RSSBot
News Junkie
Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
We’ve all died and gone to heaven. Wait, that’s just waking up in Colorado with Coach Prime
Sometimes, like after a long sip of lemonade on a summer day or after a ref in Missouri messes up the down marker, you just feel a little more connected to whatever cosmic plan creates this universe. Sometimes these moments can happen after a buildup and sometimes they can happen suddenly.
Maybe I’m speaking like this because the new head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes, Coach Prime, Deion Sanders, often stirs up talks like this in his speeches. And maybe the fact that I’ve watched his press conference four to five teams has affected my neural pathways. Regardless, the last 72 hours in Boulder feels like one of those moments that comes out of nowhere. Folks, that train has not stopped rolling. Sean Lewis, the FORMER SITTING HEAD COACH FOR KENT STATE, has taken the offensive coordinator job under Coach prime at the University of Colorado.
Why am I so excited? Well, let’s start with the facts before I get to my opinions. The University of Colorado is set to pay a $750,00 buyout on an offensive coordinator. That does not happen two weeks ago. The Buffaloes are also hiring an active FBS head coach at a demoted level, something that wouldn’t happen two weeks ago. Moving on to some facts about Sean Lewis, he is an interesting candidate. Still in his mid-30s, Lewis was the youngest head coach in the FBS when Kent State hired him six seasons ago. He was hired from Syracuse, where he was the co-OC under Dino Babers. Lewis played his college ball at Wisconsin as a tight end, and has spent much of his young career in the Midwest.
Now, on to the opinions. Sean Lewis is an INCREDIBLE hire for CU and beyond my wildest dreams. He runs an offense tailor-made to take advantage of the altitude advantage. Lewis runs a hybrid of the Baylor “spread you out and run you” offense and a more traditional, Midwestern power running game. Lewis makes his boys play FAST. They ran the fourth most plays in the FBS last year, with an incredibly high pace. The time between plays was about 30 seconds. You combine his physical tendencies with his wide splits on offense with his incredible pace and suddenly, I have a feeling defenses will be sucking wind at Folsom Field. Past that, Lewis’ offenses SCORE POINTS. His 28 points per game this year, with three different starting quarterbacks, was the lowest mark of his at Kent State since his first year.
Much like Tad Boyle on the basketball side, Lewis gives a lot of freedom to the players who run his system. His offense forces the QB to make an option read on almost every play, often out of the shotgun. This means that the quarterback has a lot of control over how every play goes. When the QB embraces this freedom, like Dustin Crum at KSU, this is a huge path to success. We already know who Sean Lewis’s QB is for the next two years, and for some reason, I think Shadeur Sanders will love the spotlight.
For more about his decision, please read Pete Thamel’s great breakdown below:
Thamel’s story
by Jack Barsch
Continue reading...