three-score performances against Michigan State and Indiana.
The loss of Carroo would be a massive blow to a Scarlet Knights offense that is devoid of consistent playmakers at the wide receiver position. As of Tuesday Carroo had yet to practice this week, with Rutgers head coach Kyle Flood saying "We'll have an update a little later in the week. He didn't practice today." in reference to Carroo's status. With kick returner/wide receiver Janarion Grant (3 return touchdowns) also questionable Rutgers could face a long, hard climb to score points without their touchdown machine.
Earlier in the week Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer acknowledged Carroo’s elite talent, saying “He's an NFL player." The talented wide receiver MUST be accounted for in the short, intermediate, and vertical passing game as he can score from any part of the field at any moment.
Carroo put his open field vision and speed on display with a 57-yard touchdown against Indiana off a Now screen last weekend.
Watch Carroo use his vision to follow his blocks and take the ball away from the defensive pursuit to the sideline, using his open field speed to pull away for six. His straight-line speed eliminates Indiana free safety Jonathan Crawford's angle, forcing a late lunge at the feet that Carro easily avoids. Put the ball in a playmaker’s hands, execute the play, and let him do what comes natural.
While Carroo has the ability to turn a short pass long, he makes his hay in the vertical passing game, particularly off play action. In the Scarlet Knight’s opening-season 63-13 win over Norfolk State, Rutgers offensive coordinator Ben McDaniels dialed up a 3-level Flood Cover 3 beater off play action to get Carroo the ball in space.
Pay attention to the roll out by the quarterback after play action. This movement drew the eyes of the MOF (Middle of Field) free safety, playing a deep 1/3 responsibility in Cover 3. His first rule is to NEVER get beat over the top.
Because the free safety focused on the run threat as the quarterback approaches the line of scrimmage, he loses depth and leaves Carroo wide open on an intermediate crossing route. Leaving the big receiver this open is like stealing, as he makes the uncontested grab and easily turns the corner for a touchdown.
Later in the same game Carroo’s ability to threaten all parts of the field sets up a beautiful stutter-go double move that should look familiar to OSU fans. Norfolk State is again in a Cover 3 shell, although the cornerback of Carroo disguises the coverage before bailing at the snap of the ball.
Because the cornerback does not get depth in drop to his deep 1/3 zone, he ends up right on Carroo’s hip as the stutter-go occurs, giving up his outside leverage. From there, Carroo shows his ball skills to fight for an under-thrown ball.
During last year's 56-17 2014 drubbing in the ‘Shoe, Carroo again showed his ability to fight for the ball in the air, taking the ball from true freshman 19 Gareon Conley on a contested downfield throw.
Carroo does a great job high-pointing the ball (go up and get it), but his strength and grit to go over the defender’s back and come down with the catch is what makes this play.
His crowning achievement of the 2015 season came in a in a 31-24 loss to Michigan State in which he snagged seven passes for 134 yards and three touchdowns.
In his second score of the game, the offense dialed up a play action Cover 4 beater to take advantage of Michigan State’s boundary safety.
Watch the play action hold the boundary safety (located just below the 20 yard line) flat-footed, allowing Carroo to sneak by and get open on a corner, or 7 route. Carroo demonstrates excellent nuance in his route running by bending his route inside (you can see the bend as he crosses the 26 yard line), creating room for his break to the corner
Carroo again demonstrated outstanding route running ability on his third touchdown of the game. The Scarlet Knight offense again utilizes play action to hold the Cover 4 field and boundary safeties, creating a single coverage matchup for Carroo. Both safeties fill hard downhill due to the play action, allowing Carroo to run a post route behind his defender for his third touchdown of the game.
While the play concept was impressive, what truly made the play special was Carroo’s ability to sell the outside release, forcing the cornerback to open his hips AWAY from the route’s direction.
Carroo uses a three-step out-in release (fake an outside release before breaking back inside) at the line of scrimmage to fool the cornerback into opening the gate (getting out of a backpedal and opening the hips) away from the route. The nifty footwork creates the separation we see as the receiver hauls in a touchdown catch. That’s an NFL-caliber move.
Returning to last year’s Ohio State-Rutgers matchup, Carroo again shows intelligence in his route running against a Cover 2 shell, sitting down a corner route in the deep sideline hole.
With the cornerback responsible for the flat and the deep half-field safety playing anything vertical, Carroo runs his corner route into the natural void between the two defenders. Notice how he slows up and then sits down to avoid running into either defenders area of responsibility. That’s smart route running and concept recognition.
So what does Rutgers do without their solo big play threat? The offense managed only three points in a loss to Penn State before managing to put up 27 against a Kansas team that has yet to win a game this year.
During the two games Carroo was suspended from the team, the offense relied on a running-back-by-committee approach and play action off the run game to move the ball, albeit with limited success. Based on the offense's 2015 performances against Penn State and Kansas, the success of this strategy against a stout Ohio State defense seems unlikely.
In their home victory over Kansas the Scarlet Knight offense went to the well over-and-over with the OSU-favorite Counter Trey.
Below sophomore running backs Robert Martin and John Hicks press the ball upfield and finish with some nasty for solid gains. The Rutgers offensive line did a good job winning the C-gap against the Kansas front seven to record several explosive gains off the Counter Trey.
On 1st-and-goal at the Kansas 8-yard line, the offensive coaching staff dialed up an excellent play action concept the constrained off the base Counter Trey that had been run so effectively up to that point.
Two keys made this play successful. First, the pulls from the right guard and wing false key the defensive line and linebackers away from the routes. The running back’s hard jab step and mesh with the quarterback pull them even further away from the ultimate direction of the ball. The offense made the play look EXACTLY like the previous running plays via formation, pulls, and running back flow, but threw the ball to the tight end in the flat AWAY from the play action. (As a rule of thumb, if the play fooled the camera man it probably worked)
Without the vertical threat Carroo provides, the Rutgers offense was forced to attack the perimeters with the passing game via a variety of horizontal stretches and wide receiver screens. Here the offense uses running back motion to run a Scissors concept, a simple man-beating route that provides a natural pick for the flat route. Senior running back Paul James does the rest on a 23-yard scamper down the sidelines.
Although admittedly less successful without Carroo, the Knights will use the wide receiver screen game to get the ball to skill position players in space. Against Kansas the offense executed multiple wide receiver screens out of the bunch alignment for explosive gains. Against Ohio State's base Cover 4 defense, Rutgers will likely be forced to attack the perimeter of the field in hopes of slowing down the safety's run/pass keys and concept recognition, forcing them to respect the quick passing game in order to setup the downfield play action game.
After beating Michigan State’s vaunted Cover 4 defense vertically multiple times, will the Scarlet Knight be able to repeat their success against an OSU pass defense that has giving up big plays over the previous three weeks?
In Week 4 cornerback Marshon Lattimore bit on a nice double move by Western Michigan wide receiver Daniel Braverman on the way to a 54-yard touchdown reception.
This touchdown was the result of errors in technique, rather than scheme. The defense was in Man-Hi or Cover 1 here (man coverage with a single deep safety). In man coverage Lattimore needs to press the wide receiver if he is going to line up over the line of scrimmage. The basic rules of press technique are “eyes and nose over toes,” don’t lunge at the wide receiver, use the off-hand to strike the chest of the receiver, and read the hips.
While Lattimore’s base was fine, he gave the wide receiver a free release off the line, leaving himself vulnerable to the inside fake he received from Bravermen. All it takes is a slight lean to the inside for Braverman's fake to work. With safety Tyvis Powell rotating from the opposite hash to play deep middle of the field this play is going for six with a good throw from the quarterback.
The very next week, Maryland beat safety Vonn Bell using a well-disguised Cover 4 beater.
Although Bell looks like the goat here, this touchdown is on weak safety Tyvis Powell. Against trips the OSU Cover 4 will check to a Solo or Danger call to account for the threat of three vertical routes overwhelming the two deep defenders. In both checks the weak safety will rob or cheat over to the wide side of the field in order to pick up any vertical routes by the number 3 wide receiver.
The defense will look like this in a Solo check.
Powell is suckered by the wing into jumping the dig route, leaving a huge hole behind him for the post to hit. Rather then jumping the route at 7 yards, Powell should give the route another 3-4 yards to develop while maintaining his depth. When running three verticals the number 3 receiver is generally coached to cross the saftey's face, so Powell can sit at depth and catch the route as it comes to him. You'll also notice Darron Lee's curl/flat drop has put him in position to play the dig route by the wing.
The route stem by the Maryland receiver helps create the seperation as well. Just before the 40 yard line you can see the receiver take a hard outside step, selling the corner route before breaking back the post. Watch how Bell momentarily flips his hips back towards the line of scrimmage. That's all it takes to creat seperation.
This is a well-designed concept designed to take advantage of the weak safety's Cover 4 responsibility to trips, but Powell can't be so quick to jump the route. Wait until 10-12 yards when most of the vertical routes like corners, posts, and go's stem.
Finally, in Week 6 Eli Apple gave up a long reception and took a ride downfield courtesy of Penn State wide receiver Chris Godwin. The Buckeyes were in their base Cover 4 defense, meaning Apple will man up any vertical route from the No. 1 WR (wide receivers are counted outside-to-in). Although most of the play is lost to the camera angle, it appears Apple played the route well.
Subtleties in technique can make or break a defensive back in pass coverage. Here Apple must man-turn (turn so he is running downfield facing the sideline) due to Goodwin’s vertical release. A cardinal rule in man coverage is to NEVER peak back for the ball too early, as this creates separation from the wide receiver. Instead defensive backs are taught to read the receiver’s eyes as they track the ball. As the ball approaches, the receiver's eyes will light up and they will raise their arms to catch the ball. Only at this point should the defensive back look back for the ball, while simultaneously ripping through the receiver’s arms using the inside hand.
Focus on Apple’s coverage as the ball approaches. He was clearly reading Goodwin’s eyes and didn't look back for the ball until the wide receiver slowed down to catch the under-thrown ball. Apple raked the pocket with his inside hand, but was unable to make a play on the ball as it was simply thrown to short. On a better-thrown ball Apple likely makes the break up. Unfortunately, after allowing an unlucky catch Apple gives up another 15 yards as he is dragged like dead weight by Goodwin. Apple needs to get the ball carrier to the ground anyway he can as soon as the catch is made. Any YAC (yards after catch) in that position is inexcusable.
The positives to take away from these errors are that technical breakdowns in fundamentals are fixable. The scheme is sound and for the most part players have "stayed in their lanes", trusting teammates to execute their own responsibilities within the defense. Correctable mistakes will be addressed by the defensive coaching staff through film study and practice field reps. As the defensive starters continue to accrue live game experience, they will cut down on the technique breakdowns. Urban Meyer demands nothing less.
Even on an injured ankle, Leonte Carroo has the ability to force breakdowns in technique on the Buckeye secondary. If Carroo is unable to go Saturday night, who will the Scarlet Knights offense look to for points?
