[In Gattis Veritas] 

 

The Un-Cola of Voracities

Apologies on the delay today. Real life work got in the way of hobby writing. But, not to miss a deadline. On with the show. 

 

We in here talkin' 'bout practicin'. Midweek practice chatter over at Rivals ($) has some interesting notes, if you're a member it's worth a read. If not, I think they have a free month promo going on right now that'll get you into the football season.

Small bits include JJ McCarthy pushing Cade McNamara, but Cade still hanging on as the clear 1a option. Donovan Jeter is standing up strong, which we've heard throughout camp, but there's other question marks on the line. Daylen Baldwin continues to shine. Ronnie Bell is returning punts and kicks too. If everyone is healthy the OL is (left to right) Ryan Hayes, Trevor Keegan, Andrew Vastardis, Zak Zinter and Andrew Stueber. 

Questions still linger re: Mazi Smith and Chris Hinton  and their ability to come through, and/or whether Jess Speight likely factors into that equation as well. And, at least on this night, we're still struggling to cash in for six. The defense is out performing the offense right now. Problems exist on the lines.

There's more, go check it out.

One note that I want to pull out and mind palace a little bit more has to do with offensive ideology. 

For the past two years, and now going into the third, there's been debate about who is truly calling the shots on the offense. Is this Gattis' 'Speed in Space' offense? Is it Coach JH that is really calling the plays?

Shea's senior year was riddled with peculiar offensive decisions. Promises of Dylan packages that never came to fruition were a-plenty. RPO, but not really. You were there.

Rivals:

Offensive coordinator Josh Gattis said a few weeks back he felt they didn’t run the ball enough … this is a clear indicator to all who felt Harbaugh was “holding him back” that a) he wasn’t (which Gattis emphasized to us personally) and b) Harbaugh might have more of a hand in the offense this year.

I know we're about to go into game week so that means all this pre-season optimism is about to turn back into a pumpkin, but is this something we're supposed to be excited about or concerned about?

In 2020, the Wolverines averaged 131.5 yards per game, which was 11th in the Big Ten. And if you're keeping score at home, there's 14 teams in the Big Ten. Not great Bob. They averaged 4.6 yards per attempt but still...

A couple weeks ago we got this note in The Athletic:

Gattis’ takeaway is that Michigan abandoned the running game too frequently, in part, because the Wolverines were playing from behind in virtually every game. The goal for 2021 is to get more rushing attempts, which becomes easier if the Wolverines can avoid early deficits.

“There were times last year that I kind of got away from it,” Gattis said. “That’s a little bit of an acknowledgment I understand for myself. We’ve got really good running backs: Hassan Haskins, Blake Corum, Donovan Edwards. Those guys need the ball. We’ve got to make a firm commitment to run the ball more.”

And on cue, just yesterday, The Athletic anticipates my question and chats a bit more on the topic:

Much of the intrigue comes from a comment made by offensive coordinator Josh Gattis before the first day of preseason camp. Gattis pledged a “firm commitment to run the ball more” after Michigan passed on 55 percent of its snaps in 2020, the most pass-heavy splits of head coach Jim Harbaugh’s tenure.

Some assumed Gattis was giving up on the “speed in space” concept and reverting to a plodding, between-the-tackles rushing attack, but I wouldn’t make that assumption. A commitment to the run doesn’t mean Michigan is abandoning its goal of getting the ball to playmakers in space. It’s an acknowledgment that Michigan’s running backs are some of the best playmakers on the team and that the offense functions better when the Wolverines aren’t trying to pass their way out of an early deficit.

I guess my question is, two years ago we were all curious about why bother to bring in a new Offensive Coordinator and hype up a new style of offense, if the team isn't going to be allowed to run it. Most fans were convinced that Coach JH did not trust his young OC or his turnover-prone QB (or some combination of the two), and was hamstringing the offense by choice. Or his old-school khahi-clad vibes meant old-school smash 'em in the face run it all five downs offense. That said, many insiders, notably Sam Webb, continued to repeat that it, in fact, was not Jim Harbaugh that was holding back the offense. Reiterated above again by Chris Balas.

Why the offense didn't work two years ago seems like a fool's conversation in August of 2021. We have today's offense to worry about now.

The success or failure of Michigan’s offense could come down to the Wolverines’ ability to generate more explosive plays on the ground. Last year, 10.4 percent of Michigan’s rushing attempts went for 10 yards or more, compared with 22 percent for North Carolina, 18.5 percent for Ohio State, 16.4 percent for Notre Dame and 16.3 percent for Alabama. If the Wolverines are creating explosive runs at a similar clip, there’s no issue with running the ball more. Problems only arise if the Wolverines insist on forcing something that isn’t working.

Gattis’ challenge is to build an offense that plays to Michigan’s strengths. Last year, the Wolverines had a quarterback who loved to throw deep and wide receivers who were better running after the catch on short passes, plus a bunch of talented running backs playing behind a beat-up offensive line that struggled with its run blocking. The hope for 2021 is that Michigan can marry all the parts together in a way that looks much more cohesive than what we saw last year.

So, I guess we're left to see what this offense will look like. If the line is going to struggle, are we going to continue to try to smash the run button to negate negative pass plays? Is that the reason for all of the "establish the run" talk? 

Supposedly, we have 10 lineman. 3 are veritable starters. That means we only really need 2 out of the remaining 7 to turn into princesses, the other five can go back to being pumpkins. That's not too much to wish for right? Is this what cautious optimism looks like? 

 

If you start me up I'll never stop. Despite The Athletic's reluctance to move Nikhai Hill-Green over Michael Barrett for the starting LB spot next to Josh Ross in their most recent Defensive Depth Chart prediction , LB Coach George Helow went ahead and took away all the suspense.

"Nikhai had a plan this offseason, really got after it well in the weight room, changed his body and had a great camp. He's our starting WILL linebacker right now, he's earned the right to start," Helow said. "Does everything you ask him to do, and he's very coachable. He's playing with his hands, gets downhill, has a good understanding as a defense of what we're trying to do. Is great in meetings, big eyes, big chest, takes great notes, wired the right way. Just very excited about how he's done and how he'll hopefully continue to do for us."

Fall reports on NHG are that he's playing with pace and making plays. Helow goes on to praise Nikhai's studious nature for helping unlock the defense.

"He's very conscientious," said Helow, who noted that he worked Hill-Green at every linebacker role in spring ball to help him better understand Michigan's new defense. "He takes notes, he writes them down. I was showing some other guys how he goes right from special teams meetings, flips the page over, and then takes all of his defensive notes. Then you see him at bed check and he's reviewing his notes every night. If he misses something, it's 'Hey coach, could you please repeat that?' So he's a very conscientious young man and works real hard at it." 

Helow then spoke more generally about his entire linebacker corps.

Overall, Helow likes his group. In terms of versatility, he feels like they’re capable of playing the various looks being installed by the new staff.

“We’ve got a good group of guys. I see all of them fit to the scheme and what we’re doing,” Helow said. “You know, when you just look at it, at the end of the day you guys, whether you’re 3-4, 4-3, whether you ran what they did last year, it’s football at the end of the day. We’re trying to get linebackers to come downhill, play with good stance, play with your hands, whether you’re in a seven or eight-man box. Understand where your help is, whether you’re hitting it inside-out or outside-in. And playing fast.

“Playing fast comes with confidence and knowing what to do. That’s what we’ve been preaching. We’ve got a good group of guys that have been working their butts off every day to execute that. And doing a great job.”

Helow likes the group. I like Helow. More Helow please.

Also, two other names:

Joey Velazquez had a very good scrimmage Wednesday night and hopes to see the field at WILL or on special teams.

“Joey’s a very high energy, high effort guy. He’s another one who knows what to do,” Helow continued. “He gives great effort every day. He had a couple good plays in the scrimmage yesterday. It was really, really good.'

“I’m just challenging him to rise up, and I talked to him about the importance of the kicking game. He understands how important that is. It’s a third of the game. He’s working to be the best he can on defense and on special teams.”

True freshman Junior Colson is playing both positions and just returned to the practice field for the first time all fall.

“Junior is out there and he’s competing. There’s kind of like the starters right now and then a group of guys we’re still evaluating to see who’s the next guy going in,” Helow said. “He had some bumps and bruises early on, missed a little time, but he’s back in the mix. He practiced well yesterday and he’s back in there competing.”

Unlike the Defensive Line, there appears to be a lot of promising news coming out of the Linebackers and Edges camps these days. Fingers crossed for some good September surprises. We're due right?  Right?

 

When you get the answer your looking for, ya hang up. More news from the defensive side of the ball, this time out of corner Gemon Green. I don't know about you, but I have a tendency to look at last season's epic six-game slog as a whole wash. But apparently, if you break it up into its parts, you actually can see some improvement out of the DBs starting in the PSU game. 

Green:

“The Penn State I got comfortable a little bit,” Green, entering his redshirt junior season, said Tuesday. “As the games/year went on, I got comfortable.”

And the numbers back it up. More from the Wire:

Of the duo of Vincent Gray and Gemon Green, Green posted a defensive best — across all positions — in the unexpected season finale against Penn State last year, garnering PFF’s grade of 85.7 defensively and a coverage grade of 88.4. As the secondary continues its revamped schematic install through fall camp, Green says that the breadth of the position group is feeling more in-line with what’s expected of the Wolverines defensive backfield.

“The confidence is pretty good,” Green said. “Everybody’s pushing each other so – you got DJ Turner and Vince pushing me. They pushing each other, trying to get the other starting spot.”

Awareness of the problem is the first step.

“We gave up a couple of fade balls at the beginning (of last season), so they tried to throw shots on me and Vince early on and throughout the season,” Green said. “We ready for that now, for real.”

“We the underdogs this year, so we got a lot of pressure,” Green said. “Everybody looking at us like, ‘What are we going to do?’ This our year to show what we’re gonna do.”

When I hear conversation about the 2021 version of the Michigan CBs I don't know what to think. They're basically the same guys as before. And last year was a disaster of epic proportions, but apparently it got better at the end. It didn't feel better, but nothing felt good by the end of that season. I'm reminded of something that Billy Beane's character said in Sorkin's Moneyball...  "When you get the answer your looking for, ya hang up."  They say the CBs are better this year, ok great. I'm hanging up then.

 

Sit down if you're standing. Apparently things on defense are going to look different. This week alone, we were treated to a barage of players, and coaches, and ballboys, and WAGs, and Cristiano Ronaldo, and random people on the street all talking about how things look different this year.

Here's a montage of words:

"I think one thing, right now, is that we're hitting our stride right as we move into week one," Aidan Hutchinson told reporters on Thursday. "I think that's super crucial that you need from your team in camp. I felt we just had our best practice yesterday in the stadium, we had another scrimmage. We were flying around out there executing and doing what we had to do. Watching the film this morning, it was fun to watch us fly around. I think we're hitting our stride heading into week one."

With that being said, Hutchinson, like many others, continue to feel the differences,

"It's just different because the schemes are pretty different," Hutchinson said of the current defensive system under Macdonald. "It's just a completely different feel in terms of my responsibility and everyone's responsibility within the defense. It's just really fun when you put on film and see guys fly around like that. Just doing their jobs. It's a fun thing to watch—when we're doing things right."

Harbaugh, Jim: 

“That’s hard to say right now, how different it’s going to look. Definitely different language, different front structures, different coverages, different blitz patterns. Hope it looks really good. It could be (a big departure from last season). No sense talking about what exactly, specifics, of what it’s going to be. It’s in the making,” he told reporters in his first meeting of the spring. “Starting with the base fronts, the base coverages. How quickly our guys can pick up. Mike’s definitely got the philosophy of mastering a front, a coverage, before we move to the next layer. We’re still in the process of those first beginning layers. What we want our guys to know best. The principal of first learning. It’s good. I see a lot of coaching, a lot of communication. Definitely like very much what’s happened the first few days of practice.”

Josh Ross:

“The mentality of ‘let’s work!’ and ‘let’s move!’” Ross said. “You know the work we’re putting in. We’ve been (expletive deleted) grinding! We’ve been grinding. We’ve been grinding this offseason, changing the culture, doing everything the right way and we’ve been grinding this training camp. We’re just ready to go and play ball – enough talk. We’re not talking no more, let’s just go do it. Let’s go do it and let’s play.”

More Hutch:

“Buy-in is at an all-time high,” Hutchinson said. “What I’ve seen with this defense, guys – we all love the coaches, we love what they brought to Michigan. We’re all just ready to go. We just talked about it in (our meeting) – we’re done talking about it, we just want to go out there and do what we do and play our best ball.”

“I’m not gonna compare, because this is a new year and this is us and we’ve gotta show it starting Sept. 4,” Ross added. “This is a defense that’s tenacious, this is a defense that’s gritty. This is a defense that y’all gonna see is playing together and having each other’s back every play and having fun. I can’t wait to go out there and have fun and play ball. And that’s what we’re about to do in a week – eight, nine days. Thank God!”

Green:

“I love it, because everybody ain’t just knowing I’m playing man, so they ain’t just fittin’ to throw shots,” Green said. “I can play off a little bit – I can play a lot of defense. There’s gonna be a lot of different stuff.”

One more for the road:

 

https://twitter.com/chengelis/status/1430983888659156995

Well, I guess now I'm thoroughly convinced.

 

They play so fine, don't you agree. The wide receiver group is drawing big praise in the leadup to the season. Which, adds up because they're not the offensive or the defensive line. 

One notable addition to the corps is transfer WR Daylen Baldwin:

Michigan didn’t just sign a vertical shot threat who ran in the high 4.4s this offseason. It signed a grown man. Baldwin has seen a little bit of everything since starting his collegiate journey at Morgan State in 2017. He’s been through the recruiting process multiple times, he’s seen coaches fired, he’s transferred (multiple times), he’s had his heart broken, he’s bounced back. He’s worked in obscurity. He’s here to finish his education, to see if there’s another level to his game and do what he can to help Michigan’s football program along the way. On paper, he’s exactly what Jim Harbaugh’s team needs.

In reality?

There is one thing Baldwin could give Michigan that it didn’t actually have last year: space.

If you can’t stop a go-route, you’ve got problems. By the same token, if you have a receiver who excels in pushing college cornerbacks vertically to an uncomfortable level, then you’ve probably found a weapon.

I think between Nico, or Black, or DPJ, there certainly were a lot of sugarplum dreams of stretch-the-field WRs blazing down the sidelines and cut-away terror scenes of visiting band members shrieking in horror. But that didn't really happen how we wanted.

If Cade McNamara can deliver accurate throws with consistency in 2021, Johnson could benefit more than anyone. He has the tools he needs to be an over-the-top threat in Michigan’s offense while also having enough discipline and seasoning to work over the middle, too. He’s an every-down weapon who can work inside or out. Expect Ronnie Bell to be opposite Johnson. Bell can work the middle of the field. He can be a possession guy. He’s probably not going to beat many people over the top without a little help, but he’ll compete for every throw.

And even though Michigan lost Jackson, it still has A.J. Henning, Mike Sainristil and Roman Wilson. They all can make noise underneath if they’re given a little more room with which to work. And that’s where Baldwin comes in.

That "if" statement there is a pretty loaded clause. Let's see how it goes. But if pre-season accolades were nickels, this WR group would have at least two fist-fulls of nickels. At least!  Seriously, a lot of nickels.

 

It's the special ones that taste the best. We've seen about two full rounds of projected starts from multiple outlets on both the offense and the defense, but very little out of the special teamers. 

There's no real mystery when it comes to Kicker, Jake Moody, or Punter, Brad Robbins. Those two appear to be mortal locks.

Here's The Brew on Return Men:

Punt Returner: Mike Sainristil, junior
Backup: AJ Henning, sophomore

An added plus to Josh Gattis’s speed-in-space mantra is having a plethora of small, quick-twitch athletes. These types of players are perfect for kick and punt returns. Mike Sanristil appears to have locked down the job of a punt returner and hopes to continue a long line of successful punt returners in Michigan history including Desmond Howard, Charles Woodson, Jabrill Peppers, and Donovan Peoples-Jones.

Kick Returner: Blake Corum, sophomore
Backup: AJ Henning, sophomore

I’m listing Corum as the primary kick returner, though this isn’t set in stone. The coaching staff has emphasized getting Corum on the field as much as possible. I suspect that the more we see of Corum on offense, the less we will see of him on special teams. Conversely, with the running back room being as loaded as it is, Blake may see his best opportunity to make a difference on the field as the primary kick returner.

Jay Harbaugh chipped in with some notes late Friday that clear things up? 

Special teams can make or break a football game in terms of winning the field position battle. The Wolverines think they can make that happen in the kicking game with both Jake Moody and Brad Robbins set to get the nod at kicker and punter, respectively. How they flip the field in the return game is still something that is being sorted out.

“It’s a group effort in terms in terms of punt return and kick return,” tight ends coach and special teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh said on Thursday. “It’s about a lot more than that guy, whoever that is, back there. We have a lot of talented guys on our team right now that are dangerous with the ball in their hands and it’s a full 11-person effort to make that guy look really good. I like where we are at. We still have some work to do before the first game but the goal will obviously be to be explosive in that phase.”

So who are those candidates right now? There’s a heck of a lot of them, but all are names that check the boxes for what they are looking for.

“It’s a pretty good size group,” Harbaugh said. “We’re a little bit deeper than we have been in terms of guys who have the ability to field a ball and have ball-carrier skills. Guys like Blake Corum, A.J. (Henning), Roman Wilson, Ronnie Bell. Michael Barrett’s done it before. Brad Hawkins has done it before. Eamonn Dennis. Since I’ve been here, we’ve never had that many guys who are legit speed guys that can make people miss and set up blocks and stuff like that, so it’s exciting. You can only play two of them at a time — in kick return, obviously — and one on punt return. It’s nice to have a little more depth than we have. Mike Sainristil is another one, too.”

So there's a handful of guys that may do it. A few of them have done it before. "Legit speed guy" appears to be a criteria, but we are potentially limited to just two of them at a time. Check, check and check.
 

 

Oh, the coaches you'll watch. The Athletic's Bruce Feldman put together his list of 43 college football coaches to watch this season. Two assistants, our coordinators, showed up on Feldman's list.

Assistants to watch

26. Josh Gattis, Michigan, OC: His stock had rocketed up by the time he chose to join Jim Harbaugh’s staff at Michigan. The 37-year-old Gattis had already interviewed for some FBS head coaching jobs and had done excellent work at Penn State, Alabama, Vanderbilt and Western Michigan. Harbaugh’s program has taken a disappointing turn in the past few years. The offense has yet to really establish an identity as its struggled with QB play. Under Gattis, the team’s yards per play has improved from No.6 in the Big Ten in 2019 to No. 3 last season (albeit in a very abbreviated season), but that was up from back-to-back seasons at No. 7 before his arrival. If — and this is a big if — Gattis can spark the offense and help Harbaugh get back on track, he figures to get a lot of head coaching looks once again.

27. Mike Macdonald, Michigan, DC: He went from Georgia staffer to John Harbaugh’s staff with the Baltimore Ravens to becoming Jim Harbaugh’s new defensive coordinator. There is good buzz building inside the UM program about Macdonald. The Boston native has risen fast, starting out as a high school coach in Georgia while also graduating summa cum laude with a finance degree from UGA. He takes over from the legendary Don Brown, who had some great defenses, but last year was a rough one, especially in Ann Arbor. This is a big opportunity for Macdonald, who does have some playmakers to work with in Aidan Hutchinson, Josh Ross and safety Dax Hill. The question: Can Macdonald get the pass defense fixed? Last year, Michigan gave up 12 touchdown passes in six games and only picked off two passes and was dead last in the Big Ten in third down defense.

I'm optimistic that there will be a 3rd camera option for the online feed that will allow me to just watch Gattis and Macdonald the entire game. #fingerscrossed

 

Tweets because I can.

 

https://twitter.com/UMichFootball/status/1431051143438737412

9 Days indeed.

 

https://twitter.com/UMichFootball/status/1430978837714714629

Large men play with large ball.

 

https://twitter.com/coachclink/status/1431001310157963267

 

https://twitter.com/UMichFootball/status/1430984732540497921

 

https://twitter.com/Colts/status/1431393883141849093

Kwity 'Shot out of a cannon' Paye.

 

https://twitter.com/ChadSimmons_/status/1431021825807589384

Well, at least he liked the gloves we gave him.

 

 

Etc. Dan Patrick had two Michigan-related spots this week. First, Herbie gives his take on the infamous Eminem interview. One more time on Marshall  Next, Brian Griese talks a little Tommy Brady and recounts his thoughts on the Michigan QB depth chart when he was there.   One thing I don't remember was Scott Driesbach being a #1 recruit, but I definitely remember that Virginia game.