Smart Football on Harbaugh (Solid Verbal podcast)

Submitted by dnak438 on

The whole thing is worth listening to. The bit on Harbaugh starts 47 minutes in and lasts for about 4-5 minutes. 

LINK (embed is below)

A summary:

  • He thinks that it's going to work there but not "a quick fix"
  • Harbaugh's offense is "Bo Schembechler football with Jon Gruden's playbook."
  • Harbaugh learned a lot of offense from Bill Callahan while a QC guy at the Raiders
  • He thinks that Harbaugh will delegate the details of his offense to his OC, but he thinks wrongly that Jedd Fisch will be the OC (he's pretty down on Fisch)
  • So the offense probably won't look exactly the way it did at Stanford.

The other thing that's interesting from this blog's readership's perspective is that Chris Brown also talks about offensive styles and systems, and he points out that whether you're an up-tempo spread team or a traditional power team, "it all works." He does suggest that offenses get in trouble if they don't commit to an offensive identity and philosophy (something that set off alarm bells in my head). He suggested that it's fine to have a preference -- coaches obviously do -- but that you need to stick to that preference and have an identity. Ultimatley however, all systems go about putting pressure on defenses, but using different methods. That discussion begins at the 40 minute mark.

ThadMattasagoblin

April 17th, 2015 at 12:10 AM ^

Tired of the won't happen right away talk. Every expert thinks we'll only win 7 games. I don't think talent is the problem judging by the fact that we pushed the Buckeyes DL down the field for 28 points and comments about Lawrence Marshall not knowing how to line up from Durkin when he first got there. I don't think we'll go 15-0 or anything but we should win 8-9 games this year and be back in the double digit win column next year. If there's one thing Hoke did well, it's recruit. We have way better athletes than Jim encountered at the start of his Stanford job.

dnak438

April 17th, 2015 at 12:15 AM ^

He's worried about the same thing we all are: the QB position. The positive take here is that JH's forte is improving play at that position. On the other hand, Harbaugh won't have as much time with them as he had with Alex Smith in the NFL. But Rudock helps a lot here: there are almost always growing pains with first year starters.

CoachBP6

April 17th, 2015 at 4:29 AM ^

Assuming Rudock is as efficient as he was last year I think the offense will be able to score points. There may not be any stars but there is crazy potential for this offense to get better and better as the year goes on. The big thing is the defense has the chance to be elite. Special teams should be better too. The in game coaching and adjustments will be better. Game management will be much better.

If the offensive line is a solid unit, this team really has a chance to be pretty damn good. Currently I see 10-3 / 9-4.

I Like Burgers

April 17th, 2015 at 1:02 PM ^

I don't think there is crazy potenial on offense.  There's potential for it to be average, and that's about it.  We don't have the skill position players to light up the scoreboard and become a great offense.  I think we'll actually be a really frustrating offense most of the season.  Lots of stalled drives and three and outs.  Since we don't have the game breakers on offense to stretch a defense, we should be a pretty easy offense to contain.  Best case scenario, the offense becomes average, doesn't turn the ball over, can grind out some yards on the ground and we win a lot of 20-14 type games.

ElBictors

April 18th, 2015 at 10:32 AM ^

Agreed, bamf. And the Harbaugh offense isn't about explosive plays that score quickly and put the defense back out there, it's about ball control and ball protection and field position. That approach alone, if coached more effectively, immediately benefits the defense and special teams.

A decent 30-40yd drive to midfield and punt that buries the opposition deep in its own end sets up the defense and special teams. A QB like Rudock seems a good fit for year one because he doesn't have to be a play maker or perfect passer to be successful.

I expect the D to be the lead unit this Fall and to even win a game or two, getting the team to 8-9 wins

Scores like 24-14 and 27-20 will be the norm.

bluebyyou

April 17th, 2015 at 10:27 AM ^

Hoke's tenure is going to be a problem for several years into the future.  As time goes on, his hire looks worse and worse.  A nice guy who was in way over his head.

We all assume that his recruiting was good because of the ranking of the recruiting classes and the number of stars given to many of his recruits.  I think it is becoming obvious that many of the recruits will not have the careers we imagined for them, in part due to the coaching they received and partially because some may not be as talented as we thought.  The lack of talent in the skill positions on the offense is going to be a daunting challenge. Hopefully Isaac will be able to strut his stuff along with Drake Johnson.  Our WR situation is scary.  Hopefully, Harbaugh will be able to overcome some of these shortfalls with a creative scheme, but there is no easy short term fix for the holes that need to be filled.  Go defense.

Njia

April 17th, 2015 at 7:25 AM ^

We should have a chance at more than 7 wins, especially if Shane improves in fall camp and/or our new transfer QB is the efficient game manager we all hope he is.

But, I disagree with the notion that Hoke recruited "well" anywhere but on defense. With the exception of Funchess, there is little evidence that the former staff had an eye for offensive talent.

JayMo4

April 17th, 2015 at 7:53 AM ^

I was listening to this the other day and had to laugh when he said that the offense at Stanford wasn't Harbaugh's and the offense in San Fran wasn't Harbaugh's and that the offense at Michigan wasn't gonna be Harbaugh's it was gonna be Fisch's.  

 

Brown knows schemes for sure, but he's not paying much attention to the coaching staffs themselves, apparently.

Space Coyote

April 17th, 2015 at 8:31 AM ^

The biggest one is the "Bo with Jon Gruden's playbook". Harbaugh doesn't have a small playbook, but his playbook is not huge. He was certainly influenced by Bill Callahan in that he runs a true West Coast passing offense very similar to Callahan's. But he really took the core of those concepts and works with them, it isn't nearly as expansive as what Callahan ran in Oakland or at Nebraska. Even Harbaugh's run playbook will likely be trimmed a bit, but the passing portion won't be anywhere near the Gruden/Callahan size. 

Now, if he means it's "Bo football with a Jon Gruden playbook" as far as "he wants to be a run first football team, power football team, like Bo, but his base schemes are very much from the Jon Gruden/Bill Callahan tree" then I can agree with that.

SAMgO

April 17th, 2015 at 9:59 AM ^

How someone can appear on a segment called "Smart Football" and assert that Jedd Fisch is our OC is beyond me. He also clearly doesn't follow Michigan too closely as he never even named one specific player and stuck to gross generalizations about our actual team. He's probably also unaware that we're getting Rudock judging from his comments on our QB situation.




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Yostbound and Down

April 17th, 2015 at 12:27 PM ^

Real name Chris Brown. His website along with a couple of great posters here have been really helpful in understanding football offenses, particularly spread concepts. 

If you listen to the rest of the podcast he doesn't particularly go into depth on any team's personnel, he is focused more on the coaches. You can throw the baby out with the bathwater if you want, but he's a really intelligent football analyst.

ama11

April 17th, 2015 at 1:44 PM ^

There is a great deal of information on his website that football fans would enjoy reading. The guy knows his stuff and I have in fact added some of the offensive/defensive concepts I have seen and read about on his site to my "playbook" for my team.




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ElBictors

April 19th, 2015 at 12:25 PM ^

Funny how people feel the need to defend him.  It's rare that any "expert" has any better insight or information about MICHIGAN FOOTBALL than found around here all the time. 

He doesn't know more about what MICHIGAN will likely run under Harbaugh in season one than we do.  It might be "Bo" or might be "Bo with West Coast influences" but one certainty is  that it will be an offense designed around the talent and strengths of the roster ...not just a "scheme."

Drevno in his own words back in January ...referring to he and Harbaugh on the Offense -

"And then we go teach it. ... I'll run (the offense), but he'll be in there and he'll help, he's part of it," Drevno said. "You have to use his expertise, he's a very good football coach and he was an outstanding football player. We'll work together."