Last season MSL East football power Prospect featured a standard spread offense, led by left-handed sophomore quarterback Miles Osei.
But leave it to coach Brent Pearlman to tinker with his basic offfensive set this year. Osei, now a 6-foot-2, 190-pound junior, is still a scrambling, hard-to-catch QB when he decides to keep the ball. He’s become the Knights’ leading rusher this year, however, simply because he doesn’t have a teammate to hand the ball off to.
Pearlman has switched to a five wide receiver, no-huddle offense much like Riverside-Brookfield coach Otto Zeman ran for years, until this season. Like Zeman’s former offense, Prospect is not using a running back, but unlike Zeman’s stable of quarterbacks, Osei can run like the wind. R-B is running an A-11 offense this season, where all 11 players are eligible to catch passes. Yeesh.
“Prospect has a running back, but their quarterback is their running back,” Buffalo Grove coach Jim Farrell said.
Pearlman has a nickname for his new offense — M.O.B — for Miles Only Back. Simple, and to the point. Pearlman knows he doesn’t deserve extra credit for originality. When Prospect feels like running, Osei keeps the ball or gives it to wide receiver Mike Przespolewski for a series of sweeps. Osei rushed for 115 yards on 14 carries in a 42-21 win over BG Friday night. “The Prez” finished with 87 yards on 11 carries and three rushing TDs, another receiving. At the goal line, the Knights can switch to different formations with two or even three running backs.
“We created the offense around our kids,” said Pearlman, who has won state titles in 2001, 2002 and 2005. “We didn’t copy off anybody.”
