How Former NFL MVP Adrian Peterson Helped Shape Silverfield's Coaching Philosophy

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — After struggling at Memorial High School, a private Christian school in Savannah, (Ga.), Arkansas coach Ryan Silverfield found out exactly what he didn't want to do in life.

Splitting time between teaching economics, public speaking and being the head football coach, there was no way to fully immerse himself in both.

The itch to coach had always been there for Silverfield. Realizing there was no path to fully commit to both teaching and coaching, he made the jump to the college ranks before reaching the NFL at age 28 as a quality control assistant with the Minnesota Vikings in 2008.

Pin-and-Pull 101 with Silverfield

He spent six years at the NFL level, assisting on each side of the football while working with the likes of Jared Allen, Kevin Williams, Adrian Peterson and will even drop Brett Favre's name in there every now and then.

It was with the Vikings where Silverfield learned the art of the West Coast Offense under Andy Reid disciple Brad Childress, who taught him the beauty of pin-and-pull concepts.

"My whole idea on all those schemes, any type of gap scheme, any type of pin-and-pull or a down block with a guy pulling is ultimately like how do you try to separate the defense,"Silverfield said in an interview on the Cube Podcast with Cole Cubelic. "How do I maximize our numbers, and I've not relied heavy on the zone read concept."

It's true, Silverfield hasn't relied a whole lot on zone read concepts as a college coach because offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey helped developed a high octane scheme based on getting skill players open in space. The design for his run game at Memphis came with heavy looks as guards pulled to get guys along on the edge with options to get back into the middle of the field.

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Ryan Silverfield looks over his players during warmups before the spring game at Razorback Stadium. | Brett Rojo-Imagn Images

When the staff brought transfer quarterback Brendon Lewis in last season, Memphis shifted to more read option designs. While different than what was run previously, Silverfield made sure his coaches understood the importance of being flexible over stubbornness and was able to run it with success by averaging 183 yards per game (No. 31 nationally) and 5.05 yards per carry (No. 25 nationally).

"Here's this my zone read option, I look at the other way around. I said, 'Okay, let's go to the play side of the play. How do I eliminate these type of players," Silverfield said. "Kick out these [guys] and then create the seam to create the one-on-one matchup, hopefully with a guy in the secondary.

"Right now, if the safety comes down, how do we try to get to him with the receiver? Any time I've ever looked at gap schemes is everybody always looks at the number advantage on the back side of runs.
"I try to say, 'Where's the number advantage on the play side to try to block down to create it the the
leverage advantage?' Now, kick out something out."

Football has historically been a game about reaction, numbers and adaptation which is something Silverfield is aware of trying to pinpoint an opponent's breaking point.

"Sometimes when you go to kick out, whether it's a counter play or pin and pull that extra hat that
they may have on defense, maybe it's a corner, he's got to find a way to fit fill in," Silverfield said. "That's kind of how I always looked at it. How do you play that leverage game? How do you split the defense in half?

"Ultimately, I try to find those seams in there, and a lot of teams think of pin-and-pull as an outside zone play or counter as a a bounce play. I truly believe it all starts on the counter game. It's an A-gap run that has the ability to bounce based off of defensive end logging, doing all those things."

Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (28) carries the ball during the third quarter against the Green Bay Packers at the Metrodome. The Vikings defeated the Packers 37-34. | Brace Hemmelgarn-Imagn Images

Making Room for an MVP

Coaching at the highest level has its benefits, and being an assistant along the Vikings' offensive line during the height of Peterson's NFL career.

Silverfield's unit paved the way for Peterson's MVP season where he came just nine yards shy of breaking Eric Dickerson's NFL record for rushing yards in a single season. If a team's bell-cow of a running back wants to run pin-and-pull on offense, that's where that adaptation comes into effect.

"We ran the pin and pull scheme, I think it was like 82% of our run game with the Vikings because that's what Adrian Peterson can run," Silverfield said. "If Adrian Peterson says, "Hey, I want to run this scheme. Cool. We'll figure out a way." And I think that's over the years because it was so good at that one play.

"How do we create it? How do we line it up? Oh, you added a hat, we'll add a tight end. You add a hat, we'll add a fullback. Okay, you add the safety, then it's unblockable. Can the receiver go get him or do we check the play and run something different?"

Play Design at Arkansas

Arkansas appears positioned to blend quarterback KJ Jackson's mobility or AJ Hill's big arm with a more balanced attack built around explosive plays downfield.

Silverfield's preference for gap schemes and pin-and-pull concepts should also fit an offensive line that has added size and experience through both the transfer portal and its returnees.

Rather than asking his linemen to consistently win in space on wide zone concepts, Arkansas could create favorable angles at the point of attack while allowing running backs such as Braylen Russell, Sutton Smith and others to use their vision to identify seams created by their pulling blockers.

Football will always be about the Jimmys and Joes, but Silverfield's track record shows scheme still matters. His results at Memphis showed his offenses could consistently rank among the nation's best in explosive plays while maintaining a physical rushing attack.

Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback KJ Jackson (7) throws the ball on the sidelines during the spring game at Razorback Stadium. | Brett Rojo-Imagn Images

If the Razorbacks can find consistency and remain efficient on early downs, Silverfield's adaptable approach could help his team progress much faster in Year One than most preseason projections expect.

This all circles back to what he said about being adaptable to the talent that is on your roster instead of being stubborn to fit square pegs in round holes. It just doesn't work, but is willing to make adjustments for the sake of being competitive.

"It's my job, and our job as coaches to develop the scheme based off of our players," SIlverfield said at his introductory press conference in December. "So many coaches will say ’Well, he didn't fit my system’. No, you're a bad coach. You need to change and adapt to what players you have.

"Even as far as skill sets of a quarterback, what the receiver size is, speed on the field, what's your running back situation, your offensive line situation, how much outside zone compared to inside zone. If you've got a bunch of 355 pound O-linemen, then how much duo are you running? So look, all that goes hand in hand. That's my job to figure that out."

You can watch Cubelic's entire 40+ minute interview with Silverfield below:

Sign up to our free newsletter, and follow us on Facebook, X (Twitter) for the latest news.

Add us as a preferred source on Google