Noel Mazzone bringing stability to Texas A&M's offense

Under Noel Mazzone’s direction, anticipate Texas A&M’s offense to be just like it was last football season.

Well, except for more running, better quarterback play and much less drama among other coaches.

In a post-practice press conference on Tuesday night, Mazonne, A&M’s new offensive coordinator, said he prefers to run often, is impressed with what he’s seen from his quarterbacks thus far and has already built good rapport with Offensive Line Coach Jim Turner.

He also said that his philosophies mirror those of coach Kevin Sumlin.

“That was one of the draws to me coming here,” said Mazzone, who came to A&M after a four-year stint at UCLA. “He and I (previously) coached together on offense. Summy is very, very good at offense. A lot of things that my philosophies are I learned from him or we learned together.

“There’s no doubt he and I are on the same page.”

That’s welcome news. It’s equally welcome that Mazzone and Turner appear to be on the same page, too.

Last year there were reports of friction between Offensive Coordinator Jake Spavital and Offensive Line Coach Dave Christensen.

That doesn’t figure to be the case with a couple of coaching veterans in Mazzone and Turner.
 
“JT? You’ve got to like him,” Mazzone said. “He’s done wonders in a short time. I had never known Jim before. When he came in I got to spend a couple of hours with him talking about the job. He was very impressive at that point and he has done nothing to prove anything wrong with what I thought.

“The most important coach on offense is the offensive line coach. He’s got to do things that I don’t have to worry about … a bunch of stuff. That’s what he’s doing. He’s taking care of the problem as far as schematically. If there are problems, he figures them out and has a better way to do things.”

The Aggies are hoping to find a better way to run the football.

Last season A&M averaged a mediocre 169 rushing yards per game and struggled to pick up first downs in key short yardage situations.

Although Mazzone uses a “spread” offense, he likes to run from it. In fact, UCLA running back Paul Perkins rushed for 1,343 yards last season. The year before that he rushed for 1,575 yards.

“I know one thing to be a misnomer about spread offenses is you (typically) throw the football," Mazzone said. "We’re a little different in that we like to run the football.

“The last four years we’ve had the leading rusher in our conference and I’m really excited about the group of running backs we have here to do it with.”

Mazzone said he’s been particularly impressed with the Aggies’ talent at the skill positions and the work ethic.

Of course, that includes quarterbacks Trevor Knight and Jake Hubenak, who are competing for the starting role.

Mazzone likes what he’s seen from them. Aggies should like what Mazzone has previously done with quarterbacks.

The last three quarterbacks he coached – Josh Rosen and Brett Hundley at UCLA and Brock Osweiler at Arizona State – all had exceptional years under Mazzone’s guidance.

They threw for more than 3,000 yards and at least 22 touchdowns in every season with Mazzone.

“I’ve had this system with Brock Osweiler,” Mazzone said. “I went from Brock Osweiler to Brent Hundley and Brent Hundley to Josh Rosen – three completely different types of talent.

“I think there’s enough in this offense it kinds of fits the talent of the guys at quarterback. Both of them have had success in the last few days.”

Aggies are hoping this fall they will have the same success Mazzone’s previous quarterbacks have had.