How Kendal Briles is building TCU’s offense around Chandler Morris
The best coaches understand that it’s not about making players fit into your scheme, it’s about fitting your scheme around your players’ skill sets.
New offensive coordinator Kendal Briles understands that better than most with a track record of being one of the top offensive minds in the sport. His most important task this season is crafting an offense that will maximize Chandler Morris’ talent and so far the early returns are extremely positive.
“I think this offense is for me,” Morris said earlier this week. “We run a lot of RPO (run, pass, option) stuff, reading that sixth defender and getting the ball out quick to my playmakers in space. I think I can really do a good job of that. I can make plays with my feet, being able to get us out of some stuff and if it is a pull read I can run and throw it off of that.”
Briles was deliberate in throwing as much as possible at his quarterback and the rest of the offense. After the expected initial growing pains, it’s clear that Morris and the rest of the unit are only getting more and more comfortable after the second day of fall camp.
That’s exactly what Briles wanted.
“The first two groups were pretty smooth, there weren’t a lot of mistakes,” Briles said Thursday. “The NCAA has set it up now that players can run summer workouts, so they don’t really don’t get as lost as you would think. The older guys, a lot of them this is their last rodeo. They’re locked in.”
Morris is among those ‘older’ players now in his third season with the program. So far he has looked sharp during the 7-on-7 portion of practice open to the media. On Tuesday he connected with Ole Miss transfer receiver Jaylon Robinson for a 40-yard touchdown and continued to show good decision making.
On Wednesday he completed a deep strike to freshman Cordale Russell for a touchdown as well. Taking those deep shots is part of his game and will be a big part of TCU’s offense.
“We get to throw the ball down the field a lot,” Morris said. “That’s something I like to do and knowing when to take the shots and when to dump it down in the flats.”
To prepare for that aspect of the offense and his potential workload as a rusher, Morris emphasized improving his touch on the deep ball throws and adding more muscle.
“I made a lot of progress,” Morris said. “I worked on that often in throwing sessions with our receivers this summer, getting that timing down with them. In the weight room we had a great summer, just putting the weight back on that I wanted and then leaning it back out. I think I made a big stride there.”
It’s important to have your quarterback locked in the way Morris is for TCU. That type of commitment is just another way he’s helped make things easier on Briles in terms of molding the offense to fit the Horned Frogs’ roster.
“His skillset is he’s really athletic, he’s really smart and definitely hungry right now for success,” Briles said. “He’s got accuracy, he throws with great accuracy. He’s had a little bit of trouble staying healthy, so trying to keep him upright will be the biggest thing and let him utilize the talent around him.”
Durability is where Morris is hoping the added muscle can help him stay on the field this season after suffering a knee injury in the season opener at Colorado last year and losing his starting spot because of it.
That adversity of working back from an injury and the emotional weight of having to be a great teammate despite losing something he earned has only made Morris stronger.
“I think my decisions- taking what they give me- that’s been a big focus of mine after watching Max (Duggan) last year,” Morris said. “Putting us ahead of the chains, trying to stay out of 2nd-and-nine, that’s helping us as an offense that’s also going to help our coaching staff. It’s going to help Briles with playcalling and making things easier.
“I believe I can make any throw on the field, but it’s about knowing when to go after those throws.”
Morris’ talent and maturity plus Briles’ track record as an offensive innovator has TCU poised to still remain explosive on the offense this season. Just ask the TCU defense.
“Gosh, I keep telling the guys, this offense is insane,” preseason All-Big 12 linebacker Johnny Hodges said.
