Play Of The (other) Day: ‘Warren Wildcat’ vs. Kent State

In case you missed it the 4,024 previous times it has been mentioned, Penn State TE Tyler Warren is a former high school QB…a factoid Nittany Lions OC Andy Kotelnicki took full advantage of in Saturday’s 56-0 smacking of Kent State.

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Hey! Would ya look at that! Turns out the educated guess/defrosted take/shake of my Magic 8 Ball I gave during my preseason FTB segment on Keystone Sports Network actually came true – new Penn State OC Andy Kotelnicki resuscitated the dormant 2021 Tyler Warren ‘Wildcat’ package!

And, frankly, why wouldn’t he? The wrinkle fits Kotelnicki’s offensive philosophy like a pair of Nike Air Monarchs on a 44-year-old dad. Get you best players the ball, yes, but do it in unorthodox and unexpected ways that cause confusion, hesitation, and, of course, distortion for the defense.

On Saturday, Kotelnicki dialed the same play out of the ‘Warren Wildcat’ formation twice. Technically, both were successful…although one was a damn hot mess. Regardless, let’s break down the wildcat unbalanced Q-counter swing RPO. Here’s how it appears on paper:

12 Personnel. 44-Tyler Warren at QB, 16-Khalil Dinkins in one sidecar position, 13-Kaytron Allen occupying the other. To ensure this is a legal formation, Penn State’s two receivers are both on the line of scrimmage while QB 15-Drew Allar morphs into the No. 3 WR in the slot, post-shift.

Kent State gets into its ‘unbalanced check’ with what appears to be a form of Man-to-Man. At the snap, Allen runs a swing to the wide side of the field to provide a “relief” for Warren in case the DB assigned to cover Allen – on this play, Kent State corner 23-Naim Muhammad — fits the run.

Here’s a better angle of what Warren has to process post-snap.

I’ll be honest, the swing route to Allen might score here if the Fatman makes the DB miss in stride. With that said, however, the “right” read is probably running it. Up front, PSU runs their bread-and-butter counter scheme. The front side of the OL (left), blocks gap-down while the backside guard pulls to kick the edge defender. Here, the guard “logs” the edge meaning he washes him down due to him crashing inside. Warren follows Dinkins for a fun 15.

Watch again:

Kotelnicki came back to the well later and called the same play. I’ll be blunt… this should’ve been a pick-6.

My best guess is that Warren likely predetermined the swing would be open pre-snap (because it sure doesn’t appear he’s reading anything) but the DB flies up and takes it away. Well, he tries to take it away.

As we’ve documented in print and through moving picture on this site, Kotelnicki is a YUGE fan of baiting defenses with v 1.0 of an exotic formation/shift/motion, knowing it’ll set the trap for v 2.0 later – so that might be another reason why Warren tossed this sucker in Act 2 of the Wildcat on Saturday. But, before you go glazing Kotelnicki like a zamboni glazes the ice between periods, keep this in mind: Former Penn State OC Mike Yurcich also loved pulling the ol’ bait and switch, too. It just didn’t work much.

In fact, if we rewind back to the debut of the Warren Wildcat in Penn State’s 2021 contest vs. Auburn, we’ll find the Yurcich version in-game evolution of this unique look.

2021 Warren Wildcat 1.0:

Six offensive linemen – 72-Bryce Effner is the extreme right tackle or what we like to call the Alex Jones tackle. Three tight ends, what we call TRIDENT. 14-Sean Clifford JayCulters (verb) out to the field side. 44-Warren and 86-Brenton Strange shift into the backfield. Direct snap to Warren. The former high school QB fakes the give to 5-Jahan Dotson running motion and BillyHoyles (verb) into the end zone.

Now, 2021 Warren Wildcat 2.0 (a designed pass):

Notice how slowly Warren and Strange shift into position here? Pretty sure that’s intentional — to let Auburn’s defenders recognize that they’ve seen this before in hopes they’ll abandon coverage responsibilities and cheat on another direct-snap run by Warren. If they bite, Warren would simply flip the ball to the uncovered Strange on an easy TD pass. Problem is the Auburn safety stayed true to his man coverage assignment on Strange, so Warren just had to eat this for a loss.