The Need for Lightning in The Running Game
So this post is not a knock on Charbonnet and Haskins as I feel they are both good RB's with bright futures in this offense, but it feels like one of the big limitations on the offense this year is you had a one two punch at RB where both guy's styles are more thunder than lightning. You add Chris Evans back to the mix next year with a little more wiggle though he does not really have top end straight line speed, and bring in Corum who at least from his tape looks to an extra gear both in terms of acceleration and straight line speed. The thing is though I am not sure those guys are going to take that many carries away from returning RB's who had good years. It will be interesting to see if UM goes largely with the thunder and thunder combination for the most part next year or will they give someone like Corum carries to create more skillset diversity in their RB rotation.
January 3rd, 2020 at 12:29 PM ^
Please start a similar thread about how we need a QB who can throw accurately & maybe run a bit.
January 3rd, 2020 at 3:27 PM ^
Uh no. This team needs a kick-ass QB with Moxie. RBs were doing great against Bama (along with the OLine). The game I SAW, had the QB missing 7+ downfield throws. We needed those.
I would say we need to get McAffrey or Milton to be the QB. Be THE MAN. And then build them from within. MICH has such a long line of QBs: Henne, Brady, Henson, Griese, Harbaugh!, Leach, Grbac, Wangler, Dreisbach, D Robinson, D Gardner. forgetaboutit.
January 3rd, 2020 at 5:27 PM ^
I agree with your assessment of the QB play. Shea missed many open receivers that were deep. Shea was a decent QB, but by no means very good to great. Critical fumbles and lack of hitting open receivers deep for chunk plays plagued him for sure.
I would not say our RB's played "great" against Bama. Go watch Dobbins vs. Michigan and Clemson and see what "great" RB play looks like. Or watch Ettienne vs. OSU and see "great" RB play.
If we are gonna run a Pass Run Option Offense, we need a QB that is a true running threat and a RB with some explosion. It feels like it was black and white TV the last time a Michigan RB ripped through the line and took it to the house for 60 yards.
January 3rd, 2020 at 6:11 PM ^
Chris Evans was probably the last I can remember. In regards to Shea, I just think he needed to tuck it and run decisively for even just a few yards to keep the defense honest on some of the designed pass plays. He often times rolled out looking and looking until the play completely broke down and he either ran out of bounds for like a yard or threw an errant pass. In doing that, he probably could have set himself up for easier pass plays. It still stands though that he did miss on numerous touchdown passes where DPJ or Nico clearly had their men beat and nothing but open field
January 3rd, 2020 at 7:33 PM ^
Agreed on Shea. That has to take its toll on the receivers too. Beat your man deep and know that your most likely not gonna get the ball to you. The Alabama game could have been VERY interesting if Shea simply made the throws he should have made. Can't wait to get a legit QB.
January 3rd, 2020 at 12:29 PM ^
It seems that the consensus is that we need some "lightning" to go with our "thunder" at running back.
It also seems that most believe that Blake Corum will provide the "lightning" to offset the "thunder" that we already have.
January 3rd, 2020 at 12:33 PM ^
I mean Corum seems to be the lightning we are looking for, however I really find it hard to believe the coaches won't give him much more than garbage time carries. Hard to find carries for a freshmen when you have two guys coming back who had good years.
January 3rd, 2020 at 1:23 PM ^
There were 100 non-Charbonnet/Haskins carries from RBs last year. Whether they're in garbage time doesn't seem particularly relevant to me. He'll either earn a greater opportunity from the time he does get, or he won't. A lot of freshman at offensive skill positions have made an impact under Harbaugh over his years at Michigan. I could probably name at least one guy a season, with varying amount of success with his opportunities. I don't see any reason Corum couldn't be the next guy if he's ready.
January 3rd, 2020 at 1:47 PM ^
True, fair point
January 3rd, 2020 at 2:34 PM ^
Wilson won't be here, and I can tell you without seeing Corum that I would also rather give him carries than Turner.
January 3rd, 2020 at 12:30 PM ^
https://www.mgoblog.com/content/not-technically-private-school
Need some lightning. Hassan Haskins and Zach Charbonnet both had quality days against the Bama defense. Haskins didn't have the YPC Charbonnet did but had a number of tough interior short yardage runs that are a burgeoning trademark. Both guys are good backs.
But Michigan again struggled to pop chunk runs. Michigan's long on the day was 12 yards. This has been a season-long issue, one that didn't really go away even as the offense started living up to the "speed in space" offseason chatter. A large part of this seemed to fall on the backs. Michigan presented a thunder and thunder approach.
Next year they'll have quite a bit of lightning. Chris Evans is going to return; Michigan adds turbo jet guy Blake Corum as well. Giles Jackson should continue to have a role as a RB/WR hybrid. This should be the year when the "spread H" spot I keep talking about actually emerges into a big part of Michigan's offense.
January 3rd, 2020 at 1:08 PM ^
I really think Charbonnet will show more big-play productivity next season. I think he had some nagging injury issues still for part of the season and it took him some time to get adjusted to the Big Ten play. But, given an off-season of S&C I think you'll see him more explosive next year.
January 3rd, 2020 at 2:34 PM ^
ZC wasn’t a big play RB in high school. He’s a bruiser designed to run over people.
January 3rd, 2020 at 12:33 PM ^
Sam Webb 24/7 had reported that Corum had 10.5 100M speed in his recruiting round up reports. Also, Roman Wilson, 2020 recruit from Hawaii had 10.3 100M speed but he's a WR.
There is some hope for that lightning. I am sure Corum will get some carries. Might even burn his freshman status as he'll see the field early in his career.
January 3rd, 2020 at 1:54 PM ^
Corum gets 4 games to play without burning a redshirt. With Haskins, Charbonnet, Evans, and Turner all returning, it's going to be hard for him to see the field unless he is immediately that good. I'll bet he still redshirts.
January 3rd, 2020 at 2:23 PM ^
Can we stop worrying about redshirts. Unless it's an OL, DT or project, all other redshirts should be burned. If the player, like Corum, is that good, he'll only be here 3 years anyway. I've never understood this fascination with preserving redshirts. Fucking insane.
January 3rd, 2020 at 4:33 PM ^
I mean, let's temper expectation and say he'll only be here 4 years (staying for 3 years is probably a mistake unless you're a 1st round level talent). But I do agree (and the coaches do too), that if a player can help the team now, he should play. A redshirt can always be reclaimed later, especially under the current redshirt rules (see Josh Ross and Jaylen Kelly-Powell this year).
January 3rd, 2020 at 2:13 PM ^
Remember that dash times in Hawaii are heavily influenced by all of the rainbows in the sky.
January 3rd, 2020 at 12:36 PM ^
I am actually struggling to think of the last time UM had a back with gamebreaking speed honestly.
January 3rd, 2020 at 12:38 PM ^
Denard as a RB late in 2012.
Higdon actually had quite a few 50+ yard runs his last two years.
January 3rd, 2020 at 12:40 PM ^
Was Higdon really gamebreaking speed though? I mean he had good speed no doubt, but his long runs were mainly on extremely well blocked plays. I am talking about the type of guy who can turn one small crease into a td.
January 3rd, 2020 at 1:07 PM ^
Yes, his speed was just average. I was actually very surprised at how Charbonnet looks, which to me is below average college RB speed. I could be wrong if anyone has better info, but to the eye he reminds of of Deveon Smith
January 3rd, 2020 at 12:47 PM ^
Mister Simpson
Carlos Brown
Kelly Ba......never mind.
January 3rd, 2020 at 2:36 PM ^
That's Mr. Simpson to you!
January 3rd, 2020 at 1:06 PM ^
That depends on your definition of gamebreaking. You might have to go back to Carlos Brown for a guy who could house it at any given time. I would be happy with someone who has Fitzgerald Toussaint-like speed.
January 3rd, 2020 at 1:16 PM ^
I guess my definition would be someone who can turn a small crease into a big play or TD, and of course is not going to get tracked down from behind.
January 3rd, 2020 at 1:40 PM ^
Umm, Tyrone Wheatley? Maybe other guys since him were as fast as him, but Wheatley consistently showed it on the field. Just look at those TDs in the two Rose Bowls he played in. OMG!
January 3rd, 2020 at 2:37 PM ^
Tony Boles was probably our fastest RB ever. Got caught from behind once and never heard the end of it from his teammates.
January 3rd, 2020 at 11:05 PM ^
Yeah, Boles was fast but I think Wheatley was faster. That ACL injury in 1989 was a bummer. Back then an ACL tear was just about a death sentence for a football career. Nowadays guys recover from them within 6 months.
January 3rd, 2020 at 12:36 PM ^
Contrary to popular belief, Evans is not a burner. He’s a 4.6 guy. Higdon was actually significantly faster at the top end. What Evans does well is he gets to top speed very quickly. Especially his freshman year before the coaches wanted to get him up to 215. He is very agile and accelerates to top speed quickly. He is not the guy who outruns safeties in the second level. Corum or Turner are more top end speedsters than the other 3 backs on the roster
January 3rd, 2020 at 12:38 PM ^
That is true, I mentioned him because while not having the top end speed he does have a little different skill set than the other backs currently on the roster with his acceleration and elusiveness. You bring up a good point about Turner, he did have some nice burst, he just needs to figure out how to hold onto the ball better and he might get some carries as well next year.
January 3rd, 2020 at 1:26 PM ^
You have to think the coaches liked what potential they saw in him with his carries in the Peach Bowl and he was #2 off the bench week 1. Haskins actually got the garbage time carries that game behind: Zach, Turner, Tru, and BVS.
Its actually quite impressive the quick ascent HH made this year. Him and Ronnie Bell are two of the few gems we’ve found on offense under Harbaugh actually.
January 3rd, 2020 at 7:12 PM ^
Surprised it took this long for someone to remember Evans won the "team combine" running backs 40 @ mid-4.6. That is slow for a D1 rb. A quick googling shows Chrisitian Turner's PR for a 100m was 11.65 in high school. He is also not a top-end burner. Corum's PR for a 100m was 11.35. Anything slower than a 10.8 in the 100 does not instill confidence as being a burner in D1. No lightning in this backfield.
Henning and Wilson coming in with PR's of 10.6 in the 100 do show elite D1 speed for the WR position.
January 4th, 2020 at 8:44 AM ^
"Chrisitian Turner's PR for a 100m was 11.65 in high school."
Yikes... that is worse than me... and I ran about a 4.7 40 in track spikes leaving from blocks.
January 3rd, 2020 at 12:39 PM ^
Jackson was lined up in the backfield several times against Bama as well, so there's that too.
January 3rd, 2020 at 12:43 PM ^
At the end of the day I think the two keys for the offense next year is getting better QB play than this year and creating more big plays. Having to have methodical drives in today's college football is just more chances for a mistake to end a drive. Asking college kids to execute 10 play drives consistently is not how you have a great offense.
January 3rd, 2020 at 12:52 PM ^
And in Michigan's case a big number of those drives stalled in the red zone and we had kick field goals. Bottom line, we had a very limited number of big plays this season, both on the ground and in the air.
That should change in 2020, let's hope.
January 3rd, 2020 at 1:09 PM ^
Yep. In order to get big plays, Michigan needs guys to break tackles or opponents need to get out of position. It would be nice if they could get at least one guy who can make things happen on his own, such as a KJ Hamler. I like Ronnie Bell and Nico Collins, but offense is a lot tougher when you have to manufacture everything by designing/calling/executing plays to perfection. You can be imperfect or vanilla at Clemson, Ohio State, Alabama, etc. and still get huge plays.
January 3rd, 2020 at 1:18 PM ^
Yeah, I really could have made the post that UM just needs more lightning in general. Bigger plays from both the WR and RB position.
January 3rd, 2020 at 2:08 PM ^
This is probably one of the biggest issues of all of Harbaugh's teams since he's been here. These teams just haven't had anyone who can go out and make a play. It seems like everything Harbaugh has tried to do has been forced to rely upon 100% execution rate in order for the offense to be successful. How much longer will it be until Michigan finally gets a dynamic playmaker on offense? Wiscy seems to get them, PSU gets them, OSU gets them (obviously), heck even Purdue has managed to score one recently. You'd think that we'd manage to hit on at least ONE in the past five years.
January 3rd, 2020 at 1:13 PM ^
I agree with this, especially when we're up against a very good or elite team. Sustaining long drives, although still desirable, is getting harder to do. And as we've seen from Michigan and all their undisciplined plays, drives get stalled all too easily.
January 3rd, 2020 at 1:29 PM ^
The longest run from scrimmage for BIG teams in 2019:
PSU: 85 (plus additional runs of 81 and 58)
MD: 80 (64, 61, 54)
NW: 79 (62)
OSU: 73 (68, 53)
WI: 72 (66)
ILL: 66 (54)
MN: 64
NEB: 61 (60, 56)
MSU: 58
RU: 57
IU: 57
IOW: 55
UM: 49
PU: 48*
*Purdue has by far the fewest number of rushing attempts in the conference at 342; Michigan had 452 attempts.
So yes, more lightning would be good.
January 3rd, 2020 at 2:26 PM ^
Find it amazing that Maryland's (which cannot pass the ball thus opponents can look for the run) leading rusher this year averaged 7.2ypc and last year averaged 7.9ypc (not the same player).
January 3rd, 2020 at 2:37 PM ^
but terrapins are slow
January 3rd, 2020 at 2:58 PM ^
You must've listened to mgoblog roundtable
January 3rd, 2020 at 3:05 PM ^
Havent had a breakaway guy for what ... decades?
January 3rd, 2020 at 3:22 PM ^
I think we need a tornado and a hurricane too.
January 3rd, 2020 at 6:50 PM ^
We need some tinkle with our Winkle