It's tough to chisel meaning out of an unpadded practice that's just position drills. Your author was also unprepared for the sheer length of the thing, which was scheduled for over two hours, and had to bail early when the infant strapped to his chest demanded egress. Hopefully I did not miss some whiz-bang stuff. I focused almost entirely on the offense because we know more or less what the D is going to be like.

Anyway:

The Gattis-ing. Prepare for QB claps, folks: WRs and TEs run a drill where a simulated QB claps and then they go on backwards motion of the guy's leg. That's an indicator that the sideline-call spread is making its return. There weren't any indications I could pick up of an ability to go tempo on folks. I looked. I'm sure that's a focus, but one that will have to wait for the spring game for anyone to confirm or dis-confirm that.

There were also snaps on which WRs went on simulated snaps from under center, so I don't expect the pro style stuff to go away completely.

[After the JUMP: various other tea leaves about the revamped offense]

Does the Gattis-ing extend to QB drills? I've been to a couple of these open practices over the years and don't recall anything like the QB drills that Michigan was running. These included:

• A rapid-fire drill where the QB got tossed a ball repeatedly and had to get it out immediately.
• A drill in which two QBs ran in a circle and tossed the ball to each other. They would occasionally have to reverse direction.
• A drill in which WRs would disappear behind a large padded wall-type substance and pop out for a quick pass. These were rough for the WR corps, FWIW.
• A "who throws a shoe" drill in which QBs would drop back, dodge a foam trapezoid that was hurled at them, and then throw.

The impression I got was that there was a lot more focus on getting the ball out quickly and functioning on the move. The shoe drill was the only one that seemed more about hanging in the pocket and finding something downfield. I may be completely off here and this is just stuff Harbaugh always does; I may be desperately hoping that Michigan throws one frickin' slant in the aftermath of Pepxit.

One more data point in favor of short stuff: long segment with the TEs where they ran choice routes, which are routes in which you run about 5-8 yards downfield and then break away from wherever your defender is. There seemed to be an emphasis on quick decision-making on shorter routes.

A certain vibe. Combine the previous two bullets with the OL running what seemed to be exclusively zone drills and the practice gave off a very Rich Rod feel, at least on offense. This is a good thing when you might have the best WR corps in the country and a QB like Patterson.

It seems like Michigan's counterpunch to inside zone, which I expect to be their base play, has to be power stuff, because Onwenu and Ruiz seem like awkward fits for outside zone. If Ruiz can run OZ at his size, forget it, Rimington and off to the NFL. Survey says… maybe?

 

to be fair to Harbaugh, Dwumfour did get hurt in the bowl [Marc-Gregor Campredon]

Motivational tactic. Harbaugh's weird press conference assertion that Mike Dwumfour and Donovan Peoples-Jones had soft-tissue injuries that could last the whole season seemed like motivational balderdash when he said it, and sure enough Dwumfour practiced. Dwumfour disclosed what his injury was and when it happened on twitter:

I did not tear my planta fascia in the bowl hame I tore it against Maryland and still played did not miss any games I don’t know where this false information is coming from. Rehab is going great I will be back healthy very soon in Jesus name!!

— Michael DwumFour (@HON5H0) April 3, 2019

"I don't know where this false information is coming from"… uh well you see I want it to be clear that it isn't a blog and we can just drop it otherwise.

DPJ did not participate. Given the variance between the assertion about Dwumfour and the apparent reality I would assume that there's a small chance indeed that whatever his issue is lingers another five months.

The eye test. Seeing Jalen Mayfield next to Ryan Hayes was seeing an OL next to a guy who's still a year away from being an OL. Mayfield looks the part. I'd still give Stueber the edge in their battle at right tackle since he played about two games worth of snaps and looked decent doing so, but having Mayfield blow by him would be good news.

Also in eye test:

• Erik All is a holy lock to redshirt, unless Michigan wants to play him at WR.
• Rumors that Mike Onwenu has a more plausible claim to being the 350 pounds he's listed at remain unconfirmed despite your correspondent staring at him for a long time trying to figure it out. He is large, and I cannot tell whether he is Large Large or Huge Large.
• Ruiz is also Large Large but is not Huge Large.
• Mike Sainristil is tiny but looks fun. Noticeably more smooth than many of his colleagues at WR. (DPJ and Collins did not participate.)
• Mustafa Muhammad still looks spindly. Nate Eubanks is now a bonafide TE, if he still seemed like a big WR last year.

Yikes. Michigan's options at RB were Ben VanSumeren and walk-ons. Turner and Charbonnet need to get healthy, and hopefully Chris Evans can toe the lines he has to toe to get back.

Lining up all over. Josh Uche split his time between the DL group and the LB group but was mostly at LB. With Mike Danna coming in this fall I assume he'll start at WDE, with Uche reprising his rush specialist role and adding some snaps in base packages. I wonder if we might see more 3-3-5. The 3-3-5 has never been a good rush D for M—it's mostly been awful, in fact—but given the situation at DT and the presence of a guy like Uche it might be an option.

The swap back. Phil Paea was back at DT. Usually switching back to a position you switched away from is a bad sign, but in this case Michigan has a rock-solid two-deep at center and needs DT bodies.

Zoning it. The one item on D that seemed like a notable change: there was a lot of time spent zoning simulated crossing routes. That's the obvious, necessary response after the unprecedented debacle last November. Also on the docket: a lot of simulated WR formations in which folks would point out who's got who, with a lot of unbalanced formations to decipher.

The giant ball. Many defensive drills ended with players grabbing a ball about three feet in diameter and lifting it up. As simulated tackles go this is pretty good: you reach down, arms wide, wrap your arms around something, and then secure it to lift. You want to hit low and explode up to stall momentum.