One-Play One-on-One: Karan Higdon
[Campredon]
I usually try to go with a play that isn’t the first one you’d rip from the boxscore, but exceptions can always be made. A play where Higdon pushes Onwenu through the hole, the tight ends block it so well that Onewenu spins around like someone just took the tray of grapes away from training table, and Higdon outruns two defenders in pursuit seemed like a good time to make an exception.
What were you seeing from Rutgers’ front and what were you expecting at that point?
“Yeah, they were in a three-down front. They kept stemming and playing these line games. They felt like they knew our calls which actually made it easier for me because they were telling me where they were going to go, so I was able to cut behind them, follow my fullback, follow the linemen, and make things happen.”
So were they tipping on this play what they were going to do?
“Oh yeah. The linebackers were telling us they were either going left or right. It just made it that much better.”
I’m guessing you have an idea of where you’re going to go and where the hole’s going to be before the play. Do you re-read the defense as you get the ball in your hands?
“Yeah, of course, because it’s not a piece of paper. So you would like to think you know exactly what they’re going to do or how a player’s going to play but sometimes you just never know, so you analyze what’s happening in front of you and you’ve just got to make decisions very fast.”
One thing I’ve heard coaches say is that once a player starts thinking too much their feet slow down and they get into trouble, so how do you balance that, being able to analyze versus reading and reacting?
“Yeah, I actually just read and react. I don’t try and overthink it, I don’t try and do any of that. I just see what they’re giving me and just react to it.”
Is that something that gets better over time?
“It gets better over time.”
Is that from watching film or drills or full-padded practices? What helps the most?
“It’s all, it’s all. it’s football as a whole.”
So it all comes together—
“It all comes together, from watching film to practicing it to practicing cuts or pressing the line or just studying your playbook, it all comes together. You’ve got to know what everybody’s going to do: the O-line and the fullback, the quarterback, the receivers, and you’ll be able to put the pieces together as it unfolds.”
That play was so well blocked that Mike [Onwenu] pulls through the hole and it’s pretty much clean. Does that throw you off at all when your guard goes through the hole and there’s nothing to block?
“Nooope. It’s Big Mike and Big Mike, I’m going with Big Mike wherever Big Mike goes. I know he’s gonna take me where I need to be.” [laughs]
When you got to about the 10-yard line it looked like you might be checking the scoreboard to check pursuit.
“Right.”
How helpful is the scoreboard as a tool for that?
[laughs]
“I really don’t ever worry about pursuit.”
[laughs again]
“I don’t. One thing I learned: if you get out, you better go. If you get caught from behind, don’t come home. I don’t really ever use the scoreboard to check for pursuit, I just know I’ve gotta get out of there and get into the end zone.”
October 31st, 2017 at 1:59 PM ^
October 31st, 2017 at 2:01 PM ^
love it.
October 31st, 2017 at 2:47 PM ^
I remember Denard and Fitz would often get caught from behind. To be fair it was often because they'd shake the last guy in the second level whereas someone coming up from behind would already be at full speed. When Higdon made it through he just ran past everybody.
But, it don't sound like Higdon's making exceptions. These could be fightin' words, man. Fitz vs. Higdon footrace; it's ON.
October 31st, 2017 at 4:26 PM ^
That's the flip side of people playing our run game super aggressively, I guess. If you do manage to get past the mass of bodies they're throwing at the LOS, there's nothing but green grass after that.
October 31st, 2017 at 4:37 PM ^
When was Denard ever caught from behind? I don't remember that... If he got past the second level he wasn't being caught from behind.
November 1st, 2017 at 3:32 AM ^
October 31st, 2017 at 3:38 PM ^
Peters clearly checks into this play, not sure if it was the initial call or if he called a switch. He did something - I wish that part wouldve been touched on.
October 31st, 2017 at 4:52 PM ^
Football 101.
October 31st, 2017 at 2:10 PM ^
Watching a 350 lb small moon pull through that hole and look around aimlessly for anything to block is hilarious.
October 31st, 2017 at 3:20 PM ^
"That's no moon. It's a space station."
October 31st, 2017 at 5:09 PM ^
October 31st, 2017 at 10:21 PM ^
Dierdorf called it the "Eclipse Block."
October 31st, 2017 at 2:12 PM ^
I don't know how it would even be helpful to check the scoreboard for pursuit, being that it's a couple seconds behind what's going on down below. If anything, it'd probably be disorienting.
October 31st, 2017 at 2:15 PM ^
Reminds me a bit of Toussaint.
October 31st, 2017 at 2:28 PM ^
Love it! The TEAM, the team.
October 31st, 2017 at 4:31 PM ^
October 31st, 2017 at 2:31 PM ^
also helped spring that play. I think it was Schoenle. They don't seem to be throwing to him much, but he's contributing in the run game and special teams. If he keeps developing, we could be seeing the next to be inducted into the Order of St. Kovacs, or whatever they call it.
October 31st, 2017 at 3:47 PM ^
does a great job on the play sealing the end and getting his butt turned toward Higdon. As a RB cut off his butt and straight up the field. Well done by all players on the field.
October 31st, 2017 at 2:41 PM ^
pulling on Sunday afternoons...hopefully after another 2 yrs starting here !
October 31st, 2017 at 2:42 PM ^
I've seen a bunch of RBs speak over the years and as a group, RBs are every bit the instinctive sort you'd expect them to be; a lot of them have trouble expressing themselves. Which is fine, they're football players not public speakers, but they usually make for terrible interviews.
But Higdon seems like a funny guy. And yeah, if you're trying to get somewhere and a bunch of angry guys in armor are trying to hit you, you go where Big Mike go. Big Mike gonna take you there.
October 31st, 2017 at 2:43 PM ^
How about the play where the DB made a business decision?
October 31st, 2017 at 3:50 PM ^
I just love the way he runs, so explosive out of his cuts.
October 31st, 2017 at 4:19 PM ^
piece. Love this segment.
October 31st, 2017 at 4:30 PM ^
October 31st, 2017 at 5:03 PM ^
he meant we are tipping our plays. He meant the D was tipping their intended movements,
I guess their slants or such !?
October 31st, 2017 at 5:06 PM ^
Rutgers thought they knew our plays and were so confdent in those reads that they started unintentionally tipping their own plays.... at least that's how I read it.
October 31st, 2017 at 5:12 PM ^
October 31st, 2017 at 4:50 PM ^
November 1st, 2017 at 8:53 AM ^
I really don’t ever worry about pursuit
That's just the attitude I want my No. 1 back to have. And Nos. 2-5 also. (Provided they're always securing the ball - which is a symptom of being aware of the possibility of pursuit even if not worried about it.)
This is a nice write-up, and it's great to see that Higdon has reached that delicate balance of being aware and analytical at the line, and just reading and reacting when the play starts. His development has been fun to watch this year.
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