michael onwenu is superdense

Previously: Podcast 11.0A, Podcast 11.0B, Podcast 11.0C. The Story. Quarterback. Running Back. Wide Receiver. Tight End. Offensive Tackle.

Depth Chart

Four games in the question had to be asked.

Is this... the Warinner effect?

Maybe? I think it's real. Michigan errors against stunts and various blitzes tend to be rare and largely understandable. … Michigan is picking up twists and blitzes and the like and from time to time I catch an OL doing something that seems advanced. Here Bredeson is locked on the LB but when he doesn't charge he takes the opportunity to help Ruiz out, and then goes to the LB:

LG #74

…almost nobody got to run straight at the RB without someone hitting him. That happened so much last year. It's happened some this year. But a minimal amount.

While Warinner was rebuilding Jon Runyan Jr midseason he was also creating a structure in which Michigan's guards went from horrible pass protectors to elite ones, and pushing Cesar Ruiz to NFL draft lists. It's been 20 years since you could assume Michigan OL who left the program were certainly going to get drafted. For one year, at least, that's back.

[After THE JUMP: MEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT]

Two or three receivers are earning a lot of praise. One defender is maybe the best football player in America. There's no way you're going to guess who they're talking about.

Offense in General

What we want to hear: More confirmation that Gattis is in charge and they're practicing the things they're going to do this year.

What we're hearing: BTN made their Michigan stop and as expected there was barely anything interesting from it. The one thing we noticed in the video is that Michigan uses two balls to practice triple-options so they don't have two guys running around doing nothing.

Michigan using 2 balls in mesh group to maximize reps on read and speed option/pitch relationship. #spreadoffense pic.twitter.com/HN9V1uK7CU

— SpreadOffense.com (@SpreadOffense) August 14, 2019

There's also been plenty of Gattis being Gattis. Twas he who told the press that they won't ever use a six-man OL, that the fullback position doesn't exist because all of their running backs have to block and catch and run. Numerous mentions from Jansen to Harbaugh note they're not a huddling team anymore. But it was Nua who gave us the strongest indication yet that they're serious about RPOs this time, noting "Our offense runs them a lot" in explaining how much they're practicing converting pass rush to pursuit.

What it means: #SpeedInSpace

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Quarterback

Et tu, dieu? [Bryan Fuller]

What we want to hear: Deepest group of quarterbacks since…uh…

What we're hearing: QB coach Ben McDaniels met with the media, and user NeverPunt kindly typed it up for us. Not a lot there: Shea's doing a good job of "staying clean" mentally, skillsets of the QBs is similar. McCaffrey would start at "a ton" (Lorenz) or most (Shea Patterson) programs depending whom you ask.

Shea was on Jansen's podcast and explained the "golf" comments from last week. The short of it is he likes to golf. If you need to scrounge for a reason this will make him a better football player, he says he practices his focus. Really though he just likes to golf. Via a couple of practice observers (and in ITF this week($)) Shea was finding guys every time when he broke the pocket, has been super locked in this fall. Milton's way behind the other two but preparing like he isn't.

What it means: Shea's got the job, but they're not kidding about McCaffrey, who's doing enough that you have to talk about him.

[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup]

THE PHONEBOOKS ARE HERE

This morning the football program updated the weights and heights of the official spring roster, which previously published measurements from last fall, and then at 3 today they published the rest. That gift gave me enough lead time to arrange my annual weight gain/loss chart, without all the "here's the new walk-ons and numbers" analysis the American Society of Completionists demands.

Remember the rules: All weight gain is muscle, all weight lost was fat, and all guys who remained the same did so by replacing fat with muscle. I'll highlight the changes worth talking about.

Freshmen Note: Early enrollees' spring weights, and fall enrollees' weights that were previously on MGoBlue are listed under 2018, since those are mostly from high school weigh-ins.

[Hit THE JUMP for the position-by-position excessively optimistic obsessiveness]