Jay Harbaugh named as the new Running Backs coach
January 25th, 2017 at 8:57 AM ^
Not sure how he's going to stack up to other RB coaches in the players eyes...
January 25th, 2017 at 9:00 AM ^
but he did an amazing job with Special teams this year and a pretty good job with TE's (although Butt would have been great with just about any coach).
January 25th, 2017 at 9:01 AM ^
Running back coaching is overrated. As long as you put the right guys on the field, a decent football coach should be able to handle it.
January 25th, 2017 at 9:08 AM ^
I agree Magnus. I have alot of repect for Ty Wheately, but i never could wrap my head around having D. Smith running the sweeps when he's the slowest running back in the rotation. You would think that the speedy back is the one you would want in on those play calls.
January 25th, 2017 at 9:11 AM ^
I get doing that once in a while to break tendencies, but it did seem to happen too much.
January 25th, 2017 at 11:47 AM ^
that's just your "professional" opinion man....
/S
January 25th, 2017 at 9:16 AM ^
But Deveon Smith running sweeps (which I agree was absurd) isn't on Wheatley. That's on the OC and the HC.
January 25th, 2017 at 9:25 AM ^
You would think so, but it was mentioned on a previous Ty Wheatley post that he had say in which running back would be in for certain plays. Not saying that it's true but someone supposedly in the know made that comment.
January 25th, 2017 at 10:42 AM ^
It's technically Wheatley's call on which guy gets in on which play. That said, I'm sure there was game planning with the rest of the offensive staff during prep where they decided ahead of time Smith was going to get some sweeps and Evans some between the tackles carries just to keep things from being too predictible.
January 25th, 2017 at 1:41 PM ^
Deveon is quick but when he is running he doesn't lift his legs. It's weird but it's like he is stopping his stride halfway and then recoiles back down. I might not know what I'm talking about but I think if he just worked his hip flexors some he could drive up and down faster. That's what sprinters train right? I mean, I know when I started working on hip flexors as a sophmore in high school with just leg weights, I gained a ton of speed. Don Beebe of the Bills used to harp that these muscles are overlooked by many people. It makes sense because when you are running, what's the main muscle that you are using? The one that lifts your fricking leg right?
January 25th, 2017 at 9:44 AM ^
Perhaps they ran sweeps with Smith because they did not want to tip to the opponents the play was going to be a pass or run between the tackles. Bear in mind that Smith was not just the power back, but also an excellent pass protector. Suppose Evans ran almost all of the sweep plays. If you take Smith out, and put in the smaller, underclassman, speed guy, aren't you tipping that the play is probably an outside run, and for sure not deep or max protect pass?
January 25th, 2017 at 10:36 AM ^
Logical, but what ever the reason, yielded little to no postive yards.
January 25th, 2017 at 10:40 AM ^
doesn't mean running plays for guys who can't execute.
the advantage of limiting pre-snap reads by the defense becomes a wash when a slow guy runs wide allowing ample time for recovery and setting the edge.
michigan did a fair job countering some of the jet sweep plays- inside runs, etc but the play selection was suspect in many games.
hopefully see improvement with pep hamilton.
January 25th, 2017 at 1:05 PM ^
I understand why you would sometimes run Deveon wide, but the percentage of Deveon wide plays is another question. It was like the Pepcat read option-used so much it was no longer a surprise, or productive.
January 25th, 2017 at 11:06 AM ^
I still feel Wheatley hands were tied a bit on personnel etc
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January 25th, 2017 at 9:10 AM ^
Thanks, Lloyd
January 25th, 2017 at 10:49 AM ^
A good RB coach is huge. There is so much to the position a coach better know what he is doing. Teaching guys how to properly run behind different blocking schemes is not just simply here's the ball go run with it. There are times to press the line, other times to be patient, knowing what the line is doing compared to what the defense is doing and knowing where the hole should be due to the circumstance.
Also RB's need to block as well as lineman at time plus be able to run routes and catch balls as well as a WR. It's actually one of the tougher position to coach on a team due to the complexity of the position. I would've much rather seen us bring in a top RB coach and hope Jay is up to the task.
January 25th, 2017 at 4:13 PM ^
January 25th, 2017 at 9:04 AM ^
He hasn't had a problem getting top TEs to come to Michigan. Not sure why it would be any different for RBs.
January 25th, 2017 at 10:49 AM ^
Everyone thought Jay Harbaugh was a nepotism hire at first, then he turned AJ Williams's career around and, even though he'd probably be pretty good anyway, developed Jake Butt into a Mackey Award winner.
Everyone thought when Baxter left and they put Jay Harbaugh on special teams, we were going to regress. Instead we block more kicks than I can remember and overall special teams was very dependable this year. He also managed Kenny Allen doing 3 jobs simultaneously and helped him get over some mechanics issues (not sure if Jaybaugh or Partridge, or some outside kicking coach, but still).
Something tells me Jay's going to be just fine at RB.
January 25th, 2017 at 8:41 PM ^
It was an outside "consultant," working with Kenny, along with the coaches. His name wasTyler, I forget his last name,.
He was a kicking coach already while he was a high school kicker. He worked for the Ravens, brother John asked him what he wanted to do with his career, and he said be a college kicking coach, so he used his connections to help the guy get into college consulting to get his foot in the door. I forget his exact age, but can't be more than 25. Not allowed to be full time or officially part of the staff but they flew him in for a couple days to the game sites every week on a freelance consulting basis
January 25th, 2017 at 8:57 AM ^
This is being discussed in the Greg Frey thread, but yeah.
January 25th, 2017 at 9:00 AM ^
Didn't see that, my bad
January 25th, 2017 at 9:10 AM ^
January 25th, 2017 at 9:22 AM ^
Which I had not yet read
January 25th, 2017 at 8:59 AM ^
January 25th, 2017 at 9:01 AM ^
January 25th, 2017 at 9:01 AM ^
It has been for a while.
January 25th, 2017 at 9:14 AM ^
So we just "let go" one of the top recruiters in the country in Wheatley - someone who played in the NFL and was an all time great at M, and are replacing him with the coaches son whose never been a RB or coached one -at a position that hasn't performed well in 10 years. You can bet opposing schools are going to negative recruit against Jay Harbaugh.
Sorry, I don't see this as an upgrade.
It's apparent Harbaugh wanted Frey, who I just don't see being that different from Drevno.
It' also apparent that Wheatley was squeezed out so all this could happen.
Thumbs down.
January 25th, 2017 at 9:19 AM ^
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January 25th, 2017 at 9:20 AM ^
what you are talking about. Accusing Harbaugh of "squeezing out" Wheatley without a shred of evidence makes me wonder about your agenda.
You have no clue what happened. Baseless speculation of the type you have done deserves censure from the community.
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January 25th, 2017 at 11:03 AM ^
Maybe I am wrong, but it seems like there's more to it then he thought the NFL was his best option. Wheatley was a big loss IMO.
As I stated, I like Jay H. Just not at RB coach.
Kung Fury - As far as I know - everything is speculation when it comes to Wheatley leaving - since neither he or Harbaugh really said anything. So when you say there are facts on this issue - I'm not seeing them.
January 25th, 2017 at 11:13 AM ^
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January 25th, 2017 at 11:29 AM ^
I am kind of guilty for running with that.
I think I'm just disappointed in losing TWheat.
January 25th, 2017 at 2:47 PM ^
January 25th, 2017 at 9:22 AM ^
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January 25th, 2017 at 9:24 AM ^
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January 25th, 2017 at 10:01 AM ^
To be fair, the reports of Smith said that he was tearing it up in the Shrine practices.
He had an unfortunately poor 11 for 23 effort in the actual game.
January 25th, 2017 at 10:15 AM ^
Did you watch the game? His line got mauled and holes just never opened up. He did have a couple runs where he made a 1 yard hole into an 8 yard gain.
January 25th, 2017 at 10:37 AM ^
His line got mauled and holes just never opened up.
So pretty much like 80% of his career at UM...
January 25th, 2017 at 1:16 PM ^
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January 25th, 2017 at 11:29 AM ^
Yeah, Smith looks good...except when he faces good opponents. Iowa, OSU, the Shrine Game, etc. I get that OLs struggle in all-star games, but it's par for the course that he doesn't do much against good teams.
January 25th, 2017 at 9:49 AM ^
January 25th, 2017 at 9:58 AM ^
A special snowflake!
January 25th, 2017 at 10:04 AM ^
Have you thought of that?
January 25th, 2017 at 10:43 AM ^
So, you're mad Wheatley was "let go", but then say that the position hasnt performed well in 10 years (the last two TW coached).
January 25th, 2017 at 11:02 AM ^
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January 25th, 2017 at 1:48 PM ^
Yeah nice try troll Matte Kudacheese. Jay Harbaugh has like 4 offensive coordinators surrounding him on offense pretty much. I think he'll be brought up to speed just fine with coaching runningbacks.
January 25th, 2017 at 9:02 AM ^
It usually is. You don't often get a RB coach that makes a huge difference, it's generally a "you got it or you don't (or you do but your OL sucks)" position. I think Wheat was somewhat of the exception, since our guys definitely improved under him.
January 25th, 2017 at 9:10 AM ^
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