Drenning: Rich Rod's Offense is the 'Perfect System to Weaponize Cam Cook's Skillset'

Over the last couple of weeks on our In The Gun Podcast, Jed Drenning broke down the film of West Virginia quarterbacks Michael Hawkins Jr. and Scotty Fox Jr. as passers and runners of the football.

This week, Jed hops back into the ITG film room to begin his breakdown of West Virginia running back Cam Cook, discussing his vision in the first episode of a three-part series on the dynamic Mountaineer rusher.

We heard head coach Rich Rodriguez liken Cam Cook to Avon Cobourne earlier in the week, and Jed shares that opinion. For what it's worth, we recorded this Cam Cook episode well before Rich Rod made his own comparison of Cook to the school's all-time leading rusher.

“Imagine if Quincy Wilson programmed an Adrian Murrell robot to build an Avon Cobourne replica. The result might look like, or at least play a lot like, the 5-foot-9 dynamo who will be toting the rock in a No. 4 jersey at Mountaineer Field this fall," Drenning said.

"With Cam Cook, it all starts with his vision. In the game of football its a requisite for all elite runners. It’s the ball-carriers equivalency to accuracy by a quarterback. It doesn’t matter if a signal-caller has a howitzer attached to his shoulder if he can’t hit a target with it. Similarly, a running back can be powerful or have great speed, but never reach his full potential if he’s constantly careening into heavy traffic instead of finding space.”

Cook's vision allowed him to be one of the nation's best in forcing missed tackles. While he does shake free from a lot of defenders, he also makes the first guy miss because of how he sees things developing.

The perfect offense

When Cook committed to West Virginia out of the transfer portal, it felt like a match made in Almost Heaven. Rodriguez has always had success running the football, and when he can get the ground game humming, he tends to win a bunch of football games.

Jed further explained why this offense was designed for a back like Cook.

“Within the design or zone blocking schemes, which Cook was executing on about 75% of his carries at Jax State and which West Virginia leans into so heavily in Coach Rod’s power spread, it can be especially lethal. Instead of just trying to physically overwhelm a defender, zone concepts forge running lanes dynamically. Empowering an offensive line to flush a defense toward its own instinctive reactions, and in turn, use those reactions against it. Zone blocking prioritizes movement over physically dominating one spot. Putting a runner with great vision like Cam Cook in position to seize on multiple creases or bounce options on any given play. It’s literally the perfect system to weaponize Cam Cook’s skill set.”

Cook's numbers at Jacksonville State

Inside zone: 35% usage, 5.9 yards per carry

Outside zone: 25% usage, 4.4 yards per carry

Split zone: 19% usage, 5.9 yards per carry

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