What will coordinator Hill bring to Devils’ offense?
In his third season at Arizona State, football coach Herm Edwards wanted more from his offense, resulting in a coordinator change.
Zak Hill, at Boise State from 2016-19, was Edwards’ choice to replace Rob Likens, now wide receivers coach at Miami.
The early returns on Hill begin coming in Saturday when ASU opens a pandemic-delayed season at No. 20 USC. With a sample size of only seven games — eight if ASU plays in a bowl — each will carry extra weight in evaluating whether Hill can elevate the offense to a higher level, allowing the Sun Devils to have fewer coin-toss outcomes than in 2018 and ‘19.
Under Likens, ASU averaged fewer than 30 points per game each season and was No. 96 nationally in scoring (24.8) last year. Boise State, under Hill, averaged 35 points over 2018 and ‘19 with teams that were a combined 22-5.
Edwards believes in complementary football and having balance that can eat up clock when necessary. But he’s hoping Hill’s pro-style offense will bring more creativity and sophistication, not to mention some of the trick plays that are a Boise State staple.
Hill admitted on Wednesday that he’s not sure yet how close the offense will be to what he envisions it eventually becoming.
“You’re still feeling it out,” he said. “You’ve got your plan that you’re moving forward with. You’re trying to still see what your personnel is. Then we’ll see how Jayden (Daniels) responds to what we’re doing. If we need to tweak it and go a little different route then we will. I’ll see what he feels comfortable with.
“Ultimately we need to score points, however we need to do that. Each game is different. You might be able to run the ball in a certain game and you may have to air it out in another. The approach is always going to be different.”
What we know from Hill’s Boise State years and media viewing in seven preCOVID spring practices is that the Sun Devils will use motion and shifts extensively, and that there is a much larger role available for tight ends, now being coached by former ASU All-America wide receiver Derek Hagan.
Dave Southorn, who covered Boise State during Hill’s tenure for the Idaho Statesman, said what he would expect to see from ASU is an “array of formations and personnel and people that can get the ball. The thing that always stood out to me was the ability to throw out so many options, whether it was at receiver, running back, tight end and even quarterback.
“He always did a good job of finding the strengths of somebody,” he said, like
CT Thomas as a third-down receiver. “He was a young guy (freshman in 2017, now a senior), but he could catch balls in tight windows. If there is someone who is good at something, Zak is going to make sure that person is in the best position to make a play.”
With Daniels, now a sophomore, Hill sees a situation comparable to 2016 when he was the Broncos’ co-offensive coordinator and working with quarterback Brett Rypien in his sophomore season at Boise State.
Rypien and Hill successfully worked together through 2018. In 2019, true freshman Hank Bachmeier earned the starting quarterback job but missed six games due to injuries and was replaced by Jaylon Henderson or Chase Cord.
“They still had a really good season,” Southorn said. “That goes to show how good of a quarterbacks coach he is, but also how well he can prepare guys throughout the depth chart because there might be times they need to go in and make a play. He’s confident enough in the guys he has to be able to do that.”
Suggesting that there will be roles for all three of ASU’s new running backs — Rachaad White, DeaMonte Trayanum and Daniyel Ngata — and that passes will be more widely distributed than in the last two years when the focus was on N’Keal Harry and Brandon Aiyuk, both drafted by the NFL in the first round.
Daniels said if the offense is functioning as it should that “everybody will be on the same page and a lot of points are being put up on the board.
“Our relationship (with Hill) is growing every day. He makes sure I’m comfortable with the game plan. If there’s anything I don’t like, we’ll just throw it out. He just wants me and the whole offense to play fast, not do too much thinking and be physical.”
Henderson and Montell Cozaart (in 2017) were mobile quarterbacks but not with Daniels’ running ability. So it will be interesting to see how Hill schemes for Daniels, both off run-pass options and designed runs. “That’s going to be something fun for him,” Southorn said.
It also could be freeing for Hill to be out from under the shadow of Boise State head coach Bryan Harsin, who was Broncos’ offensive coordinator from 2006-10 under Chris Petersen. Hill might open up his offense to look more like what he ran as passing game coordinator at Eastern Washington from 2009-15.
“There’s no question that Bryan still calls the shots,” said Pete Cavender, Boise State’s football radio analyst. “One of the reasons Zak decided to leave Boise, I think he wanted more freedom to take control of the offense. Maybe he was more cautious about taking some homerun shots, but there was no dbout he was limited to some degree not wanting to overstep on Bryan Harsin’s toes.”