2020 indiana

FORMATION NOTES: A fairly radical departure for Michigan, which went with two high safeties for ~80% of the day.

As per usual with radical in-season makeovers, things did not go that well. Man coverage was sprinkled in a lot of zones, instead of vice-versa, and sometimes it felt like third down man coverage was mesh bait as Michigan tried to get Indiana to throw at Dax Hill.

Indiana spent the entire day in a 3-wide gun except for some short yardage snaps with 2 TEs and the occasional pistol.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: The starting secondary of Green/Gray/Hawkins/Hill never came off the field. Paige was the only other DB to get snaps; he was the nickelback and was out there maybe a quarter of the time.

Similar story in the LB corps, though each of those guys missed some snaps when Michigan went to dime packages. Shibley got a few snaps in the second quarter.

Hutchinson went out early and Paye got lifted regularly so Upshaw and Vilain both had their most extended playing time to date. Game Newburg and David Ojabo also got in. Ojabo continues to act as a "SAM" but he's a standup end, functionally.

Significant DT rotation with Kemp leading the way; Hinton, Jeter, and Welschof also rotated in, with Welschof's snaps mostly coming on passing downs. VanSumeren got 3-3-5 snaps that were not passing downs. That was ~15.

[After THE JUMP: canyons grand]

Things discussed:

• Basketball recruiting: We love Frankie Collins trying to dunk on Chet Holmgren. We love 5-stars.
• First come first served: when Houstan committed Chet gave them a call.
• Juwan Howard has a Villanova model going: Tschetter and Barnes and Collins and Bufkin to grow and Houstans and Diabates to win now.
• Craig discusses 1950s pro wrestling, which we don't know why this is good news, but it's not talking about football.
• Offense vs Indiana: GO TO THE EDGES? Joe Milton: fine. Michigan doesn't know who they are anymore. Why is Honigford at tight end not tackle. Where are the reads? Why are you taking Mason off the table? RUN THE QUARTERBACK! SCREEN!
• Ronnie Bell's breakout: repeatable?
• Defense vs Indiana: Everything comes back to they can't cover Man. Guys are at least in position to contest but they don't play the ball well, intercept, take advantage of their positioning.
• Wisconsin: Who's getting off the bus? Graham Mertz?
• Wisconsin defense: Gonna bring guys and not let you run. Weakness in the secondary can be exploited but it won't be because we don't scout our opponents.

[Hit the JUMP for the player, and video and stuff]

FORMATION NOTES: All gun, and the vast majority was three-wide with Eubanks and three WRs in.

Indiana responds by having a box that looks light and then sending someone down to either blitz off the corner or adding a safety to the linebacker level. Or just running a light box and hoping to get away with it.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: With Hayes and Mayfield out the line was Barnhart/Filiaga/Vastardis/Zinter/Stueber. Eubanks returned and got the large majority of snaps; Erick All was involved somewhat but after another drop he barely saw the field.

The usual at WR with Bell leading the pack; felt like Cornelius Johnson slid into the #2 role both by targets and snaps. Sainristil, Wilson, and Jackson were tightly bunched behind. Henning continues to get snaps; here he had more than his previous bare handful.

Same near-even four-man rotation at RB. Ben Mason's role was significantly reduced.

[After THE JUMP: Milton is legitimately promising, at least]