UW Football | Huskies spreading their options

When Jake Locker said he would join the Washington Huskies, he also presented a vision of team's offensive future.

"They want their quarterbacks to run around a bit, so that's great," Locker said in giving his verbal commitment in July 2005.

Indeed they do. The Huskies have gradually incorporated that philosophy since then, and now are full-fledged members of one of college football's rapidly expanding clubs — teams that run the spread-option offense.

Washington will see how it works against No. 10 Ohio State, one of the best defensive teams in the nation.

It's the same basic offense used to great success by Urban Meyer's teams at Bowling Green, Utah and Florida, as well as West Virginia and Northwestern. Texas used it while Vince Young was there. Appalachian State, which came to fame two weeks ago by beating Michigan, employs it, as does Oregon, which added it three years ago. California has used elements of it.

Ducks coach Mike Bellotti remembers what he thought when he first glimpsed Utah, Bowling Green and Northwestern using it: "That's the future of college football."

Terminology can be tricky. Each offense has its own subtleties and can use a different label.

In general, though, the spread offense has the quarterback in the shotgun, usually with three, four or even five receivers.

The spread option adds the running backs to the mix, with one or two flanking the quarterback, usually lined up a yard or so behind. The quarterback can then hand off to a running back, keep it himself, or pitch to a trailing back.

Washington was in that formation, with two backs flanking Locker, for its first touchdown against Boise State last week. After getting the shotgun snap, Locker kept the ball, turned upfield and plowed through several defenders into the end zone.

But one of the beauties of the formation is its versatility. Earlier in the drive, out of the same formation, Locker threw deep into the end zone for Corey Williams, though the pass was incomplete.

By spreading the field, the offense makes it hard for defenses to gang up in one area. By also creating the option to pass or run out of the same formation, it keeps defenses on their toes.

"It keeps them off balance, keeps them guessing," said UW offensive line coach Mike Denbrock. "We live in an age where defenses like to put as many guys stacked up against the run as they possibly can. This gives you an opportunity to spread guys out a little bit and hopefully put the numbers a little bit more in your favor."

The Huskies still sprinkle in plenty of traditional quarterback-under-center formations, such as the touchdown scored on the sweep turned into a halfback pass from Louis Rankin against Boise State.

But the spread, whether with one or two backs, will be a regular look for the Huskies because it gets the ball in the hands of their best offensive player, Locker, and lets him make plays.

Getting the ball out of the shotgun allows Locker to quickly get outside if he sees a favorable matchup and put his uncommon speed and running ability to use.

"The whole key is having a quarterback that can throw, but has the mobility to create on the run," says Bellotti, who has that kind of player in senior Dennis Dixon, who this week is second in the Pac-10 in rushing with 217 yards and first in passing efficiency. "That's always a concern of a defensive coaching staff — how do you stop a mobile quarterback?"

For the current UW coaching staff, it was a no-brainer to add elements of the offense once the coaches saw the type of quarterbacks they had. Isaiah Stanback and Carl Bonnell could run as well as throw. When Locker said he would sign before Tyrone Willingham's staff had coached a game here, they committed to it long-term.

Expanding this year is the "option" part of the spread, or putting two backs with the quarterback, something that is a staple of Rich Rodriguez's offense at West Virginia.

Adding a second running back brings in a full-fledged triple option. It was out of this formation, for instance, that Rankin scored on a 47-yard run against Syracuse. The Huskies have also used the "gun zone" more this year, where a slot receiver moves off the line into the backfield as a second runner. How the defense reacts to such shifts and motions can create even more options.

"It was new to us a year ago, and we were new to it," said Denbrock. "Now we've seen what it could do for us, and having a similar-type quarterback going into this year, we were able to look at it and expand the package more and kind of dig into it a little deeper. I think we are an offense at this point that is a little bit harder to defend than we were at this time a year ago."

The spread option has proved particularly effective of late against Big Ten teams (think Florida's win over Ohio State in the national-title game and Michigan's two defeats this year to Appalachian State and Oregon). That might be a good omen for the Huskies on Saturday against Ohio State.

"Spreading the field has given the defense more responsibilities to cover," said Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel.

The option has never been a favored offense in the NFL due in large part to the risk of injury to the quarterback.

That's also a fear at the college level, and Huskies coaches said they need to regulate using Locker as a runner.

But while the spread is spreading, Bonnell points out that any scheme is only as good as the person running it.

"I don't think what we're doing is a whole lot different," Bonnell said, comparing what the Huskies are doing this year to previous years. "The main thing is the personnel.

Just having Jake back there being able to run around, that makes a huge difference."

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com