USF Athletics

Weis Jr. Made Most of Growing Up Around Great Football Minds

April 02, 2020

COACHES PROFILE SERIES: While we wait for USF football to hit the field once again, Senior Writer Tom Zebold and Voice of the Bulls Jim Louk give Bulls fans a window to know more about the people and personalities on head coach Jeff Scott's first USF staff.

The series kicks off with a deep dive into offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr.'s big-time football background.

LISTEN: Charlie Weis Jr. interview with Jim Louk.

By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer

TAMPA, APRIL 3, 2020 – At an age when people like to input plays with video game controllers, 26-year-old Charlie Weis Jr. gets to call the shots for real and for several valid reasons.

Infused with strong football roots since birth, Weis parlayed his experiences around some of the most respected minds in football to build his acumen and rapidly sprout in the sport, becoming the youngest offensive coordinator in FBS football two seasons ago. Successful Weis still holds that title today and now he's in Tampa to bring some of the ideas that dynasties were built on to the Bulls.

"I think just looking at the age and all that, it's definitely young, as you know," he said, "but I feel like I've just been around the game for so long."

Raised around the gridiron, Weis freely soaked up knowledge from a Who's Who list of football influences that started with his former head coach father. Just a few more big names on his reference sheet include Nick Saban, Bill Belichick and Lane Kiffin, who marveled at Weis' photographic memory before eventually hiring him.

"Similar to myself, Charlie grew up in football and has had a front row seat to observe and learn from some incredibly successful organizations and people," said new USF head coach Jeff Scott, who loves Weis' ability to not only scheme a dynamic offense but to effectively teach it to players.

Weis has been dishing out information as long as a seasoned coaching veteran at this point.

For instance, when Weis was 13, he was attending Notre Dame football meetings, evaluating players and breaking down game film while his peers were in the yard playing catch.

For that, and countless other opportunities of a coaching lifetime, Weis is eternally grateful.

"It's just a blessing to be able to be in a position that I'm at and to be able to work for so many great people and great coaches at a young age," he said.

Early Education in Big-Time Football
By the time he could walk, Weis could watch how the highest level of football operated during his father's first stint on the New England Patriots' staff.

Once he was in grade school, Weis saw how multiple Super Bowls could be won while Charlie Sr. was the Patriots' OC under legendary Bill Belichick.

Weis was molded by more football minds during his father's career continuation at Notre Dame (head coach, 2005-09), along with the Kansas City Chiefs (OC, 2010) and the University of Florida (OC, 2011). Weis cut his teeth in the profession in Gainesville as an 18-year-old offensive quality control coach who zeroed-in on wide receivers when he wasn't attending classes.

Weis learned more on and off the field as an undergraduate team manager for his head coach father at Kansas for three seasons (2012-15). In Lawrence, Weis put the base of his football knowledge to practice while pursuing his Bachelor of Science degree in psychology.

"That's where I started, so that's where I learned the fundamentals of the game," he said. "I thought (my dad) did a good job of introducing me a little bit to every position, having a year when I worked with the quarterbacks, a year with the wideouts, a year with the running backs. He gave me some exposure to each of those positions and (I got) to learn from a whole bunch of good coaches."

Spending lots of quality time with his dad at Kansas also allowed maturing Weis to realize what's important beyond the Xs and Os of the business. 

"It's learning it's not just all about football, schematics and all that, which I learned a ton from him, but the relationships that you have with people," Weis said.  "Obviously, your family, too, and making sure you can balance that, which is extremely critical in our profession."

Time for 'Grad School'
Before leaving Lawrence, Weis gained extra experience as a New England Patriots volunteer training camp intern in 2014. Belichick's close friend, Nick Saban, gave Weis a huge opportunity as an offensive analyst at Alabama for the 2015-16 seasons.

"I went to school at Kansas, and that was my undergrad, and then you go to Alabama and that's grad school," he said. 

With Weis working with talented quarterbacks and running backs like Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry, the Tide rolled a 30-2 record, two SEC Championship victories and one national title triumph.

He was taking notes the whole time.

Weis heard how success was built up front from longtime offensive line coach Joe Pendry, a "tremendous resource for your coaches." He also found out a lot about how defenses operated on the other side of the ball during meetings with Glenn Schumann and Dan Lanning, now both co-defensive coordinators at Georgia.

When it was time for more offensive concepts, Weis remembers picking the brains of people like Lane Kiffin, Mario Cristobal and Billy Napier. All three were on Alabama's 2015 staff and they're now college head coaches at Ole Miss, Oregon and Louisiana.

"The amount of football knowledge in that building is unbelievable because you have so many different analysts, GAs, just different people in that building along with the coaching staff, along with Coach Saban, you can learn from," Weis said.

Weis Gets FAU Offense Cooking Under Kiffin
Weis added another NFL organization to his resume in 2017, when he was an offensive analyst for the NFC champion Atlanta Falcons following about a brief stint as Florida Atlantic's tight ends coach.

FAU was where Weis' offensive coordinator dreams came to fruition on Kiffin's staff the past two seasons.

Results of their partnership were certainly explosive while Weis showed versatility in his scheme strategy.

FAU's ground-heavy 2018 team ranked 14^th nationally in total offense (478.8 ypg) and 13^th in rushing (241.8 ypg). Current Buffalo Bills back Devin Singletary ranked 11^th nationally in rushing yards (1,348) and yards per game (112.3 ypg), and producing the second-most rushing touchdowns in the nation (22).

Weis helped keep opponents off-balance often last season on a more pass-heavy Owls team that ranked 14th nationally in scoring (36.4 ppg) and 27th in total offense (448.6 ypg). Quarterback Chris Robison followed up his C-USA Freshman of the Year campaign by ranking sixth nationally in passing yards (3,701) and 16th in touchdown passes (28) with only six interceptions in 471 attempts. All-American tight end Harrison Bryant caught 65 passes for 1,004 yards and seven touchdowns on the way to grabbing prestigious Mackey Award honors.

"It's all about finding what your players can do best and using them to the best of their abilities," Weis said.

In the 'Lab' With Scott
Weis was coming off a Conference USA Championship victory that when he received a call from Jeff Scott about possibly joining his new USF football staff.

"He told me that he was interested in me, kind of wanted to know a little bit about myself and I think he had kind of already done some research offensively how we were and what we did," Weis said.

Soon after, Scott conducted an in-person interview that eventually led to talking more shop.

"He wanted to know how we structured our offense and the base of what we did," Weis said. "I think the unique thing and the cool thing was that it matched up a lot with his philosophies and what he wanted to do in an offensive system. That's really where we were able to hit it off and get going from there."

Since kindred football spirits joined forces, USF's offensive plan has been evolving, even in a digital fashion with necessary social distancing these days. Prior to USF's first and only spring practice, Scott said the Bulls' new offense will combine elements of what he did at Clemson with Weis' plan.

"It's a little bit of a lab out there, if you will. It's not something that's just cut-and-dry, that we already have it a laid out all the way through the end," Scott said. "There's gonna be some adjustments, but that's what's makes it fun too, for the coaches and players."

Weiss and Scott still have plenty of things to figure out before the Bulls' first game, but the main characteristics of the offensive plan are already in place. Expect to see a tempo system that utilizes speed in a variety of ways to score points.

"The people that are most successful are the people that use their players in the best way and find ways to get their players the ball in space and to get them the ball creatively, so that the defense can't pick up on it," Weis said. "We certainly have pieces here that are really good and really impressive to me. It's really my job to figure out how to make everything work around that. I always talk about wanting to be a player-driven offense."

For now, Weis and the Bulls conduct their business online with the players studying and preparing to apply his concepts on the field when they are able to return again.

Until then, Weis is staying super excited about the possibilities as a Bull and he's happily bringing his wealth of knowledge to the table, even virtually.

"The biggest thing is that I wake up every single day fired up to go to work, fired up to be with our staff," he said.
 
About USF Football
The USF football program first took the field in 1997 and completed its 23^rd season (20^th at the FBS level) in 2019. The Bulls have posted 15 winning seasons, earned 14 All-America selections and 29 first-team all-conference selections and has seen 30 players selected in the NFL Draft. USF has made 10 bowl games appearances (going 6-4 in those games) and posted a program record six straight appearances from 2005-2010. The Bulls most recently made four straight bowl appearances from 2015-18 and posted back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2016 and 2017, logging a program-record 11-2 mark in 2016 while finishing both seasons ranked in the Top 25. USF spent a program record 20 straight weeks ranked in the Top 25 during the 2016 and 2017 seasons and reached as high as No. 2 in the national rankings during the 2007 season.
                                                                                
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