Kevin Decker discusses installing Josh Heupel’s offense at Fordham
Kevin Decker has served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Fordham since 2019.
Fordham plays in the Patriot League at the Football Championship Level.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Fordham did not play games in 2020. The Rams played three games during an abbreviated spring 2021 season and a traditional campaign this fall.
The coronavirus pandemic allowed time for Decker to install a new offense. Decker, a 2012 New Hampshire graduate where he was the Colonial Athletic Association’s Player of the Year and a finalist for the Walter Payton Award in 2011 as a quarterback, installed Josh Heupel’s offense during Fordham’s downtime.
“The goal of this whole thing, and it’s actually very similar to what they are doing at Rocky Top now, is I love the spacing aspect,” Decker said on the show “Football Two-A-Days.” “I think it puts your players in the best possible situation, to go and do what they do, and that’s to make plays. I absolutely love it.
“Basically in 2019 we were not doing this. Then our spring Covid year we only played three games, we dabbled in it. We started calling some of that stuff, but we were maybe 20 percent of our offense was wide splits. Now it is about 90 percent, we are in the bigger splits. Now, we will condense them down to throw mesh in more third and mediums or hot zone 12 yard line and in, where we think we are getting man and we want to get some rubs. We can condense down to run some of that stuff, but I want to live in the big splits.”
New Hampshire quarterback Kevin Decker (14) plays in the NCAA college football game between Pittsburgh and New Hampshire in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
David Weeks was brought into Fordham’s program as an offensive quality control coach in 2020. He was elevated to tight ends coach in 2021.
Weeks came to Fordham after serving as a student assistant quarterbacks coach from 2018-19 at UCF under Heupel. At UCF under Heupel, Weeks was responsible for helping provide input and breaking down opponent and self-scout film, creating cutups of opponent and self-scout specific film, creating weekly post-game packets and charts, a weekly red zone report, and drawing weekly installs.
“It really came from Weeks who works for us now,” Decker said of Fordham’s offense. “He is our tight ends coach. He was a student assistant at UCF with Josh Heupel.
“I would just be messing around with him in the office late at night to draw up some of this stuff that Heupel is doing down there. I was like, ‘Wow this actually is really, really good stuff’.”
Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
Decker further detailed how the coronavirus pandemic allowed time to install Heupel’s offense at Fordham, everything from wide splits, tempo, rubs, verticals, stack receivers and the use of H-backs.
“In 2019 we would study it, but wouldn’t run it,” Decker said of Heupel’s offense. “Then Covid happened and we were still able to get in 10 practices in the fall without a season. I said this is an opportune time to get this stuff on film and see how it looks. It’s really different, but the biggest thing to stress to your guys is to don’t overthink it, run fast and make full speed decisions, you’re always right and run to green grass — that’s it. Our kids really loved it, and because it allowed them to play fast and to play without thinking.
“We kind of made the full blown adjustments and we obviously reaped the benefits with some success this year. I love it, and as a play-caller, when you spread a team out wide, you really get to see what their attention is.”
The entire show with Decker can be listened to here or below.
