Shortly after Jeff Lebby was announced as Mississippi State football’s head coach in late November 2023, I put together a lengthy article (on-brand) for Maroon and White Nation giving an overview of Lebby’s system. I highlighted his background as an offensive coach and the defining features of his scheme. My intention was for it to serve as an introduction to a series on the offense where I’d dive into the finer details of how he operates and the core concepts he utilizes.
That never did come to fruition, and we now find ourselves nearing the beginning of Lebby’s third season in Starkville with me having done limited writing about the offense Bulldog fans have been watching for the past two years—my bad.
My hope is to change that throughout the upcoming season, but at the very least, I needed to make sure I devoted some time to discussing what many would consider the defining concept within Lebby’s “Veer and Shoot” attack. Let’s take a look at Mississippi State’s favorite way to go big-play hunting on offense, the Deep Choice series.
What is Deep Choice?
“Deep Choice” refers to a series of vertical passing concepts commonly found within Veer and Shoot systems. In a Deep Choice concept, a single receiver is tagged to run a vertical option route to open space while other receivers largely look to occupy coverage. The QB will look to throw to the tagged receiver, ideally understanding how the receiver will break his route off of coverage but also quite literally reacting to what his target chooses.
In a perfect world, the tagged receiver gets open deep, and the QB connects with him for an explosive play. In a “good enough” world, that receiver can still find open grass underneath if he can’t win vertically, and the QB still gets a completion for positive yardage.
In theory, if the receiver correctly identifies space and he and the QB are on the same page, it should be a simple pitch and catch for the offense regardless of what the defense does. That all, of course, hinges on having pass-catchers that can create separation and a QB that can accurately deliver the ball downfield. But given that those running the system specifically recruit speedsters at WR and big-arm QBs and spend hours repping this concept to dial in the execution, it should be one of the most effective plays they run.
Deep Choice is an ideal Veer and Shoot concept. This is an offense that prioritizes isolating skill talent in open space and chasing explosive plays, and that’s quite literally what you’re looking to accomplish with Deep Choice. Let’s free up our best receiver and look to force the ball to him with the chance at a big play.
That’s effectively how it started. Originator Art Briles says the idea began during the Robert Griffin III days at Baylor as a way to get their star WR Kendall Wright isolated against an outmatched corner. They’d align Wright as a single receiver to the boundary and give him a two-way go, running vertical if he could beat the corner over top or settling underneath if he couldn’t. For RGIII, he would make an RPO read off the boundary safety. If that safety played coverage, he’d just hand the ball off to the RB. But if the safety came down in run support, he’d fire the ball out to Wright, which was frequently an ideal outcome for the Bears.
Eventually this grew into something Baylor would run with all of their WRs to all parts of the field and as a true pass rather than just an RPO. In the years following RGIII, they got particularly good at terrorizing defenses with Deep Choice. So much so that they frequently weren’t calling many other true pass concepts, as they rarely had to.
Add in that it’s versatility makes it a great play out of tempo, another Veer and Shoot hallmark, and you can see why it’s such a beloved concept by those off the Briles tree along with other Veer and Shoot adaptors. Jeff Lebby has maintained it as a go-to play within his system with frequent usage at Mississippi State. Many of the Bulldogs’ big plays over these last two seasons have come off of Deep Choice variations.
Let’s breakdown Deep Choice in further detail by looking at some of the variations you’ll see from the Bulldogs on Saturdays…
Outside Choice
Outside Choice is far and away the most popular way you’ll see Jeff Lebby dial up the Deep Choice concept in Starkville. It gives the outside WR to a (usually) two-receiver side a three-way go, running either a vertical, curl, or post based on the cornerback’s depth and leverage. The slot receiver to the inside runs a bender route towards the middle of the field. Here it is drawn up in Kendal Briles’ install at Florida State in 2019…
The outside WR is obviously who the QB is looking to target here while the slot is almost entirely trying to pull coverage away from the outside, though he can become an option if the choice route becomes double-covered. As for the receiver(s) to the other side of the field, their job varies. Usually, they’re not even an option and will run intentionally lazy routes just to occupy defenders to their side. Other times, they’re running their own choice concept, and the QB can pick which side to target.
But in most cases, the play call is designed to get the ball to once specific WR (as is the case with the majority of the Deep Choice series). And Outside Choice has been State’s primary way to feature the speedsters they’ve had out wide and look to “score from far.” Outside receivers are the most likely to draw one-on-one matchups, and given that MSU tends to see a lot of two-high looks from defenses, having a slot receiver running a route to occupy the safety to that side helps assure that one-on-one opportunity outside.
So what does this look like on film? As mentioned earlier, the tagged WR in Outside Choice has a three-way-go. He’ll make his decision on where to take his route at approximately 10 yards downfield based on how the corner is playing him. Option 1, run vertical. If the WR thinks he can simply run by the corner and win deep, he will. As I’m sure you could imagine, Brenen Thompson frequently just ran by the corner.
Option 2, run the curl. If the WR can’t win deep, typically against a bailing CB, he’ll curl it up. This is most common against an inside shade CB in a Cover 3 look. The key here is the WR can’t just stay put waiting for the ball. He needs to continue working back towards the QB to keep as much separation as possible from the CB.
Finally, Option 3, run the post. This happens most frequently against an outside shade CB, which you’ll see in some Quarters coverage looks. It’s against Quarters that Outside Choice can be particularly effective because the bender route from the slot becomes the safety’s coverage responsibility. When you get those outside shade corners and safeties taking the bender, you have a great look to throw the post.
Slot Choice
Slot Choice hasn’t been used all that frequently by Jeff Lebby at Mississippi State, but it’s another staple within the system that was especially popular at Baylor back when the Veer and Shoot was still a novelty. As I’m sure you’ve figured out, now the choice route goes to the slot receiver, and he has the same three-way go (vertical, curl, post) as you see in Outside Choice. But now, the read is off the safety. Here’s a look at it drawn up in the FSU install, with the interesting “New Anthony” Briles terminology…
With the slot running the choice route, now the outside receiver is responsible for pulling coverage away from the slot. He’ll run a snap (curl) route to hold the corner to that side. If the corner pays no mind to the outside receiver in an effort to help the safety cover the slot, he can become a secondary option. But again, the QB looking to hit the slot over anything else.
The decision for the WR largely stays the same on Slot Choice. If he can win vertically, he will. That decision usually comes down to whether or not there is a deep safety overtop the slot (two-high vs one-high). It’s against one-high looks that the slot has his best chance to win vertical.
There is a slight difference here from Outside Choice though as that vertical can show up as both a slot fade or a seam route depending on coverage. Against Cover 3, he’ll look to stay up the seam, keeping space between the single-high safety and the bailing corner outside. Here’s a good look at that from 2014 Baylor.
Against Cover 1, the CB will be locked-on the outside WR, leaving the slot one-on-one against whoever the defense chooses to put in man coverage over him. This is when the slot will run the fade route.
If the slot can’t win vertically, he’ll curl it up. You’ll see this in cases where there’s a deep safety sitting overtop the slot or simply any slot defender bailing deep.
If the slot can win inside and there’s space to the middle of the field, he can run the post. This usually happens either with a deep safety working too far outside the slot or, as is the case below, a slot defender gets turned to the sidelines, allowing the slot to cross him inside.
Single Choice
While I can’t say I’ve charted every single snap of the Bulldogs under Lebby, and admittedly, there are some things I simply miss, I don’t recall seeing State run true Single Choice yet over the past two seasons. Single Choice is Deep Choice to a single receiver side. No complimentary routes to hold coverage, just a true one-on-one. That’s why it’s primarily called in instances where the offense knows they have that one-on-one between the WR and CB with no threat of a safety helping overtop.
Where it does come up for Mississippi State is either as an RPO or paired opposite of another Deep Choice concept. In RPO from, it’s quite literally the same play as the original “Kendall Wright Baylor” version described early in this piece, and State will call that quite frequently. When it’s opposite of another Deep Choice concept, the QB gets to pick which side to attack based on the matchup. If he likes his single WR to win and there’s no safety help to that side, he can take it.
Traditionally, Single Choice is a two-way go (vertical or curl) with no post option, as running a post could bring the safety into play. But when paired opposite another Deep Choice concept, it seems that WR has a bit more freedom. Josh Heupel gives his single WR the post option, and this rep from Brenen Thompson last season suggests he’s able to find open grass to the inside.
Switch Choice
Normal Deep Choice gives defenses plenty of problems as is, but when Veer and Shoot play-callers want to really screw with them, they’ll throw in some switch releases. Using a switch release can disrupt coverage rules (who is responsible for who?) and create rubs to free up a receiver. Here’s Switch Choice in the FSU install…
Switch Choice is quite literally Outside Choice, but the switch release has the outside and slot receivers flipping roles. The slot will follow Outside Choice rules while the outside man looks to occupy defenders with the bender (and yes, he can be an option).
Not that Brenen Thompson ever needed much help getting open, but you can see how the switch release helped free him up in the example below. The safety widening to try and match Thompson, initially aligned in the slot, as he works outside allows Thompson to then cut back inside on the post and be wide open. Side note, it’s a bit painful reliving how many missed opportunities State had for TDs to him last season.
You’ll also see State run a version of Switch Choice that functions more like Slot Choice, with the (initially) outside receiver following Slot Choice rules and becoming the main target after the switch release. That’s what the Bulldogs paired with an underneath mesh concept on Thompson’s game-winning score over Arizona State.
Along with using switch releases, running Deep Choice from stacked receiver looks is quite popular, which creates a similar effect as the switch release. You’ll also see the Bulldogs mix in double-moves, notably “stutter-and-go”, on the concept to further help get their wideouts open deep for big plays. It’s an incredibly versatile play, and with track stars at receiver and the rocket-armed Kamario Taylor running the show, you’ll continue to see plenty of Deep Choice at Mississippi State this season.
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