Should Boston College Use Phil Jurkovec More in the QB Run Game?
Since Steve Adazzio arrived in Chestnut Hill in 2013, the Boston College Eagles were known as a running team. They rode the back of Andre Williams until the wheels (his ankles) fell off. In 2014, the offense completely changed, but Tyler Murphy’s running ability was still the driving force. 2015 is a year meant to banished to the deepest and darkest recesses of memory. But from 2016 through 2019, the Eagles’ offense stabilized into a more traditional pro-style attack rooted in running the ball between the tackles. This commitment, or stubbornness depending on who you ask, seemed to mesh well with the type of recruits Adazzio brought in, but ultimately put a ceiling on the success of certain players and seemingly the team as a whole, leading to Addazio’s firing.
Making a Major Change
But in 2020, amidst a global pandemic, everything changed. New coach Jeff Hafley brought in a big, strong-armed, athletic quarterback and an almost completely new offensive staff, rife with NFL experience. These coaches completely overhauled the offensive scheme and playbook and almost completely flipped the run-pass balance of the Boston College offense. These are BC’s run-pass splits during the last four years of the Adazzio era:
In fact, BC ran the ball more every year since 2016. Now, part of this was due to Anthony Brown’s injuries forcing backups into the lineup and leaning towards running the ball. But the point still stands. But in 2020, BC passed the ball on 60% of their plays and ran the ball on 40%. The only other team that might have had such a drastic change was Mississippi State, which switched to the Air Raid under Mike Leach (2019 Pass Rate: 48.15%, 2020 Pass Rate: 80.38%) in 2020.
Disappointing Ramifications
However, with this change came some unforeseen drawbacks. In general, BC struggled to consistently run the ball well. The offensive scheme changes affected the blocking style, which took some time for the offensive line to adjust to; furthermore, David Bailey struggled to adapt his game to the offense and decided to transfer to Colorado State to rejoin Steve Adazzio, which is probably best for him. This leaves Travis Levy, Patrick Garwo, and West Virginia transfer Alec Sinkfield. Levy flashed some potential in the new system, but his best trait is his versatility and ability to contribute in the passing game. Garwo has struggled to remain healthy and Sinkfield, despite being effective for the Mountaineers, has very little experience. In order to make the passing game as effective as possible, BC has to have a competent or efficient running game.
An Unlikely Solution
There has been a decent amount of literature and analysis studying how running the ball affects the effectiveness of play-action passes. The general consensus is as follows: the threat of the run needs to exist for play-action passes to be effective, but the effectiveness of play-action passes does not increase commensurately with how effective the running game is. Basically, an offense does not need to be ripping off big chunk gains running the ball in order for play-action passes to properly fake out the defense. However, I think one way to open up the passing game even more deadly would be to use Phil Jurkovec in the running game.
During the 2021 season, the BC offensive staff should experiment with using Phil Jurkovec’s legs as a way to diversify the running game and the offense as a whole. Obviously, Jurkovec is an incredible athlete; he is tall, long, and clearly has a very strong core. Ideally, I’d like to see him pack on 5-10 pounds this offseason (whether that be protein shakes or McDonald’s doesn’t really matter to me). Adding this weight would not only make him more impervious to the pounding from defenders but could also make him a more dangerous, powerful runner. When he was a Notre Dame and stuck behind Ian Book on the depth chart, there was even some consideration that he might switch to tight end or wide receiver. This shows you how great of an athlete Jurkovec is. But first, let’s see how effective Jurkovec was as a runner in 2020.
By the Numbers
In 2020, Phil Jurkovec ran the ball 37 times; 22 of those came on scrambles, while 15 came on designed runs (according to Pro Football Focus). His rushing attempts ranked 54th among quarterbacks, while his scrambles tied for the 35th most among FBS quarterbacks. In every game except two, Jurkovec carried the ball three or four times (once against North Carolina, and seven times against Georgia Tech).
On these carries, Jurkovec picked up 343 yards (this does not include the negative yardage taken from sacks) and scored three touchdowns. Jurkovec’s Rushing grade of 74.1 ranked 41st among FBS college quarterbacks. Basically, on non-sack run plays, Jurkovec was able to pick up almost six yards per rush.
Let's return to those 15 designed runs. This tells us that Jurkovec ran the ball purposefully as the primary runner about 1.5 times per game in 2020. Of those 15 runs, 11 were in Zone running schemes, while only 4 were Gap schemes. Unfortunately, PFF does not delineate how many yards were picked up in each scheme. But now, let's look at some examples of how Jurkovec ran the ball in 2020.
Check the Tape
Week 8 vs Georgia Tech, BC 48, 1st & 10, 4:58 2Q
Our first clip comes from BC's Week 8 48-27 victory over Georgia Tech. In the clip above, Jurkovec lines up in the shotgun, with Travis Levy flanked to his left. This play is a zone-read play, specifically a split zone read. This is because the offensive line all moves to their right to block (zone), while tight end Hunter Long slides back away from the offensive line to block the backside (split). When the split zone is packaged with a QB run option, the slide blocker basically becomes the lead blocker for the QB.
After the snap, Jurk reads the weakside defensive end, who bites on the handoff and wallops Levy. But Jurk keeps the ball and runs back to his left and then cuts upfield. Long does not get a great block on the defensive back, who eventually helps make the tackle, but not until after Jurkovec picks up seven yards. He uses his agility to make a defender miss and his size/strength to pick up a few extra feet after contact.
Plays like these are integral parts of implementing designed quarterback runs into an offensive scheme. Read option plays isolate one defender and put him in conflict, giving the offense a numerical advantage.
BC 40, 1st & 10, 13:51 3Q
In this clip, BC runs basically the same play, the only difference being the slot receiver running a bubble route, indicating this might be part of a large RPO package. But we see the offensive line slide to the right, and Long slide underneath them the opposite way. He gets a better block to seal the edge and Jurk gets upfield in a hurry for a gain of 13. What's more is that Jurk basically goes limp once he gets past the first down line, indicating situational awareness and a good sense of practical self-preservation.
Week 11 vs Notre Dame, ND 29, 2nd & 10, 14:20 2Q
This clip is slightly different from the others. We see Long aligned off the line of scrimmage again, but this time it's to the same side as the back and he blocks down to seal the edge. Jurk fakes to the back then pulls and gets to the edge. Jaelan Gill does a great job selling in the inside run which gives Jurkovec plenty of grass to run. This clip illustrates how Jurk uses his big frame and long legs to eat up lots of ground quickly. He can't get past the safety, but it's a huge gain.
Week 6 vs Pittsburgh, BC 31, 2nd & 4, 2:42 1Q
Our final clip features the Eagles' most explosive offensive player, Zay Flowers. Zay comes in motion across the formation and Jurk fakes the handoff to him before following the pulling left guard, Christian Mahogany, up the middle. This is our first Man-Gap scheme, as indicated by the puller and almost looks like an old Veer option play. Obviously, Zay has had some things to say about being used as the jet sweep guy. But using him on jet sweeps has been effective, and even him being used as a decoy is effective, as it can get the defense flowing to edge, while Jurkovec takes the ball up the middle. Jurk doesn't pick up much here, and the play didn't work later in the game. But packaging some quarterback-run plays with jet sweeps is a classic part of spread offenses that BC should consider incorporating into their offense next year.
Why They Shouldn’t
Obviously, the primary drawback of using Jurkovec in such a role is the risk of injuries. Jurkovec missed the season finale against Virginia after playing through a shoulder injury for the previous few weeks. Even though he’s exceptionally tough and played through that injury, exposing him to getting hit even more as a runner could cause more long-term damage and cause him to miss more time. Fans will surely remember how Anthony Brown suffered ACL injuries when he scrambled out of the pocket. Even though Dennis Grosel is an excellent backup quarterback, he puts a limit on what the BC offense can achieve. Phil Jurkovec is the reason that BC has even an outside shot at winning the ACC this year; losing him to injury would snuff those dreams out instantly.
Another downside is Jurkovec’s tendency to fumble. In only ten games last season, he fumbled the ball seven times. I believe most of the fumbles came when Jurkovec was still in the pocket, but I’d prefer to see him get this issue corrected before trying to have him run the ten times per game. As of right now, we don’t know Jurkovec’s hand size, but given his size, small hands would be an unlikely culprit, even though we’ve seen similar issues from quarterbacks like Jameis Winston and Daniel Jones.
Obviously, I don't think BC should use Jurkovec as their primary running threat, like the Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson. But because of his rare blend of size and athleticism, incorporating plays that utilize Jurkovec's talent as a runner could open up an already especially dangerous offense.
