What will Texas’ offense look like in 2014?

Texas’ new offensive coordinator is bringing a fresh perspective to some old-school strategies.

Splitting duties as the OC and offensive line coach, Joe Wickline says he wants a balanced approach to the offense this year. [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]

“Balance” is a word used by all coaches and has very little impact considering the word’s oversaturation in college athletics. Afterall, no team wants to be one-dimensional in their offensive attack.

“We’re not going to throw, throw, throw or run, run, run,” Wickline said. “It’s about balance in down and distance. Balance in run-pass. When we run, inside-outside. It’s about balance on types of runs, speed, tempo.”

Yes, this might sound like a somewhat canned approach, but the former Oklahoma State offensive line coach is taking this “balanced” attack to a seemingly other level.

It’s becoming clear Wickline will paint the offense on a large canvas with small brushes, and will include a myriad of colors and textures.

“What does that mean? We’re going to do a little bit of everything,” Wickline said. “We’re going to have some of Louisville, some Mississippi State, some Oklahoma State. The bottom line is, we’re going to do what our personnel allows us to do and get in multiple formations and be balanced and play fast.”

However, Wickline won’t decide the personality of Texas’ offense on his own. Instead, the new OC will be far more democratic in his approach to play calling, seeking group input from those in the trenches.

“It will be by committee, basically,” Wickline said. “Somebody’s going to kind of oversee the running game. Somebody’s going to oversee the passing game. Somebody’s going to oversee situations. But, ultimately, we’re all responsible. And we’re going to do it by committee is how it’s going to work.”

Getting input from those executing the plays certainly makes sense. And speaking of execution, a question on the minds of many fans is who will be starting behind center.

With Case McCoy graduating and David Ash cleared for practice during spring training, it might seem obvious Ash will start. However, the emergence Tyrone Swoopes and the heavily recruited Jerrod Heard coming to Austin, there could be a battle for the starting gig.

This is a question fans will not know the answer to for some time. Wickline and Strong will undoubtedly do their due diligence and decide which quarterback gives the Longhorns the best opportunity to succeed.

We have a very impressive looking group of guys, in terms of maturity and in terms of the physical combativeness of them,” Wickline said. “In terms of where they’ll fit and where they’ll end up, I think we’ll know more at the end of spring.”

Wickline is one of the few coaches not brought over from Strong’s staff at Louisville. Wickline coached the past nine seasons under Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State, serving as the Cowboys’ offensive line coach. However, Wickline’s previous position does not mean he lacks experience in play calling. Recently, Travis Haney of ESPN tweeted that Wickline had been calling plays for the Cowboys the past few seasons. According to Bleacher Report, the tweet was later refuted by two separate sources.

Despite his tenure at Oklahoma State, Wickline has been adamant that he doesn’t want to replicate his previous employer’s offense, but Texas fans will gladly take the Cowboys’ offensive successes over the past few seasons.

The question of how Texas’ offense will look is an open-ended one. However, the construction of this hopeful juggernaut is in good hands.

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