While CU head coach Dan Hawkins hasn’t completed his staff yet — he says he expects to announce a hire fairly soon — word is the Buffs are already pointing toward a new wrinkle in the offense.

It looks as though CU will be running more of the “pistol” offense, something they tinkered with last year, and now something that could become more of a staple for 2010.

The pistol has been called a “sawed-off shotgun” by some. It lines up the QB about 3-4 yards behind center, then a tailback another few yards directly behind the QB. Nevada has run it for several years, and last year, Alabama used it as part of its attack at various times throughout the season.

Coaches like the pistol because there’s no “tip” as to which way the tailback might go with a handoff, as he’s not lined up on one side or the other of the quarterback. And, unlike the shotgun, it gives the tailback a running start before he gets the ball, meaning he’s running “downhill” from the start.

Florida also used the formation at times with Tim Tebow, and it also offers the potential for option pitches.

Here’s what Alabama QB Greg McElroy told the Mobile newspaper last year about the pistol:

“With my shotgun background, it allows me to feel a little more comfortable. We use a lot of play action out of it as well. The reason we do that is just it’s a lot quicker to get set up. It allows us to get the ball in your hand a little faster as opposed to under center because you’re only going back three, four yards at the most, whereas under center to go seven, eight, nine (yards). It kind of speeds things up and with the speed we have at wide receiver you want to get it to them as quick as possible and the pistol formation allows us to do that.

“It’s just an under-center presentation, four yards deep for me. It’s the same type of deal if the running back lines up on the right side of me in shotgun. A lot of teams have tendencies to run back to the left, and vice versa. But in the pistol formation you can run right, left or right up the middle if you wanted to. It gives you a little bit of an advantage.”

One thing CU should have next year is plenty of depth and talent at WR. The pistol might be a formation that could utilize that talent, while also keeping TBs Rodney Stewart and Brian Lockridge in the mix on every play.

What’s clear is that CU is aiming to move away from having the QB under center. Both Tyler Hansen and Cody Hawkins have appeared to be more comfortable setting up in the shotgun.  CU’s running game, however, was greatly limited out of the shotgun, and the pistol might just offer the best of both worlds.

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