joel klatt

Well, we've got a coaching vacancy. Due to Matt Weiss getting axed due to Computer Crimes, Michigan has an assistant opening. We spent a bunch of time talking about it on WTKA this morning, and we mainly discussed two scenarios:

• Promoting Kirk Campbell to QB coach, which is probably JJ McCarthy's preferred outcome.
• Moving Jay Harbaugh to QB coach, hiring someone else, and having Harbaugh re-assert himself as a QB whisperer.

Possibly relevant to this: Chris Partridge got cut loose by Ole Miss and is now looking for a job. He was a co-DC at Ole Miss and may have gotten out over his skis a little bit in that job. Ole Miss's D was just 50th in SP+ this year. With Jesse Minter around, he won't have a DC title if he does return to Michigan. If he's fine with that, though, he was an ace recruiter and an ace recruiter would help out considerably after a down class.

Also he might be an in with Davison Igbinosun, who was a freshman All-American CB for Ole Miss with 10 starts to his name. He hit the portal more or less as the same time as Partridge got axed, so you have to think that grabbing Partridge would bring him along. A 6'2" CB ranked #162 in the composite last year with a year of starting under his belt would be an excellent pickup. That's not a reason to hire a coach by itself, but since Partridge has a lot of experience with Michigan already and had a successful first stint… it might be a reason to make a somewhat awkward position coaching switch if the elder Harbaugh can backfill at QB coach.

[After THE JUMP: sign and fire]

12/3/2022 – Michigan 43, Purdue 22 – 13-0, 9-0 Big Ten, Big Ten Champions

After Will Johnson's second interception my twitter feed had consecutive tweets that were literally "Will Johnson has arrived."

One was in all caps.

It may have been last week when Will Johnson arrived since he started against Ohio State and your Will Johnson-related memories of that game do not exist. Johnson took 70 snaps against the Buckeyes and he did not get dunked on once. But there's arriving quietly, like an offensive lineman who refines his assignments, and then there's going Fury Road on a version of Aidan O'Connell with glowing eyes and electricity coruscating down his forearms. Johnson has now arrived, loudly. He has a hype man. It is the internet.

It is a late-season cliché to say that freshmen are no longer freshmen. Sometimes this is not true because the freshman in question is completely the wrong size or just doesn't have it yet. You cannot assert that CJ Stokes is no longer a freshman. But you can for Will Johnson. You can for Colston Loveland. You can for Mason Graham.

Meanwhile in the realm of no longer sophomores: Donovan Edwards seems fully leveled up from last year's pad-seeker into this year's slashing missile, and we have answers about what happens when you put a game on JJ McCarthy's arm. McCarthy made one very bad mistake in this game, because he is not a 35-year-old All Pro yet. He also threw enough dead on downfield balls that everyone looking at the box score this morning can't believe he only had 17 pass attempts.

Going into the Ohio State game Michigan had questions. A wonky passing game, an injured star, a looming matchup against a real quarterback. In each case they had a player step up. The questions are no longer whether Michigan can. It is now merely whether they will.

---------------------------------------------

[Patrick Barron]

Mix in the rapidly-arriving youth with Ronnie Bell, Mazi Smith, Jake Moody, Brad Robbins, and Luke Schoonmaker--guys who took the long way around to get here—and you stand here, atop the Big Ten for the second straight year. This feels different, though. Last year the OSU win was shocking but a clear example of OSU dysfunction catching up to them. This year it eventually became clear they were trying to catch up to Michigan.

Last year Michigan entered a game against Georgia's generational defense more in hope than expectation that success would follow. It didn't take long to cast Michigan as a team not on UGA's level, one just hoping to stay in contact with a series of breaks. Upset minded. This year they'll enter the semifinal touchdown favorites against a feisty, insane TCU team that will enter hoping that they can keep up with Michigan's pounding ground game. Maybe they will; maybe they'll find that they're in the same position Michigan was a year ago: not quit there.

Michigan is there, or at least as there as they're ever likely to be. They have their five star QB locked in with a five star running back. They've got a defense that doesn't have Aidan Hutchinson on it but maybe just got a star. There's no time like the present to recalibrate from "just happy to be here" to a team with expectations even at the playoff level.

Some got here fast, some took their time. But they're here, individually and collectively. Michigan has arrived.

AWARDS

Known Friends and Trusted Agents Of The Week

[Barron]

you're the man now, dog

#1 Will Johnson. Two interceptions, but that's not the whole story. Both were superior coverage on which Johnson had the route dominated and picked the ball off without any assistance. Since he's a corner the fact that he had just two tackles, one a third-down stop a yard downfield and one a screen TFL, is excellent. Johnson did get hit with a deserved PI and missed a tackle on a third down catch and run but two turnovers versus two instances of 15 yards is a massive win.

#2 Donovan Edwards. 25 carries, 185 yards, 7.4 yards a pop, two exclamation-point runs. On the first he dusted a cornerback and burst for 60 yards that could have been 70 but he ran out of bounds curiously early. The second was a ridiculous slalom through six Purdue defenders for a 27 yard touchdown. Project "quit running directly into guys" is a success. Imagine if he had two hands and was the receiving threat he was earlier in the year.

#3 JJ McCarthy. Just seventeen attempts, and did throw a turrible interception on one of those. Still managed almost ten yards an attempt; broke the pocket and created second chances on many of those. When he stood in the pocket he delivered at least three DOs, one on a rocket TD to Bell, the others on perfect arcing balls between levels in the Purdue zone. Elite business not that far away.

Honorable mention: Eyabi Okie had a couple of impressive QB pressures. Junior Colson was everywhere and didn't seem to have much blame for the early hiccups. The Offensive Line had some pass protection hiccups but my early take on their run blocking is that they were dominant and the only thing holding the run game down was free hitters. Mazi Smith consistently pressed the pocket, forcing a sack that Jaylen Harrell picked up; Harrell also had a solo sack of his own as he spun past the right tackle.

KFaTAotW Standings.

(points: #1: 8, #2: 5, #3: 3, HMs one each. Ties result in somewhat arbitrary assignments.)

51: Blake Corum (#2 CSU, #2 Hawaii, HM UConn, #1 Maryland, #2 Iowa. HM Indiana, T2 PSU, #1 MSU, T1 Rutgers, #3 Nebraska, #1 Illinois)
32: JJ McCarthy (#1 Hawaii, #2 UConn, HM Maryland, HM Iowa, #3 Indiana, HM PSU, HM MSU. HM Rutgers, #2 OSU, #3 Purdue)
24: The Offensive Line (#3 Iowa, #1 PSU, HM MSU, #3 Rutgers, #1 Nebraska, HM Purdue)
22: Donovan Edwards (HM Hawaii, T2 PSU, T1 Rutgers, #4 OSU, #2 Purdue)
18: Ronnie Bell (HM CSU, HM Hawaii, #1 UConn, #2 Indiana, HM PSU, HM Nebraska, HM Illinois)
17: Mike Morris (T3 Hawaii, HM Maryland, #1 Iowa, T1 Indiana, #3 PSU, HM Rutgers),
15:  Kris Jenkins (#3 UConn, T3 Hawaii, HM Iowa, T1 Indiana, #2 MSU, HM Rutgers, HM Nebraska), Mazi Smith (#1 CSU, T3 Hawaii, HM Maryland, HM Iowa, HM MSU, HM Nebraska, HM Purdue)
13: Mason Graham (HM Hawaii, HM Iowa, HM Indiana, #2 Nebraska, #2 Illinois)
12: Rod Moore(HM CSU, HM Indiana, HM MSU, T1 Ohio State)
11: Mike Sainristil (HM Maryland, HM Indiana, T1 Ohio State)
9: Cornelius Johnson (HM Hawaii, #3 Ohio State), Will Johnson (HM Rutgers, #1 Purdue)
7: Gemon Green (HM UConn, T2 Maryland, HM PSU), Jake Moody (HM PSU, #3 MSU, #3 Illinois).
6: Junior Colson (#3 CSU, HM UConn, HM PSU, HM Purdue)
5: DJ Turner (T2 Maryland), Luke Schoonmaker (T3 Maryland, HM Iowa, HM Indiana, HM MSU), Michael Barrett (#2 Rutgers), Eyabi Okie (HM CSU, HM Iowa, T1 Indiana, HM Purdue).
4: Jaylen Harrell (HM CSU, T1 Indiana, HM Purdue)
3: Derrick Moore (HM CSU, T1 Indiana)
2: Roman Wilson (HM CSU, HM Hawaii), Max Bredeson (T3 Maryland), Joel Honigford (T3 Maryland),
1: Braiden McGregor (HM CSU), Makari Paige (HM Hawaii), Rayshaun Benny (HM Hawaii), AJ Henning (HM UConn), Caden Kolesar (HM UConn), RJ Moten (HM Maryland), CJ Stokes (HM Nebraska), Andrel Anthony (HM Nebraska), Colston Loveland (HM Illinois)

Who's Got It Better Than Us(?) Of The Week

Johnson's second interception sets up a short-field touchdown and Michigan clinches a second consecutive Big Ten championship.

Honorable mention: Johnson's first interception. McCarthy's laser TD to Bell. Edwards's slaloming TD run. Edwards busts outside for 60.

?MARCUS HALL EPIC DOUBLE BIRD OF THE WEEK.

Purdue's second drive is a mess of missed assignments and tackles, setting them up with a touchdown and announcing this was not going to be an Iowa 2021 walkover.

Honorable mention: Any of several different O'Connell throws that were eyepopping, or any of several Chuck Sizzle moments that were similarly eyepopping.

10/8/2022 – Michigan 31, Indiana 10 – 6-0, 3-0 Big Ten

It was 10-10 and it was stupid. Like half the games against Indiana, it was stupid and dumb. At some point I saw a highlight from that Denard game against Indiana where IU would score on a 15-play march and then Denard would immediately run for a 70 yard touchdown. "God, that game was stupid," I thought. Flinging the ball in the general direction of Junior Hemingway and hoping something good would happen, sort of thing. Charting 120 defensive plays, sort of thing. Craig Roh playing linebacker, sort of thing.

Don't get me started about #chaosteam, or overtimes, or anything else. My IQ is already dropping precipitously. Any more exposure to Michigan-Indiana may render me unable to finish this column. (I would still be able to claim that MSU was defeated with dignity, if that was my purpose in life.)

I had hoped that a little JJ McCarthy-led mediation in the locker room would straighten things out. Michigan did suffer through a scary event when Mike Hart collapsed on the sideline. This is a completely valid reason you may not be executing football with military precision, even setting aside whatever dorfy bioweapon the Hoosiers perfected about ten years ago.

Those hopes seemed dashed when Michigan was inexplicably offsides on a short-yardage punt on which they didn't even bother to rush. A touchback turned into a punt downed at the two, and then Blake Corum committed a false start and Cornelius Johnson dropped something that was either a chunk play or a 96-yard touchdown. Johnson started hopping up and down near the sideline, veritably slobbering with self-rage. The slope downwards to black pits became very slippery.

JJ McCarthy said "namaste."

[Barron]

That is immediately after the Johnson drop. He's signaling to his receiver: it's fine, it's fine, we'll get them on the next snap. And then they did. Conversion to Ronnie Bell, drive on. McCarthy took off for a first down on third and seven and hit Andrel Anthony and when he got some pressure he rolled away from it and dropped the ball back to Johnson on a drag route that had picked off the Indiana defender. Twenty nine yards later, Michigan led 17-10 and the stupidity started receding.

It was like being alone in a room, certain that the shadows were growing suckers and winding themselves into tentacles, when someone flicked the light on.

------------------------------------------

It is of course one thing to do this against Tom Allen's band of overmatched maniacs who pour forward at the snap when there's any indication of a run, and another to do it against top-end defenses, particularly top-end defenses that are not paired with the most disastrous act of nepotism in recorded history.

Michigan gets one this week in Penn State, which now stands out as the last hurdle before… uh… Illinois and Ohio State at the end of the season. It will probably be fine. You can say "just Indiana," but the tail end of this piece blockquotes this week's Best and Worst, which contains a comprehensive overview of just how maddening this series has been. McCarthy more or less turned that off—yes, interception—halfway through a game that was threatening to spiral out of control further, into something competitive.

In these moments breath gets short and vision restricts into a tunnel. In the game threads reason is overthrown and madness prevails. It takes something to grab those others back from the abyss. Maybe you look at the smiley face you've drawn on your hand, and think about eating one raisin with every ounce of your attention. And then you can see again and you hear something other than a single ominous tone.

JJ McCarthy seems like the guy who does that.

AWARDS

Known Friends and Trusted Agents Of The Week

"I should have transferred to Stanford" [Barron]

you're the man now, dog

#1(T) Mike Morris, Eyabi Okie, Derrick Moore, Jaylen Harrell and Kris Jenkins. The story of the defense was Conor Bazelak getting crushed every time he tried to throw downfield. Seven sacks in this one; this spot was almost everyone who racked one up but the linebackers had some issues and McGregor only got ten snaps so some cuts were made and Kris Jenkins was added because he registered a couple QB hurries.

Uh, two points each.

#2 Ronnie Bell. 11 catches, a couple of them spectacular. He stabbed a toe down on Michigan's first drive; he wrestled away an interception on a badly thrown ball; he was the target on the key third down conversion that led to the 98-yard touchdown drive. Also blocked like a mountain goat for much of the game, paving the way for the Schoonmaker touchdown.

#3 JJ McCarthy. Narrowly pips Corum because Michigan needed him to drive the field in the second half and he did, with only the occasional mistake. 8.4 YPA, 28/36. Got some help from his receivers but also saw Cornelius Johnson drop what could have been a very, very long play. Ran fairly effectively.

Honorable mention: Well, yeah, Blake Corum. Luke Schoonmaker is heavily utilized in the passing game. Rod Moore came up with an important interception that he kept off the ground. Mike Sainristil had two PBUs and one solo tackle, which is good cornerbackin'. Mason Graham obliterated an OL for a stuff and snuffed out a screen.

KFaTAotW Standings.

(points: #1: 8, #2: 5, #3: 3, HMs one each. Ties result in somewhat arbitrary assignments.)

24: Blake Corum (#2 CSU, #2 Hawaii, HM UConn, #1 Maryland, #2 Iowa. HM Indiana)
18: JJ McCarthy (#1 Hawaii, #2 UConn, HM Maryland, HM Iowa, #3 Indiana)
15: Ronnie Bell (HM CSU, HM Hawaii, #1 UConn, #2 Indiana)
13: Mike Morris (T3 Hawaii, HM Maryland, #1 Iowa, T1 Indiana)
12: Mazi Smith (#1 CSU, T3 Hawaii, HM Maryland, HM Iowa)
8: Kris Jenkins (#3 UConn, T3 Hawaii, HM Iowa, T1 Indiana)
6: Gemon Green (HM UConn, T2 Maryland),
5: DJ Turner (T2 Maryland)
4: Junior Colson (#3 CSU, HM UConn), Eyabi Okie (HM CSU, HM Iowa, T1 Indiana), Luke Schoonmaker (T3 Maryland, HM Iowa, HM Indiana)
3: The Offensive Line (#3 Iowa), Derrick Moore (HM CSU, T1 Indiana), Jaylen Harrell (HM CSU, T1 Indiana), Mason Graham (HM Hawaii, HM Iowa, HM Indiana)
2: Roman Wilson (HM CSU, HM Hawaii), Max Bredeson (T3 Maryland), Joel Honigford (T3 Maryland), Mike Sainristil (HM Maryland, HM Indiana), Rod Moore (HM CSU, HM Indiana)
1: Braiden McGregor (HM CSU), Makari Paige (HM Hawaii), Rayshaun Benny (HM Hawaii), Cornelius Johnson (HM Hawaii), Donovan Edwards (HM Hawaii), AJ Henning (HM UConn),  Caden Kolesar (HM UConn), RJ Moten (HM Maryland).

Who's Got It Better Than Us(?) Of The Week

Blake Corum is briefly inhabited by the spirit of Barry Sanders.

Michigan took the opening kickoff & moved the ball to midfield after 3 straight JJ completions.

On the first rush attempt, IU showed that they were gonna sell out on the rush with slants, scrapes, and aggressive safeties.

But Blake Corum is a sourcerer. pic.twitter.com/yQZgHzXuDP

— Due# (@JDue51) October 9, 2022

Honorable mention: Gus Johnson invokes Bill Raftery after another ankle-killer from Corum. Any of seven different sacks. Rod Moore pulls an INT off the carpet. Cornelius Johnson, Luke Schoonmaker, and Ronnie Bell turn in circus catches.

MARCUS HALL EPIC DOUBLE BIRD OF THE WEEK.

Connor Bazelak throws a back-foot artillery round that parabolas its way into his receivers hands to set up the only Indiana touchdown. I will never not be mad that was a completion.

Honorable mention: Dubious PF on Harrell for celebrating a sack, dubious PI on Turner to continue the Indiana TD drive, Michigan gets a field goal blocked, back-to-back false starts. McCarthy throws a pick after a great play from the Indiana LB. Many tipped run plays.