2019 Michigan Season Thread

[MrNubbz]

They do look stout up front,Booger has to cut loose this season.It appears he has the line and I know he has the wide outs.As long as their decent under center,not sure about RB's

[Mdot21]

Aint drinking that OL Kool Aid.

I'm with you. Not going to believe it until I see it. Ed Warriner is a helluva an OL coach, one of the best in the business, but they've got to prove it before I buy into the hype.

They can list Runyan at 6'5 all they want, but he's 6'3 and change max. Michigan's schedule last year was pretty fortunate, they didn't face that many elite edge rushing teams. The teams with the better edge rushers- Runyan struggled mightly with those teams. He's just not a legit LT. Just happens to be the best/most experienced they had at the moment last season. I'd say to hell with it and try Jalen Mayfield or Ryan Hayes there, but those guys are RS Freshman and still probably need another year of development before they are truly ready for prime time at LT.

Bredeson and Ruiz are pretty much as listed in terms of size, but need to see more development from Ruiz this season. Ruiz was too up and down. Bredeson is rock steady and is about as good as it gets. No worries there. As far as size goes- they like to fudge Mike Onwenu. Who knows how big he really is. Onwenu is absolutely dominant when he's not running out of gas. Problem is, he's always running out of gas. He is as big and strong of an interior player as I have ever seen, but also wildly inconsistent. The guy is immovable when he gets his hands on the DL in front of him. His conditioning needs to improve drastically if he wants to live up to that lofty recruiting billing and massive potential and find himself in the NFL. It's a shame, because he should be the best guy on that OL with his size and strength. His feet for a guy his size are insane.

RT is the big question mark. I THINK Mayfield will be the guy, but we'll see.

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think Michigan needs elite tackle pass pro to have a great offense. Maybe my view is off, but I think they're aiming to shift to wrecking people on the ground and through the air by RPOs. Which shifts focus to the strength of the team -- Bredeson/Ruiz/Onwenu, Shea, and the WRs.

Aside from the no-huddle, loss of the fullback position, and drop in TE snaps, perhaps the next best heuristic for the extent to which Harbaugh has given over the offense to Gattis will be the percentage of pass plays that are late-developing. I'm expecting that fraction to drop by a lot. WIth it being replaced by short and intermediate stuff -- much of it likely going over the top.

[Mdot21]

I don't think Michigan needs elite tackle pass pro to have a great offense. Maybe my view is off, but I think they're aiming to shift to wrecking people on the ground and through the air by RPOs. Which shifts focus to the strength of the team -- Bredeson/Ruiz/Onwenu, Shea, and the WRs.

Aside from the no-huddle, loss of the fullback position, and drop in TE snaps, perhaps the next best heuristic for the extent to which Harbaugh has given over the offense to Gattis will be the percentage of pass plays that are late-developing. I'm expecting that fraction to drop by a lot. WIth it being replaced by short and intermediate stuff -- much of it likely going over the top.

You make a great point there.

As long as they really make a huge shift in the offense with Gattis and they spread it out 4 & 5 WR's more and sit the TE's and FB's on the sidelines and go with tempo and try to get the ball out of Shea's hands quickly- they'll be able to hide Runyan a lot better. Not too worried about the RT spot to be honest. Steuber is a massive, powerful human being with long arms and Jalen Mayfield is like a proto-type of what you want an offensive tackle in todays game to look like physically. So is the other RS frosh tackle Ryan Hayes for that matter. That's what your tackles ought to look like. It's the LT spot that worries me to be honest. Runyan is 6'3.5" MAX and he's got short arms.

[bayareabadger]

You make a great point there.

As long as they really make a huge shift in the offense with Gattis and they spread it out 4 & 5 WR's more and sit the TE's and FB's on the sidelines and go with tempo and try to get the ball out of Shea's hands quickly- they'll be able to hide Runyan a lot better. Not too worried about the RT spot to be honest. Steuber is a massive, powerful human being with long arms and Jalen Mayfield is like a proto-type of what you want an offensive tackle in todays game to look like physically. So is the other RS frosh tackle Ryan Hayes for that matter. That's what your tackles ought to look like. It's the LT spot that worries me to be honest. Runyan is 6'3.5" MAX and he's got short arms. 

A small clarification. You will almost assured see very few 4 WR sets and almost no 5 WR sets. 

outside pure air raid teams, four receivers is pretty uncommon.

Chances are, you’ll see a lot of 3 WR, 1TE looks as that is the standard and the most versatile when going fast. There will be times when they split out four or five, but chances are you’ll still have one TE and RB in there. 

(Interestingly Mich broke out a look with all five guys wide semi-often last season)

[Anonymous Coward]

(Interestingly Mich broke out a look with all five guys wide semi-often last season)

I remember those. I'm not sure the definition of semioften but think we both wish we had those numbers. Relevant here: I suspect (relatively) many of those were slow-developing plays.

[Mdot21]

Josh Gattis says Tarik Black has turned it up another notch once fall camp hit. Gattis also says true frosh Cornelius Johnson is wowing him.  

My exctiment levels for the season just went up a notch. That WR position group is loaded. Cornelius Johnson was in my opinion one of the most underrated WR recruits in the 2019 class and my favorite one that Michigan signed in 2019 precisely because he was so eerily similar to Tarik Black. Sounds like he's already make a big impression.

If they can't really push the ball all over the field and often to the main trio of DPJ, Black, Nico, and their sidekick WR's - then Harbaugh should just fire himself.

[Mdot21]

sounds like another true frosh WR has been impressing new OC/WR coach Josh Gattis in fall camp. Giles Jackson is a 5'9ish, 180ish jitterbug that has been getting lot of buzz. Jackson ran 4.43 at the Nike Opening last year to go along with a 3.85 shuttle and a 39" vertical. He's the sort of slot ninja that this offense has been sorely lacking.

They are absolutely loaded at WR. I swear to god if they don't have an explosive offense in 2019, I am going to slap Harbaugh in the face and be done with him. There really is zero excuse. This is their year to breakout on offense. Tarik Black is their best WR when healthy, and he's finally back healthy. Nico Collins and DPJ just got a full year of real starting experience with a legit QB in Shea Patterson and are both ready to take that next step. You have that trio right there to really lean on.

Then you have Ronnie Bell who had a solid true frosh year and really beat out Oliver Martin for snaps and averaged 19 YPC and had 2 receiving TD's. Bell should be able to build on that year and be a solid #4 or #5 WR. Mike Sainstril came in during spring ball and was making a ton of noise in the slot. The past week all the buzz about young WR's stepping up has been about Cornelius Johnson and Giles Jackson really impressing.  They don't need the young guys to carry the load, just get their feet wet and make the most of any snaps they get.

With a brand new OC in Josh Gattis and with 4/5ths of the starting OL coming back and with a senior year QB coming back, there's no excuse. This is Harbaugh's put up or shut up year.

[Mdot21]

Urban Meyer on Michigan - starts at 5:45


https://youtu.be/VfeQzz4MV9s?t=345


cliffs:

this will be Michigan's best OL yet under Harbaugh. They are big, experienced, and have an excellent coach in Warriner. Michigan has 3 legitimate high draft picks at WR that have not been given opportunities. They brought in a new co-ordinator to do that. Remains to be seen how the transition from pro style to spread, and will it be a true spread. That often takes time to grow, and will Coach Harbaugh allow them that time to grow. Ironic that this could be their best offense yet and they lose some really good players on defense, but they will always be good on defense.

[Cincydawg]

Did Urban just say which conference was best?

[Mdot21]

Did Urban just say which conference was best?

SEC is the best imo.

[ELA]

I kind of would have respected him more if he had just said "well, I'm gone, so they have a shot."

[Mdot21]

I kind of would have respected him more if he had just said "well, I'm gone, so they have a shot."

Lol. That’s more like something Jim would say. Urban handles himself way too professionally, is way too media savvy and has too much class to pop off at the mouth like that. Urban is a politician.

Now maybe he bends the truth a little bit, maybe he lies, maybe he looks the other way on things sometimes- but the guy sure as hell knows how to handle himself with the media/public. Jim? He’s just a weirdo who will say/do anything.

[Anonymous Coward]

That's just the continuum of tact and candor, and how these traits naturally oppose. It's common for someone with the habit of being maximally transparent and honest to insert a foot in their mouth for lack of tact. Likewise, it is common for a tactician to be complained about for being so calculating as to seem fake.