Nico Collins in 2018, his "no drops" season
In reading the post here on the board how good DPJ is doing at Cleveland, and the comment from his mom about why he is playing good there but didn't do as well at Michigan, I remembered there was one year he and the other WRs at Michigan played good, 2018. That was the one year they were coached by Jim McElwain. I remembered Nico Collins had no drops that year. But as with DPJ, he didn't look as good in non-Jim McElwain coached years.
I looked up this video that has all his catches from that year, including those beauties against Ohio St. While watching, I was vividly reminded why I was always yelling, "throw the ball to Nico Collins," at my tv in the 2019 season.
I thought it would be nice to post it for your viewing enjoyment.
Here is DPJ from that same year, all his plays, including that fantastic punt return against Nebraska:
August 26th, 2021 at 4:17 AM ^
So much talent and nothing to show for. That’s become the norm here. Sigh
August 26th, 2021 at 8:07 AM ^
....but then again we bring back JMFH for a 7th year.
August 26th, 2021 at 9:43 AM ^
I wish JMFH would step back from the head coaches position.
August 26th, 2021 at 10:22 AM ^
the extent you bitch about Michigan football is astounding. it's as bad as having a sparty or osu troll just shitting on the team in every thread.
you're kinda like the guy who swears up and down he loves his wife to death but denigrates her every chance he gets.
FFS its just a game played by college kids .... a game with no tangible effect on your life regardless of outcome .... get over yourself and your expectations of the team and coaches. they are trying harder, doing more, and want it more than you ever will. maybe support them because it's just a game bro.
or be like that Eli guy, go buy a clemson hat, and go be a fan of them.
August 26th, 2021 at 11:03 AM ^
I'm only a lurker so don't know posting history, but his complaints about JH not utilizing talent in the offense is not wrong. When you have dominating receivers like Nico, DPJ, and Tarik some combination of them should be on the field for 95% of the meaningful snaps...there shouldn't be a 7 WR rotation where 40% of your pass plays see zero of them on the field.
JH has insanely mismanaged the offense nearly his entire tenure here.
August 26th, 2021 at 11:29 AM ^
Valid points. I'm not in Harbaugh's corner anymore after the MSU game yet you don't see me coming into every thread shitting on the guy or team. If him being the coach upsets you that much maybe find something else to do on Saturdays in the fall.
August 26th, 2021 at 11:36 AM ^
I don't disagree with you (or EGJ) on Harbaughs performance or his offenses. He has severely underperformed. I am a Michigan fan and if Harbaugh is fired tomorrow, fine. I'll support the next guy in in or lose, just like I do with whoever the coach is.
But taking every opportunity to shit on him, even in threads that aren't about him, and being a constant debbie downer is a bit much. I guarantee Harbaugh is doing more to win than anyone on this board. Is it working? No as much as we'd like but there's an awful lot of people complaining incessantly about something that
a) isn't important to real life
b) they have literally zero control over and couldn't do any better themselves.
August 26th, 2021 at 11:26 AM ^
It is a game, played by kids, coached by adults who are paid to do this for a living by the school. I have no problem with fans being upset about the Harbaugh situation. The players deserve top tier coaching at a school like Michigan. Michigan paid to get it. Harbaugh has not coached like it despite his previous track record.
For the sake of the student athletes I'm disappointed Harbaugh is still the coach. I want the kids to experience winning, to be developed for their best chance at success in life, to enjoy their college years, etc. I think Harbaugh has delivered on some of that (see trips abroad) but from many quotes directly from players he has not delivered on large portions of that goal at Michigan. I think the pay cut was silly because it shouldn't be about the money, it should always be about the kids.
Regarding East German Judge, see the posting history related to PSU & Joe Paterno. Once EGJ gets onto something, it's not going to be let go for a very long time. It's part of who he/she is, sleep well knowing you are not married to each other....I think, cause your comment seems a little bit personal.
August 26th, 2021 at 3:38 PM ^
Apparently you're not paying enough attention to my posts and you're just bitching back at me. My complaint is not with the players, because I know they try hard, but it is with our head coach and what he is done AND not done.
He has actually been a disservice to all the players that he recruits here and I feel bad for them too, because too many of them get drafted in the 6th round when with decent coaching they could have gotten drafted much higher if we had proper player development, and of course that would have also meant some more wins too.
August 26th, 2021 at 4:37 AM ^
I wish nothing but the best for all former UM athletes.
August 26th, 2021 at 6:13 AM ^
I've never seen talent so misused like those 2. It's just one of many reasons why I wanted JH let go last year.
August 26th, 2021 at 6:41 AM ^
The complete, total, utter incompetence in the ways of the forward pass, as seen in modern football, is a large reason why I was thinking the same...
As good as Nico and DPJ could have been, Chris Evans might have been devastating.
August 26th, 2021 at 7:50 AM ^
Not disagreeing with your point, but IMO the way we used Denard and Devin Gardner was even more egregious.
August 26th, 2021 at 9:06 AM ^
Very true
August 26th, 2021 at 7:22 AM ^
I thought this was gonna be about Nico’s “no targets” season.
August 26th, 2021 at 8:07 AM ^
Jim McElwain is a heck of a WR coach and I had hoped Harbaugh would have kept him on staff in some way if not promoting him to co-oc or associate head coach! Our WR play was improving big time under him. Not to mention utilizing the recievers far better in the passing game.
August 26th, 2021 at 1:38 PM ^
He got a head coaching gig.
August 26th, 2021 at 8:22 AM ^
Our WRs looked real good in 2016 with out the shark humper.
August 26th, 2021 at 9:22 AM ^
So they forgot how to catch the ball after mcelwain left? That’s pretty poor coaching.
August 26th, 2021 at 12:42 PM ^
I thought about this too and shared the same sentiment at face value. Thinking on it a little harder, the difference could be in the position coaching change demanding a few tweaks to technique that become habit over the course of the off-season and into the season. Some coaches emphasize little things that make a big difference (both good and bad). Another thing could be route running and/or route selection. Is the receiver in good position out of a break to create separation and a clean catch radius, or are they always draped by dbs due to poor route mechanics impeding on making a clean catch.
August 26th, 2021 at 9:47 AM ^
When was the last time our receivers were appropriately used? Darboh? Chesson? Harbaugh has proven he could do it here before. Just need to repeat that strategy with his own recruits
August 26th, 2021 at 10:02 AM ^
He had these coaches when WRs played good:
In 2015- 2016, Jedd Fisch.
On January 9, 2015, Fisch was hired by the Michigan Wolverines to serve as their quarterbacks coach, wide receivers coach, and passing game coordinator.
In 2018 Jim McElwain.
On February 20, 2018, McElwain was named the Wide Receivers Coach for the Michigan Wolverines.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_McElwain#University_of_Michigan
It wasn't Jim Harbaugh coaching WRs in those years. It was the coaches he hired. So his strategy must have been hiring the right coaches in those years.
August 26th, 2021 at 12:01 PM ^
I've always contended that UM should have a dedicated WR coach, and it's not surprise that the WRs looked best with McElwain running that position the one year he was at UM. It's probably not a surprise he took over a CMU team that had gone 1-11 the year before and has had two .500-or-better seasons since. But I guess because he didn't laugh at some bloggers acting like he fucked a shark he wasn't good at his job, or so I was led to believe.
Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how the WRs look this year. There's talent on the roster and I think McNamara will be a better QB in the system compared to Milton, but we'll have to see how it all plays out with Gattis splitting duties. I do think it's a little weird they didn't slot in, say, Bellamy into that role and reconfigured the defensive staff to have Clinkscale take over the whole defensive backfield but perhaps that was due in part to the late coaching changes.
August 26th, 2021 at 1:09 PM ^
Were people happy with the WR play in 2018? I genuinely don’t remember. It seemed like that was the start of the ‘throw it to Nico’ meme but I could be misremembering the years.
August 26th, 2021 at 2:21 PM ^
I think Collins started to emerge as a great deep ball threat in the middle of the year and so people were really excited about 2019 and then...it didn't quite happen. But I generally remember there being optimism that the offense was opening up and not a sense that Collins was being under-utilized beyond the usual "just throw it downfield and have your guy jump-ball" complaints that every fanbase seemingly makes.
August 26th, 2021 at 5:07 PM ^
Nothing against Ronnie Bell, he's a great player, but he led the team in receptions in 2019, when in my opinion it was obvious that he should have been receiver #3. A lot of it really fell to QB play. Patterson seemed to feel that the "easier" throw was the underneath route to the slot, rather than the deeper throw... to NFL WRs...
August 26th, 2021 at 2:41 PM ^
Not even then.
Our top 3 receivers in 2016 had a total of ~1,800 yards.
There were 10 INDIVIDUAL receivers over 1,500 yards in the NCAA that year.
Our leading receiver had 862 yards... good for #66 in the country.
August 26th, 2021 at 4:12 PM ^
Yeah good points. Might have to go all the way back to guys like Gallon / Roundtree for WRs who actually lived up to their hype.
August 26th, 2021 at 10:22 AM ^
Anybody picking Nico for the fantasy team? Don't have a clue as to how he fits into the Texans plans for this season or if they have enough depth that he won't get many chances.
August 26th, 2021 at 10:52 AM ^
I’m not touching anything on the Texans roster for fantasy if Deshaun isn’t playing. That team Is badddd.
August 26th, 2021 at 12:48 PM ^
Oh, I forgot about the DeShaun situation. Does put the whole offense in the don't touch bucket.
August 26th, 2021 at 11:36 AM ^
While looking back at Michigan’s performance during that 2018 season, it struck me that there hasn’t been a top 10 finish in 5 years (the only one under JH). Even with a 12 team playoff, Michigan would have been in the CFP twice.
August 26th, 2021 at 11:40 AM ^
Harbaugh sure liked to run a lot of short routes and WR screens on 3rd and long.
August 26th, 2021 at 11:54 AM ^
I will forever be haunted by us wasting DPJ/Nico. I also still think Black was going to be a stud before his injuries.
August 26th, 2021 at 12:34 PM ^
Even more amazing, watching those videos a lot of the passes seem to be underthrown as sometimes they have to stop and wait, come back to the ball or its thrown very low. Amazing that Nico didn't drop any.
But again, what could have been if JH would instill a philosophy of using players better and putting them in position to succeed. Its been a problem with all the skill position players at least.
August 26th, 2021 at 1:52 PM ^
I always wonder what would have been if Harbaugh made Jedd Fisch the OC and moved the other dude oline coach at the time on. Also Jim McElwain the OC immediately and not gone Josh Gattis route. Let McElwain run the offense and coach receivers..
Not a fan of Gattis running the offense right now tbh. The scheme is fine I'm just not seeing him get results from players. Want to see receivers playing at a much higher level than they have been!
Basically AJ Henning and Roman Wilson should be exploding this year!
August 26th, 2021 at 1:54 PM ^
Watching the highlights I don't see many times where Shae hit Nico in stride. Also there were a lot of wr screens to Nico that year. Shae does not seem to have a very strong arm. It seemed to take the ball forever to get there and Collins is just waiting flat footed.
And these are only his catches, how many inaccurate ball's did Shae throw? It seems he left a lot of yards on the field.
August 26th, 2021 at 2:18 PM ^
You can't credibly talk about anything related to Nico without addressing his misuse in the Michigan offense. Hopefully the new coaching hires will allow us to use Daylen Baldwin more effectively.