Harbaugh snippets - Precision is the key
Harbaugh wants Michigan to have a dominant run game, and that starts with the OL learning to play together and with precision. The starting 5 appear to be set, but he's not naming names.
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2015/08/jim_harbaugh_wants_dominant_mi.html
The article's author posits that the starting 5 would be Mason Cole, Graham Glasgow, Kyle Kalis, Erik Magnuson and Ben Braden. That sounds about right to me, but I was surprised to see that Harbaugh allowed there was any starting 5 pencilled in before fall practices start.
Hoke was always shuffling and preaching compete. Harbaugh is all about competing but there are still guys who stick out and guys who don't. Go with the guys who have the ability to be great, and ride their ass until they are.
August 5th, 2015 at 10:05 AM ^
I never played organized football, so I rely on coaches' impressions to inform my opinions. That stated, it seems nearly-universal among CFB coaches that (i) OL is the hardest position group to develop, (ii) OL requires players who are both athletic and smart, and (iii) it takes some time to develop cohesion on the line. It's because of that last point that I agree with your take on this - OL two-deeps should remain relatively static except in the event of injury or entitlement issues.
It also helps that we have a superb OL coach.
when free agency became the new normal in the NFL; and a bunch of teams (Lions included) went on O line shopping sprees.
For the most part, the sum of the new lines was not the equal of the parts for almost a couple seasons, if the teams could hold on to everyone; precisely because of the need of an O line to gel together.
Now, how you make that work as a coach, and you want the guys (rightly, IMHO) to always be competing for their job? I don't know. It seems you have to balance that cohesion factor against the competition factor.
Maybe someone like Magnus or Space could comment about how you balance that.
August 5th, 2015 at 11:20 AM ^
Would Kalis be the left gaurd and would Magnuson be RG and most likely be the pulling gaurd? Or would we run right and Kalis would be the pulling gaurd? Not sure if anyone knows or, if it is assumed that under Harbaugh both gaurds know how to pull.
LT - Cole
LG - Braden
C - Glasgow(suspeded for first game though, IIRC, for probation violation)
RG - Kalis
RT - Magnuson
At least, that's what I'd gathered coming out of spring from this site and others.
I thought Braden was staying outside as RT and Magnuson was going to stay inside at RG. It's interesting because our LT (Cole 6'5") would be our shortest smallest player in that line up (all the rest are 6'6" except Kalis at 6'5"). Interesting to see how they run out of that. Kalis, Cole, and Magnuson are all sub 300. Hopefully it means a lot of guys pulling to the gap or getting to the second level.
The right side of the line with Kalis and Braden together really seemed to struggle. I wonder if that was part of the assessment in order to gain more balance on the line or if you'd prefer to have one really strong side.
August 5th, 2015 at 11:24 AM ^
He only said there is a "working five." I would guess that Kugler would be the only reason for those five players listed to change though, and that seems like it would be more a concern with the right side of the line than Kugler being too good to keep off the field.
I don't think that there will be much change from last year. Am I alone on this? Cole, Magnuson, Glasgow, Kalis & Braden in some order.
Also saw this on the twitter. Wasn't thread worthy IMO.
August 5th, 2015 at 10:08 AM ^
For some reason I think Kugler plays center, with Kalis and Glasgow at guards. This allows Cole and Magnuson to play tackles with Braden the first man off the bench. I have no information backing this up.
If he starts, I hope it's because he's improved a great deal rather than starts by default.
I'd be really surprised if a player got in there by default.
Stanford rushing stats:
2004: 2.5 yds/a (before Harbaugh)
2005: 2.6 yds/a (before Harbaugh)
2006: 2.1 yds/a (before Harbaugh)
2007: 3.0 yds/a (Harbaugh year 1)
2008: 4.9 yds/a (Harbaugh year 2)
2009: 5.3 yds/a (Harbaugh year 3)
2010: 5.2 yds/a (Harbaugh year 4)
2011: 5.3 yds/a (after Harbaugh)
Michigan averaged 4.6 yds/a in 2014. I think we should be okay at rushing this year. In the years to follow we should be pretty darn good.
Source: http://espn.go.com/college-football/statistics/team/_/stat/rushing/sort…
August 5th, 2015 at 10:51 AM ^
looked further into this b/c I didn't believe it (4.6 YPC) and dug further.
We all know that in college all QB sacks count as negative rush yardage, so I subtracted out all of DG's & Shane's rushing yardage and attempts. Our other skill players ran for 5.2 YPC.
In contrast I did the same for MSU and they were at 5.5 YPC (5.2 w/ QB yardage).
I have a really good feeling about this year. I almost feel like the media are tempering expectations on purpose b/c if you look at where our run game was w/ a poorly coached offensive line and the fact that we had a terrible +/-, I can't help but believe that 10 wins is right there for grabs.
August 5th, 2015 at 11:32 AM ^
4.6 YPC does seem high. I did a double take with that stat because all I remember about last year's running game (not counting Gardner) is about a million runs up the middle for no gain or runs to the left for 1 yard.
August 5th, 2015 at 12:28 PM ^
I know, surprisingly it was legit! Really looking forward to this season.
Last year's numbers were skewed by App State and Miami. Almost a third of our rush yards for the season (626 of 1,954) came in those two games.
The other big game was Maryland, when Gardner ran a ton and we had a long fake punt.
The running game was far, far from good. There was some life there early on against OSU, but that's the only legit defense we did anything against.
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They had trouble running the ball against most of the better teams on the schedule (Utah, Minn, PSU, MSU). They did OK against ND and OSU, or at least well enough to stay in the game if they didn't turn the ball over, but most of their positive rusing statistics came against the bottom half of the league. They ran like crazy over App St, Miami OH, and Indiana,
August 5th, 2015 at 10:03 AM ^
Man blocking or zone? I really hope they incorporate as much zone blocking into the running game as possible.
August 5th, 2015 at 10:11 AM ^
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August 5th, 2015 at 10:21 AM ^
I think people under value how the oline performed last year - it wasn't dominant or even up to what most of us consider normal UM standards, but it wasn't as awful as most people make it seem. Michigan's running game was fairly solid the second half of the year and especially the last third of the year. If you go back and read Brian's UFR's from early in the season, one of the general themes on the offense is there were holes to be had on the running plays, but the running backs weren't finding them.
The quality of play from the QB spot had a much bigger impact on the offense last year then the quality of the oline play.
August 5th, 2015 at 10:35 AM ^
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August 5th, 2015 at 10:41 AM ^
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August 5th, 2015 at 11:15 AM ^
was largely due to Drake Johnson's ability to be an excellent guy to hand the ball to. Drake was essentially THE running game for 3 of the last 4 games. Just maybe, there will be a major improvement with the other RB's in 2015.
Go Blue!
August 5th, 2015 at 10:15 AM ^
August 5th, 2015 at 10:25 AM ^
Obligatory FUCK BAUMGARDNER post. You all know my opinion of him and why I think he's a snake out to destroy our program, so I won't get into that again. Still need to spread the word and seek support for a Freep/Rosenberg-style boycott of this sparty before he causes real damage (he previously tried it and will do so again).
August 5th, 2015 at 10:28 AM ^
Except you just did get into it again. Go write about Air Jordans and defend JoePa somewhere else
August 5th, 2015 at 10:45 AM ^
August 5th, 2015 at 10:43 AM ^
August 5th, 2015 at 10:47 AM ^
My mom smoked a lot of things when she was pregnant with me.
That's why I'm so fucking awesome
August 5th, 2015 at 11:21 AM ^
same, it actually explains a lot in my book i.e. super powers
August 5th, 2015 at 10:49 AM ^
He has all the classic signs and symptoms. According to exetnsive longitudinal studies, people who defend rapists and want facts covered up (Sandusky/Paterno/Gibbons) have all had smoking and or drinking mothers during gestation.
She was probably one of those ladies who didn't know she was pregnant until a baby dropped into the toilet.
August 5th, 2015 at 11:07 AM ^
If you were born pretty much any time before 1980 or so, the odds are pretty good that your mother smoked and drank when she was pregnant.
The way I look at it is, if my mother hadn't been getting drunk and stoned back then, I probably wouldn't exist. So there's that.
August 5th, 2015 at 11:11 AM ^
no one cares
August 5th, 2015 at 11:20 AM ^
Isn't there some uniform fapping your attendence is required at?
August 5th, 2015 at 11:36 AM ^
August 5th, 2015 at 11:57 AM ^
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At least he writes coherent sentences which is more than most sports "journalists" can say here in Detroit.
August 5th, 2015 at 11:55 AM ^
We seem a little light up front. Is it just me or is Kalis losing weight every year? Braden is the obvious outlier and Glasgow if he is a center is good sized for that position. The new roster came out, and I'm not sure if those weights are from the spring or if they are updated. But, here are the guys most see contributing this year.
Cole - 287
Mags - 296
Glasgow - 303
Kalis - 292
Braden - 331
Kugler - 297
Dawson - 309
By comparison MSU's projected starting 5 are all over 300 pounds and most over 310. They outweigh UM by 15-20 pounds per position. It seems strange for UM to have 3 of 5 projected starters to be under 300 pounds, including both guards (assuming Mags and Kalis stay at guard, which seems to be up for debate). Are we gonna be able to generate push up front against quality defensive tackles?