Michigan Football changing in 2021 to NFL style O & D Systems
Interesting that Michigan has adopted the Raven’s D concepts/structure (Macdonald) and the Raven’s running game concepts/structure (Weiss). I believe these changes will help us in recruiting by making our players more desirable in the NFL because they will have experience/been schooled in an NFL type system/structure. Bet we’ll see the Raven’s take more Michigan players in the draft in the coming years.
January 19th, 2022 at 11:43 AM ^
Is it a talent or construction problem??
January 19th, 2022 at 11:51 AM ^
Its construction. <8 pages later> So we need more talent.
January 19th, 2022 at 11:55 AM ^
"It's a construction problem. Construct you team with better talent, and then you won't have a talent problem."
-Snazzy McDazzy
January 19th, 2022 at 1:04 PM ^
"It's a rendering problem. Render your team with more rendered talent, and you won't have a render problem."
January 19th, 2022 at 2:21 PM ^
What is awesome is that Snazzy became a meme
January 19th, 2022 at 11:50 AM ^
Bet we’ll see the Raven’s take more Michigan players in the draft in the coming years.
So, you feel like once the head coach for Baltimore has a little more familiarity with Michigan's coaching staff, there could be a stronger bond between the two teams? Strong take.
January 20th, 2022 at 12:22 AM ^
No, I feel like Baltimore will like players who have played in a very similar system to the one they’re currently using. You know, guys who play for their young and upwardly mobile coach Macdonald that they “sent” to us.
January 19th, 2022 at 11:51 AM ^
Well, it sure worked well!
January 19th, 2022 at 11:53 AM ^
Bet we’ll see the Raven’s take more Michigan players in the draft in the coming years.
I've seen Raven's fans talk about this and it's generally negative. The Ravens have taken (since Jim took over) Willie Henry, Chris Wormley, Ben Bredeson, and Ben Mason. None of them did much of anything in Baltimore and fans think that John picks those guys because Jim vouches for them.
The defensive philosophy changes might increase the likelihood of some players going to the Ravens assuming they continue to operate under that scheme. But offensively I doubt it materially changes the Ravens' chances of drafting Michigan players.
January 19th, 2022 at 11:57 AM ^
Well Wormley looks to be doing quite well for himself.
January 19th, 2022 at 12:05 PM ^
Yea, looks like Pittsgurgh likes us a little more than the Ravens ...
January 19th, 2022 at 12:22 PM ^
Now, yes. Had 7 sacks and 6 TFLs this year in Pittsburgh.
In 4 seasons in Baltimore, he had 3.5 sacks and 5 TFLs. He just wasn't productive with the Ravens.
January 19th, 2022 at 12:52 PM ^
The ravens D is tough for the interior guys stat lines look at claims Campbell the past few years.
January 20th, 2022 at 5:31 PM ^
That’s BIG WORM to you.
January 19th, 2022 at 12:05 PM ^
To be fair, those are all 3rd+ round picks, it would probably be more surprising if one of them had become a star.
January 19th, 2022 at 12:26 PM ^
Yeah, that's fair. But none of them even became rotational players who made it past their rookie contracts.
The best player of that bunch was Wormley, who had a grand total of 3.5 sacks and 5 TFLs in 4 seasons.
Mason was cut before making the 53 man roster.
Bredeson was traded after 1 or 2 seasons as a back up.
And Henry was released after 3 seasons.
January 19th, 2022 at 1:36 PM ^
Henry was a good pick. 3 years out of a late pick is good.
January 19th, 2022 at 3:22 PM ^
He didn't play a snap his rookie season before getting hurt in November or December and goin on IR.
He played in 13 games his 2nd season wherein he had 3.5 sacks.
He played in 3 games his 3rd season.
Then he was released.
That's not exactly good. Not even a season and a half's worth of games during his time and then he was released.
January 19th, 2022 at 6:03 PM ^
All things being equal your taking the guy that your brother says has great work ethic and toughness. Roster guys. Make sense.
January 19th, 2022 at 11:53 AM ^
Did you mean to post this in August?
Also Michigan already has one of the highest number of players on NFL rosters, but I guess this couldn't hurt.
January 19th, 2022 at 11:59 AM ^
i thought the NFL already thought highly of Michigan players. Our issue isnt what they do once they leave, its getting the most out of them while here and getting athletes with higher ceilings.
I dont think that doing more NFL things really has a huge impact on top recruiting talent. I feel we've maxed that out with Harbaugh, Yamobethere etc... If anything, it makes it a draw for guys in the middle who need to be prepped for the NFL better than what a lot of NCAA coaches - which is just focus on getting the most they can from them in college, without prep for the NFL game. e.g. osu quarterbacks, texas tech qbs, hawaii qbs (old ones), etc..
January 19th, 2022 at 12:38 PM ^
Timesucker? Because you just Michael Motherfucking McDonalded everyone!
January 19th, 2022 at 12:01 PM ^
WTH is this?
January 19th, 2022 at 12:14 PM ^
We're talking Chicago style pizzas.
January 19th, 2022 at 4:19 PM ^
Triple anchovy. With a bottle of port.
January 19th, 2022 at 12:03 PM ^
What do you mean by adopting the Ravens' running game concepts/structure? Do you mean the use of multiple blocking schemes? Because Michigan has done that a lot throughout most of Jim Harbaugh's tenure. Do you mean the use of gap concepts instead of zone-based concepts? Because Michigan used gap from the beginning of the Harbaugh regime and also uses a lot of zone concepts. Do you mean Baltimore's involvement of the QB in the running game? Because Michigan doesn't actually use the QB a lot, except for a scattering of genuine read-option plays with JJ, an unremarkable level of running QB action for a college team. Do you mean the use of end-arounds and flare passes? Because that's a Josh Gattis staple from the moment he stepped on to campus.
And... what influence would Weiss have on the running game? He's a QB coach. If anything, he would influence the passing game. The Ravens running game is mostly engineered by their OC, Greg Roman, who first entered the NFL and made the QB-centered running game an NFL-level scheme under his HC at San Francisco... one Jim Harbaugh.
The primary change to the running game braintrust was replacing Ed Warinner with Sherrone Moore (and, to at least some extent, replacing Jay Harbaugh with Mike Hart). Neither of these are Ravens guys. But the multiple-look capability of the run game is, to my thinking, mostly a product of the one guy who has been consistent from San Francisco to the 15-16 teams that showed a lot of looks to today: Head Coach Jim Harbaugh.
In short, I don't think your premise here makes sense.
January 19th, 2022 at 1:03 PM ^
That’s REALLY selling what Weiss brings to the table short. He’s far more than just the QB coach and certainly has some sway in the offensive braintrust in more than just the passing offense.
Weiss is such an asset that he (along with Jay) are the most likely coaches to join Harbaugh in the NFL if he were to take a job there. MacDonald would also be on that list but the job status of Vic Fangio puts that in doubt.
January 19th, 2022 at 1:15 PM ^
Again, what aspect of the running game does Weiss influence that is distinctive to Baltimore? Michigan's running game this year has more blocking scheme variety than previous Gattis editions, but not more than previous Harbaugh editions. The OP provides no evidence that there has been any sort of Weiss-inspired shift in the running attack.
I mean, I've long discussed the fact that offensive decisions all have a committee flavor to them to some extent or another on any staff; Weiss isn't irrelevant there. But the typical offensive staff builds its running game using the OL coach and the OC.
January 19th, 2022 at 2:21 PM ^
“And... what influence would Weiss have on the running game? He's a QB coach. If anything, he would influence the passing game. The Ravens running game is mostly engineered by their OC, Greg Roman, who first entered the NFL and made the QB-centered running game an NFL-level scheme under his HC at San Francisco... one Jim Harbaugh.”
Im replying to this tidbit specifically. Its inaccurate and really sells Weiss’s role and influence on the offense extremely short. Weiss has a ton of influence on the running game and the offense in general, due to his heading the analytics area. He’s much more than just “QB coach,” and was the Ravens RB coach when we hired him, so he has the background there.
It’s extremely shortsighted to sit there and pretend he has brought nothing with him from the Ravens and hasn’t had an influence. Doesn’t mean an entire blocking scheme changed or anything, but you really sold him short in your statement.
January 19th, 2022 at 1:49 PM ^
Weiss is QB coach in name only, but has influenced the entire offense.
January 19th, 2022 at 12:03 PM ^
Apostrophes … oof.
January 19th, 2022 at 12:17 PM ^
Doesn't Michigan already send a high amount of players to the NFL? ...even with our bad teams, IIRC.
January 19th, 2022 at 12:20 PM ^
You know what will actually help with recruiting? A great NIL program. NFL style means next to nothing in recruiting. I'm providing no insight beyond the sky is blue here.
January 19th, 2022 at 12:21 PM ^
If we lose Jim Harbaugh to the pros, I would love to get John Harbaugh, as head coach at Michigan, along with the Raven’s systems. Another terrific coach, minus the drama.
January 19th, 2022 at 1:50 PM ^
By drama do you mean annual NFL rumors? You don't think there'd be such rumors if we hired a coach who has actually won a Super Bowl? Or by drama do you mean some other disparagement of Jim? Either way, go to bed. Your brain is tired.
January 19th, 2022 at 6:44 PM ^
You forgot to say "stop drinking."
January 19th, 2022 at 12:23 PM ^
This thread would have been a lot more interesting before the 2021 season started.
January 19th, 2022 at 12:40 PM ^
Snazzy's burner account?
January 19th, 2022 at 12:44 PM ^
This is a great argument for raising the point threshold.
January 19th, 2022 at 1:21 PM ^
The user (burtcomma) has 5000+ points, so I'm not sure what threshold would make the difference.
A better mechanism might be that all board posts first go into moderation, and then one of the mods reviews and allows or disallows the post. That puts more work on the mods, but it would (a) cut down on posts like this, and (b) reduce redundant posts that get trimmed down to just one post later.
January 19th, 2022 at 1:28 PM ^
Ehhh too much work.
January 19th, 2022 at 1:41 PM ^
Bitchin is always an option. Even the worst OP's get a lot of comments. Gives use something to do until the 5:00 whistle.
January 20th, 2022 at 12:01 AM ^
You are free to not click on a post, or to provide constructive criticism as to the poster’s thoughts or takes. You know, sort of how we teach and help others learn and understand things. Kind of one of the purposes and benefits of this blog.
January 19th, 2022 at 11:56 PM ^
“I have only prayed one short prayer to God. Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And this He granted.”
Voltaire
January 19th, 2022 at 1:47 PM ^
NFL systems that expect QBs to have time and go through 3 reads just don't work in college because these are under-practiced (relative to NFL) kids. Can't recall how many previous UM offensive schemes crumbled under the need for all 11, especially the O-line, to be successful on every play. Ohio State were the kings of the college scheme under Meyer, frequently limiting their QB to 2 simple choices on every play, which led to much of their success.
Point being, I'm all for NFL caliber flexibility, but wary of NFL caliber complexity.
January 19th, 2022 at 3:48 PM ^
In 2019 and 2020, we clearly had a talent problem, at least to some extent. In 2021, we had an overall talented defense..... that looked like butt against an SEC powerhouse..... because the construction of that talented defense wasn't ideal.
Obviously, Michigan can use more talent on defense given the results of the last three years. Remember when we all thought 2021 would suck because we had no confidence in our defense heading into the season? But the talent deficiency wasn't the whole story in the playoff game.
January 19th, 2022 at 6:32 PM ^
2018, 2019 we had a Don Brown wouldn’t adjust his scheme to what offenses were doing to beat his straight man to man blitz scheme. We also had a bad Don Brown problem with defensive recruiting. So all the success of the first few classes were leaving and we now lacked depth at DT, lacked depth at Corner and they left Ambry Thomas on the bench his tr fr year when it was clear he would be needed vs osu.
Don’t get me wrong, his defense was exciting when it was better than the offense, which it clearly was in 7-8 games a season close for 1 or 2 more but out matched by Osu and sometimes Penn st or wisconsin. So, they ran down the throat of the defense, man beater crossing, pic routes as well as used alignment and timing in the passing game. They chipped the de’s and didn’t even worry about dt’s.
January 19th, 2022 at 3:50 PM ^
I don't understand the negative reaction to my other post or burtcomma's post for that matter. Seems like he brought up a nice point.