2019 Michigan Season Thread

[ELA]

Maybe they are ahead of themselves and have him going to the Giants in his 2020 mock draft.

[Anonymous Coward]

https://twitter.com/PFF_College/status/1100760727671971840

[Anonymous Coward]

It's amazing what can happen when kids with all the talent age a year and actually get a position coach. 

That has me slightly nervous still for 2019 with McElwain leaving and Gattis pulling double duty. Obviously WRs are a specialty for him (and at a standout level nationally), but where's the rub? We've seen many examples of late where OCs were stretched too thin between coordinating and their positional specialty. If Gattis masters both, I'll be over the moon, but it's too easy to remember what happened with Drevno at M or Warinner at OSU** who were  to go in expecting the best.

**(highest level OL assistants who bit off too much, becoming meh at both OC and OL at the end)

[Anonymous Coward]

https://mobile.twitter.com/fieldyates/status/1101170914304118786?s=21

[ELA]

It's amazing what can happen when kids with all the talent age a year and actually get a position coach.

That has me slightly nervous still for 2019 with McElwain leaving and Gattis pulling double duty. Obviously WRs are a specialty for him (and at a standout level nationally), but where's the rub? We've seen many examples of late where OCs were stretched too thin between coordinating and their positional specialty. If Gattis masters both, I'll be over the moon, but it's too easy to remember what happened with Drevno at M or Warinner at OSU** who were  to go in expecting the best.

**(highest level OL assistants who bit off too much, becoming meh at both OC and OL at the end)

My guess is that it has a ton to do with the catchability of the passes being thrown, which is an unmeasurable but real thing.  Lost in the MSU 2012 to 2013 fix was how many fewer drops MSU had in 2013 with the same WRs, but Cook, rather than Maxwell throwing the ball, even though Maxwell had the better measurables.  Several guys noted the catchability of Cook's rotation.

[Anonymous Coward]

No doubt, Patterson was huge for the offense. To be clear though, I was moreso using this graphic as an excuse to talk about the WRs in general. There are better ways to measure their improvement last year. And there the story is the same. The group got waaaaaaay better. A year of age and having a coach will do that. What did you think of my concern for 2019?

[ELA]

That was my point, I think it's more who is throwing them the ball, not who is coaching them.  Route running, even blocking, I'll go coaching, so maybe some credit there.  But catching the ball, I'm guessing that's 99.9% Patterson, mixed with natural improvement by being a year older.  So no, I'm not concerned, it's the same guys coming back.  Maybe some question of whether the guys behind them will suffer without having the same type of coach singularly focused on their development?  Maybe, but going into 2019 I wouldn't be concerned at all.

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks. That could be some reasonable optimism. Separately, there was no doubting their improvement as route runners. All of them except maybe Tarik Black struggled with that discipline and know how as TrFr, especially DPJ. Then fast forward 12 months and the leap was major, especially for DPJ. Ditto for run blocking, where they became one of the best in the conference. We can ding McElwain for plenty as a HC, recruiter, and PR handler of someone else's shark photos, but he's great with this position.

[ELA]

https://twitter.com/SamTomasi13/status/1101302099248406533

[Anonymous Coward]

Really, though; it's art.

[Anonymous Coward]

Michigan just started spring ball. Harbaugh confirms by presser that (a) Gattis has both designed the offense and will call plays and (b) it will be up-tempo.

Both are major changes and though the second doesn't guarantee success, it's a welcome change given the clock management in 2-minute drills. It was clear the offense wasn't previously designed to stop huddling and run down the play clock. Flexibility is good.

With almost everyone back on offense (only 1 OL, 1 RB and 1 TE left), there's a lot of potential for a fun first year for Gattis. Especially with this QB, these WRs, and by far the best OL of Harbaugh's tenure.

[ELA]

With almost everyone back on offense (only 1 OL, 1 RB and 1 TE left), there's a lot of potential for a fun first year for Gattis. Especially with this QB, these WRs, and by far the best OL of Harbaugh's tenure.

Agreed re: QB, WR, OL.  But I thought basically every RB is gone (Higdon, Evans, Samuels).  Isn't it just Tru Wilson and the freshmen?

[Anonymous Coward]

I was posting about starters, but being comprehensive is useful, so let's do that, too.

Higdon is gone. Evans is in purgatory. Those are the ones that matter. There's no word that Evans's absence is forever, but he'll obviously miss Spring Camp. Then there's O'Maury Samuels, but he left because he couldn't find his spot, which won't affect RB production unless the scholarship roster craters.

In any event, you're right if your thought is that RB is the weakest aspect of the offense. I liked Tru Wilson as reminiscent of Mike Hart last year**, and Harbaugh just reported that Christian Turner has "surged" to be the lead back, which is encouraging given what we saw of Wilson. And then there are the incoming TrFr. Charbonnet will have a lot to say about this, if he lives up to his HS laurels.

So even if it is the weakest part of the offense, that's more about the other positions being quite well off than this one being a pit.

---
**(the most decisive of the backs - great, quick decisions, always falls forward, good YPC [5.9] with low standard deviation, but not a burner and wasn't as well suited for the old offense as Higdon)

[Anonymous Coward]

This is the first or second offseason since maybe 2006 or 2003 that Michigan is favored by Vegas in every single game. I know opposing fans have the bias that Michigan is overranked in everything, but it's highly unusual this century for Michigan to be favored over OSU at all, let alone this much.

• -8.5 vs ND 
• -6 @Wisconsin
• -13.5 vs MSU
• -6.5 @PSU
• -6.5 vs OSU