Shatel: Watson works puzzle pieces

If you want to get an offensive coordinator to lose his X's and O's, try to stick a label on him.

We the media sometimes do that. This guy's an option guy. This one's a power guy. This guy's a spread guy. This guy is West Coast. This one's a veer guy.

OK, there hasn't actually been a veer guy in awhile, but you get the drift.

Labels are taboo for offensive coordinators. Most of these guys carry themselves like California beach philosophers or eccentric professors. They talk about the playbook going to infinity. They expound on the big picture and what it's all about, whereas a defensive coordinator will tell you it's all about a bloody nose.

Well, some of us are trying to label Nebraska offensive coordinator Shawn Watson. And, as expected, he won't have any of it.

Several years ago, Watson made a name for himself at Colorado with an offense that used three backs, a fullback, tight ends who looked like offensive guards but ran like receivers and quarterbacks who looked more suited for busing tables up in Vail.

Way back when, when NU still had Quentin Castille, some of us self-styled football geniuses figured Watson would play the same power game, set up the play-action to his tight ends and ask quarterback Zac Lee to somehow make it all work without falling in any open manholes.

Because Watson's a “Colorado offense'' guy, right?

“No, man, I'm totally different,'' Watson said the other day. “I always evolve. If you don't stay ahead of football, you don't stay on the cutting edge, you're dead.''

Watson and the NU offense are very much alive, as are Watson's head coaching aspirations. But the dude, er, man turns 50 in a few weeks. His career clock is ticking. These next couple of seasons should be crucial as a launching pad to the next frontier.

Which brings us to the question of the day: What's “Wats'' got in store for this offense? This season?

And have the turn of events last week made him tear up the game plan? You lose your big horse. You've got true freshmen one turned ankle away from starting at quarterback and running back.

Time to crawl into a shell and hope the defense can score?

“You can't do that,'' Watson said. “We've got to be ready to play. We've got to coach them. We'll do what we do. We have a style we believe in, we have schemes that we believe in. We'll tweak it, yeah, but we're going to do what we do.''

Watson has a reputation for playing to his strengths; his ability to do so saved Bo Pelini's first season at NU. So what are this offense's strengths?

Lee is a mobile quarterback, a guy who can throw it or tuck and run. Roy Helu is terrific in the open field, but he can also squeeze between the tackles. Freshman Rex Burkhead, 5-foot-11 and 200 pounds, can allegedly run inside or outside, catch passes and leap tall buildings in a single bound, but that's another story.

If Burkhead can't run inside, it's imperative he at least be able to fake it if Nebraska is going to have any play-action game — another Watson favorite — to the tight ends. Did we mention the tight ends?

NU has a group of five tight ends who look like run-and-catch playmakers. But Watson won't compare them to the group he had at CU, including Daniel Graham or Joe Klopfenstein (6-5, 255).

“Those guys were big edge blockers,'' Watson said. “We have different guys here, guys more suited for a space game. That's how we use them.''

Let's see. Quarterback who can run. Running backs who should be dangerous in open space. Tight ends and receivers who can catch and run. Is Watson looking at running his version of the spread?

“Somebody's got to tell me what a spread is,'' Watson said. “What is spread? Is it four receivers on the field, is that spread? Three receivers?

“There's all kinds of definitions. We evolved to more of a read-run game, more of that stuff. We're going to stay multiple.''

Sounds like a plan, man.

Contact the writer:

444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com

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