RENO, Nev. — San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick faked the inside handoff, then jetted off right tackle, up an alley and into the end zone, 56 yards, untouched. Chris Ault watched that play, produced by both his protégé and his offense last weekend against the Green Bay Packers, from his living room.

“That’s Samurai,” he told his guests.

Samurai was Kaepernick’s favorite play in college at Nevada, where Ault coached until he resigned last month. Ault’s tenure there is defined by the offense he created, the Pistol, an innovation that changed college football and this season became the new rage in the N.F.L.

On Thursday, Ault, 66, retreated to a back room at the local restaurant Napa-Sonoma, where he spread a half-dozen salt and pepper shakers across the table, into formation. His food sat nearby, uneaten.

He pointed at one salt shaker, the quarterback, who must first read the left defensive end as one pepper shaker, known as the alley guy, slides in motion to the right. Should the end pinch inward, the quarterback must fake the inside handoff and follow the alley guy off right tackle, into the alley, as Kaepernick did against the Packers. Should the end remain outside the tackle, the quarterback must hand the ball off. “Ride and decide,” they called it.