BYU football: It’s time to move Tanner Mangum to shotgun
By Shaun Gordon
BYU football may have found a way to jump start its anemic offense: put Tanner Mangum in the shotgun and spread things out.
BYU football’s offense has a pulse. It’s a weak pulse. It barely registers.
But it’s definitely there.
The Cougars crossed the 50-yard line four times. That’s not much, but it’s a whole lot better than zero.
They put up 13 points. Still not much, but it’s a whole lot better than zero.
Three different BYU football drives stood out though, as a blueprint for the Cougars going forward.
In those three drives, the Cougars ran more no-huddle. They ran more three and four wideout sets.
Most importantly, Tanner Mangum took more snaps in shotgun formation than under center.
In those three drives, Mangum’s stats looked like this:
- 13-20, 124 yds, 1 TD
The rest of the game:
- 8-19, 46 yds, 3 INT
That’s a night and day difference.
65 percent as opposed to a 42 percent completion rate. 6.2 yards per attempt versus 2.4.
Yes, it’s a small sample size, but those numbers look similar to Mangum in 2015. During his freshman campaign, he had a 60 percent completion rate and 7.6 YPA.
Coincidentally, in 2015 he played primarily in shotgun formation under Robert Anae.
You don’t just have to look at the stats to see the difference.
Mangum looks more comfortable in the shotgun. His footwork is better, his vision is better, his accuracy is better.
He just flat-out plays better in shotgun.
That doesn’t mean he has to take every snap in shotgun. It just means he needs to start taking most of them that way.
Ty Detmer’s pro-style offense asks Mangum to play primarily under center. However, he was able to adjust the offense to suit Taysom Hill’s skillset last year.
It looks like that same type of adjustment needs to happen for Tanner Mangum. If it doesn’t happen, then BYU football’s offense might not improve until the latter end of the season.