See “Harbaughffense 2023” in the diaries section. Our approach to passing was broken, and the Barham pick was largely a function of out-of-rhythm JJ throwing the ball straight to him. His PFF coverage scores were otherwise worrisome.
And Iirc, this was the same game where we ran the ball 12 straight plays before calling a pass play out of an empty set.
It seems the Barham hype has been entirely blitz-flavored thus far. As I recall there being some concern about his coverage capabilities, I’m wondering (growing worried?) about him in that regard.
I hope to never see the PSU game plan ever again. The “they couldn’t stop it” narrative is such a stark contrast to what was happening that day. Barnhart seriously earned a PFF 0.0 in pass pro.
Footwork is hard to call because it’s so easy to relapse under pressure. Combine that with the recent history of our passing game being overly dependent on long-developing stuff, and it sounds like an Orji tragedy waiting to happen.
As frightening as it may sound, Jadyn Davis is probably the QB who gets us closest to our ceiling this year.
At a certain point, you have to accept that no rideshare cost is too high to avoid drinking and driving. Sadly, I didn’t reach that conclusion until my 30s (though thankfully, I never had a mishap while driving intoxicated).
I have a sneaky suspicion that Michigan doesn’t even need to match top offers to win the recruitment, and they really just need to offer SOMETHING. Wasn’t that the deal with Deone Walker?
Nailed it on Bronny. So many guys his age screw themselves by snubbing legitimate opportunities for development. With three years in college, he could become a viable NBA role player type. Instead he seems poised to rush into a 3-year NBA career full of DNPs.
This. They were definitely the best team we played, and we couldn’t help that Georgia lost before the CFP (though we could - and did - beat the team that beat them).
Yeah I’d agree that women’s cbb will need to create another star in order to keep the gravy train rolling. Juju Watkins is probably the best player left behind after the draft, but I doubt she receives the same media treatment as Clark.
Idk what this means, and probably never will. I’m gonna just lol and eat my downvotes bc of all the things coming Clark’s way, I feel confident saying that racism is the least of it. But ofc, we live in an age where some groups’ aspiration for liberty has become the source of other groups’ oppression… or so they say.
Increasingly optimistic about Wink as DC. Part of that is about the talent being so good that it seems almost impossible to ruin things. But I also suspect Wink will weaponize the hell out of our DE’s and LB’s. If Esposito lives up to his billing as an elite developer of talent, I could for sure see this year’s defense being even more dominant than last years.
Aside from the fact that I have a pet peeve about ppl misspelling other ppl’s names, I simply do not understand why some posters are inclined to misspell ORJI’s name with a “g.” It’s not even clever or amusing.
OT, but the ACC needs die and give way to something else. Network revenue system be damned, it was ridiculous to add the CA and TX schools just bc they’re in CA and TX. The travel will almost certainly offset any financial gain. They should’ve just added Cincinnati and WVa years ago and been done with it. At least that would’ve restored some old rivalry matchups that would be worth planning to watch. I have zero interest in watching the new additions vs ACC priors.
I don’t think we should expect May to be Shaka at Texas. Shaka clearly thrives at schools that move heaven and earth for basketball. May is coming from a school that, like Michigan and Texas, only reserves that kind of effort for football.
Additionally, May doesn’t appear to rely on gimmicks as did Smart at VCU. The Texas tenure was basically him learning how to coach normal basketball. I don’t foresee May having a similar challenge here.
You can skewer the headline w/o revising the facts. For sure, Juwan has embarrassed himself and Michigan over the last few years. Several times now he’s gotten Michigan basketball in the news for the wrong non-basketball reasons.
I agree w/ those who say it’s both accurate and clever…
But it isn’t at all funny just bc this isn’t how you treat family. You do something like this with someone for whom you find glee in their failure. Juwan shouldn’t receive such treatment here.
You only do this to family when you’re a reply-guy clout chaser.
In all seriousness, English is the more like Gallon clone from the class. I’d bet on Morgan to become something we’ve not really seen around here. Xavier Worthy but rough and tumble. Desean Jackson but Detroit.
I pitty Juwan somewhat because it's very unlikely that he would've been fired had he just sat out the season on medical leave.
That said, I don't believe Michigan was in a position to give him the kind of support he needed to thrive here. He needs NIL support and a more flexible admissions department, which would allow him to build a more talented roster. Whereas Beilein's was more of a developmental program, Howard's was more of a showcase program (in a similar vein to Calipari's UK). Developmental coaches can and have thrived at big-time programs like UNC, Duke and UK, but Michigan simply lacks the infrasture to support the showcase coaches.
That's not to say Howard is not a good coach. Just that he's one of those coaches who makes his bones by getting elite talents to play well together (a skill which is nothing to sneeze at).
This cycle for basketball is that rare occasion where I'm pretty indifferent towards the idea of a splashy hire. Things are more or less at rock bottom and unlike the Howard transition, I don't foresee any staff continuity, (sadly) not even w/ S&C. Not to mention we're a football school where the NIL sucks even for football. The new coach probably gets to miss 2 NCAA tournaments before he begins to draw the ire of the fanbase, so you may as well go get the guy who wins eventually w/ a program that relies on juniors and seniors instead of one-and-done type talents.
I disagree. His all-star game performance suggets pretty high bust potential. I don't foresee him being the program lynchpin that his lofty ranking would surely lead people to expect him to be.
I’m buying JJ draft momentum, but also think Daniels’ stock is sinking. Aside from the poor news cycles, I saw the rumblings about his frame/weight being the real reason he skipped doing measurements at the combine. Glad to see JJ assuaged the concerns about his own frame.
I’ve been following, and I strongly suspect that the current series of events was the plan all along. They made it look like a swerve, but I think it was just good storytelling. Which even if it isn’t, it’s pretty cool that wrestling is finally telling stories that feel even a little unpredictable these days. I haven’t watched a non-Roman or non-WM match in years, but I do still tip my toes in the promos.
Besides, Rock is older w/ movie muscles, and Roman’s clearly been knocked down a bit by his Leukemia. I worry that they wouldn’t put on a particularly good match - at least not at WM main event quality.
Now that's out of the way, I REALLY appreciate this analysis. Some people like to pretend that complaints about the offense (and play calling) is unwarranted, but that is clearly false. We didn't run 30+ times against Penn State because they simply couldn't stop it - we did so because our tackles couldn't pass block, and merely testing that theory got JJ injured during said game. We ended up winning a game that was a war of attrition, but it was way too close and extremely uncomfortable.
And that's how almost all of the big game wins played out with the Harbaughffense. We got better at winning em in 2021-24 thanks to an all-time great era of Michigan defense. But it's hard to ignore how much meat we left on the bone thanks to this offense.
All that said, I'm actually pretty excited (hopeful) to see Campbell create a more complementary dynamic between the run-game and pass-game.
Looking back, part of me would’ve preferred Nelson over Dante Moore. Had we landed either QB plus Acheampong and say, maybe a top shelf tall receiver, the repeat hype (at least around these parts) would be in a completely different stratosphere.
Agree with the NIL sluggishness as a moral failing. Hindsight will judge Michigan very poorly for clinching to the outdated notions of amateurism that do little more than whitewash a system of wage theft and Jim Crow era economics.
IMO, JJ needs a Jordan Love situation. Give him 2-3 years to finish developing his man body and address the mechanical issues. After that, you’re probably looking at a top 8 QB.
What you’re saying makes more sense in a scenario where we’re pursuing an external, “home run” type hire. But Ben Herbert was a known quantity, and an extremely well-regarded one. You don’t approach him like he’s “just an S&C coach” because he’s so much more, especially here. He was a big enough asset in recruiting that his mere presence helped Michigan continue to override concerns about mediocre NIL. And in an era where coordinators are making upwards of $2 million, it’s concerning that anyone close to the program wouldn’t recognize that he undoubtedly carried commensurate value.
It’s past tense now, but I’m honestly worried about Moore’s ability to sustain past the next year or two. Stanford learned the hard way too - as soon as Turley left, they tanked.
I’m happy for these guys, but some of these salaries register as bidding against ourselves. I only raise that bc I’m still bewildered that there was a dollar amount on Coach Herb that we refused to match when we clearly could’ve.
For the class write up, could you mine for some bits about the scout team work these guys put in? I’m especially curious to hear more about how Hayden Moore earned defensive scout team POY.
Concessions at Michigan Stadium are so bad that it's impossible to believe that it's not on purpose. Simple lack of effort is an insufficient explanation on it's own.
Not a conspiracy theory. It's just that for all my gripes about the UCLA game Rose Bowl experience, concessions is that one that that - while honestly not great - is honestly MUCH better than the clown car operation that Michigan's running.
The funny thing with Bienemy is that some seem so pressed to justify why he’s never been hired as a HC while completely ignoring the fact that the same sorts of issues have been overlooked with various other head coaches. Once you account for the similarities, there really are only a few plausible explanations left.
To be fair to NW, they’ve had a pretty eventful year. This included battling a not insignificant chorus of folks who tried to exploit the recent scandal as a way to prevent NW from moving forward with building the new stadium. Hell, they had to bribe the Mayor to get it approved (scandalous characterization all mine).
Seems like a safe bet that NW will spend most of the season at Seatgeek.
He compounded bad money decisions with more bad money decisions. It’s honestly sad to see.
Separate but related - We always hear the stat about +75% of NFL players going broke within a few years of retirement, but I wonder how much “school attended” makes a difference. Probably none, but it’d be one hell of a recruiting chip for whomever can best sell graduates long-term success w/ hard numbers.
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See “Harbaughffense 2023” in the diaries section. Our approach to passing was broken, and the Barham pick was largely a function of out-of-rhythm JJ throwing the ball straight to him. His PFF coverage scores were otherwise worrisome.
And Iirc, this was the same game where we ran the ball 12 straight plays before calling a pass play out of an empty set.
It seems the Barham hype has been entirely blitz-flavored thus far. As I recall there being some concern about his coverage capabilities, I’m wondering (growing worried?) about him in that regard.
I hope to never see the PSU game plan ever again. The “they couldn’t stop it” narrative is such a stark contrast to what was happening that day. Barnhart seriously earned a PFF 0.0 in pass pro.
Footwork is hard to call because it’s so easy to relapse under pressure. Combine that with the recent history of our passing game being overly dependent on long-developing stuff, and it sounds like an Orji tragedy waiting to happen.
As frightening as it may sound, Jadyn Davis is probably the QB who gets us closest to our ceiling this year.
The punishment is stunning in comparison to similar cases at other schools.
At a certain point, you have to accept that no rideshare cost is too high to avoid drinking and driving. Sadly, I didn’t reach that conclusion until my 30s (though thankfully, I never had a mishap while driving intoxicated).
What I REALLY want to know is whether it’s true/who was involved with smoking weed before The Horror (aka the App State upset).
I have a sneaky suspicion that Michigan doesn’t even need to match top offers to win the recruitment, and they really just need to offer SOMETHING. Wasn’t that the deal with Deone Walker?
Nailed it on Bronny. So many guys his age screw themselves by snubbing legitimate opportunities for development. With three years in college, he could become a viable NBA role player type. Instead he seems poised to rush into a 3-year NBA career full of DNPs.
This. They were definitely the best team we played, and we couldn’t help that Georgia lost before the CFP (though we could - and did - beat the team that beat them).
Yeah I’d agree that women’s cbb will need to create another star in order to keep the gravy train rolling. Juju Watkins is probably the best player left behind after the draft, but I doubt she receives the same media treatment as Clark.
nm. double post.
Idk what this means, and probably never will. I’m gonna just lol and eat my downvotes bc of all the things coming Clark’s way, I feel confident saying that racism is the least of it. But ofc, we live in an age where some groups’ aspiration for liberty has become the source of other groups’ oppression… or so they say.
Caitlin Clark… had to deal with… racism? A smattering of it?!
WTF is racism anymore?
Damn. Got the number wrong. Oh well. 1598 is coming up, just as sure as 1985 will later follow.
Apparently, Rob’s (Rick’s) son is being groomed to be WWE’s next big thing.
Increasingly optimistic about Wink as DC. Part of that is about the talent being so good that it seems almost impossible to ruin things. But I also suspect Wink will weaponize the hell out of our DE’s and LB’s. If Esposito lives up to his billing as an elite developer of talent, I could for sure see this year’s defense being even more dominant than last years.
Damnit we need a QB!
Still kinda miffed by the lack of traction between Michigan and Dante Moore. Combining him with Orji as a change of pace would’ve been scary.
I remember Drevno for being 1000% unable to identify a OT. The Alaric Jackson recruitment still boggles the mind.
Aside from the fact that I have a pet peeve about ppl misspelling other ppl’s names, I simply do not understand why some posters are inclined to misspell ORJI’s name with a “g.” It’s not even clever or amusing.
OT, but the ACC needs die and give way to something else. Network revenue system be damned, it was ridiculous to add the CA and TX schools just bc they’re in CA and TX. The travel will almost certainly offset any financial gain. They should’ve just added Cincinnati and WVa years ago and been done with it. At least that would’ve restored some old rivalry matchups that would be worth planning to watch. I have zero interest in watching the new additions vs ACC priors.
I want to be positive.. Urm.. Trust Coach!
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Whoever grabs Jones in the 6th round would be getting a MASSIVE steal. He’s a fourth rounder if they start him all year.
I don’t think we should expect May to be Shaka at Texas. Shaka clearly thrives at schools that move heaven and earth for basketball. May is coming from a school that, like Michigan and Texas, only reserves that kind of effort for football.
Additionally, May doesn’t appear to rely on gimmicks as did Smart at VCU. The Texas tenure was basically him learning how to coach normal basketball. I don’t foresee May having a similar challenge here.
Whatever. Go Blue.
You can skewer the headline w/o revising the facts. For sure, Juwan has embarrassed himself and Michigan over the last few years. Several times now he’s gotten Michigan basketball in the news for the wrong non-basketball reasons.
I agree w/ those who say it’s both accurate and clever…
But it isn’t at all funny just bc this isn’t how you treat family. You do something like this with someone for whom you find glee in their failure. Juwan shouldn’t receive such treatment here.
You only do this to family when you’re a reply-guy clout chaser.
But fast!
In all seriousness, English is the more like Gallon clone from the class. I’d bet on Morgan to become something we’ve not really seen around here. Xavier Worthy but rough and tumble. Desean Jackson but Detroit.
I pitty Juwan somewhat because it's very unlikely that he would've been fired had he just sat out the season on medical leave.
That said, I don't believe Michigan was in a position to give him the kind of support he needed to thrive here. He needs NIL support and a more flexible admissions department, which would allow him to build a more talented roster. Whereas Beilein's was more of a developmental program, Howard's was more of a showcase program (in a similar vein to Calipari's UK). Developmental coaches can and have thrived at big-time programs like UNC, Duke and UK, but Michigan simply lacks the infrasture to support the showcase coaches.
That's not to say Howard is not a good coach. Just that he's one of those coaches who makes his bones by getting elite talents to play well together (a skill which is nothing to sneeze at).
This cycle for basketball is that rare occasion where I'm pretty indifferent towards the idea of a splashy hire. Things are more or less at rock bottom and unlike the Howard transition, I don't foresee any staff continuity, (sadly) not even w/ S&C. Not to mention we're a football school where the NIL sucks even for football. The new coach probably gets to miss 2 NCAA tournaments before he begins to draw the ire of the fanbase, so you may as well go get the guy who wins eventually w/ a program that relies on juniors and seniors instead of one-and-done type talents.
I disagree. His all-star game performance suggets pretty high bust potential. I don't foresee him being the program lynchpin that his lofty ranking would surely lead people to expect him to be.
I’m buying JJ draft momentum, but also think Daniels’ stock is sinking. Aside from the poor news cycles, I saw the rumblings about his frame/weight being the real reason he skipped doing measurements at the combine. Glad to see JJ assuaged the concerns about his own frame.
I’ve been following, and I strongly suspect that the current series of events was the plan all along. They made it look like a swerve, but I think it was just good storytelling. Which even if it isn’t, it’s pretty cool that wrestling is finally telling stories that feel even a little unpredictable these days. I haven’t watched a non-Roman or non-WM match in years, but I do still tip my toes in the promos.
Besides, Rock is older w/ movie muscles, and Roman’s clearly been knocked down a bit by his Leukemia. I worry that they wouldn’t put on a particularly good match - at least not at WM main event quality.
First, YAY WE WON A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!!
Now that's out of the way, I REALLY appreciate this analysis. Some people like to pretend that complaints about the offense (and play calling) is unwarranted, but that is clearly false. We didn't run 30+ times against Penn State because they simply couldn't stop it - we did so because our tackles couldn't pass block, and merely testing that theory got JJ injured during said game. We ended up winning a game that was a war of attrition, but it was way too close and extremely uncomfortable.
And that's how almost all of the big game wins played out with the Harbaughffense. We got better at winning em in 2021-24 thanks to an all-time great era of Michigan defense. But it's hard to ignore how much meat we left on the bone thanks to this offense.
All that said, I'm actually pretty excited (hopeful) to see Campbell create a more complementary dynamic between the run-game and pass-game.
Looking back, part of me would’ve preferred Nelson over Dante Moore. Had we landed either QB plus Acheampong and say, maybe a top shelf tall receiver, the repeat hype (at least around these parts) would be in a completely different stratosphere.
Agree with the NIL sluggishness as a moral failing. Hindsight will judge Michigan very poorly for clinching to the outdated notions of amateurism that do little more than whitewash a system of wage theft and Jim Crow era economics.
I doubt Worthy would’ve fared much better than Henning. The track record here for using Worthy-types isn’t good. Hopefully that changes w/ Semaj.
Good analysis tbh, and the videos are helpful.
IMO, JJ needs a Jordan Love situation. Give him 2-3 years to finish developing his man body and address the mechanical issues. After that, you’re probably looking at a top 8 QB.
What you’re saying makes more sense in a scenario where we’re pursuing an external, “home run” type hire. But Ben Herbert was a known quantity, and an extremely well-regarded one. You don’t approach him like he’s “just an S&C coach” because he’s so much more, especially here. He was a big enough asset in recruiting that his mere presence helped Michigan continue to override concerns about mediocre NIL. And in an era where coordinators are making upwards of $2 million, it’s concerning that anyone close to the program wouldn’t recognize that he undoubtedly carried commensurate value.
It’s past tense now, but I’m honestly worried about Moore’s ability to sustain past the next year or two. Stanford learned the hard way too - as soon as Turley left, they tanked.
What exactly were those “unreasonable terms?” At this point all I’ve seen is unverified rumors that some refute as even being true.
I’m happy for these guys, but some of these salaries register as bidding against ourselves. I only raise that bc I’m still bewildered that there was a dollar amount on Coach Herb that we refused to match when we clearly could’ve.
Justification for two more commercial breaks.
I just belly laughed.
You've done the Lord's work @TruBluMich. Thank you.
For the…
Special request!
For the class write up, could you mine for some bits about the scout team work these guys put in? I’m especially curious to hear more about how Hayden Moore earned defensive scout team POY.
Concessions at Michigan Stadium are so bad that it's impossible to believe that it's not on purpose. Simple lack of effort is an insufficient explanation on it's own.
Not a conspiracy theory. It's just that for all my gripes about the UCLA game Rose Bowl experience, concessions is that one that that - while honestly not great - is honestly MUCH better than the clown car operation that Michigan's running.
The funny thing with Bienemy is that some seem so pressed to justify why he’s never been hired as a HC while completely ignoring the fact that the same sorts of issues have been overlooked with various other head coaches. Once you account for the similarities, there really are only a few plausible explanations left.
They’ve executed such an extreme copy/paste job that they’ve fried our writer’s ability to recall which team plays in the Big Ten 😂
Nm.
To be fair to NW, they’ve had a pretty eventful year. This included battling a not insignificant chorus of folks who tried to exploit the recent scandal as a way to prevent NW from moving forward with building the new stadium. Hell, they had to bribe the Mayor to get it approved (scandalous characterization all mine).
Seems like a safe bet that NW will spend most of the season at Seatgeek.
He compounded bad money decisions with more bad money decisions. It’s honestly sad to see.
Separate but related - We always hear the stat about +75% of NFL players going broke within a few years of retirement, but I wonder how much “school attended” makes a difference. Probably none, but it’d be one hell of a recruiting chip for whomever can best sell graduates long-term success w/ hard numbers.