Asheville High’s Devon Davidson (4) passed for more than 1,600 yards in 2015.
David Burdette doesn’t know exactly what to call Asheville High’s offense.
The “spread option?” he posited Friday.
Here is what we do know. The new, hard-to-classify attack being used by the Cougars and their first-year football coach has been patterned after UCLA’s scheme.
“It’s something new and something different for us. It’s basically option football with a passing game,” Burdette said.
“I think the kids are really excited about it. We’re going to spread the ball around to a lot of different people and we’re going to take advantage of mismatches when we can.”
Burdette had been an assistant for Asheville since 2000 before being hired in February to replace the winningest coach in school history. Danny Wilkins retired with 162 career victories.
The Cougars only have three starters back on both sides of the ball. They were 9-3 overall and 4-2 in the Mountain Athletic Conference last fall, and failed to win at least a share of a conference championship for the first time in 11 years.
Devon Davidson (1,632 yards and 13 touchdowns with 10 interceptions in 2015) should make the transition to a different offense go easier based off the numbers from his junior campaign. Davidson threw for more than 1,000 yards last year out of a Multiple I offense.
Other returning starters are linebacker/wide receiver Makaius Brewer, safety Micah Robertson and lineman/linebacker Andrew Leota.
Asheville captured last year’s MAC junior-varsity championship with a 5-1 mark in the league.
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