Spring Football Bits: 24/7 "5 things we're confident about post spring practice"
Sounds like the offense could be a strength, while the defense is really big question mark.
Also hit submit too early, but the article is not behind the paywall
And yet...one of the first things reported from the Spring Game was the defense was ahead of the offense. I know it wasn't 1's v 1's in that game, but that's not what you want to be hearing at the same time as "the offense is a strength, lots of question marks on the defense".
Last I heard from the mgofam, the defense was miles behind and Cade was tearing up the D.
All Offensive takes needed to be taken with a grain of salt given the D isn’t coming along very quickly.
Where did you hear ‘defense ahead of offense’? That’d be good news to me.
It was on Twitter after the game from an "insider" who watched the game.
It's definitely not good news IMO because everything else I've heard is that the defense is a mess. So if they were a mess but still shut down our offense---yikes.
If it on Twitter, it must be true
Didn't it say so in that Brandon Brown article? It makes no sense and is the opposite of what everyone else has said so I don't believe it.
Yeah, I read that article, and thought WTF? Then I thought about a spring game where the OLine has been split into two teams, and think this probably has a lot to do with it.
22-10 doesn't sound like high enough offensive numbers in this day and age either.
April 12th, 2021 at 11:54 PM ^
Everyone has said the offense is way ahead of the defense.
April 12th, 2021 at 10:11 PM ^
The offense can't be deemed a strength at this point. They are going against our weak D. QB's struggled all spring. WR's are small. OL has a lot of work to do. TE is a position of doubt. RB should be very solid.
Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?
April 13th, 2021 at 10:10 AM ^
I appreciate the insider info, and have for a while. If experience has taught fans anything, it's that FB reporting is always too optimistic by a few orders of magnitude. So it's nice to have a balance of opinions
Normally I agree but I know for a fact they think they have a star in Erik All. In fact, coach Moore said if they could keep one kid in bubble wrap it would be EA. From what I'm hearing his struggles are all mental, and they expect him to take a huge leap, also Hibner and Schoon are well above average.
Grant Newsome was trying to talk Jake Butt into coming back to AA and coaching or helping the TE's. Sounds like Jake may give it another shot for snaps in the league. The tenure is close to kicking in for him. ( I believe it's lifetime insurance, a pay check, and super bowl tickets every year).
Cheers
Feeling super skeptical of the offensive line. Definitely not buying into that group. Probably helps them look good in practice that they don't have to play across from any defensive tackles.
I really hate the fact I am skeptical of the whole thing. I used to live for every bit of information on football recruiting, spring ball, fall ball and every Saturday we played, however, I just struggle with the whole enterprise anymore. This feeling of "ehhhh" sucks when I can compare it to something like the completely different experience with basketball, baseball or hockey.
Ditto. It feels weird to not care or be actively hostile to football reporting right now. But something about this year's team whooping Minnesota and then losing to MSU broke me. I'll be watching this fall, but it's looking like it won't be hard to avoid getting excited for the first time in years. If we're good, that would be awesome. But my expectations are firmly .500 or worse.
Who would have thought that on the brink of year 7 of the harbaugh era we would all feel like this, sad.
Safe to say that it hasn't panned out the way that most of us thought it would.
I agree. Although my "fandom" has dropped every year for the past 10 years, but this i really do not care. I don't care if they win 1 game or 12. If I watch any of the games I'll be surprised. Won't go out of my not to watch, just have 50 things I would rather be doing.
This has gradually happened to me as I get older, as well.
When I was younger, I planned around UM games.
Now, if games happen to fit into my schedule, right on. If not, whatev.
If I watch any of the games I'll be surprised
I won't watch any of the games in September or October at least live. I may DVR or YouTube highlights. I'm going to be outside enjoying my fall Saturdays -- the best time of the year, and not waste them on another JH snake oil sale.
But you don’t have 50 things you’d rather be doing than posting on a blog about said football team you have 50 things you’d rather be doing?
O-Line is a tough one. On the one hand they aren’t dealing with as much attrition as they did going into last year, the talented guys in the last couple classes have gotten ready to see the field, and it seems like they should have depth at key positions.
On the other hand you have a coach that has brought in his own style that is I’m sure a little different from last year, need a talented center to emerge and take charge of the line, and a best five that will have never started together before.
im sure they will be improved from last year but how much remains to be seen. Sounds like the offense will have to carry this team at least to start the season if not the whole year. If we aren’t winning the point of attack on the o-line, it won’t be likely that offense will carry much of anything
I think the only real reason to be skeptical about the offensive line (and it is a big one) is the center position.
We are returning several players who are young but have starting experience. It is not hard to imagine, Barnhart and Zinter having untapped upside
Two others who are older, but have not had as much starting experience due to injuries in Stueber and Hayes
Others with experience in Filagia and Willie Allen
It is also not unrealistic to imagine at least one of the other guys (for instance as the article mentions Trevor Keegan), is going to challenge for a spot.
With those 7 guys for 4 non-center positions, I think we will be ok.
Center is however a legitimate worry, Vastardis is a fifth year senior. It is hard to argue that he has lots of untapped upside.
From a personnel standpoint, I feel good about the OL. We'll see how good Sherrone Moore is at coaching them up. The tackles are an upgrade after the two starters were injured for the entire season last year. One of those guys is back and the other tackle will be either the guy who played most of the year or an upgrade. Left guard is likely an upgrade, as Filiaga is rumored to have been replaced despite still being here. Center is either the same starter from last year or someone who passed him. Right guard is either a returning starter or an upgrade.
Yes the OL should be good. Maybe not great but good. A lot of guys who have been in the program for years now.
I’ll watch all the games but I won’t be a fanatic about it anymore. I used to change my entire Saturday based on kickoff time. Like another poster mentioned the 2021 MSU game was the end. That broke me in a special way that not even 2018 OSU did.
I hope the team is good. I’d like to see a team that can create highlights beyond week 1. I’ll watch when I can I just won’t plan my fall around UM football.
I am confident that the basketball team will have a better season than the football team.
I'll at least guarantee that they'll have more wins.
Wouldn’t rule out less losses either.
Wouldn’t the offense look good if the D is struggling right now?
5 things im confident about
- Nobody knows shit
I’m confident this year will not be fun to watch.
2. They are just going through the motions this season so they can fire Harbaugh at the end of it and save some money when they really should have done it last year.
I'll believe it when I see it.
This article seems to mirror my expectation. We should have a good to great offense. We have done a nice job stocking up on the offensive line. The young RB's were big time recruits and we have a ton of speed at WR. I hope if nothing else, we get to see some speed in space this season. I think everyone expects that the offense will have to carry the defense.
2020 offense was really young and got obliterated by Nico opting out and injuries. The group has a ton of talent and are a year older so personnel wise, I think it's reasonable to have a sense of optimism.
With that said, the playcalling was atrocious last year and I don't know if that's something that can be fixed
One of my hopes is that Matt Weiss was brought in as much for his strength as an analyst as for his qb coaching. I am hopeful that given Harbaugh’s history with him, he is going to listen (and make sure tgat Gattis does to) and that part of what he will be doing is helping Harbaugh and Gattis focus more on having our playcalling work in a coherent way that exploits opponents weaknesses.
"...Harbaugh and Gattis focus more on having our playcalling work in a coherent way that exploits opponents weaknesses."
Unfortunately, this hasn't been a thing since Jed Fisch left Ann Arbor. I really hope something was changed to affect that, because - as bad as the defense was last year - the offense has cost us more games since 2017 than the defense has, by a couple of country miles. Just to put it succinctly, the offense has sucked ass since 2017 - and it's been getting worse.
I firmly believe the defense will be just fine. The question I have is what the offense will look like. It has players with tremendous amounts of speed and talent. But will they have the coaching? That is my only concern...
Lol! This might be the most unintentionally damning analysis I've heard yet.
Year 7: We're praying that our new QB coach can teach our head coach and 3rd year offensive coordinator how to run the offense.
Trust me, I fully realize that suggesting an offensive coordinator and an offensive minded offensive coordinator are struggling to put together a coherent gameplan is a critique of what they have done so far.
With regards to Harbaugh, it has been beaten to death, but given his track record, he clearly has coaching talent. He turned around Stanford, the 49ers and had us moving in the right direction in the first two years. It is hard to understand how it has gone so far south.
With regards to Gattis, I wish he wasn’t doing so much learning in the job, but the reality is, that he is. While I don’t think he deserves a total pass for last year, the offense had some bad injury luck, with injuries to two quarterbacks as well as both starting tackles.
Given the decision to keep Harbaugh, the best I can hope as a fan is that he seems to be making necessary changes. The way he has shaken up the staff with an eye towards better recruiting seems like a positive step. I am hopeful bringing in someone who may place a stronger emphasis on analytics may also be a positive step.
I hate the way the writer declares 2020 to be "an aberration." It ain't over, man. 2021 could be very rough and 2-4 in a year with no G5 opponents ain't much of an aberration if you follow it up with a 6-6 season. This article reeks of "just wait, Michigan will be back this fall" but we know full well that there are several reasons to think that this team is going to struggle.
I don't see "2020 was an aberration" at all. He clearly details all of Harbaugh’s seasons. He also makes a bunch of different points, about realistic expectations. ?♂️
Such turmoil is understandable given what’s happened, and while a loss to Indiana for the first time since 1987, let’s face what 2020 was for a lot (but not all) teams: an aberration.
It's a direct quote from the article.
April 12th, 2021 at 10:05 PM ^
Right. He wasn't referring to Michigan specifically. That's why that exact quote said an aberration for a lot of teams.
He was basically saying that anyone who makes any judgments (good or bad) upon the wacky 2020 "season" are not making judgements upon any data that is normal.
So...another contract extension!?
Did MadHatter get sent to Bolivia?
If the offense has the speed and playmaking that it is alleged to have, I would love to see it be simplified a bit this year given the QB situation and to get the ball to said speedsters so they can make a play. Ohio State has been feasting with this strategy for years.
Have we ever had a great offense under Harbaugh? I think we have peaked at 'good' so far but I'm still waiting for a great offense.
I am documenting all of these predictions and revisiting them this Fall.