Coach Jim McElwain may have won over some fans and media members in his introductory press conference, but the Gators didn't hire him to for his public speaking talent and sense of humor. They hired him to fix an offense that was one of the nation's most anemic over the past two seasons. McElwain comes to Florida off of an astoundingly successful 10-2 campaign at Colorado State in just his 3rd year at the helm. McElwain also brings with him a history of offensive success, coordinating the attacks for two National Championship teams at Alabama. Knowing that offensive success is what McElwain will ultimately be judged upon, I took a look at some Colorado State tape from this past season to provide fans with a look into the future of the Gators' offense.

Overall, this season, McElwain's offense featured a diverse scheme that included many spread elements, but boasted a power attack as well. The Rams ran a lot of no-huddle tempo, with looks to the sideline for the playcalls. They utilized shotgun and pistol heavily, but lined up under center on occasion as well. Their run game is mostly zone based, while the passing game features a lot of quick game and traditional spread passing concepts (Smash, Drive, etc.). They take the majority of their deep shots off of playaction. Tight ends featured heavily in their attack, with the Rams' offense frequently lining up with two, whether they were in a running or passing situation, which allowed for McElwain to utilize essentially every formation in his arsenal out of the same personnel groupings. If I had to sum up his offense, he runs relatively simple plays, but utilizes motion, formation, tempo, and personnel to put your defense in bad spots. His consistent usage of motions and shifts frequently create numbers advantages for his offense and lead to big plays. College defenses generally don't adjust well to that much movement, and McElwain made a killing off of it. From watching so much tape on a daily basis, I can tell you that even in the NFL, this is a hallmark of every single successful offense.

I was fortunate enough to be able to review 3 games from this season, and I have provided breakdowns of two big plays from each game that I feel are representative of what Coach McElwain can bring to the table:

:03 - Garrett Grayson to Joe Hanley for 33 Yards - Colorado State lines up with an extra tackle in, in a 3x1 closed formation. The offensive line blocks outside zone, with only the tight end protecting backside on the boot. The WRs run a smash concept, with the inside receiver running a corner route and the outside receiver running a hitch. Boise St. is in man, but the slot defender gets caught peeking in the backfield and the QB hits the WR for a big gain.

:18 - Garrett Grayson to Steven Walker for 24-yd TD - Colorado State again lines up in a 3x1 set and runs a smash concept. This time, however, it is straight dropback instead of a bootleg, and the TE releases up the seam. The Broncos are in Cover 42 (Cover 4 to the field, Cover 2 to the boundary) with the safety taking the corner route, the corner taking the hitch, and the Mike LB left alone to cover the TE. The Mike gets run by for a TD.

Both of these plays are smash concepts, but run in entirely different ways. This will be a theme with McElwain.

2:10 - Dee Hart 14-yd run - The Rams line up in a 3x1 spread set out of pistol and run outside zone to the weak side. Watch as the center clears the 1-technique defensive tackle out of the way and both guards immediately get to the second level on both linebackers. This leaves no force player for the Boston College defense and a big gain for Hart.

2:20 - Dee Hart 43-yd run - The very next play, the Rams bring in an extra tackle and line up in what is essentially a heavy quads set, with 4 eligible receivers to one side, including an extra tackle and TE. They have the BC defense confused and outnumbered from the start. They again run outside zone, this time to the strength. Watch as the extra tackle combo blocks with the RT to seal the edge, then cuts off the backside pursuit. Also note the tremendous effort from the perimeter blockers that turns a good gain into a huge one. This is the mark of a well-coached, disciplined football team.

Once again, McElwain uses the same concept, but uses formations, personnel and alignments to confuse the defense and create big plays.

:10 - Garrett Grayson to Elroy Masters Jr. for 8-yd TD - This one is difficult to see in full from the highlights, but you can see the end result. On this redzone play, Colorado aligns in a 2x2 set, with the WRs in condensed splits (closer to the line). The WRs run a switch release, with the inside receiver running a curl to the outside and the outside receiver running a curl to the inside. What the splits and release do here are create space and put the DBs, who are in quarters coverage, completely on an island. The WR uses his body to shield the defender and comes back to the ball for the TD. You can see in this highlight how the end result turns into a one-on-one and the usage of formation and spacing is what allowed that to happen.

:29 - Garrett Grayson to Charles Lovett for 52-yd TD - The highlights did not provide a clear view of this one either, but again, the end result is clear. The Rams line up in quads (4 eligible receivers to one side) out of pistol, with a TE on the line. The QB playfakes, and the receivers run 3 verticals, with the TE staying in to protect. The playaction freezes the LBs, and the weakside CB gets caught running to the flat, which creates tons of open field for the #3 receiver Lovett coming across the field. As you can see on the highlight, the space created by the playfake and confusing alignment gives Lovett an easy TD.

The Bottom Line: McElwain's passing concepts may be relatively simple, but through his use of formations, spacing, and varied releases, he creates confusion for a defense and clearly defined throws for his QB. It may take some time for the roster to fit his plans and he may make some adjustments to fit his current roster as well, but it is clear from the 3 games I went through that McElwain has a comprehensive understanding of what it takes for an offense to be successful and he has proven that he doesn't need elite personnel to make it work. That being said, however, it won't hurt that he will have access to one of the most fertile recruiting areas in the country to pull his future players from. After reviewing plenty of tape of McElwain's Rams, it is abundantly clear that he is a high quality football coach as evidenced by the consistent effort level and discipline of his players, the examples of sound position-specific technique demonstrated at nearly every offensive position, and a scheme that is simultaneously simple to grasp for his offensive players and mind-boggling for defenses through diversity of formations, tempo, motion, and personnel groupings.

Matt Hamilton was a former student assistant for the quarterbacks at Missouri, coach at the high school level in Connecticut, intern scout for the Detroit Lions and currently works at NFL Films breaking down film for use on the show Playbook on NFL Network.