The Oregon Ducks football program introduced new offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead in a news conference Wednesday.

Just hours later, at Oregon’s Signing Day party at Nike World Headquarters, Moorhead joined the “Signing Day Special” on 1080 The FAN to discuss his offensive philosophy and the recruiting class.

In general, he said the decision to join Mario Cristobal at Oregon was an easy one for multiple reasons.

“Professionally, I mean, the opportunity to work with Coach Cristobal – the culture, the mentality, the mindset, the talent on the roster – it was really a no-brainer in a lot of ways,” Moorhead said.

For the ex-Mississippi State head coach, the next task in his introduction into the program will be installing his offense.

“It’s a multi-tempo spread,” Moorhead said. “We’re primarily based out of 11 personnel [1 running back, 1 tight end], but we do some different things. Strive for as much 50-50 balance as we can… probably lean a little bit more towards the run at Mississippi State, because it’s not what coaches know, it’s what players execute. It’s a personnel-driven game. I think the best representation of what we want to be was probably the two years at Penn State and the four years at Fordham.”

Perhaps the area of most interest this offseason will be who becomes the new starting quarterback with Justin Herbert departing for the NFL as a projected top-10 pick.

While soon-to-be redshirt sophomore Tyler Shough will enter the competition over redshirt freshman Cale Millen and true freshmen Jay Butterfield and Robby Ashford as the presumed favorite given his head start adjusting to the speed and intensity of the college game, Moorhead indicated that the playbook will be different, particularly in the passing game.

“In terms of comparisons in the run game between what Oregon did last year and what we’ve done historically, there’s probably more similarities there than in the pass game, so I think that’s probably where (Shough) would have a little bit of a leg up,” he said. “They’ll be learning, I wouldn’t say completely different things in the passing game, but systematically a little bit different approach.”

One philosophical change that is certain to take place is the running responsibilities of quarterbacks in Eugene.

Last season, Herbert carried the ball a total of 58 times in 14 games, averaging 4.1 carries per contest. But 16 of those attempts came in the Pac-12 Conference title game and the Rose Bowl – a point in the season in which former Oregon offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo seemed to change his philosophy.

Moorhead expects those attempts to more than double in his system.

“I think the amount of times we ran Trace (McSorely) [at Penn State] and the kid at Fordham is probably representative of what you want it to be – probably between 10, at a minimum, 15 at an absolute maximum,” he said. “Now, things that happen by improvisation on their own, that’s that. We don’t want to make a living running the quarterback, but anytime he’s a plus-one in the run game, you want to force the defense to defend every blade of grass in the width and length of the field and when the quarterback can be a threat to pull one and run the ball it forces defenses to play you differently.”

During his senior season at Penn State, McSorely ran the ball 170 times for 798 yards and 12 touchdowns in 13 games. For comparison’s sake, Herbert compiled 50 yards and four touchdowns - with three of those coming in the Rose Bowl - on 58 carries.

There’s still plenty to sort out, but Moorhead seems to have a clear idea of what he plans to install in the Oregon program.

Listen to the full interview here (if embedded audio doesn’t load, click here; Subscribe to the podcast here):

-- Andrew Nemec | anemec@oregonian.com | @AndrewNemec