Penn State head football coach James Franklin has hired his sixth offensive coordinator, Andy Kotelnicki, in hopes of helping his program take that next step from great to elite.
While only time will tell if the hiring of Kotelnicki will do just that for the Nittany Lions, the hiring for Penn State is a fascinating one, and for all the right reasons. For an offense that was stagnant and uninspiring for the majority of this season, that is all about to change for the Nittany Lions.
Below, we delve into Andy Kotelnicki's offensive strategies and what he brings to Happy Valley from Lawrence
To begin, let's examine some key statistics for both Penn State and Kansas's offenses from the 2023 regular season.
Stats only tell some of the story but the biggest thing to take away from the stats above is that the Kansas offense this past season (and in 2022) has been very explosive and quite efficient.
Now, it was quite a surprise to see Penn State ranked second in yards per point scored this season, averaging 10.5 yards per point but after double and triple checking the numbers, it is in fact correct, only Michigan is ahead of the Nittany Lions. Without diving too deep into the numbers, I would assume that would be strongly influenced by the NIttany Lions' defense creating short-field position situations for the offense on a routine basis this season.
Beyond that metric, Kansas was by far the more efficient and more explosive offense this season which is the key thing to know about this offense.
"I've never seen anything like it before"
If you're expecting Penn State to be running solely a pro-style offense next season or a spread offense, you would be mistaken.
For Kansas under Kotelnicki, the Jayhawks' offensive scheme or philosophy could've been called quite a few different things. It's similar to if you were playing NCAA 14 or Madden and created a playbook of all your favorite schemes and plays to use. There's a little bit of pro-style offense, there's a little bit of a spread offense included as well, and even a taste of the triple-option.
It's an offensive scheme that still has no name, when asked about it earlier this season, Kotelnicki was open to suggestions according to The Topeka Capital-Journal's Jordan Guskey but at that point, Kotelnicki was just fine with calling it "The Kansas Offense".
Kansas wide receiver Luke Grimm had no idea what to call it, simply referring to it as "The Kotelnicki Offense" either according to Guskey, Grimm telling the media "I've never seen anything like it before, and I still haven't seen anything like it."
That being said, there is one word that will sum up the entire offense for Kotelnicki, creative.
Creativity
One of the major complaints from fans and writers alike this season regarding Mike Yurcich was simply a lack of creativity within the Nittany Lions offense. At times it was minimal. With Kotelnicki now in the fold, there should never be any lack of creativity again for the Nittany Lions, as long as the long-time offensive coordinator is with the program at least.
Kotelnicki's offense is one of the most creative offenses in the country, which you probably gathered above.
Throughout his time in Lawrence, Buffalo, and his other stops, the Kotelnicki offense has been built on pre-snap motion and shifts in hopes of creating mismatches whether it be in the run game or the passing game.
His main objective in any given play is to make the defense uncomfortable, hoping to force late adjustments that force them out of position. The more thinking that Kotelnicki can force a defense to do, the better. You see that in his play design from the pre-snap motion, to the option splits, route trees, and more. Every single aspect of his offense is creative, making it a complete 180 from what we saw from Penn State's offense for most of the 2023 season.
That creativity, however, does not start just with the play design. It starts with the personnel that is given to him. With a quarterback like Jalon Daniels, Kansas incorporated quite a bit of triple-option-based plays into their playbook in 2022, once again giving the opposing defense just one more thing to think about when facing the Jayhawks.
That being said, with Drew Allar, the triple option it's safe to say, likely won't be nearly as effective, with Beau Pribula, that's a different story. Kotelnicki has spoken at length before including with Max Olsen of The Athletic in regards to the importance of identifying the strengths and weaknesses of your personal and then curtailing it to those said strengths.
Every offensive coordinator says that they will do such but ultimately very few are able to curtail it to their quarterbacks and other personnel successfully. For Kotelnicki, he's shown the ability to do that throughout his career but it's been especially highlighted at Buffalo and Kansas.
Gap vs Zone rushing attack
Under Mike Yurcich, Penn State was a heavy zone run-based offense. Over Yurcich's three years with the program, the Nittany Lions ran zone runs at rates of 62.5% (2021), 58.2% (2022), and 65.3% (2023).
Note these rates do include scrambles.
For Kansas, their offense has been much more gap-based when it comes to the rushing attack. This season, Kansas ran zone-based runs 45.9% of the time, in 2022, it was even heavier gap-based at 35.3%, and in 2021, it was much more similar to this year at 47.3%.
That being said, a look back at the past for Koltenicki shows that he did use to call a very heavy zone-based run game as well during his time with Buffalo. History tells us that Penn State is going to emphasize the zone-rushing attack more than the gap and likely the inside gap run game more than choosing to attack the outside, but with Kotelnicki in the fold, how much of a change will there be?
When looking at the change in Kotelnicki's offense going from heavy zone to heavy gap, a large majority of that will have to do with him once again curtailing the offense to his personnel. At Kansas, more triple-option-based looks were prevalent in his play calling than compared to his time at Buffalo, leading to the drastic change in approach. Now, with a whole new set of personnel, Kotelnicki will once again adapt his offensive philosophy to the Nittany Lions' strengths in the rushing attack.
It's unlikely that Penn State is going to go with a total revamp of their run game philosophy but don't be surprised if the gap-rushing attack becomes a bit more used in Penn State's rushing attack.
The passing attack
Kotelnicki offenses have never been pass-heavy over the course of a season but for the most part have been efficient offenses, especially in the yards per attempt department. This season, the Jayhawks only threw the ball 283 times which ranked 123 in the country but, the Jayhawks' 2,672 passing yards ranked in the top half of the country, and their 9.4 yards per attempt ranked eighth.
As we discussed above, Koltenicki focuses heavily on pre-snap motion, shifts, and more in order to create mismatches and get opposing defenses off-balanced or second-guessing themselves. With a lower level of talent at Kansas compared to other programs that the Jayhawks were facing, creating these mismatches was even more important for their offense and it was done incredibly well as you can tell by their 9.4 yards per attempt. they were also able to create 43 plays of 20+ yards through the air this season on those 283 passing attempts, meaning about once every 6.5 passing attempts, the Jayhawks were able to pick up 20+ yards through the air, or about 15.2% of all passing attempts.
That's a big difference from Penn State's 25 plays of 20+ yards through the air this season on 373 passing attempts, equating to a play of 20+ yards about once every 14.9 attempts or 9.3% of the time.
When the Jayhawks did throw the ball this year, there was a heavy, heavy emphasis of attacking the middle of the field.
Of their 283 passing attempts, the Jayhawks threw to the middle of the field 156 times, roughly 55.1% of the time. Out of those 156 attempts, they were quite efficient as a team, completing 73% of their passes in between the numbers this season.
Noteworthy is that about 10% of their total attempts (28 of 283) for the season came behind the line of scrimmage, in between the numbers. Of those 28 attempts, the Jayhawks quarterbacks completed 27 for 147 yards, an average of 5.4 yards per attempt. Even if you take away their 27-of-28 from behind the line of scrimmage, the Jayhawks completed 129-of-255 attempts which is more of a reflection of Jason Bean as a passer than it is of the offense.
When looking at the numbers of star quarterback Jalon Daniels over the last two years, on passing attempts beyond the line of scrimmage, in between the numbers, Daniels was tremendous, completing 80-of-114 (70.1%) for 1,307 yards, an average of 11.4 yards per attempt. With a quarterback such as Drew Allar, the potential to exploit opposing defenses with mismatches and creative passing plays in the middle of the field is sky-high.
For comparison, Allar this season already thrived in the middle of the field beyond the line of scrimmage despite lackluster wide receiver play and uncreative play calling, completing 106-of-151 passing attempts for 1,429 yards, an average of 9.4 yards per attempt.
Now, the potential of combining one of the best offensive minds in football with a quarterback who has some of the highest potential of any quarterback in the nation has to be an exciting proposition for James Franklin, Drew Allar, the Penn State offense as a whole, as well as for Penn State fans.
Final Thoughts
The Andy Kotelnicki hire for Penn State is a fantastic one, on paper. There are few offensive minds in college football that are better than Kotelnicki. This change mirrors the impactful transition from John Donovan to Joe Moorhead, promising a new era that was headlined by a highly aggressive and creative offensive approach for the Nittany Lions.
With 2023 being a wasted season in the eyes of some thanks to Penn State's defense posted some of the best numbers in program history, James Franklin wanted to ensure that there would not be a repeat performance in 2024 as the Big Ten expands to 18 teams with UCLA, Oregon, USC, and Washington all coming to town. With the hiring of Kotelnicki, Frankin did just that.
With Kotelnicki at the helm, the Penn State offense is poised for continuous evolution. It will be one that is fun for writers, fans, and everyone in between to watch.
--------------------------------------------------------------
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
