josh uche for 105% of snaps

This Week's Obsession:

Ten Michigan players were drafted and everyone's angry about it. Where do you fall on the "everything is fine" vs "panic and run around screaming" continuum?

Ace: Should we explain why people are angry? I’ve stayed off the internet this weekend and had no idea this was a thing.

David: Yeah, I missed why everyone is angry, too.

Brian: There's a combination of things.

1. Josh Uche went in the second round and Michigan took heat for his low snap counts
2. Michigan had the same number of draft picks as OSU and got nuked for the second consecutive year
3. Bleed-over recruiting anger because the first round was 24 four or five star players and M hasn't recruited a four star defender.

Seth: Without looking I'm going to guess the responses to today's hello post for a 3-star cornerback from one of the biggest schools in the country will tell you all you need to know about the current fan zeitgeist.

Brian: So this weekend was a resurgence of the fanbase schism. Fun! But also what else we gonna talk about.

Ace: Ah. So the draft bit I think is most worth pointing out in this context is that, despite Michigan getting ten players off the board, Shea Patterson very much wasn’t one of them.

David: That's a very big point...I don't even think he signed a FA deal, yet?

Ace: He has not.

Brian:

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Seth: Neither was Lavert Hill for whatever that's worth. This doesn't so much apply to Shea, but sometimes there's no accounting for NFL taste.

Ace: Hill got snatched up within hours (possibly minutes?) of the draft ending. Also: quarterback is a very important position.

David: Yeah, McKeon signed right after well...so, 12/13 guys had an NFL team by Saturday night.

Brian: Princeton's QB signed with Cleveland.

[Hit THE JUMP for, eventually, a rundown on where Michigan's players went in the draft, plus more of this.]

SPONSOR NOTE: Upon Further Review is sponsored by HomeSure Lending and Matt Demorest. Rates are the lowest they've been in three years so it can't hurt to check whether you can save money on a refinance. Or you could buy a house in Ann Arbor! Good luck with that!

Matt's relocated the bus to Pioneer this year, BTW, and invites everyone to stop by and say hi. There's beer. I mean, obviously. Matt. Matt and beer: a good pairing.

FORMATION NOTES: Michigan spent virtually the whole game in a 3-3-5, aside from some goal line plays. Army started off in a traditional flexbone, so this was the most common setup for the first quarter and change:

Michigan barely varied from this presnap. Army started poking at the general lightness of this formation and spent most of the back half of the game in a relatively jumbo setup:

The two tight-end-type substances to the bottom are actually OL. You can see that Michigan has responded by shifting Uche to the line of scrimmage bringing their safety level closer to the LOS. Army did some work in this formation but Michigan had their plan and did not deviate from it, and it all worked out.

SUBSTITION NOTES: Almost no rotation. On the DL it was Paye/Kemp/Hutchinson almost the whole way, with Danna getting about a dozen snaps and cameos from Mason and Jeter.

Glasgow, Hudson, and Uche got every snap. Ross probably would have as well but a stinger forced him out at halftime; Anthony took over. This was not much of a glimpse at Anthony since it seemed like Michigan's scheme with the MLB was to get him annihilated on every snap.

Gray spotted Thomas and Hill for just under half the game. Aside from that and a couple J'Marick Woods snaps the secondary was Thomas/Hill/Metellus/Hawkins the whole way.

[After THE JUMP: I hope you like fullbacks!]

SPONSOR NOTE: Upon Further Review is sponsored by HomeSure Lending and Matt Demorest. Rates are the lowest they've been in three years so it can't hurt to check whether you can save money on a refinance. Or you could buy a house in Ann Arbor! Good luck with that!

Matt's relocated the bus to Pioneer this year, BTW, and invites everyone to stop by and say hi. There's beer. I mean, obviously. Matt. Matt and beer: a good pairing.

FORMATION NOTES: So: lots. There was a lot of standard 4-2-5 stuff that you've probably seen before. There were also some stack snaps, and ways to get Uche on the field. Here Uche is the standup guy on the LOS. Michigan is in a front with a pure nose tackle lined up right over the C; I've called this "30 nickel slide" for reasons that I do not remember:

Note that this package has Woods as a fifth DB.

This lineup has Uche, Danna, Hutchinson (at NT) and Paye. Glasgow is the only linebacker-type person on the field, and Woods has come in as an extra safety. I called this "jetpack" because it sounds cool and noted the 3 S look by calling this specific thing "jetpack S". These were the only jetpack snaps but if a CB gets in the game that'll be jetpack CB, etc.

JETPACK

This front was declared "5-1 fold" or "5-0 fold" depending on whether there was someone in the box behind the LOS. Because Uche and Glasgow are folded inside the very wide DEs.

I did not call this out specifically but an interesting wrinkle was Michigan dropping Hudson as a single high deep safety on a number of snaps.

They evidently like Hawkins and Metellus better in coverage.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: So: lots. The starting DL was Paye/Kemp/Mason/Hutchinson. Danna and Uche mostly got passing down snaps but did also get in some on standard downs. Hinton and Speight got in the game late. Hutchinson and Paye almost never left the field; Kemp only got pulled on jetpack downs. Dwumfour got one snap, the first TD, leaving after aggravating his hand injury.

At the LB level Hudson did not come off the field. Ross only got pulled on passing downs; Glasgow got about 3/4ths of the snaps with Gill getting a dozen or so. Anthony and McGrone got in late. Uche got slightly under half of Michigan's snaps.

DBs: Metellus and Hawkins didn't leave the field until garbage time; Thomas, Gray, and Hill were in a near-equal rotation for CB snaps, and there were never any 3-CB snaps. Kelly-Powell got a few eventful snaps at the end.

[After THE JUMP: I hope you like the perimeter]