Our current scheme is a WAY different scheme than the old scheme.
There are currently two basic trends in Oline scheme/run blocking, a man scheme and a zone scheme. In a man scheme you have specific rules that essentually tell you which guy to block. I'm not going to get to complicated, but its pretty straight forward for the guys up front and the decision making is easier. Also easier for the running backs b/c they have a specific hole to run to and keys to read like their FB or a pulling guard that they know to follow. In a man scheme usually you have bigger, road grader type players at the tackles and more athletic players at guard if you pull alot. At center you usually don't want the biggest kid, but you want a smart kid b/c he'll call out adjustments when the defense lines up b/c they move around and don't always line up where you think they are going to be.
In a zone scheme the entire Oline essentually will step one direction or the other and wall off the first defender that attacks the gap they are assigned to. The RB has the freedom to pretty much pick the hole that opens up first, or cut back if defenses overpursue. Usually zone teams will have one big anchor for the QBs backside, and the rest of the Oline will be smaller (under 300), more athletic Oline that can move their feet and get the angles necessary in a zone scheme. The Denver Broncos turned this blocking scheme into an art form.
Zone blocking has progressively over the last 10-15 years taken over the NFL game and now college. K-State went to more zone under Snyder, but retained a lot of man aspects b/c we ran a lot of power football and pulled a lot of backside OL to get numbers at the point of attack.
Our new scheme is almost purely inside and outside zone. Inside zone is designed to stay between the tackles but sometimes will bounce outside, especially on cutbacks; outside zone is the stretch play we run which may end up outside the tackles at times, but could be inside on cutbacks.
IMO we haven't adjusted well at all. Our oline are poor at staying on blocks in this new scheme long enough to open solid gaps for our RBs and we often fail to pick up backside defenders which doesn't allow for the cutback lanes which you must have to keep a defense honest against pure zone schemes.
And as far as the complaints at RB, that has been a disappointment. Frankly, Clayton has been the best at reading and cutting back. I thought the smaller, quicker guys would bypass him, but that simply hasn't been the case yet. It has taken us much longer to adjust to this new scheme than I anticipated, but b/c the scheme is so different I can't say that I'm completely shocked by it. Nebraska gave us a good look at what a switch from a power running game to a pure zone scheme looks like, and we probably don't/didn't have as much talent in place as they did when Callahan first came in. NU is appearing to become a much better running team out of their WCO/zone based running attack this year for really the first time since Callahan got there.
