Mr. Yost

August 11th, 2017 at 7:17 AM ^

Agree. A lot of folks forgot about Harbaugh and company ranking him the #3 best player on the team a couple of years ago.

He's got a shot to be a real force in the middle and someone to carry the torch from Glasgow and pass it to Solomon after the confetti falls in Game 15.

trueblueintexas

August 11th, 2017 at 3:53 AM ^

Thanks for posting. Hearing Pep talk about the D first and foremost is interesting. I hope the depth develops to keep the team fresh. If so, could be a really fun year as the offense continues to round into form.

sum1valiant

August 11th, 2017 at 6:25 AM ^

I think anyone that gets to watch this team on a daily basis is naturally going to talk about the defense first, it's a special unit.
What I'm most excited about is the number of naturally athletic playmakers we have on offense. The defense will carry this team; however, for the first time in a long time, I feel that we have enough true gamebreakers (albeit young and inexperienced) on the offense that can make plays to win a game where the defense isn't firing on all cylinders.

bamf16

August 11th, 2017 at 11:18 AM ^

This part really stood out to me. I went back and watched every offensive stat from last season, and Wilton Speight was better than I'd remembered at the "ball control" style passes. But besides the long pass to Darboh for the GW TD against Wisconsin, there isn't much against the better competition. Without the wide angle or end zone coaches cam, I can't really comment conclusively about the effects on the running game, but it's plausible that the lack of a downfield passing game significantly affected the running game.

“The big play was maybe a little absent from our offense last year. You felt like it was numbing repetition of three and five-yard gains and the occasional big catch, but not maybe the big catch and run, or the home run. So, we would like to be the beneficiary of some of those this year and help our defense out a little bit that way."

OwenGoBlue

August 11th, 2017 at 11:53 AM ^

There was an extra guy in the box pretty much Iowa through FSU. Hoping they can really make teams pay for that this year and open things up in the run game.

Schiano likes to keep an extra guy in the box with a single high safety (think Durkin with more zone looks mixed in) so here's hoping the young receivers go Tarik Black spring game on that for 3-4 years.

clarkiefromcanada

August 11th, 2017 at 1:12 PM ^

Seems that he took some advantage in the NFL using a more mobile QB...

With an explosive athlete taking the snap from center, the 49ers create problems for defensive coordinators with the threat of the quarterback run. In theory, defenses don't account for the quarterback in the running game, utilizing the extra defender as a free hitter in the box. (Defenses employ eight-man fronts on early downs against two-back sets because it gives them a numerical advantage at the point of attack when the quarterback isn't used as a runner or blocker.) Kaepernick's presence eliminates that advantage and provides San Francisco with a variety of ways to exploit defensive tactics.

These exploits summarily listed in the linked article: 

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000102766/printable/colin-kaeperni…

 

O S Who

August 11th, 2017 at 4:43 AM ^

someone mentioned on the 247 message board that now that scout has been moved to 247s system, the premium subscribers at scout have access to the premium posts at 247 -- but the premium subscibers at 247 dont have access to the premium posts at scout.

can anyone with a premium scout account confirm that they have access to 247's content?

CollegeFootball13

August 11th, 2017 at 9:21 AM ^

But you don't have access to Scout's premium information. You can post on their message boards with your 247 account as if it were a free Scout account.

The question that OP had was that apparently Scout paid members have access to all of 247's premium content, but 247's paid members don't have access to any of Scout's premium content. Which is the case for me.

EastCoast Esq.

August 11th, 2017 at 11:01 AM ^

Confirmed by Steve Lorenz. Apparently it isn't supposed to be that way, but he didn't clarify how it IS supposed to be. He sent in an inquiry today.

I'd say hold off on a Scout subscription IF you are only getting it for dual access, because they may not have 247 access in the near future.

O S Who

August 11th, 2017 at 1:34 PM ^

well hopefully sam will start posting in articles in the future rather than board posts

all of the subscription websites are very hard to follow i feel.  i wish they had a front page like mgoblog, instead of doing everything backhanded through their boards.  there is so much you can miss if you dont dig.  really annoying.

lhglrkwg

August 11th, 2017 at 6:06 AM ^

I hope we can get some Patriot-lite offense going this year because that could be the difference between a good season and a great one. I don't think many of expect the O-line to improve enough to suddenly be an effective run team this year, but if we can get this 4-WR thing down with Higdon and Evans being effective speed backs out of the backfield (vs a spread out defense) that could see us having a real shot at going to Indy and beyond. The offensive tweaking is something I keep forgetting about when I try to figure how the offense will do this year

bamf16

August 11th, 2017 at 11:26 AM ^

It's tough because of so many unknowns; Michigan's leading returning receiver is Grant Perry (13 catches for 183 yards). But the promise of the four highly rated WRs who arrived this year plus Crawford and Perry gives what you proposed some promise.

A team that doesn't necessarily have a proven "stud" running back and O-Line run blocking questions, but talent out wide and a QB who can get them ball may rely more on this style of offense.

True Blue Grit

August 11th, 2017 at 6:44 AM ^

I am SO GLAD Michigan got him and not someone else. Not just for us, but because I couldn't take seeing him play for either Iowa or Northwestern while torching us for the next 4 years. Can't wait to see what he can become under the Harbaugh offense.

Mr. Yost

August 11th, 2017 at 7:20 AM ^

I think he leaves as the best slot in school history and winds up being an early to mid 2nd round pick after his senior year.

Yes. And the kid hasn't played a single down in college. I believe in his skillset and ability that much.

Brimley

August 11th, 2017 at 8:59 AM ^

I have a friend from Iowa who knows one of Martin's high school coaches.  He's been telling me for months that we're going to like what he can do.  My friend is a good guy but kind of Iowa-WOO all the time; sounds like he might be onto something this time.

Frank Chuck

August 11th, 2017 at 7:19 AM ^

https://twitter.com/UMichFootball/status/895734010558652416

It's a video which shows (among other things) Speight smoothly completing 2 deep throws in drill work: one to TE Sean McKeon (#84) and another for a TD to Crawford (#1) against Keith Washington in the endzone.

Speight also completed a pass to Chris Evans (on a wheel route?) against Devin Bush for a TD.

There's also some clips showing O'Korn completing 2 passes to Gentry (#83) and another to DPJ (#9).

And there's a clip of Peters completing a pass to McKeon.

reshp1

August 11th, 2017 at 12:12 PM ^

His throwing motion looks a lot better, more over the top, snappier, less shot-puty. Brian talked yesterday on the wtka roundtable about how Speight was great when he had his mechanics under control, but when he got rattled, they would break down and his accuracy fell off. Hopefully with another yeat and more reps, he won't regress under pressure as much.