Five Plays: Boston College First Quarter

Louisville football had one of the more decisive victories for the program in the last couple of years last weekend when they beat Boston College 56-28. The game was not without flaws but there were plenty of plays that factored into the lopsided win. I clipped a handful of plays that I feel contributed to the outcome.

Below is the first quarter and the following three quarters will follow.

I’m a known Ben Perry hype man but he’s been making these types of plays this year and they don’t show up anywhere but on film. You can see how Perry sets up the blocker by shuffling his feet and aligning himself to go heads up with the blocker. He then gets width quickly and then “fires his gun”. We saw this a lot from Tre Clark as a corner last year and it was a huge aspect of his rise to a mid-round draft pick and starter for Arizona. Knowing how to attack and tackle as a boundary player is huge for a defense.

I also love to see TJ Quinn react at the snap here. #73 is tasked with getting off the ball and reaching Quinn at the second level. He has a little trouble bending around Ashton Gillotte and because Quinn is decisive in his movement, he is gone before the blocker gets there. He likely makes this tackle even if Perry doesn’t make his play.

Jack Plummer had more than a handful of “this is his best throw” throws on Saturday and this is a contender. The video pretty much speaks for itself but I thought his subtle look off to the short side was a nice veteran move that you expect from him. You can see the deep safety bite on it and turn his hips to the short side of the field. That ensures that Plummer can float this ball and not fear that the safety will come over the top.

Another nice thing about this play is Kevin Coleman making a good decision with his route. He is lined up inside the hash on the “field” side which means he should run this route outside of the defender so that he puts the defender in a “trail” position. When he starts the right he angles outside but the defender takes it away. Coleman trusts his speed and just gets up the field and runs past him. This is really good to see from a young guy. He worked through the problem immediately.

Jawhar Jordan is going to be the guy that gets the focus of this highlight but I’d imagine the coaching staff gave Jaden Thompson the big piece of chicken at dinner. Thompson has been injured since he got to campus. Started the season unavailable to play. Has had to work his way into a starter/heavy rotation guy once healthy. And he has only played 14 snaps this year. Yet he gives this effort to spring this play.

This isn’t new to Louisville Football. Charlie Strong preached the need for receivers to block for running backs. Scott Satterfield said it was a requirement to get playing. I genuinely love to see Thompson give this effort because it is a huge key in the running game that was a huge concern after the meager results at Purdue. Instead, Jordan is putting up some of the best numbers in the country for the ACC’s best rushing attack.

Me all summer: I really hope that Ashton Gillotte’s move to an outside defensive end in the new scheme coincides with some pass-rushing moves.

Ashton Gillotte: Watch this long arm into a rip to get a clear path inside to the quarterback.

This is an NFL move that scouts will salivate over. Watch the left tackle's right arm try to break this long-arm move as Ashton just pushes him up the field. Then he just rips down with the same arm, swims over with his off arm, and then closes in a flash.

Defensive ends always talk about having a “plan”. Ashton had a plan here and he executed it. Legit NFL stuff.

Team defense is something that this new scheme relies on. Guys have to execute their assignments or it all falls apart. On this play you see Stephon Herron playing the option perfectly as he splits the difference while playing under control.

As Thomas Castellanos gets to the mesh point Herron is right between him and the option man. If Castellanos hands this off, the option man is going to be forced to bend the run outside and deeper into the play. You can see it even though he doesn’t get the ball. If he keeps it, as he does, Herron is at least going to be slowed down and forced back into the play.

Herron slows him down and Ben Perry puts on another clinic on how to handle blockers and makes the big hit. Perry is bracketed here as the receiver is responsible for clearing space for the option man while the offensive lineman is responsible for clearing space for the quarterback. Perry beats both of them to make the play.