Chris Kapilovic on New Michigan State Blocking Scheme

Chris Kapilovic brings with him a new scheme for the offensive line and Mel Tucker’s Michigan State Spartan football.

East Lansing, Mich—anytime an organization goes through holistic change as the Michigan State Spartan football program has, there is uncertainty. In East Lansing, things are no different.

Chris Kapilovic has taken on the challenge of rebuilding the Spartans offensive line, and many people are asking what the new blocking scheme will be, and what “Kap” is looking to develop. “At the end of the day, first and foremost, I want people to say my guys played really hard and were physical. I think that’s got to be the staple for your offensive line and it’s got to be for four quarters, Kapilovic says. “And then obviously from there, you’ve got to be technically sound. We’re going to work on technique and rep it until you can’t rep it anymore because I think that’s very important for our position. I think that’s part of it, you’ve got to find a way to motivate your guys to want to play hard and play physical for four quarters and be able to do it week in and week out.”

 

Kapilovic went on to address the short attention span of today’s young people, “That’s always the challenge too, some of these kids, there are some days they are motivated to play, and then there are some Saturdays it’s just not the same motivation. You have to be able to get it out of them.”

 

So what will the new scheme look like in the running game? What can Spartans fans look for on Kap’s offensive line next season? 

“For us, it all starts in the zone run game, and then we build from there. We’re going to have an inside zone or ways to attack the perimeter as well. We’re going to have some gap schemes to be able to play downhill football also.”

 

Bu as football aficionados understand you have to pass block as well. What does Kap want there? “Pass block-wise, we’ll mix that up, we’ll change it up. I think the big thing there in pass protection is, it’s the whole offense. People talk about the offensive line, if they’re sacked, it may be an O-lineman that missed an assignment, and it may be a back that missed an assignment. It may be that the wide receiver didn’t run the right route, and the quarterback is holding the ball too long. That’s the thing about protection; it takes the whole offense to execute that. That’s something that we take a lot of pride in as well,” Kapilovic says. Carefully Kapilovic went on to add, “Without saying probably too much more as we build this thing, you’re going to see an offense that wants to be able to run the ball, wants to be physical. Wants to be able to finish games when you have that lead, being able to finish it by running the ball. And again, if everybody can say, ‘man those guys are playing hard and are physical,’ I think we’ve found something.”

The Spartans kick off the season on September 5, 2020. They will be hosting in the Northwestern Wildcats with a rare, season-opening Big Ten game.

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