New Orleans Saints quarterback Jake Haener expects to remember the game for the rest of his life.
In 2021, Haener was playing quarterback for Fresno State. That September, the Bulldogs faced a No. 13 UCLA team that was fresh off a victory over LSU. Heading into the fourth quarter, Fresno State actually held a lead after a field goal, up 26-17.
Then it fell apart. The Bruins scored two unanswered touchdowns to take a 30-26 lead.
After the second touchdown, then-Fresno State coach Kalen DeBoer walked over to Haener on the sideline. DeBoer had been talking with his offensive coordinator, Ryan Grubb, on the headsets. Grubb was up in the booth, and he had a message he wanted sent to the quarterback.
“Ryan told Kalen to walk over to me,” Haener told The Tuscaloosa News, “and said, ‘Hey go tell Jake he’s going to be remembered for the next 7:27 and that’s all people are going to care about, what he does in the next 7:27.'”
Message received. On the ensuing drive, Haener led a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive capped off with a 19-yard touchdown pass.
His work wasn’t done yet, though. UCLA returned the favor, scoring with 54 seconds left to take the lead.
No problem, said Haener. He led a 6-play, 75-yard touchdown drive in 40 seconds to take the 40-37 lead with 14 seconds left, which was enough to win.
“That was a pretty wild moment and something I’ll always remember,” Haener said.
Haener had a first-hand look at DeBoer and Grubb working side-by-side before they went to Washington in 2022 and 2023. There, they had a top-15 scoring offense in each season, en route to coaching in the national championship game this past season. And now, the duo has ended up in Tuscaloosa to coach Alabama football. Grubb hasn’t officially been announced as offensive coordinator, but he has been spotted on the road recruiting for the Crimson Tide.
What can Alabama players expect from the DeBoer/Grubb offense? Here’s what a few of their former quarterbacks shared with The Tuscaloosa News.
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How the dynamic with Kalen DeBoer/Ryan Grubb works
DeBoer is Alabama’s next coach, and Grubb will be the offensive coordinator. As for how their roles will work with the Crimson Tide, the way the two have worked together in the past should be some indication.
DeBoer is a former offensive coordinator himself, but Grubb has been the one to call the plays when the two have worked together at their past two stops. And Alabama players should be thrilled about that if you ask Haener.
“I think Ryan is one of the best if not the best play callers in college football,” Haener said. “Don’t get me wrong, Kalen is an unbelievable coach and has just as good of an offensive mind, but I think Ryan really holds that offense to a standard and holds people accountable. For me in my six years of college football and my first year in the NFL, there’s nobody even close to the type of coach he is.”
Haener said in DeBoer’s offense at Indiana and Grubb’s at Fresno State and Washington, the terminology was similar. Much of the two offenses are similar, really. Each one just has “a different flavor.”
“They do a really good job throwing ideas off each other,” Haener said. “They’re so comfortable with each other that one guy is not going to get irritated if one guy makes a suggestion.”
Haener said neither has an ego. And that’s been a key to their success together.
“When you let egos get in the way,” Haener said, “things can slow down.”
Staples of the offense
To put it simply, get ready for a lethal passing attack. The vertical passing game is a hallmark of the offense, both Haener and former Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. said.
“I would just say the ability to push the ball vertical, but not just throwing four (verticals) at all times,” Penix Jr. told The Tuscaloosa News. “It’s layered throws.”
The other two “godfathers” of the offense according to Haener are crossing patterns as well as what he described as the climb series.
“When I say the climb series, you’re going to see if you’re on the left hash, those 18-22 yard over routes by the number 2 (receiver),” Haener said. “And you can pair that with whatever you want (near the sideline) on the front side. You’re going to see a lot of pure progression pass in their system.”
Pure progression passing
Penix also saw plenty of pure progression incorporated during his two seasons with DeBoer and Grubb at Washington. Penix also was at Indiana in 2019 when DeBoer was offensive coordinator in Bloomington.
“It’s pretty easy,” Penix said. “It’s pretty simple. I feel for me, experience was definitely a big thing for me. They do a lot of pure progression stuff. They also can mix it up as well and do it based on coverages and stuff like that. Most of the time, you’ve got the left to right, right to left reads to help the quarterback just scan through and get a good feel for the game.”
So what defines a pure progression system? It’s going through reads, so starting with the first receiver to see if he’s open. If not, going to the No. 2 option, then No. 3 and so on.
“No matter what the defense is running, in a pure progression pass system, if you’re a young quarterback and you get confused at the line of scrimmage and you might not know what they’re in, you can go in a pure progression system,” Haener said.
Exploiting matchups
At Fresno State, Haener used plenty of shifts and motions. He expects that to continue in the SEC for DeBoer and Grubb. Those shifts and motions pre-snap can help spread defenses out and isolate matchups, Haener said.
“I think Ryan and Kalen are going to do a really good job with whatever athletes they get there,” Haener said.
Changing the launch point
Haener commended Grubb and DeBoer for how the offense does a good job of changing up the launch point, or in simpler terms, changing up from where the quarterback throws the ball.
They don’t keep their quarterback in the pocket and only have him throw from that one spot. The quarterback will release the ball from different areas.
“The launch point changing for the quarterback is huge because you’re going to have these (pass rushers) in the SEC trying to bear down on you,” Haener said.
More details on Ryan Grubb
Grubb is now an offensive coordinator, but he’s a former offensive line coach, too. He coached the big men up front at Fresno State, Eastern Michigan and Sioux Falls. That shows through in his coaching if you ask his former quarterbacks.
“He’s on the offensive line hard,” Penix said. “He’s pushing those guys to be great. We had the Joe Moore award winners at Washington. He is definitely part of that reason too because of the way he pushed those guys and each and every day, he makes sure those guys are fully prepared and make sure those guys don’t get lazy or anything like that.
Grubb works hard in general, Penix stressed. He said he saw Grubb work at the stadium starting at 4 a.m. until 9 p.m. “just to make sure things go how he knows it can.”
“He does an amazing job,” Penix said, “with his buy in and the amount of work and effort he puts into trying to make sure we have a special year and have a special game each and every week.”
Nick Kelly is the Alabama beat writer for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network, and he covers Alabama football and men’s basketball. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.
2024-01-30 14:20:13
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