There were some significant moves across the college football coaching landscape this offseason, not just in the head coaching chair but also among coordinator jobs nationwide. Many of the moves come with new schemes and not all of those new schemes fit the new personnel.

With no spring practice to monitor, we can only guess at whether the shoe will fit in year one. I took a look at a few of the most interesting new scheme fits and the challenges or successes that await, with attached grades respective to how I feel their fit aligns with the inherited roster. It's important to note this isn't a grade of the hire, or a predictor of future success.

USC: Defensive coordinator Todd Orlando

Year 1 Roster Fit Grade: C+

If you’re pairing up USC’s defensive personnel with any scheme in the country, I’m not sure Orlando’s is your first choice. The best player on the entire roster may be defensive end Drake Jackson. He’s 6-foot-4, 275 pounds and he led USC in tackles for loss (11.5) and sacks (5.5) as a freshman. Determining Jackson’s role in Orlando’s three-man front was going to be the first point of order in the spring. Does he play with his hand down or line up as a jumbo outside linebacker in more of a true pass-rusher role? Even on USC’s official roster, Jackson has a position moniker all to his own: “DL-OLB”.

The nature of Orlando’s system has vacillated between a more penetrating front in the Ed Oliver days of Houston to a more traditional two-gap system with the big bodies available at Texas. USC actually has an impressive unit of big bodies between Marlon Tuipulotu, Jay Tufele and Brandon Pili so in that sense the roster is both friendly and flexible. But Orlando has admitted that he’s at his best when he has had his best playmakers at linebacker.

USC has recruited well at linebacker. There is some talent at the position led by Palaie Gaoteote and Kana’i Mauga but it is not a position that has flashed in recent years and certainly not in the 2019 season. Either Orlando is just the guy to unlock some of that latent talent or he doesn’t have those critical quality inside linebackers at his disposal.

The good news is that Orlando’s success often correlates well with talented safeties. He’s got that. Assuming he can stay healthy, Talanoa Hufanga can be a real breakout star under Orlando. But ultimately this comes back to Jackson. Is this system malleable enough to make the best player on the field the most impactful player on the field? Spring was our sneak peek. Now the unveiling will have to wait.

ARKANSAS: Offensive coordinator Kendal Briles

Year 1 Roster Fit Grade: B+

In his five years as an offensive coordinator, the average finish for his teams in offensive yards per play nationally has been 24th. His best season was his first as an OC at Baylor in 2015 when he had the No. 2 offense in the country. His worst was his last as an OC at Florida State when he led the No. 61 offense nationally (in ypp). In between he had a tumultuous year under an interim coach at Baylor, and two seasons of Top 15 offensive efficiency in the Group of Five ranks.

What’s most interesting about Briles’ latest stop is the marriage of his spread system with a head coach in Sam Pittman that has been much more old school in all of his previous stops. So while we may not know exactly what this fusion looks like, we still know what has worked in the past for Briles and while Arkansas’ roster isn’t perfect, there are some quality pieces in place.

It starts with the run game with Briles. At Baylor in 2015, he had two running backs top 1,000 yards, four running backs top 500 and a quarterback that topped 400. At FAU in 2017, Devin Singletary nearly hit 2,000 yards rushing. Behind a porous offensive line last year, Cam Akers still went for more than 1,100. Fortunately at Arkansas, Rakeem Boyd resisted the NFL and is very worthy of a feature back for Briles. The depth has thinned some with the transfer of Chase Hayden but there’s talent available with players like Arizona State transfer Trelon Smith.

In the pass game, a quarterback that can stretch the field vertically and wide receivers with speed on the perimeter to make plays down the field have given Briles the most success. In Trey Knox and Treylon Burks, Briles inherits some big bodies on the outside that can win in contested situations. He also recruited a transfer quarterback in Feleipe Franks that has a huge arm and deceptive athleticism. Does he beat out sophomore KJ Jefferson? Both have the athleticism to keep defenses honest. All things considered, this is a personnel grouping that is probably comes as a pleasant surprise to Briles when he walked into a team coming off 19 straight conference losses.

TEXAS: Defensive coordinator Chris Ash

Year 1 Roster Fit Grade: B

It just felt like Texas needed a fresh start on defense. Tom Herman turned to an entirely new system with the arrival of Chris Ash after a failed head coach stint at Rutgers. Ash will shift Texas to an even front and while that should be just fine for Texas’ talented edge rusher Joseph Ossai, he probably would have been just fine as an edge rusher in Orlando’s scheme as well. He’ll still be standing up as a jack linebacker and his new role may be even better suited to let him do what he does best - rush the passer.

The challenge here will be generating more production across the rest of the defensive line and finding a comfort level with some Big-12 worthy linebackers. Texas was ranked outside the top 100 in sack rate in 2019. Texas was ranked in the bottom half of the country in other advanced defensive line analytics against the run as well. Freeing up some of those defenders to be more aggressive up front could be a solution.

One of the more exciting elements to an Ash system as it relates to Texas’ personnel is the aggressive nature of the cornerbacks. We expect to see more press coverage which should cater nicely to the athletic aggressive stylings of that talented room. Jalen Green in particular would seem to be well-equipped to thrive in more press coverage.

The wide-angle view here is that Ash appears to bring a defense with him that is built to maximize a defense that is talented, thus raising the question: How talented is Texas? Ash may need to work around some imperfections and the roster will need to start playing like its ranking.

FLORIDA STATE: Head coach Mike Norvell

Year 1 Roster Fit Grade: A

I’m going to cheat a little bit here because some of the more fascinating pieces to the Mike Norvell Florida State experience aren’t inherited. They’re the guys that Norvell has rounded up since taking over.

Memphis has been a fun team to watch because of all the different faces that generate explosive plays and all the different ways they do it. With Khalan Laborn back at running back for Florida State in addition to the arrival of Jashaun Corbin from Texas A&M there are veterans in place with talent. Tamorrion Terry is an NFL wide receiver. D.J. Matthews feels underutilized given his quicks and athleticism. And then there are the guys coming in like Corey Wren, hailing from a veer offense with one of the nation’s best 100-meter times, or Ja’Khi Douglas, a high school quarterback with dynamic ability,

There’s also some quarterback options which include Brock Purdy’s athletic younger brother, Chubba Purdy. But none of it really matters unless the offensive line gets fixed. That has been a staple at Memphis and while Ryan Silverfield stayed behind in the AAC to take over as the Memphis head coach, Chris Thomsen has a strong track record himself at TCU.

I think the coaches and personnel are in place to get things quicker than maybe some expect. It’s hard to envision Norvell not finding a way to utilize athletes. FSU has those.