Film Study: Attacking the Deep Middle - 64 Days Until Kansas Football
In this week’s film review, we’re diving into one specific area of excellence for Kansas Jayhawk quarterback Jalon Daniels in his breakout junior campaign: deep passing between the hashes.
There wasn’t much that Daniels struggled with in 2022, but he was at his best when attacking the deep middle. According to Pro Football Focus, Daniels was 31/49 for 755 yards, 10 touchdowns and just one interception on “intermediate” and “deep” passes in the middle third of the field (that incorporates all passes beyond 10 yards downfield). That would equal an NFL passer rating of 138.
On passes of 20+ yards through the air, he was a crisp 8/12 for 347 yards and two scores.
While some quarterbacks at every level, even great ones, are overly cautious about attacking the middle third, Daniels and the Jayhawks are as good in that area as anyone.
Let’s take a look at a few examples from last season of how Kansas took advantage of smart play calling and favorable matchups to exploit the deep middle.
To start, a gem from one of the Jayhawks’ most impressive wins, the Week 4 victory over the Duke Blue Devils.
In this first clip, everything works in perfect synchronicity for Daniels and the offense. First and foremost, the offensive line gives Daniels one of the cleanest pockets a quarterback could ever have. He has all day to throw, which should be encouraging since four of KU’s five starting offensive linemen are returning in 2023.
On the near side of the play, Kansas stacks a pair of tight ends, Jared Casey and Trevor Kardell. Casey holds the inside linebacker close to the line of scrimmage with a drag route while running back Devin Neal pulls the outside ‘backer into the flat. Kardell, meanwhile, gets inside leverage on the cornerback and pushes the deep safety even deeper, then crosses his face on a deep post. Casey and Neal’s respective routes have cleared a boulevard-sized throwing lane for Daniels, who puts the ball on the money for his third-string tight end for a 22-yard gain.
The protection is perfect, the stacked alignment helps create separation and the deep post attacks the deep safety. Everything’s in sync and it pays off in a chunk play.
This next clip just barely makes the cut in terms of depth of target, but it beautifully illustrates how devastating play-action passing is in the Kansas offense.
In fairness, play-action passing is something of a cheat code for plenty of college and NFL offenses. In fact, it’s widely accepted in NFL circles nowadays that you don’t need to run the ball with regular effectiveness to use play action successfully. But considering how strong and creative the KU run game is, why wouldn’t you try to use it to keep defenses off balance?
Torry Locklin is a multipurpose weapon for KU and could reasonably take a handoff while coming in motion out of the left slot. The run action to Locklin, combined with Neal getting out in front of the play like a lead blocker, draws a massive amount of attention to the right side of the offensive line. Multiple linebackers crash down to open up the middle of the field. Cornerback Marcis Floyd (24) also bites on the run fake, and it only takes a slight hesitation and false step to essentially eliminate him from the play.
When he takes a step downhill, you immediately see him try to bounce back in the other direction to catch up to Mason Fairchild, who’s streaking from his inline alignment into the end zone. Floyd has no chance, though, and Fairchild is wide open for six points. The play action totally distracts the defense and Daniels makes West Virginia pay with relative ease.
That’s not just a red zone concept, either.
Play action to the motion man out of the slot (this time it was Tanaka Scott), defense flows toward the run action, Fairchild goes streaking from an inline start. Fairchild made an incredible adjustment to haul in the pass and the Jayhawks are on the move with another big play.
Don’t be surprised if you see a lot of this concept next season. Kansas ran it against the Arkansas Razorbacks in the Liberty Bowl, too.
In fact, to wrap up our journey through KU’s deep-middle passing attack, let’s head to the Liberty Bowl and a great example of how not to defend the Jayhawks’ offense.
If your takeaway from this clip is that Kansas is never out of a game because they have the pieces to eviscerate your prevent defense, you know ball.
On a serious note, soft coverage isn’t going to get it done against KU. Daniels has a hand cannon and won’t have any issue pushing the ball downfield in chunks. This is easy pickins’ for Kansas with the linebacker in the second level running himself out of the play and the secondary giving the Jayhawks an abundance of cushion. The defensive back assigned to Luke Grimm opens his hips as KU’s best receiver breaks inside, leaving him wide open for the clutch touchdown. This really is too easy.
Jalon Daniels was fantastic when attacking the deep middle last season, and there’s so many different ways to create more of those opportunities in 2023. Play action is the easiest way to set it up, but having a quarterback with an above average arm and bushels of confidence allows Lance Leipold and Andy Kotelnicki to call plays boldly.
It’s a high bar to clear, but it’s fair to expect that with continuity for nearly the entire offense Daniels and the Jayhawks can thrive in the deep middle again in 2023.
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