September 18th, 2021 at 2:42 PM ^
Coach Hart = Absolutely Awesome.
September 18th, 2021 at 2:42 PM ^
Those massive holes the Oline are opening up help too. ?
September 18th, 2021 at 2:43 PM ^
Yeah, but the pacing to let blocks develop, the vision, the cutbacks…everything that looked a little off for a decade, even when we had draftable backs, looks different now.
September 18th, 2021 at 3:32 PM ^
Agreed. Hopefully the days of running as fast as you can into the Guard are past us.
September 18th, 2021 at 2:47 PM ^
Absolutely. And almost penalty free.
September 18th, 2021 at 4:37 PM ^
So does patiently waiting for them to open up and running through them.
EDIT: Responded to the wrong post.
September 18th, 2021 at 5:10 PM ^
That's part of it, but as someone who's complained about our RB's since the early Fred Jackson days -- I'm a bit shocked at how awesome they've been. Even when we had really good offensive lines in the past, we've never been able to do this with our RB's. This is what OSU has been doing to bad teams for a while and something we haven't. It's nice to see and there's clearly a difference in our RB room. Haskins has been here for 3 years and even he looks different.
September 18th, 2021 at 2:42 PM ^
It’s coaching. We’ve always had quality talent at running back. We just needed a coach.
September 18th, 2021 at 2:43 PM ^
Maybe Gattis is a good OC?
September 18th, 2021 at 2:44 PM ^
Because this conflicts with my personal feelings about my team's offense sometimes not succeeding (very sad), it cannot be true.
September 18th, 2021 at 3:43 PM ^
Good one, Clarence.
September 18th, 2021 at 2:43 PM ^
Seems like a good meeting between talent and coaching. OL is looking similar too with Moore being more relatable.
We seem to have a good to great coaching staff in general.
September 18th, 2021 at 2:44 PM ^
Article in the athletic the other day and Mike Hart talking about playing Madden back in the day and I kept thinking it’s about time we have coaches who played madden and maybe..just maybe our clock management will be good eventually.
September 18th, 2021 at 2:46 PM ^
I can't upvote because of an ancient trip to Bolivia, but this is a premium comment.
September 18th, 2021 at 2:45 PM ^
Sure looks like it. All the RB's showing terrific vision, and no fumbles. Damned impressive, holy cow.
September 18th, 2021 at 4:38 PM ^
Was thinking about the no fumbles, too, but didn't want to jinx them.
September 19th, 2021 at 3:53 PM ^
you shut your whore mouth
September 18th, 2021 at 2:45 PM ^
Hope so. We'll have to see how it looks against teams who didn't get beat by Montana and Wyoming, but they're doing as well as possible against what was put in front of them. The offensive line may be even more impressive (again, competition level). The backs aren't being touched until the 2nd or 3rd level on a lot of runs. Hell sometimes they're never touched.
September 18th, 2021 at 3:29 PM ^
The Montana comment isn’t really fair - Washington lost that game 13-7. Their defense wasn’t the one that lost that game. In fact they played pretty well.
September 18th, 2021 at 2:48 PM ^
The online too. To be dominant, you need a team effort.
September 18th, 2021 at 3:07 PM ^
Yes. We have done a good job on this online message board.
September 18th, 2021 at 2:59 PM ^
Um, I like Coach Hart a lot but I expected the running backs to be this good before the season started. I thought everyone did including Charbonnet. (Reminder: recognizing that RB skills do not always yield TDs and yards.)
September 18th, 2021 at 5:27 PM ^
Expecting them to be good before the season and actually seeing them being good during the season are very different things. Give credit where credit is due. Every off-season we have expections that never materialize. This one, so far, definitely has.
September 18th, 2021 at 6:14 PM ^
But here there is hedging on the increased value Hart is bringing to this room-and I don't understand the hesitation for acknowledging this reality. As we Michigan football fans know all too well, expectations don't mean a damn thing when it comes to competing and winning games. Both Haskins and Corum were here last year-as well as Charbonnet and Evans...does anyone need to be reminded how that went. There has, previously, been plenty of talent. The performance difference is markedly improved-from any year of the Harbaugh era.
Corum and Haskins are one dynamic duo and it looks as though Edwards is on his way to joining them to make it a trio. Corum looks like a special talent.
September 18th, 2021 at 3:27 PM ^
This was a great hire. We missed you Mike Hart and glad you're back. He's been a difference maker. He's a great motivator. His guys are playing so well.
September 18th, 2021 at 3:29 PM ^
No. He's only here because he's a "Michigan Man."
September 18th, 2021 at 3:36 PM ^
Absolutely agree on Mike Hart, RBs look great and he's my favorite post-Woodson player. And the O line is paving the way!
September 18th, 2021 at 7:59 PM ^
For sure. Good O line. Hope it holds up.
September 18th, 2021 at 3:54 PM ^
so far i give the run game both the rbs and oline an A+
September 18th, 2021 at 4:01 PM ^
Honestly, I think everyone knew Mike Hart could coach based on his experience at Indiana.
I am glad he is doing it at Michigan instead of Indiana though
the revelation, imo, is Sherrone Moore...
September 18th, 2021 at 4:24 PM ^
Agreed re: Moore. Granted, we’ll find out in a few weeks how good he really is, but Harbaugh took a gamble on handing the OL over to Moore and so far, it’s paying off.
September 18th, 2021 at 4:14 PM ^
But wait, I thought Jaybaugh is the best coach on this team???
September 18th, 2021 at 4:23 PM ^
No, Jaybaugh is the one who is only here because his dad’s the HC. Get it right!
BTW - I disagree with that narrative. Jay has done a great job with TE and ST. RB were hampered by O-line.
Agree Hart appears to be an upgrade but those RBs were good before Hart got here. Hopefully he’ll take them from good to great!
September 18th, 2021 at 5:48 PM ^
What has been so great about our TEs and STs under Jay? While I don't think Jay has been bad I don't think he has been great either. And why the heck was Kolesar our back up PR behind Bell? Terrible.
September 18th, 2021 at 8:22 PM ^
Michigan has been an elite special teams unit under Jay. It’s apparent to most of us lay people and both the MGo crew and The Michigan Insider guys have noted this. But sorry the backup punt returner isn’t elite
September 18th, 2021 at 9:34 PM ^
You don't call a special team elite when he puts two #1 players on the field and screw things up, let the opponent continue a drive and an TD later on. Clearly the coach change his mind and change a punt returner from #3 to #1, .Totally coach's fault.
September 19th, 2021 at 7:29 AM ^
LOL.
"You don't call a special team elite when you're beating a team by 60 points and rotate in 100+ players and make one mistake with the third team punt return team of guys who might not play one more snap this season!"
September 19th, 2021 at 12:03 AM ^
Pleaseee tell me what part of our special teams have been elite under Jay. You can't, because we aren't elite. We also had multiple penalties on special teams this game alone. My point was the back up punt returned should be like 5th on the PR depth chart, not 2nd, because he looked lost, unprepared, and just not good.
Our kickers have been very inconsistent and downright terrible last year, 3 - 9 on FG attempts. Will Hart was an elite punter in 2018 and then regressed until he got passed and transferred. Nordin had a NFL leg before showing up on campus but was wildly inconsistent here. An elite ST coach would have gotten more out of his talent. Jay isn't bad...but he gets much love here for being above average.
September 18th, 2021 at 4:22 PM ^
Through three games zero fumbles by the running backs. Mike Hart extending his legacy.
September 18th, 2021 at 5:02 PM ^
Coach Woodson in the defensive backfield would be a welcomed sight, bring ‘em all back
September 18th, 2021 at 5:23 PM ^
If this keeps up there should be a Mike Hart appreciation thread every week. Clearly he has coached all the backs to take that hesitation step to allow the blocking to take shape. We are seeing things we have not seen under previous running back coaches and it’s a real joy to watch.
September 18th, 2021 at 5:56 PM ^
This! It's so cool to see things that Hart was great at actually get taught into our current backfield.
September 18th, 2021 at 8:22 PM ^
September 19th, 2021 at 7:22 AM ^
On the other hand, I winced when I was watching the UC vs IU game and found out who the OC for IU is.
September 19th, 2021 at 7:31 AM ^
Note: Hassan Haskins averaged more yards per carry in 2020 (6.2) than he is right now in 2021 (5.7), despite having a more experienced and healthier offensive line this season.
September 19th, 2021 at 3:57 PM ^
Slightly different situations, but noted.
September 19th, 2021 at 9:27 AM ^
Some of it can definitely be attributed to Hart. Take a look at Indiana! They have fallen way off from where they were last season.