Practice Bits: Offense Comment Count

Brian

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[Eric Upchurch]

The Harbaugh era seems considerably less paranoid than the previous regime. Practice reports are coming in from a lot more sources than they used to; no doubt this is partially because excitement sees a lot more people on the sideline. I do hear that they're less concerned about "X looks good, tempo is fast" reports getting out.

Tempo is fast, by the way. Harbaugh has brought a high-rep style to practices in an effort to get everything he can out of every countable hour. It is not exactly Oregon hyper-speed where all coaching is done after, in film. It's a lot closer to that than the Hoke-era practices were. A recruit's parent took in a practice and posted about it to a Facebook group, and his impressions match some others I've been sent:

1. Tempo of practice and the philosophy. Very different from last year. 2 sets of scrimmages per field. A play is being ran an avg of 25 to 35 secs. If they went two groups, they would alternate but each group ran a play every 25secs. So ... Coaches saw 2 plays every 30 secs. Ton of reps. Very different from last year. Coaches are coaching very quick between plays. Emphasis on getting the reps in during practice and correcting mistakes in film. Practice was very similar to how Saban runs his practices.

2. There really is competition at EVERYTHING. I saw several of these "competitions." A couple examples ... QBs did a "fastest release/ball speed" comp. On command, they had to throw a bullet pass 20yds. Malzone looked good. Several races took place today as well but most know about those.

Those were vintage 1990s; these are a lot closer to modern speeds. Michigan is running multiple reps at a time on opposite ends of the field with first and second teams. 

(Aside: I can't help but draw a line between Hoke's deliberate practice pace and his program's inability to operate at any other speed.)

Practices have also been extremely long. How one practice can be longer than another when NCAA maximums are mandated for everyone is unclear; possible that Hoke was spending some of his countable hours in other ways? That seems highly improbable, but so do Michigan's results the past couple years.

Harbaugh bein' Harbaugh

From Sam Webb:

When practice was over Harbaugh brought the team around him and awarded the day to the defense.  As a reward he told them they had to run while the offense watched because “here, the winners are the ones that earn the opportunity to get better.”

Quarterback Battle Royale

Whether it's the WWE kind or the Quentin-Tarantino-porn that is way better than the Hunger Games, what Michigan has on its hands qualifies as such. Jedd Fisch was carefully neutral during his press conference yesterday, as coaches are. He asserted that everyone was even and getting even reps, as coaches do.

But allow your author to read into things some. Fisch on Malzone:

"He's got a lot going on. But he's handled it unbelievably well. He's unbelievable in terms of his ability to not let things bother him. To be consistent and play the game. If a play doesn't go right, he's right back in there for the next one. A short-term memory is phenomenal for a quarterback."

On Speight:

Wilton is a very large man, he's a big guy (at 6-foot-6). He can see everything. He's a pretty good athlete and he throws the ball well. He doesn't seem to have had a ton of experience.

On Morris:

"Shane has a very strong arm, as everybody knows, he spins it well and he just has to understand that, really, that's not the most important thing. If you have a really strong arm, then you have a really strong arm. That's what you have. Now, it's a matter of 'what can you do with it?' How do you utilize it? His skill set and his arm strength are tremendous and he's very comfortable. It's fun to watch him in the huddle, he has a really good command of what we're asking him to do."

The tweets that captured small sections of the fuller quotes came off more negative towards Morris, highlighting "unbelievable" for Malzone and "throw it at the person" for Morris. It was more neutral than that. Via Maize and Blue News:

Even so, the overall vibe from that presser seemed to confirm reports floating around at Scout, Rivals, and in my inbox: there's considerable debate about who looks better between Malzone and Speight… and there ends the debate. Scout's observers tend to like Malzone. Rivals's like Speight. Malzone is reportedly adjusting to the size of the players in front of him; Speight doesn't have that issue and is a year ahead of Malzone in terms of college prep.

Early days obviously, but it feels like the QB race is two horses with Morris lagging behind. Gentry and maybe Rudock are yet to enter.

Tailback Battle Royale

See above in re: term. Tyrone Wheatley has a lot of options here and is doing a lot of correcting in drills. Will be interesting to see if there's a performance differential there. The latest practice video from the department features Wheatley heavily if you'd like to hear him talk some.

Most of these guys look like they've looked. Johnson's out; Smith may be a hair faster; it's tough to tell if Green's vision problems are any better in this context. (Most people observing practice do so from the sideline, where holes are not always visible.)

There is the new guy, of course. Ty Isaac is "huge" and "could be a linebacker." He injured a finger somewhat badly in one practice but shrugged it off to continue with drills. This undoubtedly earned him some Harbaugh toughness brownie points. (He did sit out some on subsequent days.)

H-back/TE wazoos

Chase Winovich is at least practicing there…

…and while Harbaugh seemed pretty dismissive about supposed position moves earlier this spring, they are looking at him there. When I fretted that this didn't make a lot of sense given the seeming surplus at H-back, Ace reminded me that Harbaugh switched guys around like mad at Stanford. Doug Baldwin played both ways; Owen Marecic played both ways. Harbaugh loves to experiment, and when he finds a Football Player that guy tends to Play A Lot Of Football. Possibly the same dynamic here.

Because man does Michigan need something above and beyond Butt/Bunting/Hill/Shallman/Houma? And Pallante? And apparently Henry Poggi?

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Is it possible Winovich is getting a legit look at tailback? I doubt it but it's not like Michigan's not looking for options there.

It seems clear that Michigan has a relatively set front seven with a lot of depth at three-tech and some at linebacker. So they're taking the opportunity to test out anyone who may be an effective manballer.

FWIW, Ian Bunting looks promising but could still use some more weight on his frame if he's going to be a true dual-threat at the TE spot. When asked to catch the ball he looks "terrific," with the kind of wingspan that will remind you of Funchess "plus a couple inches." Hands are reputed to be excellent. Sam cited him as a potential breakout player.

Sione Houma has been held out with an injury, FWIW.

Receiver Battle… somewhat Royale

Drake Harris exists! He is full go in practice after like two straight years of hamstring doom. Reports alternate between impressive play and extreme skinniness. I believe both; this year will likely be a learning/glaring at hamstring owlishly/getting bigger campaign for him. 247:

There's no doubt about one thing: Harris is going to have to gain some weight in the next six months if he wants to see the field this season. However, the early impressions of him are twofold. One, he's finally 100% healthy and is a full-go at wide receiver. Two, he's been very impressive off the edge and has been a favorite target for a couple of the quarterbacks in early drills.

Harris was kind of a big deal before his leg acted up on him, remember. He was a top-50 prospect who Michigan had to fend off Alabama for after a 2,000 yard junior season.

Other reports are so scattered it's tough to draw conclusions from them. There are a lot of receivers, there are a lot of reps, an observer can easily sink into confirmation bias. At various time's I've heard good things about Ways, Chesson, Norfleet, and Bunting. Darboh's been absent so far and Canteen may still be too small to get off jams; I wouldn't read a whole lot into the former since Darboh is a known quantity.

OL Somewhat Settled(?) Royale

There's significant rotation along the offensive line, as you might expect. Other than the returning starters the biggest threats for playing time are Patrick Kugler, David Dawson, and Logan Tuley-Tillman. Miller and Braden are the returning starters under the most threat.

It is impossible to tell anything about these guys yet, as this is the point in the year when they're at the greatest disadvantage. Having eight real options is excellent, at least.

Chris Fox is still injured. You may remember that he came in after suffering a severe knee injury in his senior year of high school, ballooned up into the 350 range, and hasn't been talked about much subsequently. At least early this spring he was still on crutches. We are rapidly approaching the point where a medical scholarship is the most likely outcome.

Comments

CoachBP6

March 12th, 2015 at 3:54 AM ^

Shane struggles with trajectory. Every throw Shane makes is a fast ball. Shane is a gunslinger. As a gunslinger you tend to rely on your arm more than you should in situations where you shouldn't. I hope Shane breaks through and realizes his potential, but he may have shattered confidence after two years of horrendous coaching. We shall see.

JeepinBen

March 11th, 2015 at 3:24 PM ^

And the attitude. It'll be very interesting to see how this staff develops practices - will they all be this fast? Is this spring only? How fast will they practice in the fall? What will each week of game prep look like?

And re: competition - the more bullets the better, and I trust these coaches to develop players (on offense at least) better than the previous staff.

TheFugitive

March 11th, 2015 at 4:11 PM ^

I have it on good authority that Drake Harris is north of 185lbs now, +10 from the update a few weeks ago

MChem83

March 11th, 2015 at 4:22 PM ^

from all the talk is that we have nobody who stands out at any position, no one good enough to have a starting job locked up. It's all very well to have "competition", but that doesn't guarantee that the one who eventually comes out on top will be that good. Competition within the team doesn't mean much until and unless it produces players who are better than their counterparts on OTHER teams. That's the only "competition" that really matters in the end.

J.Madrox

March 11th, 2015 at 5:24 PM ^

They have had what, 4 practices under a new regime with a program coming off a below .500 year. How many positions do you want to be locked down off a team that was as bad as last years team was?

I agree there is no guarantee anyone who wins the competition will be any good, especially at QB, but it is way to early to start talking about how all this "competition" would make you more nervous about next years team.

MChem83

March 11th, 2015 at 7:17 PM ^

We lost the only two guys from last year (Ryan and Funchess) who might have had a starting job pretty well locked up.  It's a particularly bad situation even for a sub-500 team to have essentially NO proven talent coming back, though.  Even mediocre teams usually have a least a few returning players who are clearly good enough that no one is likely to beat them out.

WolvinLA2

March 11th, 2015 at 8:05 PM ^

Yes, we knew that didn't have any bona-fide stars coming back. But just because we haven't been told so explicitly, I'm sure there are at least half a dozen or more guys who have their spot locked up and a dozen more who we know will be starters unless someone comes out of nowhere and looks awesome.  

Jake Butt will start.  Desmond Morgan, Joe Bolden and James Ross will start.  And many of us will be surprised if the starting defensive backfield isn't Lewis-Countess-Peppers-Wilson.  We returned 5 OL starters who will all start unless a younger player shows great improvement, but I feel confident saying Cole, Kalis and Glasgow will start.  

If more than two of the above don't start (for a reason other than injury) it will be a big surprise, wouldn't you agree?  Plus you have the "their job to lose" guys like Ojemudia, Charlton, and Darboh.  

The only spots, outside of obviously QB, where we don't have a clear frontrunner already is due to lots of options.  Will NT be Glasgow, Mone or Pipkins?  Will 3T be Henry, Godin or Wormley?  All 6 of those guys have played and looked good, so whoever wins those battles you can be confident is a very good player.  Similar situation at RB.  Whoever rises to the top between Isaac, Green and Smith will do well.  

J.Madrox

March 11th, 2015 at 9:45 PM ^

I also think you are reading way to much into coach speak after four days of practice about "competition" and "every spot being available". Harbaugh is walking in to a completly new set of players and loves competition, so he is throwing everything open depsite knowing there are probably more than a few positions locked up.

There may be no proven stars but it is pretty safe to say, barring injuries, we will see a lot of Lewis, Countess, Peppers and Wilson in the secondary. I bet Morgan, Bolden and Ross see a lot of time at LB and the D-line sees a heavy rotation of Glasgow, Pipkins, Mone and Henry amoung others.

The line will have Cole somewhere on it, probably Glasgow and Kalis as well. Your TE's are Butt and Bunting in certain situations. There are a bunch of guys who I would classify as returning starters (or close enough) who are clearly good enough that no one is going to beat them out, the ones you claimed Michigan is lacking.

Michigan has enough talent to compete in the Big Ten, 10 wins might be a long shot, but there is no reason to complain about the coaches refusing to annoint starters after their first four practices at Michigan.

MChem83

March 11th, 2015 at 7:23 PM ^

And miracles are not expected.  But miracles SHOULDN'T be expected, either.  People who are having Harbasms, and predicting 10 or 11 wins for this team, are not living in the real world.  You just don't win double digits or challenge for a division title in a tough conference with no proven talent returning, especially at QB and on the OL.  Sure, almost anything is possible if a ton of things break our way, but on paper, right now, we have no better than 8 win talent.

uncleFred

March 11th, 2015 at 8:01 PM ^

If we were looking at a team that played in the same offense and defense for the last five years looking for 10+ regular season wins would be quite reasonable. The talent is there. The consistency in scheme and coaching is not, and as a result the experience, at least on offense simply can't exist. A weak opening OCC schedule would make 10+ wins more likely, but realistically the most probable opening is 2-2.

Given the schedule eight regular season wins would be an excellent result. More than eight wins will be icing on the cake. That is not to say that Harbaugh and co can't get this team to gel early and lead them to 10+ wins. That is possible, it is also unlikely.

Since I never pick Michigan to lose, I'll be picking a 12-0 opening. My heart requires it, but my brain is well aware that eight regular season wins and a win in Harbaugh's first bowl at Michigan will be an excellent start. 

westwardwolverine

March 11th, 2015 at 8:21 PM ^

Just like it should have been no surprise that Michigan won 10+ games in 2011 with a weak schedule and lots of returning starters, it won't be a surprise this year when they win 10+ with a weaker schedule and lots of returning starters. 

 

funkywolve

March 11th, 2015 at 11:21 PM ^

UM's non-conference schedule in 2011 was: WMU, ND, EMU and SDSU.  All at home.  I'd say this years non-conference schedule will probably be tougher then 2011. 

With conference play in 2011 OSU had their worst year since 2001.  OSU will probably be preseason Top 3 if not #1 this year and I'd be surprised if they aren't undefeated when they come to AA.  MSU was ranked around 20th in 2011.  That might be similiar this year.

Gulogulo37

March 12th, 2015 at 1:14 AM ^

Some people are certainly overrating what Harbaugh will be able to do in year 1, but he's certainly going to be better than Hoke. I think the ceiling on this year's team is quite high, but their floor is quite low as well. As most first years are with a new coach. I wouldn't be that surprised to see us win 10. Also wouldn't be surprised if we struggle all year with inconsistency though either.

CoachBP6

March 12th, 2015 at 3:46 AM ^

The defense is returning nearly everyone from a very respectable defense last season. With the exception of a QB, this team has talent all over the field. 9-10 wins is not out of the question, especially when you factor in getting both rivals at home and having a favorable schedule overall. I understand the last three seasons have been awful, but lets be real, Harbaugh knows what he's doing and will mold the system around the strengths of our players instead of fitting square pegs into round holes a la Hoke and RR.

funkywolve

March 11th, 2015 at 5:38 PM ^

I think most people expect QB to be one of the weaker positions on the field this fall.  A lot of us are hoping Harbaugh can work some magic and we'll hopefully have a serviceable starter.  I don't believe too many people are thinking Harbaugh is going to turn one of these QB's into an all-conference type of performer in 2015. 

CoachBP6

March 12th, 2015 at 3:37 AM ^

It's called coach speak. The spring game will tell a lot. This staff wiped the slate clean in favor of fresh competition. There have been five practices. Players have begun to separate. This staff is tight lipped, they are not going to open up about anything until they release an official "two deep" and even then they will have it in pencil. Relax. Coaches do this to get the most out of their guys. This isn't the nfl where guys are guaranteed their spot no matter what.