Talking Offense with Mike Yurcich, Penn State's New Coordinator

Explosive plays, going under center and the value of quarterbacks enrolling early. Mike Yurcich previews Penn State's next offense.

Mike Yurcich, Penn State's new offensive coordinator, met with the media Tuesday from his office in State College, backed by a snowy practice field.

'Feels great," said Yurcich, who spent last season as the offensive coordinator at Texas.

Yurcich covered plenty of ground in the 30-minute session, which was notable also for what he chose not to discuss. Yurcich said he would save the analysis of specific players, notably quarterback Sean Clifford, for after spring practice.

Yurcich did note, however, the value of having freshman quarterback Christian Veilleux enroll in January, especially considering the roster currently includes just three scholarship quarterbacks.

So what insights did Yurcich offer? Here's a glimpse.

Describing a Mike Yurcich offense

"It's not going to be a Mike Yurcich offense," the coordinator quickly corrected. "It's going to be a Penn State offense. There are three keys to it, really: One, [Be] physical. We want to be a physical offense. Two, we want to be a smart offense. Three, we want to be a skilled offense.

"We're going to be a talented offense obviously from the players who we're able to recruit here at Penn State, but we want to be tough, smart and skilled. So when we line up, the most important thing is our players. How we line them up in formations and get them matched up and lastly it's plays. So players, formations and plays. That's been the key to our success."

The value he places on explosive plays

"Explosions are huge in this day and age as far as what correlates to wins," Yurcich said. "There are three things we really look at. One, turnovers. It's about always giving the defense a long field, especially our defense here at Penn State. ... Two, scoring in the red zone. When you're in the red zone, you've got to come away with points, got to come away with touchdowns. And then explosives are the other part that we feel is very, very important and correlates to wins."

Could the quarterback take snaps from under center?

"There is a time to go under center," Yurcich said. "I think it provides a lot of advantages. When you can turn your back to the defense, they don't know where the ball is necessarily, so I think your play-action passes can increase. I think that you can sustain a longer suck on the defense on play-action passes, because you're now taking a five-step drop instead of a flash fake out of the gun. So I think playing under center has a tremendous amount of advantage, depending on what your schemes are."  

The benefits of quarterback Christian Veilleux enrolling early

"For any new quarterback coming in, it's nearly impossible to play as a freshman without the experience that first spring as an early enrollee," Yurcich said. "So it gives him a chance. It would be very hard to be a backup, or even to be able to contribute as an early guy coming in, without that first spring. So for him to come in early, that gives him a really good chance to get a leg up and to learn the offense and to be well-versed to give him a chance to compete in the fall. ... So it's critical that guys come in early nowadays, especially when you're in a situation like we are with only three scholarship quarterbacks."