Ryan Silverfield’s first big assistant hire is in: unsurprisingly, he’s bringing his Memphis offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey with him to Fayetteville.
Offense has been the strength of Memphis, particularly over Cramsey’s four seasons. The Tigers have averaged at least 34 points per game each season, and the last three years have seen them rank 10th, 12th, and 17th in Offense SP+.
Here at Fayette Villains, we love looking at X’s and O’s and how football strategy has developed over time. We’ve written extensively about the Veer-and-Shoot (I had an article ready to go in case Alex Golesh was hired), the Air Raid, the Petrino offense, the Odom defense, and many more. Now we get to meet a new one.
Gary Crowton, Chip Kelly, and the Razzle Dazzle offense
Our story begins in the football factory of… New Hampshire. No, seriously. That’s where Cramsey played quarterback and then later coached under fellow UNH alum Chip Kelly.
It actually starts before Cramsey’s time, back around 1990, when Kelly was coaching high school football in New Hampshire and befriended then-UNH offensive coordinator Gary Crowton, one of the earliest true spread offense gurus. Crowton had played and coached in the 1980s at BYU under legendary coach LaVell Edwards, whose wide-open, pass-heavy attack set the foundation for basically all college spread offenses that followed. Due to its similarity to the pro-style scheme developed separately by NFL coaches like Bill Walsh and Don Coryell, it is generally considered part of the West Coast offense. The NFL version of the West Coast coaching tree includes coaches like Jon Gruden and Mike Shanahan (and all of Shanahan’s disciples: Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, Matt LaFleur, and their own former assistants). The college version of Edwards’ coaching tree includes Crowton, Andy Reid, Steve Sarkisian, and Mike Leach. (Leach and Hal Mumme developed the Air Raid separately of Crowton, but based on the same principles.)
The Edwards/West Coast offense features a ton of horizontal routes that lead to short, timing-based throws. When you hear talk about getting the quarterback “into a rhythm”, that’s a West Coast idea, as quarterbacks in this scheme tend to throw a large number of quick, precise passes. The scheme used more receivers and put more routes on the field, attacking sideline-to-sideline, and hence was the first real “spread” offense.
Crowton, like the Air Raid gurus, took the “horizontal movement” idea to the extreme, adding in tons of pre-snap motion, quarterback rollouts, play action, and screen passes. A few years after leaving UNH, Crowton broke through as Louisiana Tech’s head coach. In 1997, the Bulldogs stunned Alabama and pushed the Hogs to the brink in Little Rock, but the showcase came the next year. In the 1998 season opener, the Bulldogs put up 546 yards of total offense on defending national champion Nebraska, showcasing an incredible array of formations, motions, screens, and movements that was revolutionary for its time:
Star receiver Troy Edwards had arguably the greatest game by a receiver in college football history in this game: 21 receptions for 405 yards. The yardage number remains the all-time FBS record. He finished the season with an FBS-leading 1,996 yards and 27 touchdowns (still the FBS single-season record) and won the Biletnikoff Award, while quarterback Tim Rattay led the FBS in both passing attempts (559, or 47 per game) and passing yards (4,943, or 412 per game).
Unfortunately, Crowton’s career took a downturn after 1998. He left Tech to be the Chicago Bears’ offensive coordinator and later replaced Edwards as BYU’s head coach, only to be fired in 2004.
In 2005, Oregon coach Mike Belotti decided he wanted to run what was being called “the Razzle Dazzle offense”, so he hired Crowton to install it. Wanting to keep things on the cutting edge, Belotti and Crowton started studying the trendy “spread-to-run” wrinkles that were appearing all over college football thanks to coaches like Urban Meyer (just hired at Florida) and Rich Rodriguez (still early in his West Virginia tenure). The ended up swiping RichRod’s zone-read run game, added in a ton of tempo, and then got an athletic quarterback named Dennis Dixon to run it. Thus the birth of Oregon as a national power had begun.
Kelly and his mentor had kept in touch all this time, and the young coach, now offensive coordinator at New Hampshire, starting running the same offense Crowton had installed at Oregon: razzle-dazzle pass game, zone-read run game, crank the tempo to the max. The New Hampshire offense took flight in 2005 and 2006 with Kelly calling plays and Cramsey coaching tight ends and (later) running backs.
When Crowton was hired by Les Miles at LSU (promptly delivering a national title in his first season, 2007, but later claiming that Miles interfered so much that it “wasn’t my offense”), Belotti knew who to call to keep the momentum going. Kelly coordinated Oregon’s offense for a couple years and then succeeded Belotti. He went 46-7 in four seasons as head coach, reaching BCS bowls each season, including the 2010 national title game (a loss to Cam Newton and Auburn). His four-year venture into the NFL was less successful, and a later head coaching run at UCLA was even worse. He managed to redeem himself a little bit in 2024 when he coordinated Ohio State’s offense on its national title run.
Cramsey has taken a much slower route. He eventually became UNH’s offensive coordinator and then bounced around several schools in the 2010s, notably coordinating Montana State’s offense from 2013 to 2015, developing QB Dakota Prukop into a star who later transferred to Oregon to play for Kelly’s successor, Mark Helfrich. During that time, Cramsey was referring to his offense as an “Oregon spread”. A strong run at Marshall from 2018 to 2021 under Doc Holliday caught the eye of Silverfield, who hired him at Memphis.
What will Cramsey’s offense look like?
In a single sentence, Cramsey’s offense is a West Coast passing attack paired with a zone read run game. It favors speed and athleticism at every position. It loves varied formations, all kinds of motion, play action, and lots of horizontal movement featuring all sorts of eye candy for the defense and options for the quarterback.
Changes to substitution rules and defensive adjustments took the “tempo every play” strategy that Oregon was so good at out of favor, so Cramsey’s offense isn’t usually in a hurry. Because of the wide variety of the schemes it draws from, it is very flexible and can adjust to the style of the quarterback: dual-threat quarterbacks (like Oregon’s Dennis Dixon in 2010 or Memphis’s Brendon Lewis this year) will cause the playcaller to lean into the zone read run game and move the quarterback all over the place, while pocket passers (like Ohio State’s Will Howard or Memphis’s Seth Henigan last year) will lean more into the pro-style pass game.
Is it different from what Bobby Petrino has been running? Yes, it’s completely different. If you’ve read our past work on Petrino’s offense, you’ll note that it developed entirely independently, but it also looks completely different to a casual viewer.
Passing: more West Coast, less Spurrier
Petrino’s passing attack drew heavily on Oneback and Spurrier influences that favored vertical-stemming routes over the more horizontal routes preferred by the West Coast attack.
Take, for example, Petrino’s favorite play: Shark. Note how four of the five routes release vertically and go down the field.
There was a time when stuff like this ruled in college and the NFL. Notice that four of the routes attack four separate areas more than 10 yards downfield. Defenses that try and play Cover 3 or even Tampa 2 aren’t going to be able to stop all four receivers. If they try and play Man, good luck having your linebacker cover that running back on a Wheel route out of the backfield (or the tight end on a Dig).
Unfortunately for the Spurriers and Petrinos of the world, defenses adjusted. The most popular defenses nowadays use two-high safeties. A common example is Quarters, which now has a ton of different names depending on how it is implemented. Quarters, as the name implies, was originally called Cover 4, where two cornerbacks and two safeties each guard four deep zones. That takes away the deep throws on Shark, sure, but with only three underneath defenders, quarterbacks can pick it apart underneath (like on the Shallow Cross in the play above).
But Quarters has slowly developed from a true zone into a matchup zone that is essentially a mix between man and zone. Defenders watch for the release (the first few steps a receiver takes) and execute their responsibilities accordingly, so no safety is going to retreat to a deep-fourth zone unless a receiver is headed that way. If you’ve heard NFL talking heads complaining about the lack of passing offense in the league over the last couple seasons, it’s Quarters and other matchup zones that they don’t like. Mel Kiper even went so far as to suggest banning two-high safety looks:
That’s an extreme opinion, but there’s no doubt that chunking it deep is getting harder and harder. That’s a key reason why Petrino 2.0 at Arkansas didn’t feature the high-flying passing game that we saw when Ryan Mallett was at quarterback. Petrino, like other throw-it-deep guys, has had to adjust by attacking two-high safety defenses where they are weak: in the box. With two high safeties, it is harder to stack the box against the run, so that’s become rarer. Defenses have been willing to surrender more rushing yards in exchange for taking away big pass plays, so Petrino leaned much more heavily on the run game. But Petrino’s refusal to throw screens or horizontal-stemming routes has made it harder for his quarterback to get into any kind of rhythm, and the athleticism required to execute the run game portion of his offense often led to that skill being prioritized over the ability to read coverages or work through progressions, so the overall passing attack suffered.
Cramsey’s approach removes a lot of those challenging contradictions that made Petrino’s offense fun but also maddening at times. The passing portion is much heavier on screens and quick, easy timing throws, including a dose of run-pass options, or RPOs:
You’ll see plenty of other concepts we associate with a pro-style offense, like this nifty play-action rollout:
Here’s another view of this that captures all of the horizontal movement. It’s a fantastic play design that comes straight from the Crowton passing philosophy, which absolutely loves play action:
With Henigan, who possessed an NFL arm, Memphis wasn’t afraid to attack down the field. Henigan was particularly good at corner routes and sideline fades, and Memphis had no problem turning the ball loose. The offense was tilted pass-heavy, with Henigan throwing for 3,516 yards and 25 touchdowns in his senior season. The Tigers were about 51/49 pass/run in their play call balance.
After Henigan’s graduation, Memphis leaned in heavily to the zone read game in 2025. Dual-threat quarterback Brendon Lewis made significant strides as a passer under Cramsey, but he never quite matched Henigan’s skill, especially on downfield throws. Memphis was much more run-heavy and their passes were often short, with Lewis throwing a lot of RPOs and quick hitches.
Check out all the horizontal movement on this rollout that gives Lewis a ton of options:
Watching film, I was extremely impressed with the Memphis passing attack in 2022 through 2024, but despite some creativity in 2025, Cramsey was clearly limited by his quarterback’s issues throwing downfield. I think Cramsey needs to find and develop a new Henigan rather than stick with what the Tigers were doing this season, as I’m not sure that will fly in the SEC.
Rushing: more zone, less power
Petrino’s run game was about 60% gap-scheme runs and 40% zone-scheme runs. The difference is in the technique of the offensive linemen. Gap-schemed run games, which include the Power and Counter series, tend to prefer bigger, stronger offensive linemen who are asked to block straight downhill. Zone-schemed run games tend to prefer smaller, quicker linemen who can move laterally.
Cramsey’s offense is going to be about 80% zone. The main gap concepts I saw on film are Duo Dive (a common short-yardage run) and Counter Trey, which is a nice change-of-pace run for a zone team. This is consistent with Silverfield’s own background as a former NFL offensive line coach. Zone blocking is associated with former Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan and his longtime offensive line coach, Alex Gibbs. It remains dominant in the NFL, with many of the top pro offenses running it, typically (like Shanahan) pairing it with a West Coast passing attack, much like what Cramsey does. Arkansas was also about 80% zone with Kendal Briles calling plays, as many of Briles’ tendencies were borrowed from Lane Kiffin, who himself comes from a pro-style West Coast tradition.
You can recognize zone runs when you see the offensive line “slide” on a run play, like they do to the right on this split zone:
As the name implies, the linemen have a “zone”, or area, they are blocking into. They’ll hit the first defender they see in their zone. It’s easy to install because you don’t have to adjust assignment based on the defensive front, and linemen can execute it with confidence.
The bread-and-butter play of this offense is outside zone, which was also the base play under Briles. In an outside zone, the back angles off the tackle and can cut inside wherever he sees the hole form. If the defense fails to set the edge (as Arkansas, unsurprisingly, does here), the back can continue off-tackle for a bigger gain:
If a defense demonstrates an inability to stop outside zone, Cramsey is happy to just keep calling them. Outside zone teams tend to do that: the most notorious outside zone spammer in the SEC is Eli Drinkwitz, who just kept calling them in Arkansas’ 2025 finale.
Another big difference from Petrino is motion. Petrino uses very little motion (least among SEC playcallers, per data from SEC Stat Cat), but Cramsey, in line with modern analytics trends, uses a ton of it. The reason is obvious: just like tempo was a way to get the defense out of position in the spread-to-run era of the late 2000s and 2010s, now motion is way to force the defense to show its hand and get defenders out of position.
Here’s a fun exit-and-return motion that dressed up an outside zone read:
They would later build on that motion by having the back stay in the slot after the exit motion and run a route.
All these runs, of course, are read plays. An edge defender is left unblocked and the quarterback has the option to pull the ball and keep. Henigan kept on zone read plenty, but Lewis was actually dangerous when he kept, like here where he punishes an aggressive defense on third down:
Zone reads are typically a bit easier for the quarterback to read, but they payoff is usually less explosive. Petrino had Taylen Green running a lot of power reads, which are much harder on the quarterback’s decision-making but can produce more explosive runs, as we saw with the Razorbacks struggling with bad reads and negative runs while also leading the nation in explosive run rate in both of Petrino’s seasons calling plays. Cramsey’s run game, by contrast, is going to be more controlled and on-schedule.
Give this scheme an elite offensive line and shifty quarterback and the result will be a run-heavy offense that will control the line of scrimmage and dominate field position. Give it speedy skill position players and you might get some explosives. Give it a quarterback with an NFL arm and you’ll have an extremely balanced offense that can beat opponents several different ways.
Of course… give it a bad offensive line, an iffy passer, and a lack of speed, and the result will be an offense that is very difficult to watch. Silverfield has yet to have a bad offense in six years at Memphis, but SEC defenses don’t give a lot of room for error. I think Silverfield’s other offensive assistants and off-field analysts need to bring some SEC experience to make sure this offense will be good enough to challenge some tough defenses.
Key personnel in the Cramsey offense
One of the big stories from Silverfield’s opening press conference was KJ Jackson’s announcement that he’s back. From what we’ve seen of Jackson, he seems like a good fit for this offense. Dual-threat quarterbacks make it better because of all the quarterback movement and run reads, but Jackson seems to have the skills to be a good passer as well.
That’s where Memphis lagged a bit in 2025. Jackson needs to present a serious downfield threat and read defenses well to be an upgrade over Lewis last year. A less explosive run scheme could be a really bad thing if Jackson isn’t a good passer, because SEC defenses aren’t going to let you quick-hitch them to death.
Along the offensive line, expect the Hogs to move away from an emphasis on size and into an emphasis on lateral quickness and technique. That doesn’t necessarily mean the Hogs will run off their bigger linemen: 330-pound Kobe Branham is probably fine, for example, since he’s already blocked for plenty of zone runs. But linemen who struggle with lateral mobility may not be a good fit. I know that’s something keeping Shaq McRoy from playing more, but I’m not sure who else could be in trouble.
One way to distinguish between gap and zone run schemes is with this oversimplification: gap schemes are hard for the linemen but easy for the backs, while zone schemes are easy for the linemen but hard for the backs. In a zone, the line has an easier time because they are simply blocking into a zone. Their responsibilities don’t change depending on the defensive front.
For running backs, vision is prioritized in a zone scheme. Gap-schemed runs tell you which hole to run through, but zone backs have to see how the hole in the defense forms. The best zone backs understand that the defense often loses contain on the backside of outside zones, opening up a cutback that can create a big explosive:
Getting another Rocket Sanders would be a big deal for this scheme. Sanders was a monster on outside zone.
At tight end, meanwhile, there won’t be a whole lot of difference from the Petrino offense, so I think the Hogs should prioritize retaining Jaden Platt, who could be really good in this scheme. Memphis seemed to use the tight end in a wing position more often (not on the line of scrimmage), but the tight end is very important in blocking the playside edge defender on outside zones. Platt could do well with something like this, a Leak play (very common West Coast concept):
For receivers, it’s all about speed, speed, speed. So much of the passing game is screens and quick spacing throws, so receivers who can quickly get to a spot and then run after the catch are important. Both Dan Enos and Petrino struggled to properly utilize Isaiah Sategna, who is now thriving at Oklahoma. Cramsey’s pass game would not have wasted his speed. Without speedy receivers, the offense generates fewer explosives, which means it has to string together longer drives that require more to go right in order to score.
Is this a good hire?
Cramsey has a long track record as a good quarterback developer and a solid playcaller. His offense is pretty conservative compared to Petrino’s. That means fewer explosives… but Memphis also turned the ball over much less often and had fewer negative plays. Schematically, this is a perfectly good offense. It’s not overly innovative in the year 2025, but it utilizes a lot of tried-and-true ideas. “West Coast pass game plus zone read run game” could describe Lane Kiffin’s offense, or Eli Drinkwitz’s, with only minor differences.
The differentiator for Silverfield is going to need to be good offensive line play. If the run game is capable, because of good run blocking, to churn out four-to-six-yard runs consistently, then the floor of the offense is going to be very high. Get an excellent passer at quarterback and some elite speed and receiver, and now you’ve got a really good offense.
I like that this offense really leans into what’s made Arkansas football special over the last several decades: the run game. The Hogs have produced tons of elite rushers over the years: Madre Hill in the 1990s, Cedric Cobbs and Fred Talley in the early 2000s, Darren McFadden, Felix Jones, and Michael Smith in the late 2000s, Knile Davis in 2010, Alex Collins and Jonathan Williams in the mid-2010s. Even Rakeem Boyd was the lone bright spot of the Chad Morris era. Add in Rocket Sanders and Mike Washington from the Pittman era. This offense lays a foundation for great back to shine.
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