Wednesday Presser 10-18-17: Tim Drevno Comment Count

Adam Schnepp

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[Fuller]

How much improvement did you see from your guys up front in that Indiana game?

“I saw a lot of improvement. It was good. We still need to play better offensively and the guys up front, but when you rush for 271 yards there’s a lot of positivity. Guys are moving guys off the ball and protection was better, so it was a step forward as we prepare against Penn State this week.”

How much improvement have you seen out of Mike Onwenu?

“A lot, a lot of improvement. You can see that he’s moving his feet, he’s understanding it, he’s finishing. He could finish a little bit better, like all of them can, everybody on the offense. But you can see it. Light bulb’s going on, which is neat. He’s playing good football—really good football.”

How did Juwann Bushell-Beatty do in his first full contest?

“Juwann did a nice job. He competed well. There’s some thing we’ve got to clean up but he did a nice job for his first start here. He had a false start there at one point in time in the game but for the most part his protection was good. We’ve just got to clean up some of the run blocking things, but it was real positive.”

[After THE JUMP: Tim Drevno, an American Legion baseball field, a water pump, and a metaphor for the offense]

With the development of the offensive line as a whole, where does it need to continue to improve as a unit?

“I think sustaining drives in terms of not having a run-through like we did, like tackles for losses. You don’t want that. Guys just can’t run through; that’s unacceptable. That little second last strain on the pass-pro or picking up something that somebody’s not getting nicked or hit or dumped—I mean, those are the things you want to eliminate when it’s flawless when you’re up there up front. You’re running the ball efficiently at all times; you’re gaining ground forward, not backwards; ball carrier isn’t getting tackled in the backfield or a guy’s coming off and hitting the quarterback or somebody’s late or missing a free runner on a game or a blitz or what have you or just a regular 3-technique or 5-technique coming. Those are the things that when you see that, that’s the consistency that you want.”

When you’re having troubles with that kind of consistency, what kind of difficulties does that make for you as a play-caller? And I know you guys split up duties.

“That doesn’t affect me. I have a short-term memory. I look at what they’re doing; that’s not going to try to talk me out of doing something. Unfortunately, sometimes they’ll get ya. They’re gonna get ya, but you can’t become paralyzed as a play-caller— ‘Oh, I can’t go back to that’—because then before you know it you look at your whole call sheet and you’re going what can you run? You don’t want to get into that. That’s not how you want to operate.”

So you have to stick with your--

“Original plan, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely, yeah.”

Can you guys be a better screen team than you’ve shown?

“I think yeah, I think everybody could be. There’s a lot of things we need to do better but it’s just—you know, different defenses present different things, and sometimes maybe screens or maybe the go route or maybe an off-tackle play, whatever that is, maybe that’s not what needs to happen in the game. There’s other things that might be better as we break them down and see them.”

I wasn’t talking about play-calling as much as when you have those opportunities it seems you’re just a hair off here or there, like the Karan Higdon play, for example, last week.

“Yeah, I mean, there’s a lot of things we broke down in. It wasn’t just that one. There’s a lot of things. Yeah, anybody can look at it and go, ‘Hey, that play failed. Why?’ You can go through the tape. There’s a lot of other things that guys did.”

What jumps out about Penn State’s defense on film?

“Very well coached. They like to pressure. I think their front is a very good front. The linebackers are very good. Secondary: very good change of direction. Really play very well in man coverage. They’re the ninth-ranked team in the nation defensively, so they’re doing a nice job there, and coach Pry is a very good defensive coordinator and they’re playing at a high level.”

I know you guys are mixing in a lot of zone and a lot of gap stuff and you want to do both, but have you gotten a sense of what this line does best? Do you feel like you’re closer to that in terms of scheme?

“No, you’re always trying to develop more things and different types of schemes, and again, you might see that on film in different games or whatever but when you face a new defense there’s different things you want to do to attack that defense. So, you might branch out. You might go somewhere else to try and create a play or create more yards on the field.”

You said the offensive line made some strides. Are they getting closer to that where the foundational stuff is there and they know what they’re doing on certain things?

“Yeah, absolutely, and you see it the same way I do: you can see that they’re making developments, they’re making strides, they’re better. And each game they’ve gotten better. It’s like the whole offense.

“I mean, I’ll tell you a story. When I started out in this profession in 1993 I married my wife Shannon and I took her to Bozeman, Montana. My first job was a graduate assistant at Cal State Fullerton, but in the summer of 1993 we went to Montana State. She enrolled in school there, we were living in married student housing, I was making $12,000, we’re living in a 600 square foot little home on campus in married student housing and get this: the washer was in the bathroom, the dryer was in the bedroom.

“But that next summer I got a job as a groundskeeper for the American Legion team, the Bozeman Bucks, which up there in that area American Legion baseball is huge. I mean, everybody goes out. It’s pretty cool stuff. Cliff Hysell was the head coach there at Montana State. So, it was a chance for me to make $6,000 for the summer and I was fired up and the first day I showed up on the job the guy, the head of the Bozeman Bucks, wrote me a check for $3,000. I was like, Wow, this is big time.

“But there’s one day I was out there—I had to mow as a groundskeeper—and I got out there and didn’t bring any water. It was hot; up in that Big Sky area, 95 degrees, it can be hot, sunny, blue sky. So I had to mow the field. It’s like 380 feet to deep center field, but it was a motorized mower. You with me? You pull it—rrrrrrrrr. It wasn’t one you ride around, like the beautiful ones. They didn’t have it in the budget. Maybe they paid me too much, I don’t know.

“But I didn’t have any water, but there was a water well out back. You guys know what a water well is? A water pump? Okay, so the water pump, I didn’t have any water so I went out the back gates, tired, hot, pushing, and you gotta empty the bag, right? Carry over to the dumpster, pmmmff. I mean, there’s a lot of maneuvering going on. It was good, I really enjoyed it. Very therapeutic. Very therapeutic.

“So I went back to the back there to get some water because I was thirsty, so I started pumping and I started getting five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten—come on, is it gonna give? Come on, let’s go. It’s gonna give. Let’s go, come on. So I get to like twenty, twenty-five, I don’t remember the number, so I turn back around and walk through the fence and go back to mow. And this whole time I’m thinking, If I went one more pump, is this thing gonna give? Just one more pump. So I mowed some more, went out back, get to fifty. Fifty-five. Sixty. Come on, man, you gotta give. Come on, give it. You know what I’m saying, give it. Nothing. But still in my mind, I’m thinking, would it give?

“Go back and mow some more. Get back out there. Seventy-five. Eighty. BAM! Water comes out. Wow, this is great! I’m thirsty, it’s quenching the thirst. I feel great. But the one thing I really learned from that whole experience was you gotta keep pumping before it’s gonna give, and I really believe offensively, it’s gonna give.

“You look at some passes we missed deep or getting tackled in the backfield or big runs—we are on a path for great things to happen. We’ve just got to keep pumping, and we’re doing that as an offensive coaching staff to finish. We’re on our way, but I thought I’d share that story with you. It was a good story, right? It’s something that I’ve learned as a coach or just as a father: you’ve got to keep pumping.

“I chase perfection every day. I walk in here every day: how great can I be? I’m going to fail. I’m a human being, but I’m gonna learn from my mistakes, I’m going to become a better teacher, I’m going to be a better father, a better husband by experiences that I experience throughout daily life. That’s something I apply in the coaching profession and as a husband and a father.”

Jim talked about the need to get open receivers—

“You don’t like the story?”

[much laughter]

“You’re jumpin’ around!”

How close is it?

“Very close, very close. We’ve got to make plays out there. Everybody’s got to make plays. The offensive line, the right tackle, the tight end, the receiver, the fullback, halfback, receiver, the quarterback—whoever it is, this game’s about making plays. You all have seen that. You see it every day. It’s about making plays.”

We saw Kareem [Walker] have a nice run. What does Kareem have to do to earn some more carries, and I know Karan [Higdon] has something to do with that.

“Yeah, Kareem did a nice job. Just keep working, keep competing every day, keep running the playbook. That was nice to see him [inaudible]. That was cool.”

How far has he come since the first day he got here?

“A long ways. A long ways, and they all have. You come here as a true freshman, there’s steps to take but he’s done a real nice job. Keeps getting better.”

How much longer until you get water out of that well do you think? You don’t set a timetable, but do you feel like the water’s inching up?

“Absolutely it is. Absolutely it is.”

How close are you?

“We’re very close. Very close. Very close. I believe it every day. You gotta have faith. If you don’t have faith, you’re going the wrong direction. I have tremendous faith in this team offensively and the coaches.”

Jim keeps talking about precision football and it’s a really hard time to get there but everybody has messed up. Are you getting a sense that the screw-ups are fewer and fewer?

“Yeah, absolutely. Every day we’re getting better. Every day. And you saw that in the last game. We’re making strides. We chase perfection. It’s getting closer.”

This is a fanbase question: they want to know why Brandon Peters isn’t the one pumping the well. What does he have to do to get—

“Everybody goes up and pumps the well every day.”

What would he have to do to put himself in position for playing time?

“Just keep doing what we’re doing like everybody. We throw the balls out there every day and challenge our quarterback, but just like a receiver or an O-lineman or a quarterback or what have you, just keep working every day.”

Comments

JTrain

October 19th, 2017 at 6:07 AM ^

I can’t see changing coordinators every time something doesn’t go right....

Everyone’s answer is “hire the next guy and pay him millions. It’ll work!.”

What happens when it doesn’t. Lack of continuity. Trusted relationships with players and recruits and players busted. Start over.

I don’t think it’s the answer.

I think this fan bas expected a national championship in year three or four. And now that winning the big ten looks improbable people are starting to panic.

It’s not always realistic to assume that just because you got your guy that winning it all is automatic. Sometimes you just have to do things the old fashioned way. And that unfortunately takes time. Hope Harbaugh is around for a good long time and figures it out.

Hail Harbo

October 19th, 2017 at 7:34 AM ^

We convinced ourselves there is such a things Harbaughnizing, a phenomenon in which the culture is changed such that there will be no drop off year over year.  Certainly not to the point where year three is more a reminder of the inglorious clusterfucks of Hoke 2014 than Harbaugh 2015.  I'm quite sure you never thought that year three of Harbaughnizing would be the second of two steps back, but here we are.

UMForLife

October 18th, 2017 at 6:45 PM ^

I am impressed with the questions. I felt like he reads this blog and other blogs that are questioning his OC responsibility, play calling and lack of improvement. I know he couldn't say much about Peters but would have loved another story. That was a cool story about persistence and not be a quitter.

If the offense shows more improvement this week, the persistence with pumping has worked. Looking forward to a great game.

Night_King

October 18th, 2017 at 6:51 PM ^

I hope no one takes offense to this, but Drevno has to be the worst coach to interview, other than maybe Pep Hamilton, on the whole staff. Gives you absolutely nothing in a presser. I thought the questions were pretty good, too. He always says stuff like, "going real well, room to improve" ....

Need more Don Brown interviews!

Ron Utah

October 18th, 2017 at 7:05 PM ^

I know you guys are mixing in a lot of zone and a lot of gap stuff and you want to do both, but have you gotten a sense of what this line does best? Do you feel like you’re closer to that in terms of scheme?

“No, you’re always trying to develop more things and different types of schemes, and again, you might see that on film in different games or whatever but when you face a new defense there’s different things you want to do to attack that defense. So, you might branch out. You might go somewhere else to try and create a play or create more yards on the field.”

 

This response, IMO, is precisely the problem with our offensive approach.  It's been mentioned many times before--the staff appears to value running whatever plays they believe will take advantage of a defense, instead of creating an identity and forcing the defense to react.  We don't need more plays, we need more plays we can consistently execute.  Make every team fear the Counter-trap play, the iso play, the power OT--whatever plays you want.  Know those plays so well and practice them so hard that mistakes are habitually eliminated.  Have 6-10 passing plays (route combinations) that run off of those plays, and rep them to death.  Not just each week, but every year.  Then fill out the playbook with other stuff that you practice less (especially during camp) and can use as change-ups, gadgets, etc, to keep defenses off balance.  Throw in a few new wrinkles each week.

The constant changing of the offense--not just the gameplan, but the whole offense--does not develop long-term success and prevents you from establishing an identity.  I've said it before and I'll say it again: every consistently successful Head Coach (and program) has an offensive identity that they stick to regardless of their opponent.  Yes, you vary your scheme and gameplan, but we need a set of plays that we can execute consistently more than we need to run 35 formations in a game.

I hope the last two weeks are the beginning of an identity for this team.  Not just for this season, but for the future as well.

Jonesy

October 18th, 2017 at 7:35 PM ^

except that doing just what you are maligning is what other team's coaches claim make playing against Michigan so difficult and is exactly what everyone on this blog was excited about Harbaugh doing i.e. the stanfordization of the offense.

HateSparty

October 18th, 2017 at 9:14 PM ^

I don't get this meme, clear identity. This is a run to set up the pass offense. Neither of which are functioning well right now. They have fullback and tight ends. They mix in trips and four wides occasionally. They d sure to run.



This is known.

Ziff72

October 18th, 2017 at 9:58 PM ^

I understand your thoughts but your going to be frustrated for a long time. Harbaugh believes(like Belichick) that you adapt your game plan to your opponent. Not saying one approach is better than the other. I'm just telling you that your idea of perfecting a few plays is not going to be what we do.

Also people do realize Stanford lost to SDSU? Stanford is not who we want to be.

AmayzNblue

October 19th, 2017 at 11:04 AM ^

Is apparently too slow to get open. He’s solid for blocking but he hasn’t shown the ability to get open. So, you’re dismissing the argument based on 1 upperclassmen WR who hasn’t seen the field much in his time at M?



Seems logical...

Kevin13

October 19th, 2017 at 9:44 AM ^

that has an identity but doesn't have a pourous OL, or WR's that can't get open, or a QB that can lead a team.  We just don't have all the parts to have an identity. They have to work with what they have and try to scheme against what the defense is showing.

This team is on a path to plug those holes and have that identity, but you have to have a lot of good working parts to  be successful.

Ron Utah

October 19th, 2017 at 2:56 PM ^

Disagree.  We need to have a system in place so that our young guys are getting good at our scheme before they have to start.  Having an identity doesn't mean that you can only run those plays, but it helps the players understand and improve in the most essential skills.

jgoblue11

October 19th, 2017 at 12:22 AM ^

that catch still needed to set up a touchdown. not 100% sure if he catches it we score. but still, that was a wide open pass.
I've noticed too, obviously, these young wide outs, have struggled to get open. that is absolutely a youth thing. Butt, Cresson and especially Darboh, are clearly high talent targets that we just don't have this year. backup QB, and really young wideouts=slow offense. next year will be better.

jblaze

October 18th, 2017 at 8:55 PM ^

The execution is a problem because most of the O is young. I mean if we had a RR type offense it’s probably easier for younger players to execute, but then we have a more simplified O that really good coaches would stop anyway. There’s a reason why experience leads to quality.