FSU football offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn talks first spring scrimmage
FSU football offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn talks first spring scrimmage
- Florida State football held its first spring scrimmage, with offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn expressing satisfaction with the offense’s performance.
- Malzahn focused on evaluating players and establishing offensive concepts, simplifying the scheme for better execution.
- While pleased with the running backs’ ball protection, Malzahn emphasized the need for improved communication, execution, and physicality in the offense.
Florida State football‘s first spring scrimmage is in the book.
Offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn was pleased with his offense’s performance Saturday. And Malzahn also confirmed he called all 100 plays.
He said, by design, 60 plays were rushing, 40 passing. The former UCF head coach, who led his team to a top-10 rushing attack every year during his tenure, said it was important to see how players performed and responded.
“Learned a lot about our guys individually with good and usually you learn more about scrimmages than you do any kind of practice which was good at opportunity,” Malzahn stated.
“Our guys responded with success, and see how they responded to that adversity. That’s very important as you’re building the offense together.
Malzahn also praised defensive coordinator Tony White for giving his offense different looks with its 3-3-5 scheme.
“There’s a lot of things that we can learn from them. That’s what I told the guys once I brought them up,” Malzahn said.
“You might have to improve in the areas that execution. You know, they’re thinking about offense, that for the most part, it usually takes all 11 being able to execute.”
Gus Malzahn’s offense is slowly progressing
A positive first-week and scrimmage are always a step in the right direction, and Malzahn has learned this all too well in his 19-year coaching career.
Malzahn continued to evaluate his offense. His goal was to establish it for his players while they understood the concepts of his scheme. That meant even simplifying it so that it was easier for players to execute.
Malzahn liked that his running backs protected the football.
“I think that was really the number one thing the running backs, that first day, the scrimmage and all that, we protected the football,” Malzahn said.
“We have been slower to install, trying to develop a foundation and then trying to evaluate. I just want it to be where our guys don’t have to think so much that we can’t evaluate so they can play football. So, there’s not, not a whole lot of scheming going on. It’s more of installing your plays, trying to get good at the foundation.”
‘We’re getting there’: Gus Malzahn wants offense to play faster and physical
There’s no question that Malzahn’s offense is designed to play fast and physical. FSU is still not quite there yet, however.
With Malzahn getting a first look at his offense with ACC officiating, he concluded that communication and execution still need to be improved.
“We need to respond better,” Malzahn said.
“At times, there were some good things, but for the most part, just as a collective group, we have to play faster, and when you play fast, you gotta be mentally tough enough to execute.”
Malzahn said that the offense is still a work in progress. He believes they are not quite there yet, especially playing physical ball.
The Seminoles were one of the worst offenses in the country after only scoring 15.6 points per game and 270.3 yards of offense that led to a 2-10 record last year.
Malzahn liked how the Seminoles handled the expectations, but there were questions about what he wanted to see from his players in tough situations.
“I mean, everything you get out there, and the coaches on the sideline and they’re out there, I mean, it’s real life. It’s real football.,” Malzahn said.
“So it’s just really all the above, and I learned more today, probably good chance, maybe the first four practices or five, whatever. So, but that’s normal in scrimmages. That’s real football, which is really exciting.”
Peter Holland Jr. covers Florida State athletics for Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at PHolland@Gannett.com or on X @_Da_pistol.
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