Jan. 12, 2010
ORLANDO, Fla. -
By Leigh Torbin
UCFAthletics.com
The 10,000-member American Football Coaches Association is holding its annual convention here in Orlando this week at the Marriott World Center and UCF coaches Brent Key and Dave Huxtable are presenting in front of their many peers. Monday night was Key's turn to lead a "Buzz Session" on offensive line play.
Key talked extensively about UCF's "21" personnel package (one H-back, one tailback, one tight end and two wide receivers) which proved to be highly successful for the Knights this year in terms of yards per snap. Key diagramed several of the team's run blocking schemes with this personnel grouping in short yardage and goal line situations and also touched on some pass protection options out of it. A crowd that ranged from Football Bowl Subdivision coaches to high school coaches listened, asked and learned from the UCF offensive line coach.
UCFAthletics.com was there and caught up with Key afterwards for a Q&A session.
You talked to the group about how head coach George O'Leary's attitude helps you coach the offensive line.
"A team always wants to take on the personality of its head coach. Coach O'Leary is a tough, hard-nosed football coach. That's what coach O'Leary is and that's what he brings to the table. Being a line coach himself, he understands the position and by nature he has the right attitude for it."
Why is offensive line probably the most important position on the field?
"It's the only position where on every play you're hitting somebody. Tough guys win in the trenches and teams win at the line of scrimmage."
Does your All-ACC playing experience in college help you coach offensive line?
"It does help because you can see things from a player's perspective in their eyes. You understand what they're going through and I'm not telling them to do something that I haven't done myself. There's a lot of things I tell the guys because I messed them up in the past when I played so I know exactly what the mistake was."
You talked about this year increasing walk through times with your unit and having less chalk board time. Why?
"Anytime someone's doing a walk through, they are both seeing it and doing it as opposed to just telling them what to do. The more times you actually do something, the better you're going to get at it. We're always changing as coaches. We're teachers. That's what we are. My mother was a third grade teacher and until the day she retired she was always trying to find ways to make herself better and make herself a better teacher. That's what we do as coaches, try and make ourselves better. "
What is the most important part of playing the position?
"Toughness and, a phrase coach O'Leary uses a lot, understanding the intent of the play. The mental execution and knowing who to block and what we are trying to do as an entire offense on a certain play is as important as the physical execution sometimes."
Why is it that offensive linemen almost universally prefer to run block as opposed to pass blocking?
"Personally, I think it's an attitude. If you play line, you love hitting. When you are run blocking, you are going off and hitting somebody instead of sitting back and letting somebody hit you."
How did this speaking engagement all come together?
"The AFCA called me a few weeks ago and of course I said `yes.' It's a great honor to be able to speak at this event. It's always great to have a chance to get in here with your peers at the convention and learn and listen and grow as a coach. Leading one of those sessions was fun."