I would venture to guess that no offense is more Googled among offensive and defensive coordinator (and aspiring coordinators) than the Air Raid. Both sides of the ball would love to unlock the secrets of the offense that always seems to put up video game numbers regardless of the experience of the quarterback behind center, and that fascination has trickled up to the NFL, where coaches love the efficiency, simplicity, and effectiveness of some of the offenses best known staples.
Ask any Air Raid disciple that has branched off of the tree of Hal Mumme and Mike Leach what the hottest system in college football is really all about and you'll get an answer that it's deeper than Mesh and Shallow - it's more a way of thinking of thinking about football.
During a recent sit down with reporters, that's exactly what new USC offensive coordinator Graham Harrell, who was one of a long line of Air Raid quarterbacks who saw success under Leach at Texas Tech, explains right as the clip starts.
"It's kind of like the West Coast. The West Coast offense can be a 22 personnel offense or it can be a spread offense. It can be a the terminology. Where, to me, the Air Raid offense is more of a philosophy rather than actual X's and O's."
"I think that's what coach Leach has done such a great job of, and why what they call the Air Raid has had so much success no matter where it has been, is because, again, to me it's more of a philosophy than a scheme and the philosophy is to keep it easy and let guys go play. Put your guys in a position to be successful. It's an execution based offense, you're not going to sit there and try to out scheme people. It's an identity. It gives you an identity and says 'This is who we are and we're going to be good at what we do.'"
See more from Harrell in the clip below.
https://youtu.be/Yyv6lQiJZ7c