First Look: Offense 2014 Comment Count

Brian

DEPARTURES IN ORDER OF SIGNIFICANCE.

imageSchofield-[1]

  1. LT Taylor Lewan. Four year starter took all kinds of heat for performance of Michigan OL as if he was able to play four positions at once or he had some sort of deficiency in his Leadership Aura and was not communicating enough Leadership to the rag-tag interior line. Was in fact the same player he was as a junior—a great one—and NFL draft slot in the first round will reflect this.
  2. WR Jeremy Gallon. Michigan's all-time single season receiving yards record is now his, so at least I was right about one thing in the preseason. Short, but good at fades; eviscerated Notre Dame; eviscerated Indiana; eviscerated Ohio State; best pound for pound WR in country not named Lockett.
  3. RT Michael Schofield. Overshadowed by Lewan his entire career but emerged into a complete run/pass tackle as a senior. I know there was so much pressure up the middle that there were fewer opportunities than normal for tackles to biff, but when's the last time you remember Schofield getting beat by a pass rusher? That one time he miscommunicated with Toussaint doesn't count. I mean straight-up beat. It's hard to remember. Will be missed; will be drafted.
  4. WR Drew Dileo. Sticky-fingered Louisiana gnome sort of epitomized 2013 with ill-time drops, but was a reliable chain-mover and special teams tool. Will miss calling him "sticky-fingered Louisiana gnome" because obviously.
  5. RB Fitzgerald Toussaint. Final game saw him receive two carries; entire career one long comedown from explosive junior season; horrible, horrible pass blocker. Had mostly been replaced by end of year.
  6. WRs Jeremy Jackson and Joe Reynolds. Little-used backups were good program guys but should be replaceable.

WHAT'S LEFT

8193374455_9d02066e09_z1_thumb1[1]512x[1]

I may have reused these pictures. The numbers may be a give away.

  1. QB Devin Gardner. Chaos machine seemed to reduce interceptions as season went along, but how much that perception changes if some guys catch some passes in their guts is up for debate. Excellent YPA despite having most of his body ground into paste by year's end. Should take step forward as senior; still major X-factor.
  2. WR Devin Funchess. For the love of God, world, stop pretending this man is a tight end. Looking at you, Big Ten awards committee. Michigan's second-leading receiver with 49 catches for 748 yards and six TDs; works just fine as a jumbo WR, thanks. Hands issues late after fine start to career. Go-to WR next year.
  3. OL Graham Glasgow. Only returning OL to have and hold a job all year; had some struggles after move to center; has the size and athleticism for the major college level of competition, as ESPN is wont to say; will play somewhere but Michigan probably hoping Patrick Kugler bounces him out to guard.
  4. TE Jake Butt. Site tagline does not refer to him. Productive freshman season saw him add 45 pounds and catch 20 balls for 235 yards; was probably M's best blocker at the spot; 15 more pounds and he is the dual threat Borges has wanted from day one.
  5. OL Erik Magnuson. Entered on second line shuffle of year and stuck; now obviously moving out to tackle and must be quality, because options other than him are scanty indeed.
  6. OL Kyle Kalis. Recruiting sheen severely reduced after painful redshirt freshman season saw him benched, supposedly for an undisclosed ankle injury. Performance even before that was middling at best. But was FR OL.
  7. OL Kyle Bosch. True freshman showed some promise; showed a lot of true freshman business. Momentarily replaced Kalis but then lost his job to Kalis once again. Tentatively penciled in as a starter
  8. WR Jehu Chesson. Nominal starter hardly targeted in first few games and then saw Funchess eat his job; did grab 15 balls for 221 yards and crushed a few dudes, whether it was on special teams or after the catch. Probably still the #3 WR with Amara Darboh's return but a promising freshman year should see him eat up some of Gallon's targets.
  9. TE AJ Williams. Blocking TE seemed to regress after freshman year; could not block. Major issue needs repairing STAT.
  10. FB Joe Kerridge. Your primary blocking back. May be drafted as pass protector again, but hopefully not.

WHAT'S NEW, OR CLOSE ENOUGH, ANYWAY

979015[1]8649791494_8f2b5f338b_c[1]

Kugler and Braden may step in

One or two or three guys on the offensive line. At this instant your leaders on the offensive line are probably Magnuson-Bosch-Glasgow-Kalis mentioned above and Ben Braden at RT, but that is the shakiest depth chart in the history of the concept. Magnuson is the only certainty, as Michigan isn't going to trust anyone else to be their left tackle a year after Braden went from sure starter to ghost because he didn't have the foot quickness to hack it at guard. Glasgow is also pretty safe, as he didn't get pulled from the lineup last year and can play any of the three interior spots.

Everyone else is 50/50 at best with Michigan getting five guys off redshirts and having a few veterans also competing. Will Patrick Kugler be the man from day one at center? Will Chris Bryant get it together? Will David Dawson beat someone out whether it's at guard or right tackle, where I've heard they expect him to compete? The answers to these questions will start trickling in during spring and not have a full resolution until Michigan's first offensive snap… if then.

A dang running back who can run the dang ball, again. I'm lumping Michigan's four returning tailbacks into the "new" category for reasons both obvious and hopeful:

  • Drake Johnson tore his ACL covering a kick after two carries.
  • Justice Hayes had two carries last year; De'Veon Smith had 26.
  • Derrick Green did get 83 carries, normally enough to put him into the returning category, but with so many of those doomed by the OL in front of him and the hope that he goes from kind of plodding to the lean brute that impressed recruiting analysts, those 83 carries don't mean much.

For the third straight year Michigan will be looking for anything that works on the ground other than Denard Robinson, and what Michigan can expect from its tailbacks is still in doubt.

12017325-large[1]

"The single greatest catch I've ever seen in person" –Devin Gardner

African refugee wide receivers, again. Amara Darboh's debut was delayed by a foot injury suffered late in fall camp; this year he should debut as something between an uninspiring chain mover and Jason Avant (but fast)! Darboh had buckets of practice hype after a series of spectacular catches put him on everyone's lips in press conferences. He was clearly ahead of Chesson at the time and probably still is after Chesson had a decent but not paradigm-shifting debut.

And we can throw in Chesson here, too: he figures to absorb a lot of snaps not just from Gallon but Dileo, Jackson, and Reynolds. With Gallon's targets spreading across the offense he'll get a shot to be an impact player he didn't this year.

Dennis Norfleet, for pants' sake. I swear on this bible factory that if Michigan can't find a productive role for Dennis Norfleet in this offense I am going to break every rule in the factory of bibles I have just sworn upon. This does not mean bringing him in motion every time he's on the field. It means looking at him as a slot receiver instead of a tiny bouncy freak show, which okay yeah he is but seriously people just imagine what West Virginia would do with the guy and do it.

More TE-ish guys. Khalid Hill and Wyatt Shallman come off redshirts and should bring blocky/catchy/runny aspects to the guys on the field who aren't WRs or RBs, whatever you'd like to call them. With Butt and Williams aging and hopefully improving, Michigan might have some options here to do tricky things, particularly in the redzone. If any of them can block.

WHAT'S ROD STEWART 1972

Gardner to Funchess. This was Gardner to Gallon last year. This year it is pretty obvious what replaces that: Devin Funchess blew up after his move to WR, taking end-arounds and leaping over people both before and after he acquired the ball. They even threw him a couple fades late in the year when it occurred to them that maybe that was a good idea.

Unfortunately, after a very strong start to his career in the catching department drops became an issue around the Michigan State game. The overall picture is still a guy with very good hands and a huge catching radius, though.

He's already the Big Ten's second-leading returning receiver, behind only Hoosier Cody Latimer, and Latimer plays in a light-speed offense that inflates basic counting stats. With a full season at WR and Gallon off to the NFL, a thousand-yard season is a certainty. The only question is at what point television accepts the fact that he's a wideout.

What happens if Gardner gets injured, at least relative to usual. Michigan seems to have itself a legit backup QB in Shane Morris for the first time in forever.

Passing weapons writ large. There is some projection in saying this, but it doesn't seem like Gallon's departure is going to leave Gardner bereft of options. He's got a #1 guy ready to step into that role and then you've got Darboh, Chesson, Butt, Norfleet, and possibly contributors from either the three-man 2013 class or Drake Harris/Moe Ways/Freddy Canteen in 2014. Five veterans plus six young options looks like a lot of options to me.

WHAT'S ROD STEWART 2013

Pass protection. This was horrendous and doesn't figure to get a lot better with both tackles out the door. Magnuson still needs to add 15-20 pounds to hold up against bull rushes and the question mark at right tackle is highly ominous. Maybe I'm making too much of Braden's swift disappearance from the two deep in fall, but… man, to swiftly disappear from that two-deep would seem to bode unwell. If it's not Braden then it seems like Michigan is trying to shoehorn a guy who would be better at guard into the RT spot, whether it's Dan Samuelson or David Dawson or even Bosch. Add to that continuing uncertainty on the interior and it's easy to see Michigan QBs get harassed as much as they were this year.

The seeming certainty that there will be three (or more!) brutal clunkers from this unit. Three years in and Borges's crew has thrown up at least three horrendous games a year, every year, as whatever mad scientist stuff Borges throws at the wall backfires spectacularly when his team can't execute the new stuff and can't execute anything else because the offense is a chameleon from game to game with the exception of throwback screens.

How far they have to go and how much time they have to do it in. Discussed more in the next section, but it seems like the best case scenario next year is improvement by default that gives us little insight into what Michigan should do going forward. Regression to the mean should see Michigan uptick in many categories in which they set dubious records. Hooray,  but if Michigan is 70th in TFLs allowed in year four that just puts us in an uncertain netherworld. Your options here:

  • Michigan has a near repeat of last year. PRO: No uncertainty here as everyone is put on a donkey and ridden out of town. CON: Michigan has a near repeat of last year.
  • Michigan is below mediocre on the line, but not a completely unwatchable tire fire. PRO: Manage to avoid stabbing other eye out. CON: No idea whether to stay the course and hope for further improvement in year five or move on after third consecutive mediocre at best season.
  • Michigan is good! PRO: Michigan is good. CON: Drugs are expensive.

It's hard to see anything definitively good happening next year.

WHAT'S HEISENBERG ROD STEWART UNCERTAINTY

image

The offensive line can't be worse, right? This is a repeat from last year, because the offensive line was worse and now the offensive line is losing two NFL tackles. This year… they literally cannot be worse. Michigan finished 123rd of 123 in tackles for loss allowed and turned Devin Gardner into hamburger. So we've got that going for us. The offensive line can't be worse, because they're already at the bottom.

Okay but can they be massively better? That is the real question here. Michigan has to be vastly better on the offensive line next year or it's firing time: for Funk definitely, for Borges definitely, and after (hypothetically) three straight years of non-Denard utter incompetence on the ground probably Hoke.

And… yikes. Frankly, writing this bit makes me think they should just throw everyone over right now because how can you go from that to average in one year while losing your two best guys? These kind of reclamation projects are two-year deals, usually, and that's if they get reclaimed at all.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CAN ANYONE OTHER THAN DENARD ROBINSON PICK UP THREE FEET ON THE GROUND? This is also a repeat from last year, because the answer was NO FOR THE LOVE OF GOD NO. For perspective, Michigan rushed for 3.9 yards a carry in 2008, with Brandon Minor leading the way at 5.2 yards a pop. Last year, Michigan had 3.3. This rushing offense was tons worse than the 2008 outfit despite having some very threatening weapons on the outside. No offense to Nick Sheridan, Steven Threet, Greg Mathews or Martavious Odoms, but in terms of loosening up a defense… uh… does this sentence need to continue? Nope. It ended right there.

Michigan must have a function running back for the first time in three years or it's head-lopping time.

Can Gardner get his interceptions down to a reasonable rate? You'd think this would improve what with experience and not getting annihilated all the time, but 1) he might get annihilated all the time, and 2) we saw with Denard that sometimes guys just don't get better at taking care of the ball as they acquire experience. This is pretty much another do or die here for Borges: have one of your quarterback show major improvement or GTFO.

MANDATORY WILD ASS GUESS

Oh hell, I don't know. Things should get better on the ground and the pass protection won't be great… could be just as bad. Gardner's experience and a lot of options in the passing game should result in something more tolerable than 2013. How much and how much impact that has on the wins and losses I just don't know anymore man.

Comments

MosherJordan

January 1st, 2014 at 12:03 PM ^

I mean, we had the worst line in D1 football. Worse than UConn, and we still finished 7-6. I'd really like to see a TFL rank adjusted Win-Loss record. Something tells me, Michigan outperformed by a country mile given how bad the line was. If you go to straight Offensive FEI plotted against TFL rank, and I'm sure we are even more of an outlier. Maybe a winning record given then worst line in D1 is an accomplishment for an OC. Borges is not the position coach, so it's hard to hold him accountable for their woes. Just saying.



On the other hand, one very fair criticism of Borges is that he doesn't have the ability to make adjustments at halftime. This is what separates Mattison from Borges. That may be grounds to replace him, but if you accept that flaw, what you see from the season is Borges blowing 3 games trying out a "maybe the line will execute this time" game plans, and getting kicked in the teeth for it. Games like Indiana, OSU, and the bowl show how good a play caller he can be when he resigns himself to playing a game with one arm tied behind his back. I think he should be held accountable for not understanding from the get go that he needed to scheme with the youth in mind, but part of me feels like once he gets more experienced personnel that can execute, he has the potential to turn some haters into admirers.

west2

January 1st, 2014 at 1:50 PM ^

beat a dead horse but wow...Johnny Manziel post game comments...we were dogs in a fight, didn't care what the score was...I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am of these guys...

 

 

Golly gee willikers....where is that attitude O' Michigan?  

 

 

Hail hail, whatever Johnny is drinkin, we need a big shot of that!!

alum96

January 1st, 2014 at 4:53 PM ^

UCLA started 3 TRUE freshman on OL this year and has very good results.  They lost to top echelon teams like Oregon and Stanford but their offense was not a tire fire, and they had a very nice year and just bombed someone in a bowl game.  Unlike our sad effort.  Jim Mora Jr is a heck of a coach.  I dont want to hear any excuse about the OL next year.  Yes it will be young but no one is asking to beat Alabama ...they are asking not to be pathetic.  And the offense was pathetic outside of 3 games in the Big 10 season, one against a HS level defense from Indiana.   Is is preferable to have such a young line - no.  But oher coaches and teams deal with bigger issues than UM (see sanctions at PSU) and are putting out a better product on the field and making young players work in their system.

 

MosherJordan

January 1st, 2014 at 6:22 PM ^

Any team with a redshirt freshman QB who doesn't compete for a Heisman has an incompetent OC and QB coach, cause TAMU and FSU both had great success behind their freshman QBs.



Yes, it's possible to have a line filled with youth and still compete. It should still be viewed as an exception, not the rule, even for high four star recruits.

Magnum P.I.

January 2nd, 2014 at 2:57 PM ^

Our OL didn't fail to "compete for the Heisman." They were arguably the worst in the country.



Just as you wouldn't be disappointed in a freshman QB for being average or below average, no one would have been disappointed if our OL had been average or below average. If your highly rated freshman QB who has an NFL first-round left arm and an NFL third-round right arm is the worst QB in the country, then you have cause for concern.

Mgo-Bo

January 2nd, 2014 at 12:30 AM ^

RR is a decent coach. He just recruited for a whole new michigan style. Good players but, for a new style and system.

We all kinda wanted this after Lloyd oh, boring Lloyd. Soon realizing most M faithful did not want this new style, and realizing it doesn't work very well in big10 play. (See Indiana). He's out.

Buncha players / coaches steer clear of M from uncertainty after Lloyd and REALLY steer clear after RR. In comes hoke. Starts recruiting for old M style. Knows cupboards are bare on the interior lines. Recruits best avail. Has some sr's still left over from Lloyd days. Hemingway etc. does a nice turnaround, sugar bowl. Nice.

Since then it's Been a mix of 2 styles of players not being mixed well by coaches and just old fashioned talent missing. No offense to gallon & the guys (think they're great). Just not quite big time playmakers we'd like.

Just my thoughts on what the hell's been goin on. Thoughts?

CoachBP6

January 2nd, 2014 at 3:57 AM ^

I look at the schedule and like to think even a mild improvement should get us to 9 wins. For me I don't see Al Borges suddenly having an epiphany and instituting epic game plans each week, it's just not in his DNA. Al is always going to be the coordinator that has a few brilliant games, a few terrible games and then the rest in-between.

I think the best group we have next year is WR so I'm hopeful that if Gardner can improve his mechanics and get the ball out quickly it won't matter if the tackles are bad or not. One thing about Devin is that when he feels the rush he takes his eyes down which is a cardinal sin as a QB. Devin has shown is when he's on he is one of the best in college football. Devin is the key. We could win 11 games next year, we could win 7, Devin Gardner will play a huge roll in the final outcome.

Bobby Boucher

January 2nd, 2014 at 8:45 AM ^

I'm probably going to get neg banged to hell for saying this but it needs to be said.  Dennis Norfleet should transfer to an option type coach if he doesn't see his role improve in this offense by spring.  That kid is just way too talented and explosive to be sitting on the bench all of his collegiate career.  I just feel sorry for him.  He needs to be in a program that will utilize him.  

markusr2007

January 2nd, 2014 at 3:19 PM ^

Earlier this year I predicted Michigan would probably be the "scariest football team in the league" in 2013 - both to themselves and to their opponents. 

I wasn't entirely wrong.  Northwestern fans still can't believe what happened vs. Michigan in Evanston that night.  And Ohio fans are still scrubbing their stained undies from the final play of The Game.

But most of my stupid ass "scariest football team" theory came true at Michigan's detriment.

Next year Michigan will have a much more experienced defensive unit, and it might be one of the leagues better defenses.

Offensively, Michigan will continue to be rickety and probably not a very good football team, mainly because of the losses on the OL.  I could be wrong.  I don't know the last time Michigan lost both starting tackles to graduation. It's been a long time I think, but regardless it probably doesn't bode well for Devin Gardner, who for once would like to be able to set his feet and throw the goddamned ball without having his entire thoracic cavity turned into pâté.