Senator Blutarsky over at Get the Picture has an interesting post regarding the spread offense entitled “How long he can endure remains to be seen”.  While most Georgia fans only focus on the spread to promote Stafford over Tebow, Blutarsky examines how the spread offense has evolved into mainstream thinking.  In an article by Pete Fituak of College Football News, Nolan Nawrocki of Pro Football Weekly noted that

“QBs in the Jeff Tedford / Mike Leach /Urban Meyer /Steve Spurrier systems rarely are asked to read more than a third of the field and tend to complete primarily short, dink-and-dunk passes that allow for quicker decisions to be made and more accuracy. Their systems do not promote the development of a quarterback but rather hide their shortcomings while padding stats that can easily fool not only the average fan but even the most experienced evaluator.”  Link

It should be noted that Jeff Tedford and Steve Spurrier are now “lumped” into the spread despite the fact that neither actually run a spread offense.  In many ways it depends on what you define the “spread” to be.  Typically it’s a quarterback who operates out of the shotgun full time in a one back set.  Spread offenses can be pass heavy as at Texas Tech or even Hawaii (Yes, June Jones.  The spread offense derives from the same Run and Shoot offense that Glenn Ellison developed in the 50s that YOU run) or run heavy as we see at West Virginia (which runs a spread-option attack), Oregon or Navy.  In the NFL a few teams are transitioning to the spread.  The New England Patriots employ their shotgun formation, one back set with Tom Brady almost exclusively (and have had considerable success with it) while the Pittsburgh Steelers are in the process of transitioning from a power running team to a spread pass offense with a zone running scheme.  Even college teams that run the spread offense can approach it differently as Florida and Missouri do.  Florida likes to run a lot of single win running plays out of the formation while Mizzou doesn’t like to run Daniel as much (although they will let him scramble) and prefers quick hitting misdirection type plays due to their smaller offensive line.

Another key facet of a spread offense is the spacing between the offensive linemen.  The idea of the offense is to spread the defense out and give backs more room to run.  No disrespect to Mr. Nawrocki  but Steve Spurrier and Jeff Tedford DO NOT run spread offenses!!!  When is the last time you saw a Cal or South Carolina QB operate consistently out of the shotgun???  Tedford runs a version of the West Coast offense (I mean Bill Walsh West Coast offense, not to be confused with the Raiders vertical passing attack of the 70s and 80s which is sometimes referred to by the same name).  Spurrier runs a very sophisticated passing offense that utilizes a lot of draw plays and timing patterns.  QBs are responsible for identifying the defense (and changing the play if necessary) and then throwing it to a spot on the field where the receiver should be.  Rarely does the quarterback leave the pocket (although there are rollout plays in the scheme) and is based on a 3 to 5 step drop.   Spurrier also likes to set up the pass with the run, if a team doesn’t respect your running game it will be much more difficult against a team playing pass first defense.

And despite the knock on quarterbacks, name two coaches who have put MORE quarterbacks in the NFL than Jeff Tedford and Steve Spurrier?  The quarterbacks under Tedford’s tutelage include Trent Dilfer, Akili Smith, Kyle Boller, Joey Harrington, David Carr and Aaron Rodgers.  Spurrier has coached such quarterbacks as Shane Mathews, Danny Weurfell, Doug Johnson, Jessie Palmer and Rex Grossman.  In total Tedford’s quarterbacks have spent a combined 44 years in the league including 4 who are still in the league.  Spurrier quarterbacks have a combined total of 37 years with only one quarterback still in the league.  Unless Aaron Rodgers suffers a career ending injury none of the quarterbacks listed will have played less than 5 years in the NFL. 

Now exactly how many coaches in the world can claim to have put so many QBs in the league?  Even if most of those years were as backups, VERY FEW quarterbacks drafted remain in the league for long.  The average career life for a first round NFL quarterback in the NFL (based on a study from 1985-2005) is 6.5 years.  Not all of the quarterbacks listed were first rounders and some are still playing (4 of seven are still playing for Tedford) yet the average career life is 7.3 for Tedford and 7.4 for Spurrier.  So I’d like to ask . . . . why all the bashing of two of an elite number of coaches who consistently put quarterbacks in the NFL???  In fact when Shane Matthews was drafted by Chicago and asked about the Bears offense he described it as much “simpler” than the offense he had to master at Florida.
 
In the category of “The tales of my demise have been greatly exaggerated”, Dennis Dodd of CBS Sportsline writes, 

The final blow

The spread will die out for the same reason the wishbone died out.  It doesn’t translate well to the NFL. Eventually, blue-chip offensive players will see their skills don’t necessarily translate well to the pros. They will start gravitating toward programs that can exploit their talents. Goodbye spread. “We do point it out in recruiting battles,” said Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema, who still runs a pro style offense. “(The NFL) looks at that from not only working with a quarterback but an offensive tackle who protects a drop-back passer.” “If you ran (the spread) in the pros, you’d get killed,” Notre Dame’s Charlie Weis said. “I could never do it in a heavy dose myself because the quarterback gets exposed.”  Link

Waaaiiiit a minute now.  So the Patriots don’t protect Tom Brady?  The Steelers have decided they are just going to let Roethlisberger deal with the pass rush on his own?  Missouri doesn’t pass block for Chase Daniel and Florida prefers to let Tim Tebow do it all on his own?  As for this wishbone offense analogy and how offensive linemen would want to play for “Pro style teams”.  In some quick research I discovered that Oklahoma had 22 offensive linemen drafted in the NFL just under the tenure of wishbone coach Barry Switzer.  Apparently NFL scouts didn’t realize that OU played a wishbone option offense and their linemen wouldn’t be able to play in the NFL because they just wouldn’t have the “skillz”.  The fact that they kept drafting them in that 16 year period just goes to show how stupid NFL scouts really are.  I didn’t bother to take the time to look up the stats at Nebraska but I bet they TOO sent quite a few linemen to the NFL while running that gimmicky option offense (tsk, tsk, tsk).  And God knows Nebraska and Oklahoma never sent a single decent running back, wide receiver, tight end or fullback to the NFL during that time right???  What recruit would want to play in the spread???
 
Yes, it is true that only two starting NFL quarterbacks came from spread offenses – Alex Smith and Drew Brees.  But since the spread is somewhat of a NEW offensive system I don’t think there’s enough information to base any kind of analysis.  It will take another 5-10 years or more before we can speculate (although I’m sure some idiot will crow on about some inane opinion without any factual basis – Heck the Palm Beach Post believes Randy Shannon can’t coach because his team went 5-7 in his FIRST year!!!  I guess Frank Beamer, Greg Schiano, Rich Rodriquez and Nick Saban are among the other coaches who can’t coach because they had subpar first season) on the true transition from college to pro.  Did Ryan Leaf play in a spread offense?  Heath Shuler?  Rick Mirer?  Dave Brown? Cade McNown?  Jim Druckenmiller?  Todd Marinovich?  Kelly Stoufer?  Dan McGwire?  Etc, etc.  The point here is that MOST quarterbacks fail, not just spread quarterbacks (of which there are too few samples to accurately detect any trend).   Everything to this point is pure conjecture and opinion.
 
The fact is that the Spread will NOT collapse because of the pressure of conforming to the NFL.  The truth is that the OPPOSITE will happen.  The NFL will be forced to adapt to the new type of quarterback coming out of college just as college has had to adapt to the type of QB coming from the High School ranks. 

Missouri coach Gary Pinkel, whose team switched from a pro-style offense to the spread prior to the 2005 season, would have never landed Daniel as a recruit if not for the change in offense. Daniel had 473 yards against NU last year in Mizzou’s 41-6 win. Link  

Quarterbacks like Chase Daniel, Todd Reesing, Mich Mustain, Terrelle Pryor, etc, are coming out of high school spread option systems.  When they pick schools they tend to gravitate to programs that run a similar style offense.  Or the team that lands such a quarterback will change it’s offense to highlight that players talent.  Arkansas promised to install the spread and even hired Mustain’s high school coach as offensive coordinator (although this turned out to be just a lie to land the QB – see the Houston Nutt saga) while Ohio State is installing a number of spread type plays to take advantage of their top recruit Pryor as early as possible (don’t forget Ohio State ran a form of the spread in Troy Smith’s senior season). 
 
While the run and shoot was primarily a pass offense, the current spread can be tailored to be either pass heavy, balanced or run heavy depending on the coaches preferences.

The spread has become the fastest growing offense at the high school level. I wonder how many truly understand all facets of the offense. When done properly it can be similar to a full court press in basketball and it will slowly wear the other team down. The running game is an integral part of becoming a complete offense. Coaches need to rep running as much or more than the passing game and few understand this. Link 

While high school players aren’t as developed in passing and receiving the offense still gives more players an opportunity to participate in the game (aka touch the ball) than a traditional offense.
The spread won’t go away because high schools are turning to the spread in greater numbers.  Just as the option offense was a way of giving smaller schools a chance against deeper programs, the spread offense does the same thing but isn’t a one dimensional run-only type attack.  

The spread-option’s propensity to generate fireworks is undeniable.  Four of the nation’s top 10 most efficient quarterbacks (Tim Tebow being No. 1) all play in spread-option systems.  Its influence has also reached the high school level.  “Everything trickles down,” said second-year DeFuniak Springs Walton High School coach Lenny Jankowski, who attends high school coaching clinics held during UF’s spring practices and runs the offense with his 6-1 Braves. “I’ve had an opportunity to listen to Coach Meyer, and he’s a very dynamic speaker.”
 
Jankowski shares Meyer’s sentiment that more touches for more players results in more of their attention.  “The kids really play hard for you,” Jankowski said. “They’re involvement is so much greater in the spread.”  Williston High School coach Jamie Baker is in his second year running the spread-option with the Red Devils. He feels the offense gives smaller schools a better chance to compete.  “Traditionally here at Williston we’re not going to get the big linemen so we’ve got to have more skill guys than linemen,” Baker said. “Especially with the defenses we’re up against.”
 
Second-year Baker County coach Bobby Johns has turned his Wildcats (7-1) around with the spread-option, taking over a program that was winless the year before he got there.  Its impact at the high school level stretches across the country. “I think it’s much easier to understand and conceptualize for young coaches,” Southern California coach Pete Carroll said. “I think we see it a lot in high schools, and I think it’s going to have a good life in football.” Link

Dodd continues his rampant speculation (disregarding the fact that the trends in football usually start at the bottom and filter up rather than at the top and filter down) by taking a shot at Chase Daniel.  

As good as he is, Daniel’s pro future is uncertain. His immediate past, though, may become a historic touchstone when the spread eventually dies out. Link

Goodness gracious, spare me the overdramatic narrative Dodd.  The biggest knock on Chase is his height, not his college’s offensive system.  Of course one of the more successful 6’0” NFL quarterbacks is another alumnus from a offensive spread college team: Drew Brees.  So I guess Chase has as good a shot as anyone and the spread still has a great shot of becoming the dominant offense in college.

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UPDATE:

Sorry folks, I want to clear up a little confusion I may have left with some people by not being detailed enough with some facts and assumptions.

The basic tenets of a SPREAD offense are the larger spacing between offensive line sets, 4 and 5 WR sets and the QB operating out of the shotgun.  Neither version of what are often referred to as the West Coast Offense are related to the “spread”.  The more popular Bill Walsh offense is simply based on the principles of 3-5 step quick passing plays, flooding zones with multiple receivers and ball control through a short to intermediate passing game.  A benefit of the Walsh offense was that it can be easier to learn since you can have your receivers run the same routes from various formations.  It’s a rythm type of offensive system that also relies heavily on the pass catching abilities of the running backs.  Quarterbacks who run this system do not have to have strong arms as long as they are accurate passers.  It is also a “man blocking” scheme for the offensive line.

The Air Coryell type West Coast offense which was developed by Sid Gilman is based on stretching the field vertically rather than horizontally.  It simplified play calls by having a standard system to identify plays based by name and number and also was one of the first to utilize a lot of timing patterns.  The San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders were teams that effectively utilized this offense in the 80s and the St. Louis Rams of the late 90s and early part of this century.  This offense is based on using a power running game to set up deep passes.  Thus this system requires a quarterback with a strong arm who can throw accurately much further down the field and speed at wide receiver to stretch the field endzone to endzone.  Pass protection is a must for this system to work since the QB is taking a lot of 5-7 step drops.

Both of these offenses regularly utilized a Tight End and fullback which is not commonly found in the basic spread offense.  The fact that Florida runs plays utilizing those two positions is because Florida utilizes a hybrid spread system.  The spread is “typically” a one back, 4 receiver offense.