Short and sweet: Grambling offense focusing on more measured approach

By Nick Deriso, Monroe Newstar

GRAMBLING — There were glittering stats associated with the Grambling State offense last season.

It topped the Southwestern Athletic Conference in passing and total offense, and was second in scoring.

Those are not the numbers that first-year GSU coach Rod Broadway is focusing on.

He's more concerned with the numbers 3 and 10.

Those were Grambling's total wins, and the team's rank in time of possession across the 10-team SWAC, in 2006.

"We're trying to get them out of that gunslinger's mentality," Broadway said. "We've got to learn how to manage the game better. You can score, but if you don't manage the game, you're not in the game."

Broadway and new offensive coordinator James Spady have attacked the problem with a revised playbook keyed to shorter, pinpoint passes and traditional rush packages.

"It's really different, in that we are trying to get a little here and a little there," said senior Grambling center Tavarus Cockrell. "We're really trying to get the (opposing) defense tired out. We will run when you think we might pass, or pass when you think we're going to run."

The look may not have the lightning-quick scoring attributes of those familiar Melvin Spears offenses of old, but it promises to provide other benefits.

"The longer the ball is in the air," Spady said, "the more chances there is that it falls incomplete."

Grambling's defense, too, should benefit when longer possessions give them more chances at recuperative time on the sidelines.

Shorter possessions could have played a role in a series of tight 2006 contests where Grambling fell just short, including two consecutive overtime contests.

"I can't really say," senior receiver Clyde Edwards said. "Last year was last year and, yeah, we lost a lot of close games. But we've got to focus on this season. We look like we are going to try to control the clock a little more, and that could make us very dangerous in this league."

Photo: Clyde Edwards stretching out for TD
When it's time to pass, tight ends and running backs look to be key elements in this new, West Coast-style scheme.

"If you can get 4- or 5-yard catches on first and second down," Spady said, "then third down never comes."

That seems to favor playmaking possession receivers like Neville senior Tim Abney, rather than a traditional deep threat like Edwards. On the cusp of a series of school receiving marks, Edwards has come to grips with the idea that they might not be achieved with a more measured approach on offense.

He's concentrating on improving the number that appears in GSU's win column.

Sound familiar?

"You think about personal records in the offseason, when you are working out," Edwards said. "That's motivation to get bigger and faster. But come Sept. 1, it's all about winning. Whatever they need me to do to win, I'm ready."

The Grambling offense, once as outsized as its former coach's persona, is taking on a smaller dimension more in keeping with the team's new leadership.

"We can control the game with short passes and the running game," Broadway said. "We can get some homeruns, too. But you've got to take the base hits, too."