[Barron]

Jim said during media days that the three of them [Speight, Peters, and O’Korn] are basically tied. What, in your mind, separates one quarterback from another? Not specifically, but whoever wins out, what’s going to be the difference for them?

“We feel that’s the best player for us to win football games with.”

What are your thoughts on ever having multiple quarterbacks play regularly?
”I think you could do that. At times you have different packages and things. Going into a football game you’re always trying to look for the best way to attack the defense and if that’s something that presents a problem for the team that you’re playing then.”

What do you think about this fall that being an option?

“I don’t know yet. It’s so early in camp. We’re still putting this thing together and putting the offensive concepts together and things we’re doing, so we’ll see as we go.”

Jim talked about maybe ten practices or so to decide, to really know on a quarterback. How about offensive line? How long into camp is it before you get a good sense of that?

“It just depends, you know. Could be practice ten, could be practice 12. We just put pads on yesterday and things change when you put pads on. You know, with the competition of hitting and physicality and moving people off the ball and things moving faster. As we go we’ll make that decision.”

[After THE JUMP: RT possibilities; finding OL six, seven, and eight; how the staff complements each other]

Obviously you want to get the right five and the right quarterback, but is there an urgency to do it quicker so they can solidify themselves and get used to being that lead person in that role?

“You know, there comes a point in time where yeah, you have to make the decision but you never want to rush into making a decision. As a coaching staff you want to feel good about who the best starters are and who the best 11 are, so we’ll come to that point when we will but we’re not going to rush into it and feel like, ‘Ah, we’ve got to make it right now.’ We’re still putting in concepts and evolving and creating an identity about ourselves, so it’s something where as we go we’ll figure it out.”

Where do you think Mason [Cole] will play this year?

“That’s a great question. You know, Mason is a very, very talented athlete. Great offensive lineman. We’re just kind of moving the deck around inside and we’ll see how it all shakes out, but he’s a guy that could play all five positions. I mean, that’s how talented he is. Did a great job this summer leading these guys and great mindset and just got an eye of the tiger, man. He wants to be the best, which is awesome.”

How deep of a rotation would you plan if all things being equal with the offensive line on a regular gameday?

“I mean, you want to find the best sixth, seventh, and eighth linemen to help out. You want to have a guy to be able to swing tackle, a guy inside to play center and guard and another guard or possibly tackle so, you know, it’s six, seven, eight deep.”

How do you split the snaps with the quarterbacks?

“We just kind of rotate through. We go through the practice and say, Hey, we’re going to put this guy in these four plays and these four plays and these four plays and it’s equally divided. No favoritism. It’s, Hey, we’re rolling the balls out, let’s see who the best guys are.”

You have athletic options with Juwann [Bushell-Beatty] and I know Jon [Runyan Jr.] is one of the more athletic options that you guys have. Could you kind of describe that right tackle position a little bit?

“Yeah, Juwann and Nolan’s over there. Jon Runyan can work over there. You’ve got Andrew Steuber, Chuck Filiaga. We have some guys to work with there. We feel good about all of them. As we progress through, we’ll see how they understand the offense and if they can think quickly on their feet and their physicality and things but it’s kind of a rotation. May be somebody else swinging over there but it’s so early. We feel very good about the guys that we have. We feel very good about their athleticism and what they did over the summer and things and their understanding of what we’re trying to do so we’re excited about it.”

It’s still early but is there anything that you notice different about Jon or Juwann specifically coming into this year?

“I just—the point is their number’s getting called. There’s nobody in front of them, so it’s…they have a desire to be good. They’re really, really trying to be on point and I think it’s maturity, getting older in the program, and it’s their time. It’s their time to be a starter here at Michigan and play at this great institution so it’s an exciting time.”

Thoughts on what Pep Hamilton brings to the mix on your side of the ball?

“Outstanding football coach. Just love Pep. Love Pep, who he is. Very knowledgeable, non-ego guy, just ideas, collaborations. I think the—Pep’s a great man, great father. Really excited to have him. I’m thankful that he’s here. Really am.”

How has Michael Onwenu looked? Obviously you guys had a goal for him at the end of the season. How has he progressed as far as that’s concerned?

“Really nice. You’ve probably seen him walking around; he looks good. He’s really moving well. His foot-turn speed, his understanding; he’s really, really doing a great job and he’s really worked hard at it, which is cool.”

Is there a weight you want him at?

“My thing is I’ve coached guys who have been 380+ pounds. You don’t want to fixate on the weight because they’ll start to fixate: ‘Oh gosh, I’m not good enough. I can’t move at this weight.’ How well can you move at this particular weight and then go from there. If you’re good at X amount of weight and you can block somebody, you can pick up a pressure, a 3-technique crosses your feet and you can cover him up, those are the things you look for. You just don’t want to put a number on them.”

Going back to Pep, seven months in the program now, how has he built relationships as a new coordinator with guys like Wilton Speight, Brandon Peters, John O’Korn? Why is that important to really forge that relationship?

“Right away, when Pep walks in the room it’s just a wealth of knowledge. He demands from those guys. He understands the different scenarios and the answers to the problems of the matchup, and he just coaches those kids just like his own sons, his daughter: he’s very caring, very loving, very passionate. I always think you can judge a person’s heart ten feet away. You can tell when a person’s got a good heart and Pep’s got a golden heart. It’s unbelievable.”

What are your thoughts on the disappearance of two-a-days and do you have to structure things differently because of that?

“I think it’s good. I really like this plan. The day off, I think that gives those guys [time] to get their thoughts clear, get off their feet, rehab, and feel fresh when they come back in. I love the way we do it. There’s no time restriction, so we’re going to meet, we’re going to practice, we’re going to walk-through. It really gives you a battle rhythm. And I think it’s really good we got to come to camp a week earlier, especially with this young football team, to get started. So I think it’s everything that’s really, really positive and feel really good about it.”

Jim talked at media days about consolidating the staff. You guys have three guys with you, Pep, and Greg [Frey] with coordinating experience. How do you keep from having too many cooks there?

“It’s not. I mean, when you get guys that are really good at what they do, with their expertise, I think when you collaborate and come up with different ideas you just become stronger, the ideas. Great coaches are great coaches. You can’t have enough of ‘em, and I think as we push forward here there are just great ideas coming out and guys are liking it. You can tell.”

Do you feel like you complement each other with your backgrounds?

“Absolutely. With coach Frey coming in, it’s nice with me being the offensive coordinator and coach Frey helping with the offensive line and breaking things up, it’s really refreshing. His background with some single-back things that he’s done at Indiana, the great linemen that he’s coached, the expertise of some of the tackles that he’s coached, it’s great.

“With Pep, with us working together in 2010 at Standford and some different ideas we did there, it’s really, really good. We all complement each other and I really love the offensive staff. I love who they are as people, I love who they are as coaches, I love the wealth of knowledge. And Jay Harbaugh and Scott Turner, Al Netter, GA, they’re all very good.”

You lost some seniors outside and at tight end. Can you talk about some of the players that are taking advantage of some of the opportunities that they’re getting in camp?

“Yeah. In the five wide receivers that we signed, we’re really explosive outside with great speed with Kekoa Crawford, DPJ, Grant Perry. It’s just a really good corps of guys.

“Tight end-wise, TJ Wheatley and Ian Bunting, Sean McKeon. You look at those guys, they really complement each other very well. It’s what we’re trying to build concept-wise with our system so they fit in really well with what we need.”

How have the changes with Greg and Jay, first-time running backs coach—how have the offensive coaching changes influence the way you’re going to do things?

“No. I am who I am. I’ll be a better coach because of it, because of the wealth of knowledge. Jay working with the running backs, he’s done a great job. Those running backs understand the assignments and what we’re doing. It’s going to make up better as a team and make me better as a coordinator and make us all better coaches.”

What do you think of Jay and Greg kind of in tandem on the run game?

“Great, outstanding, really good.”

You mentioned earlier Mason being able to play all five spots. I think there’s a bunch of guys all over the country moving tackle to center, center to guard. Do you think offensive linemen are more versatile today and do you see that change in them and why do you think it is?

“Yeah, I think in college football they can be just because sometimes a guy across the line’s not playing with the measureables you are in the NFL because they have a standard of the arm length at the defensive end spot. But when you’re a good athlete and a good offensive lineman, in college football you should be able to play all five. And even in the NFL. If a guy’s athletic enough, you’re not going to put a shorter-armed guy at left tackle or the right tackle spot, but you can see those characteristics and skill sets that make them special.”

Is it just athletic ability?

“Athletic ability is huge. I think on the offensive line, it’s being able to see the screen move and being able to adjust; having football awareness is huge.”

Do you think you have more guys other than Mason right now that can do that, that can play four spots or maybe all five?

“I have to sit here and think about it. I think that yeah.”

More than half?

“More than half, yeah, because of their athletic ability and the strength and the power that they play with, yes.”

Where’s Cesar Ruiz fitting into all this?

“He’s doing outstanding. He had a nice summer. He’s a guy that can play inside; could be a center, could be a guard. He’s really understanding what we’re doing. He’s further along as a freshman coming in mid-year. Does a nice job when we’re teaching these concepts in the room, in the classroom . He’ll come up with an answer quickly on his feet so pleased with him.”

In camp he was talking about how he was used to the structure at IMG, so coming here the schedule and everything wasn’t too much. Speed-wise, early on how has he adapted to the college speed?

“Very nicely.”

Are you still letting those freshmen, the latest arrivals, are they still working at tackle or do you have them in other spots?

“Yeah, we’re tackles and some guard spots. We usually restrain from the center spot because really that’s a lot of thinking. That’s the quarterback and the center working in tandem directing traffic and things.”

[Ed. A- I couldn’t make this media availability, so I owe a big thank you to Isaiah Hole for sending me (very high quality) audio so that I could transcribe.]