FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas high school football coaches got their shot to learn the Pistol.
Or rather their shot to learn the Shot.
In the Razorbacks’ terminology, Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino calls it “Shot” when the Razorbacks incorporate the Pistol offense that Chris Klenakis developed as the line coach and offensive coordinator at the University of Nevada.
Klenakis became Arkansas’ offensive line coach last winter.
To hear Klenakis relaying the Pistol’s history at the Arkansas High School Coaches Association clinic, it was more misfire than Pistol in spring practice 2005 when Nevada gambled in Reno on the new offense lining a running back deep behind a quarterback in the Shotgun.
“You should have seen the circus going on in our practice field,” Klenakis said. “Snaps going everywhere. We had the running back 2yards behind the quarterback. We thought that would be the optimal depth. We said we wanted the quarterback at 5 and the running back at 7.”
Klenakis said he learned through trial and error.
“The running back has got to be 3 yards from the quarterback for all the run-timing to work,” Klenakis said. “Believe me, we screwed it up at first. The only thing we did right as coaches was we had enough guts to stick with it the whole spring. Westuck with it as bad as it was and tweaked it over the summer, and in 2005 with this offense we won the Western Athletic Conference. It turned into a pretty good running offense.”
Good enough for Nevada to lead the nation in rushing in 2009 with three 1,000-yard rushers.
“We wanted the Shotgun with our passing game,” Klenakis said, “but still be able to run the ball downhill and not run the ball east-west.”
East-west seldom directs Klenakis’ Pistol compass.
“I want my shoulders going north-south,” Klenakis said. “People say zone read is a finesse play. I don’t buy that. This is a physical play. We are going to knock that front backwards and create as many double-teams as we can.”
“Clamps” Klenakis calls the key double-team blocks.
“I liken it to a heart surgeon clamping that big aortic artery,”Klenakis said. “You can’t have any leakage.”
Klenakis said the running back’s deep starting point enhances power and deception.
“The biggest advantage is the running back gets the ball deeper and he’s able to extend his blocks and increase his vision,” Klenakis said. “That helps an offensive line coach to be able to set the block, and it hides the running back. From a defensive standpoint, it is hard to find the running back, especially when you have got a 6-foot-7 quarterback [like Arkansas’ Ryan Mallett]. They can’t see the first steps of that running back because it’s hidden.”
Upon committing the ball to the running back, it’s the quarterback who must hide.
“The quarterback has got to step to the side,” Klenakis said. “I don’t care if it’s a hop, he has to get his butt out of the way. Do no get in the back’s vertical push.”
Sports, Pages 22 on 06/26/2010