Monday Presser 10-23-17: Jim Harbaugh Comment Count

Adam Schnepp

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[Upchurch]

“Hello. Got any questions?”
Can you talk about Lavert Hill and his first half of the season, how he’s come along in his confidence and getting better?

“Uh, yeah, he’s been very good. We see where he’s addressed his inappropriate gesture and discussed it and feels bad about it. Positive it won’t happen again. On the field, he’s been very good.”

Can you assess John O’Korn’s play Saturday and if I could piggyback, where is Brandon Peters right now with getting backup snaps since Wilton’s injury?

“Yeah, Brandon’s getting backup snaps.”

How has he progressed? Have you seen a lot of improvement out of him since he started getting more snaps?

“Yeah, he’s readying himself to play. He’s one play away right now and every day readying himself to be out there playing.”

And O’Korn Saturday, his play?

“Yeah. Won’t go into everything, but managed the game very well. Got us—everything communicated. Ran the offense very well. There was some duress and some plays that we could have made, et cetera. Go back and look at it, that’s what we’re in the process of doing. He’s—yeah, some good—kind of the theme for our offense—and there’s some things we missed, some opportunities out there, as well.”

You mentioned Brandon’s one play away. Do you want to try and get him some snaps in? He hasn’t gotten snaps really. Are you guys trying to make an effort to get him in or is that not really a priority at this point?

“Just go along the process of readying him to play. Backup quarterback always needs to be ready to play.”

[After THE JUMP: the message from here on and why a cliché is a cliché]

Dylan McCaffrey: how’s he been doing? What have you seen from him?

“He’s progressing. He’s number three and getting less reps with the ones and twos, but doing fine.”

What did you think of the defense? They gave up eight really big plays of 20 yards or more. This defense has done a nice job of limiting those. Was there a theme that you saw to why there were chunks or why it got away from them?

“Um, yeah. They got a couple of big running plays early and we’ve done a great job of taking away the run. Then dealing with taking away the run and the quarterback made some big throws down the field and they were able to get some big plays. First series, 62-yarder by Saquan and then the quarterback got out on some running plays as well, so yeah. Go back and attack it and get better.”

Juwann Bushell-Beatty started the last few games. Can you evaluate his performance and what you’ve seen from him?

“Yeah, I thought the line—if you’re watching the tape, the line played very physical. Their performance, same; some really good, some things we’d like to have done better. But Juwann’s a part of that line. Really thought they matched up physically and played flat hard. Played… I’m not gonna use the word “well” because we lost the game but yeah, there were some good things there.”

The passing game offense obviously still looking for consistency, but looking at Grant Perry, how important is he in helping jumpstart plays not just from the quarterback but how important is Grant Perry maybe kickstarting something with the wide receivers?

“Yeah, he’s been a guy that’s gotten open, and we’re very close on a couple balls to him in this game. Just out of the reach. Could he have gotten it? Could he have not? He’s been a consistently good performer.”

Have you noticed anything with Grant and discussions with wide receivers and maybe the quarterback in terms of sharper route-running? I think route-running’s been a problem here and there this season. Have you noticed anything like that with discussions and him taking it on himself?

“Yeah, taking it on together. He’s part of it. I wouldn’t say taking it on himself but we’ve been within the wide receiver, quarterback room and coaches, et cetera, he’s very attentive, very active in seeing this thing improve.”

You’ve been around football a long time. Player, coach, lot of different teams, lot of different situations. Young teams, veteran teams. When a young team like this gets humbled, what’s the best approach in your experience and how do you approach moving forward now?

“The team that goes through this understands it can have a great opportunity in understanding where it needs to be and a response, the response that comes, as coaches, as players. Coaches gotta keep coaching. Players find out what they’re made of from a competitive standpoint. There’s a great phrase: when the going gets tough, the tough get going. It’s a cliché, maybe call it a cliché, but clichés are usually clichés because they’re true.

“We control a lot, and that’s the other thing I want them to find out. Understand that you control what you control, and we control a lot. We control a lot as a ball club. Where we want this to be, then work back from that. Yes, there’s a standard. There’s a standard that we have to play to and need to to be at—but opportunity to learn that and go through that, that’s a tremendous opportunity to get the team to where it needs to be.”

At times like this where there’s criticism outside the building, how important is it for captains and vocal leaders to keep the negativity outside and not let it get in the locker room?

“Well, I just addressed that. I mean, the lesson of you control what you control, and that’s a lot. That’s mainly what I would hope our team will coach and will learn.”

I wonder if once you looked at the tape on defense whether you thought the problems were essentially execution problems or whether perhaps structurally Michigan should have been in more zone or if you’re not second-guessing yourself on that at all.

“Uh, no. No. We understand what the issues are and we’re addressing them. They’re plays we had defended and defended well and for a reason we weren’t in the proper gap, got out of the proper gap, and then that ball hit right back into that gap. Yeah, those are things we’ll address to the team and coach. Keep coaching. That’s what we do as coaches. Players learning, that’s the process. Going through it.”

Looked like Chase Winovich went out of the game, looked like he bumped knees or something. Is he okay?

“Yeah, he’s working through something. We’ll see better today what the extend of it is.”

I know you mentioned that cliché “the tough get going…”—

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

To some extent it’s a young group. Are you still looking to see how many of those tough guys you’ve got? In other years you find them faster? Still looking to see if you’ve got enough of the tough to get going?

“I believe we do. I believe that our team will respond.”

Past the halfway point in the season, I know that you said you have the final say in play-calling, correct?

“Yes, that’s what we said.”

Are you guys planning on changing anything for the rest of the year as far as the delegation of who’s doing what and more or maybe someone doing less or is it still the same plan the rest of the season?

“Yeah, we continue to look—I mean, every week we look at what we’re doing. You really study that: what we’re doing, who’s doing it, how they’re doing it. Those are the three things that you look at and look at what we’re doing, what we’re doing well, and continue to build on that. And things that we’re not doing well, we’ll do less of that and more of what we do well. That’s how I go about looking at the schematic part of it. Yeah, who’s doing it, how they’re doing it, the kind of effort they’re giving, and the standard of play. Those are the three things you look at.”

Can you assess Rashan Gary’s year and how is he different from a year ago?

“That’s a big question. He’s continued to be an ascending player. Tough, tough guy. Gritty teammate. Somebody that we’re counting on to respond right now that will respond.”

Can you talk about Juwann Bushell-Beatty and the progress you’ve seen him make this year, what he’s doing well, and what he needs to do better?

“Yeah, I think in there playing, being available, being durable, and improve. Play has improved. He’s striving to be even better, like we all are.”

You spent a good chunk of a season injured and on the sidelines here once. With Wilton, how does a guy like that keep his spirits up [and] stay into it mentally and do all the things he needs to do?

“Well, first and foremost, get healthy. That’s where you concentrate most of your efforts. That’s where most of his efforts are being concentrated. Every spare minute of the day he’s getting treatment, they tell me, the doctors and trainers. He’s at practice. I know he’s chomping at the bit. There’s bones healing back together. That takes time. So yeah, just the amount of time that that takes. So, he’s been a good teammate. I know he’s chomping at the bit.”

I just wanted to follow up. When I was asking about Peters, I was just wondering would you like to see him get some good game-time snaps, get him some experience? Not surrendering the season and looking to the next, but just to get him into the flow of the game.

“As we said, been getting him the practice snaps and there is improvement being made there. Yeah, that’s taking place, Angelique. Crystal ball?”

Crystal ball.

“Don’t have one.”

Did you consider bringing him in late in the game against Penn State?

“Yeah.”

Harbaugh left the podium and came back a minute later to say that they were going to put Peters in the game after Tommy Stevens fumbled with about three minutes left in the game, but obviously Stevens was down before the ball came out and Michigan didn’t get another offensive position.

Comments

rindyn

October 23rd, 2017 at 7:20 PM ^

Amongst the defensive line which is the most important group defensively. We have one good linebacker, young corners and very average safeties athleticism wise. Penn State clearly looked like they made the most of the bye week in terms of preparation and they executed about as well as you could ask. We probably should have seen this coming, especially since we knew our offense couldn't hang blow for blow. We can question certain aspects of the team but at the end of the day this entire board has to ask itself one very important question; do you trust this coaching staff? Bc I most certainly do.

I'm sick of everyone jumping off ship or getting ready to mutiny the captain bc things have started to get a little hairy. You gotta stay strong. We expect our teams to fight in thick of adversity yet as fans we can't be a touch more level headed? It really frustrates the hell out of a guy when no one wants to look for positives and keep a level head during tough times.

RedRum

October 23rd, 2017 at 10:33 PM ^

Lloyd Carr had talent with which he didn't do anything productive. JH doesn't have a lot of talent. Our most promising receiver, black, and our QB is out.

Given what a spoiled shit head I was when I was in college, taking each loss as a personal affront to my well being, I hope the detractors are mostly college kids with my lack of maturity at that age.

Go Blue

You Only Live Twice

October 23rd, 2017 at 10:55 PM ^

rindyn.  Ironic how some fans expect everything from the coaches and players yet can't handle the idea of some idiot from another fan base laughing at us.  We can't control other fanbases.  We have to have thicker skin.

HimJarbaugh

October 24th, 2017 at 10:11 AM ^

Look, all that you said is true. The problem is that it is also true for some teams that seem to have compenstated for that. PSU's OL has 4 freshmen and sophomores. MSU's DL had a walk-on that made the right side of Michigan's OL look silly. Hell, most of their starters are sophomores yet they walked into Michigan Stadium and played like anything but that.

When you ask if somebody trusts the staff, most will say that they do. You can also question the results when there are no signs of improvement and when playcalling does not suit the strengths (or weaknesses) of the team.

"We should have seen this coming" is fine to think now, but do you think Harbaugh and his staff are in a coaches meeting the week before the game thinking "Boy, we're gonna get blown up"? I don't think so.

BrightonB

October 23rd, 2017 at 11:00 PM ^

Was very unlike them.  A consistent all game was that QB TD by PSU when ALL the linebackers only followed Barkley and no one "stayed home".  For whatever reason stuff like that happened all night.  I know Don 100% teachesknowing their roll.  I personally give them a break.  They were good last year and this year they have surprised me by really not missing a beat until this game.  Barkley is a pretty good back and PSU just plain played a sound ballgame. 

I know we all want to see Peters play a few series "just because" and why not.  I actually thought O'Korn looked a bit better against PSU .. but we just need a couple more pieces of the puzzle for the O-Line as well.

I think you are right though ..... our D is going seriously go off on Rutgers.  No offense to them but I hope we seriously crush them and get up by 2 or 3 scores and they throw Peters in .. I just want to see a glimpse even if he stumbles a bit.

buddha

October 24th, 2017 at 1:45 AM ^

I hope you are right. Unfortunately, I expect Urban to look at this video and exploit every weakness of our defense. I hate feeling so pessimistic about OSU, but there's nothing about this team that gives me hope.



Assuming our O cannot move the ball, I fully expect the D to be gassed by OSU in the second half (like PSU).

michfn2

October 23rd, 2017 at 7:27 PM ^

is going to have a meltdown like Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men during a presser after being asked about Brandon Peters.

991GT3

October 23rd, 2017 at 8:02 PM ^

doesn't mean there are jumping ship. There are legitmate questions that need to be answered like how in the hell can you continually to put a slow LB on Barkley who continues to the beat the line backer? Or why not play Peters when it was clear midway throught the third quarter you had not chance to win with O'Korn. No doubt he would have faced a fearsome rush but let him exdpereince it and see what he can do under very diffcult circumstances.

Criticism from outside S. Hall is good. It's accountablitity.

BlueMk1690

October 23rd, 2017 at 8:06 PM ^

because they're commonly held as true but may upon closer inspection not be universally valid or merely the visible symptom of more complex issues.

With that out of the way, I can only say that these press conferences are insufferable. All of these questions are worded in such a passive aggressive manner and the answers are tip toeing around saying anything of note. Now I don't expect Harbaugh to say anything of note, but what kind of journalists come up with questions like that. It's not a criticism of Harbaugh who is well within his rights to not go in for any of their crap, but a criticism of 'media people' who think this counts as a job done.

It's like a bizarro Baghdad Bob situation where none of the questions are actually asked about the obvious stuff that everyone knows they wanna talk about and write about but can't muster the courage to ask a direct question on.

"So, Muhammad, can you talk about the performance of the Republican Guard today?"

"We've seen some good things out there, tough group, really hung in there."

"What do you make of the performance of General al-Sahawi?"

"I think he's done a real job in a challenging situation. We've seen some things out there we like. Now as his army corps was surrounded and had to surrender, I'm not gonna say it was a great performance, but there's positives to take from it."

"There is some criticism coming from the outside and you're facing a degree of adversity here. Do you think this is a great opportunity for everyone to get better?

"Absolutely, I mean this is a tough combat situation and I think it's a slow process of getting everyone involved fully engaged and ready to do what has to be done."

"There has been some talk that chemical weapons could be at some point getting an opportunity. Are there preparations on that?"

"They are very useful, and we are certainly holding all options open here. We have been running a lot of practices for that stuff."

"To follow up on that, do you think there might be a time for them to be used in actual combat?"

"They are in the process of getting ready to be used as far as I can tell and we'll evaluate as things go forward, but we're happy with the progress we make as a group at this point."

"Finally, we've seen some difficult situations for some of the tank crews out there. In previous conflicts, you had used some of these to great effect. Do you think this is a learning situation for them and how soon do you think they will be in a position to repeat that success?"

"We are training every day and I think they have the right attitude to look for areas to improve on a daily basis. As commanders, officers, soldiers, I think we all work hard  every day and keep focusing on the things we gotta get better at."

"Do you think that your armed forces will be able to correct the things that you identify as issues soon, like, in this conflict?"

"I believe so, yes. Absolutely. It might be a cliche, but you know as they say, diamonds form under pressure and I think we got the right stuff here in this group to make that happen."

Abram

October 23rd, 2017 at 8:55 PM ^

But what else can he say? You keep working to get better, deal with the people and the situation you have. That's leadership. That people who have been watching sports for years are still on the "backup quarterback" issue is just shockingly stupid. "Put in the backup QB." That's the oldest cliche in sports. They have a bunch of games left and have to play the best guy.

RedRum

October 23rd, 2017 at 10:44 PM ^

Iraq should have ditched Sadam for Kim Jun ILL. Kim doesn't lose any tweet battles to his rivals. When kadaffi wasn't being kadaffied, he was undefeated. Iraq should join the Soviet Bloc conference. But you know, Sadam totally powder bombed his intra-state rivals. Go Sadam beat Kurds!

Francisco133

October 23rd, 2017 at 8:44 PM ^

This coach sucks. We need a coach like Urban who doesn't talk shit, just wins and recruits. But I guess we are happy being the 4 th maybe 5th best team in the conference

You Only Live Twice

October 23rd, 2017 at 11:05 PM ^

He adjusts his presser style to the situation at hand yet maintains complete mastery of the process.  So damn intelligent.

Would not trade having Harbaugh as our leader for anyone.

 

BBQJeff

October 23rd, 2017 at 11:32 PM ^

When Michigan has the second highest paid coach in all of college football you can bet that expectations are gonig to be high and when said expectations aren't met, criticisms are going to fly.   And they should.   From my perspective the coaching staff has failed this season (so far).   The lack of player development on the offensive side is downright alarming.   We are seeing dowright ineptitude on offense.   The O-line is the most glaringly obvious low-point, but it doesn't stop there.   Athletic receivers failing to get open pretty much ever.   Terrible RB blocking.   Tons of dropped easily catchable balls.  Way too many turnovers.   Tons of penalties, some of which negated explosive plays (our O doesn't produce many of those).   If the incompetence were limited to a couple of players, well, that would be on them.   That it appears to be so systemic, that looks like a coaching breakdown.  

Yes, this is a very young and inexperienced team that just lost a ton of starters to the NFL.  That is what OSU was last year and yet they managed to make the playoff.   Worse, this young team hasn't shown any signs of improvement through 7 games.   If anything the blocking seems to be getting worse and the receiver issues seem to be getting worse.   

Does that mean I favor firing the coaching staff and starting over, again?   Absolutely not.   Does this cause me to question how good of a coach Harbaugh is?   Absolutely.   Do I trust this coaching staff?   No, I don't.   I refuse to accept on faith that this coaching staff is excellent and that greatness is right around the corner.    In a vacuum, the Penn State game isn't a huge indictment of this coaching staff.   Games like this just happen every once in a while (think OSU in '15).   It sucks but losses like this don't define a program or a season.  The problem is this game didn't take place in a vacuum and the team's obvious deficiencies were on full display yet again.    How many disappointments do we have to endure before that 'bright future' becomes the present?

One last point regarding Harbaugh - in 2 and 1/2 seasons at Michigan he is 3-6 in 1 score games.   In 4 of those losses Michigan had the lead very late in the 4th quarter.   

Hopefully a switch gets flipped and we see competence in these remainging 5 games.  Hopefully, the lack of player development on offense is a bit of a fluke and this team is much better next season.   I am not assuming either of those things are gong to happen.  Basically, I'll believe it when I see it.  

1VaBlue1

October 24th, 2017 at 8:34 AM ^

What did you expect from a team returning 5 of 22 starters?  Everybody was looking at 2-4 losses in the Spring, and now everyone expects undefeated.  And just how haven't you seen improvement? 

 - The OL is getting some run push now, where there was none in the first 4 games - and its coming from both the IZ and gap blocking schemes!  But it's still missing some athletic-ness and raw talent to turn any corner

 - RBs have seen cuts better the last few weeks, have started getting more involved with the short passing game, and have started picking up rushers (not good at it, but at leasst they're finally hitting the guy!)

 - DPJ is getting more involved as he learns more about being a WR, but still has a long way to go

 - JOK...  He doesn't have much room for improvement, but has played better each game since MSU

Yeah, the improvements have been hard to notice, but stop expecting the Patriots and you can see it starting to take hold.  I do agree that some offensive coaching adjustments are needed - a real WR coach, and more help for Jay with RBs.  And the Frey/Drevno thing needs to be sorted out.  But improvements are being made - maybe not at the pace we'd all like to see, but there's not a lot to work with.

Harbaugh wants to run a pro offense by rolling juniors and seniors out there.  You can't do that unless you start teaching it by actually running that offense.  Growing pains suck, but they're necessary.

HimJarbaugh

October 24th, 2017 at 10:37 AM ^

You aren't getting it - the improvement you are citing is nothing. What happened to PSU after they got destroyed by Michigan last year? What about USC last year after Stanford and Utah? OSU after they lost to Virginia Tech in 2014?

It's hard to stomach paying Harbaugh and his staff so much money with results that really aren't a lot better than Hoke in YEAR 3. It is also very clear that the playcalling is stale and rather than shaking things up and getting creative, there's a 27 for 27 stubborness about their approach. Shame too because I have seen JOK hit make some really nice throws, including against PSU.

Mgoczar

October 24th, 2017 at 10:48 AM ^

I think it is hard to show improvement after MSU - which I believe they are improving - against the likes of PSU. They ran into Buzz saw. If in the next three games they aren't consistently improving then we have a problem. 

I think they will continue to improve and give us all optimism heading into Wisconsin. If they do that then that is a positive trajectory. If we don't then harbaugh isn't stupid: expect shakeups. 

Icehole Woody

October 24th, 2017 at 8:09 AM ^

Given the new bodies on the OL, WR, and defense 2017 was going to be be a "rebuilding year."  With Speight and Black out I think we're seeing about what can be expected from such a young team.