Rutgers Snowflakes: The Offense
September 23rd, 2023 at 2:53 PM ^
Unpopular Opinion:
Something's wrong with Donovan Edwards, and we need to start giving second string snaps to Stokes or Dunlop until Edwards can get right.
September 23rd, 2023 at 9:10 PM ^
Yes. He can't see the holes. He can't make the cuts. He's very bad a pass pro. As a RB he isn't near where he was last year.
September 23rd, 2023 at 2:54 PM ^
He caught every ball thrown to him.
September 23rd, 2023 at 2:55 PM ^
Love to have both him and Corum on the field at the same time. But for obvious rushing downs, he's struggling badly.
September 23rd, 2023 at 11:20 PM ^
He's terrible in pass pro.
He's getting taken down on arm tackles.
Move him to a receiver then.
September 24th, 2023 at 1:48 AM ^
There was one play in particular where the Rutgers defender ran right past Donovan, who seemed to be looking for someone to block. Not sure if Donovan just didn't see him, or chose to ignore him. Either way, that was not good because JJ was sacked on that play.
September 24th, 2023 at 12:25 PM ^
That was on Hinton. you can see Donovan looking at him like WTF??? after Hinton took the wrong man in pass pro
September 24th, 2023 at 4:51 PM ^
OK. Not sure about RB blocking assignment in pass pro, and how that all works. I just thought since the Rutgers guy leaked through, pretty much right in front of Donovan, that Donovan may have a responsibility to pick him up. Or at least try to chip him or something. But what the hell do I know?
September 23rd, 2023 at 2:54 PM ^
I don’t think that’s unpopular at all.
September 23rd, 2023 at 2:55 PM ^
I don't know what the deal is, but he is not good when running the football. However, it was nice to wee the coaches finally get him the ball in space on some passing plays.
September 23rd, 2023 at 2:56 PM ^
Agreed on that.
September 23rd, 2023 at 3:03 PM ^
It is blatantly obvious that Edwards' strength is in the passing game. Why it took the coaches 4 games to utilize that strength is beyond me. It seems to be a staple at UM that the coaches do not call plays to the strengths of their best playmakers. Edwards should be targeted at a minimum 5 times per game.
September 23rd, 2023 at 3:10 PM ^
Screens, swings..go routes..counter passes
September 23rd, 2023 at 11:22 PM ^
Much like Chris Evans that wasn't properly utilized.
September 23rd, 2023 at 2:57 PM ^
He is who he is. Even against OSU he wasn't pushing piles or making guys miss, he just had a few big holes to run through. Should probably be a WR.
September 23rd, 2023 at 2:59 PM ^
DE is a dynamic player. He struggled on some run plays and some blocking. Does not make him worse than Stokes or Dunlop.
September 23rd, 2023 at 3:29 PM ^
Can you be a dynamic player without any dynamic plays?
2022 DE was dynamic. 2023 DE is not.
September 23rd, 2023 at 3:32 PM ^
yet..
September 23rd, 2023 at 2:59 PM ^
He needs to focus on getting better instead of yapping about being the next Barry Sanders/Walter Payton
September 23rd, 2023 at 9:13 PM ^
Dude, we all agree that was a silly thing to say, but STFU. He said that in like late July or August and hasn't said it since.
September 23rd, 2023 at 3:00 PM ^
He's not reading blocks well. He's great receiving out of the back field though, when he doesn't have to sort through blocks.
September 23rd, 2023 at 3:00 PM ^
33 carries for 109 yards this season. Something’s off with him or how they’re using him. Didn’t he say he added weight? Maybe he lost a bit of speed and quickness.
September 23rd, 2023 at 5:27 PM ^
I’ll wait for the UFR to pass judgement on DE. I noticed on more than one of his rush attempts that the D had all players within 10 yards and blitzed one of their safeties. I think it could be just as much play calling / RPS minus as it is DE.
September 23rd, 2023 at 3:05 PM ^
The rotation right now is Corum/Edwards/Mullings/gap/Hall or Stokes or Cabana situationally. The staff leans more towards Hall over Stokes and Edwards is easily best pass catching back followed by Cabana. I have bad news for you if you think Stokes or Tavierre are replacing Edwards. They’d have to pass Mullings first and then depending on situation Hall and Cabana. Tavierre won’t be getting a bunch of carries for MIchigan for a long time…..if someone is going to get second string snaps it’ll be Mullings.
September 23rd, 2023 at 3:19 PM ^
Right now, as a rusher, DE is completely derailing drives and missing blocks, forcing JJ in to bad passing situations. When DE is offsetting things with his big runs, this can be excused.
But right now, without the ability to make big plays, or to even provide positive yards consistently, any player who can come in and provide blocking for JJ and avoid getting tackled for a loss would be an improvement over 2023 Edwards.
September 23rd, 2023 at 4:36 PM ^
Not only do I not agree with this take it isn’t even remotely accurate regarding the backup situation. Stokes was inactive. Not playing = no carries. Dunlap (you spelled his name incorrectly) may be no higher than 5th string...he clearly isn’t the answer. AND Mullings has looked really good. Why wouldn’t he get the carries you speak of?
Edwards is a home run hitter. He can take it all the way on any play. Guys like that needs touches. He will break out.
September 23rd, 2023 at 4:58 PM ^
Defenses play differently when Edwards is on the field. This staff also has a tendency to deliberately not unload their playbook when playing notably inferior opponents. I'm not saying it's all that, but even if he's missing cuts it doesn't mean his presence doesn't open up other opportunities in the offensive gameplan.
September 23rd, 2023 at 6:00 PM ^
He’s never been a tackle breaker. He needs wide open holes to get to the second level and I doubt most would disagree that so far this years offensive line is nowhere near the caliber of the line last year. No way would I have him in on any short yardage situation.
September 23rd, 2023 at 9:15 PM ^
He broke tackles at the end of last year with one hand in a cast.
September 23rd, 2023 at 6:11 PM ^
Something is wrong with the rushing offense as a whole. They are a long, long way away from where they were last season. 5th in the nation in yards per game, and 3rd in the nation in yards per carry last season, and 71st and 40th respectively entering this game.
September 23rd, 2023 at 11:01 PM ^
Was at the game today and kept thinking that. Those around me were yelling at guys like Keegan and Hinton.
Offensive line does not seem to be jelled. Hinton does not seem to be the guy. Also, is our second transfer center in two years finally catching up to us?
Also kept waiting for Corum or Edwards to break one and saw more out of Mullings today.
September 24th, 2023 at 7:05 AM ^
Mullings ran hard enough to earn some reps going forward. Rutgers knew what was coming and still couldn’t stop it.
September 24th, 2023 at 9:59 PM ^
Running game / OL will be fixed -- at least as much as it can be this season -- when the OT situation is settled. Why it's not settled to this point is (a) mysterious and (b) reprehensible. In other words, someone on staff needs to figure this shit out and let the OL starting working together consistently. We know Michigan has one of the most complicated run games in the country. Auditioning tackles over and over just makes things harder on the best guard tandem in the country.
September 23rd, 2023 at 6:33 PM ^
He's not Corum obviously but he's still a very good running back. I think the blame is more on the offensive line. Corum was making several amazing cuts each play to earn his 4.6 ypc. It's no shame if Edwards can't match Corum's running ability.
September 23rd, 2023 at 6:45 PM ^
I wouldn’t go quite that far, but yeah, let Corum eat. Edwards is doing good work in two-back sets but as the lone tailback he’s shown not a lot so far.
September 23rd, 2023 at 7:30 PM ^
There's nothing wrong with him. He's just not a shifty back. He hits the whole and outruns people. He's not going to shake anybody
September 24th, 2023 at 11:12 AM ^
Donovan Edwards absolutely shook the DB for Purdue who came down to tackle in the 2nd half of the BTCG. Edwards pressed inside to set him up and then spun him around as he blew by him. The line took care of the rest of the box.
September 23rd, 2023 at 7:32 PM ^
Nothing is wrong with him.
Edwards is a big time big game player. These games aren't big enough yet. Wait and see.
September 23rd, 2023 at 8:33 PM ^
He doesn't seem to be able to break tackles this year. Can't make his own holes.
But he's great in space and can still get open to make receptions.
September 24th, 2023 at 12:07 AM ^
he might be UM's second best receiver though, split him out wide sometimes!
September 24th, 2023 at 11:22 AM ^
Would normally be on board, but when his ceiling is Top 5 RB in all of college football... if there's any chance that he can get there let's try it.
September 24th, 2023 at 9:15 PM ^
I love Edwards for what he did and what he could do, but man, for a dude who proclaimed himself a combo of Walter Payton and Barry Sanders, the actual running between the tackles is rife with freshman level mistakes, he seemed to progress at least in theory towards the end of last year.
September 25th, 2023 at 10:03 AM ^
Didnt he miss part of fall camp recovering from patela tendon surgery?
September 23rd, 2023 at 2:53 PM ^
Seven drives
Seven
September 23rd, 2023 at 2:56 PM ^
Game ended at 2:51pm!?!
September 23rd, 2023 at 2:58 PM ^
Noon start ended before noon (PT).
September 23rd, 2023 at 3:08 PM ^
That was probably the fastest game since they wore leather helmets.
September 23rd, 2023 at 2:56 PM ^
Ah ha ha! Seven drives!
September 23rd, 2023 at 3:04 PM ^
…aaaaaand we still pummeled them, statistically and on the scoreboard. Fucking hell, Michigan’s run of excellence isn’t over, but once it is, I hope you look back on it and realize you spent it being an insufferable whine-baby instead of just enjoying it. Wasn’t too long ago we were 3-9, and a 5-7 season that included a loss to them..