Over at Football Study Hall this week I wrote on the 21 spread. Technically 21 personnel means two RBs and one TE, but can often mean a variety of things.
Oklahoma in 2017 ran a lot of 21 spread if you defined Mark Andrews as a TE, Dmitri Flowers as a FB, and then the RBs they would typically play (Rodney Anderson and co). Texas did the same thing in 2018 if you defined Andrew Beck as the FB (as All-B12 voters did) and Lil’Jordan Humphrey as the TE.
The Sooners figure to trot out the same formula in 2019 with Jeremiah Hall as the FB and Grant Calcaterra reprising his role as the flex TE. Texas is currently mixing things up and exploring a 21 personnel set with a RB/WR hybrid, the traditional RB, and then a TE/FB type.
There’s also the Kansas State Wildcats, who are now embracing a traditional 21 personnel, under-center offense but have a staff that have explored with hybridization in the past and will likely to continue to do so now that they are surrounded by offensive innovation across the league.
Keep an eye on this folks, this is where it’s at. The rest of the country is catching up to Big 12 tactics and this (hybridization) is an area where teams can stay ahead of the curve.
Brown has 3 scholarship TEs on campus, including one who initially put his name in the transfer portal that Brown reportedly convinced to stay. So WVU will continue using them as well.
I think West Virginia will fall under the first style I described in the article. The RPO spread-I.