It seems like you guys showed some stuff with Mike Sainrisitl on Saturday, lining him up in the backfield. Is he a guy you can get the ball to in multiple ways?

“Yeah, just like I said from the start, we’re a personnel-driven offense, so when our best playmakers step up, we’re going to find creative roles, whether that’s putting guys in the backfield [or] flexing them out. Everybody has to learn the offense conceptually here. The running backs have got to know what the receivers are doing, the receivers got to know what the running backs are doing, so we will be very advantageous to be able to create matchups, to try to create favorable matchups for us by getting our best players involved however we can do it. That was just a small little taste, a small little glimpse, and then we’ll keep continuing to build and keep developing our players and put them in the best position to be successful.”

Overall, how do you feel the offense did in the install and from beginning to end?

“I’m really pleased. I’m fortunate just for the kids that we have and the coaches that we have. First and foremost, our assistant coaches did a really good job installing the offense throughout the spring, making sure our kids came out prepared for practice, and our kids did a really good job developing themselves. You look at the progress from really practice one where it was completely brand new to them and it was kind of a little bit eye-opening to this last practice and just to see our growth offensively. And one of the things that was really exciting [was] to see some of the things that people might perceive as challenges for us with the lack of depth that we had at a number of positions, but seeing other guys step up and have success.

“Overall, from a schematic standpoint everyone had to learn the offense and there was no excuses, there was no setbacks. We rolled out there. We continued to get better each and every day and it really showed throughout the spring, so I’m really excited. Now our challenge is gonna be to continue this momentum throughout the summer. That way we don’t take a step back when we come back in the fall. We continue taking steps forward to take this offense where we want to take it.”

How will you look at that other challenge of working the other weapons that were out this spring back in come fall?

“Well, you know, I think we did a number of different things this spring to kind of put on tape as far as [to] create our library and when we’ve got that library of plays, it’s easy now to go back and teach on that because we’ve got the film, we’ve got the plays on tape, so it’s really just a plug-and-play situation where overall schematically we’ve got the concepts, we’ve got the plays. Our kids understand what we want to accomplish out of those plays, and now we’re just plugging and playing the different players back into it.

“And so it’s unfortunate; the players that we did have out, they missed a lot from a development standpoint. They were able to learn offensively but they missed a lot from a development [standpoint], so we’ve got to catch those guys up individually within each and every position group, make sure we develop their skillset to allow them to go out and be successful. But if they just play within the framework of the offense and trust the details and trust the coaches, we’ll be in position to be successful.”

[After THE JUMP: On the progress of the offensive installation, ways an offense can help their defense and exert pressure on both sides of the ball for the opposition, Harbaugh's involvement, and more]

Did you get the full install in or as much as you wanted to this spring? Is there still more on the way?

“Yeah, I would say probably about 90% of it is in. There’s some things we kind of held back. And the hard thing is it’s so challenging, which is really good. Going against our defense is phenomenal in practice just because of how well our defense has played here throughout the years [and] the number of challenging things coach Brown presents. So there’s things that we were able install that we maybe kind of scaled back on because they weren’t necesarily good against our defense. It’ll be great against other defenses. That’s one of the challenges here is you see everything, which makes us better and it really kind of solidified our offense because there’s things that our defense creates problems for that you got to have answers, and so you really feel great when you go against our defense in practice and you’re able to solve your own problems in practice.

“And so we’ve got about 90% of our offense installed. There’s things that we’ll major in that we didn’t quite get a chance to major in this spring just because of the different things that we go against in practice, but I feel really good about where we are from our foundation standpoint. Our kids have done an unbelievable job executing the offense and I’m excited as we move forward.”

Do you change that 10% based on what doesn’t work against this defense at all?

“That other 10% will just be things that we’ll be able to add, some things where we took an approach where we didn’t need to install everything. That other 10% can be multiple. We left out a lot of formations this spring. I was carrying out our formations, I was looking through our formations yesterday and there’s still some things that we left out from that standpoint, and so we can add and we can continue to build. One of the things to our advantage in this offense is the flexibility.

“This offense is what I call like a mutt of a dog. It’s the pretty dog walking down the road that you’re trying to figure out what kind of dog is it, and so for us we do a little bit of everything and so on offense there’s times where we can pick and choose what we do and that’s hard and challenging for defenses to be able to prepare for us with the number of different things we do. And so we pick and choose what we do and what we major in and the emphasis of whether or not [with] who we’re playing each week to allow our kids—to give them the correct gameplan to be successful.”

How long did it take for things to click for these guys?

“You know, I would say it would still—things clicked probably about three or four practices in, where you could tell they stopped thinking and they were able to go out and execute. The game slowed down for them and really you look at the development of our quarterback position and just how well they came along and at first it was all completely new. There was a lot of learning moments. There were a lot of teaching moments.

“Like I said, the challenge of going against our defense is—there’s often times there’s guys moving around all over the field. You look at the average defense you’re going to go in throughout the year, they’re going to be a four-down, they’re going to be a static front and static coverage. Our defense presents a number of different challenges, so once we were able to apply our rules and they were able to learn the installs and then learn the rules going against our defense, you were able to see a lot of successful plays happen from that standpoint.

“I would say about four or five practices in we kind of got over the hump of the learning curve and were able to kind of go out and execute at a really high level. And the neat thing is the kids overall understanding what you want them to get done each and every play, understanding the strengths of plays, also understanding the weaknesses to get us out of negative plays.”

You say that you’re personnel-driven and everything but having guys like Shea [Patterson] and Dylan [McCaffrey], how much did they make your job easier to do what you want to do?

“Oh, they make it so easy. Just their skillset. I think when you look at all the quarterbacks, even Joe [Milton], just the versatility that they have not only as throwers or runners. They’re very smart. They’ve got quick releases. They can make any throw on the field. They can get the ball out of their hands, so we were very creative this spring with the number of things we asked those guys to do, whether it’s putting the defense in conflict by run-pass options, whether it’s putting them in conflict by quarterback runs, we were able to get a lot of good stuff done this spring with the development of our quarterbacks and it’s been pretty exciting just the inventory of plays that we have and things we’ll be able to fall back on once the season comes around.”

What is it in particular with Shea’s skillset that works well in this offense?

“You know, I think Shea, he’s a really smart quarterback. He’s started understanding and grasping the offense. There was a few times this spring where he got us out of some negative plays by his overall understanding of what the weakness of certain plays would be. When the defense would blitz one way, he checked us out of some plays and really did an unbelievable job commanding the offense.

“But when you look at his skillset individually he’s got a quick release, something that’s very effective and efficient in the RPO game; he’s got a softball that he can place ball placement anywhere on the field, and so to me he’s a complete guy. He can also create plays with his feet as he often did last year, and so I’m really excited about Shea and his development. He’s comfortable in this offense as he stated and he’s also—he’s very passionate. Shea has a lot of me inside him. We’re two passionate people. He often shows it in plays. If he overthrows a guy he’s got a certain demeanor about him after it. If he makes the big play he’s jumping, and that’s what I like. It’s driven inside of him. He’s got that passion, that energy inside of him to be great, and when you have that leadership qualities you make other people better around you and he does.”

What is it about this defense that makes it such a good test for your offense?

“Just the number of different things that they present, from being in three-down personnel to four-down personnel to—I mean, there’s guys constantly moving. I mean, you may have a three-down front but there’s six guys walking around in the back end and then they hit it on the run and of course, as coach Brown always states, he solves his problems by aggressiveness and so constantly blitzing. We just don’t face a base defense, which most defenses are most base, but what we do on defense has led our defense to be successful throughout a number of years, and when you look at coach Brown’s track record I would argue he’s the best defensive coordinator in the country. He’s constantly produced top defenses year in and year out no matter where he’s been, and so when you get a chance to install your offense and go against that each and every day, it just makes you better.

“It really is iron sharpening iron and we were able to kind of figure out some of the weaknesses of things that we were doing [and] create rules for that to be able to make us stronger, and when you can do that in a practice setting, to be able to make yourself better and make yourself stronger, you ultimately put your team in the best position to be successful. I remember always all the headaches coach Brown would present when you gameplan against him. Imagine doing that for 15 practices and then figuring out what works, how you can be successful, and that just makes you better as an overall team.”

I imagine you learn how to call plays by calling plays in a game. Have you had a chance in scrimmages throughout this practice to work on that yourself?

“Yeah, it’s been great, just how many call-it periods that we’ve called in practice. Every day we’re calling plays off the script in practice. I called the whole spring game without a script and that’s how I do practices. We don’t need a script. I got the plays in my head. This is my offense; I know what I want to call [and] I know what I want to accomplish. But we do a number of different periods in practices where we call it, which is really good. Situations, whether it’s two-minute, backed up, red zone, short yardage, we don’t script half of practice. We just call it on the field and run plays.

“It’s really neat because the players also understand as a playcaller what I like to call in those situations and we’ll often watch those plays together on offense so I can explain what I was thinking so they can think like me, and the more they have a thought process like me it allows them to be comfortable. It allows them to go out and be successful.”

Now that you’ve had time with a good percentage of your team, do recruiting strategies change based on what you have and based on what you need going forward?

“I just think we’re always gonna try to recruit the best and brightest student-athletes we can to Ann Arbor. Obviously there’s a type of student-athlete we want to recruit here not only from an athletic brand but from an academic brand. But we’re looking to just keep continuing to maximize our talent, and I think one of the advantages for us necessarily as we go out recruiting now in the spring is having seen some of the midyears that came in here and what those guys look like. When you look at Mikey [Sainristil] and you look at Erick All, those guys look different on our field just from their skillset. Those two guys have done extremely well this spring being midyears along with Cade McNamara, and I’m just talking skill guys from that standpoint.

“You always want to continue to try to recruit at a higher level than the previous years that you’ve done. So when you’ve got midyear freshman that come in and they’ve been able to make an immediate impact and I’m creating roles for those guys on offense, you want to continue to try to recruit to that model and so we’re just continue to go out there and just find the best student-athletes we can that fit our system.Obviously we do a number of different things from an offensive standpoint so there’s not a certain guy that we’re looking for. We like to always have a variety of guys. And most importantly, we build our offense around the talent that we have and so we’ll make sure that we build it to their strength to be able to put us in position to win games.”

You’ve obviously had this goal in mind or opportunity in mind for a while you had this spring as your first chance to have [control]. What was it like personally to be able to run the whole thing? Not just calling plays occasionally but the whole offense.

“Oh, it was amazing. Just each and every day coming to work, working with these guys and working with our staff. I never realized until you’re in that seat how much it controls your brain. I mean, there’s often times I would go home and I’m texting my own self so I don’t forget my own thoughts, you know, and so midnight or one o’clock in the morning I can’t wait to watch the film the next morning, I can’t wait to go over—I mean, every day, to me, has been like living on cloud nine. I mean, it’s just been a dream. All the work and preparation that it’s taken to get to this point, now to being able to run my own offense and kind of be in charge from that standpoint, my brain doesn’t stop thinking about the next play or we need to run this, we need to run that. Oftentimes it maybe clutters up everyone else’s brain because I’m moving so much faster at that point but it’s been exciting just to be able to go out and see the kids have success and being able to put them in position to be successful but also have them being able to understand how I think and trying to develop a culture where we think alike so we can all go out and execute fundamentally right.”

You’ve been in some pretty high-powered places the last few years. Is that aspect of it, that added responsibility maybe, something that sets this place apart so far?

“Yeah, I don’t necessarily know if it’s an added responsibility but an added level of confidence for me and just confidence in my preparation and what we’re doing offensively. When you look at this offense it’s really the best of all the last places that I’ve been, and that’s why I say it’s that mutt, it’s that mixture of the best of a lot of offenses that I’ve been in. I’ve been fortunate enough to be around some pretty good offenses. I’ve been fortunate enough to have some pretty good players that I’ve been around, and so I truly believe in what we’re doing offensively because I’ve seen it be successful and it’s been successful in a number of different places with what we do offensively, and so the kids were able to go out and see that and they were able to go out and execute.

“And so that gives me an added level of confidence that if they just trust in their coaches and they trust within the framework of the offense that we’ve got great coaches on our staff with a number of different backgrounds: guys that have won national championships, guys that have competed for championships, guys that have won conference championships, you name it. When you look at our offensive coaching staff we have the experience, we have the developers of talent that we have within our individual position coaches and it’s our job to go out and put the kids in position to be successful. There’s no egos in the room offensively. There’s no egos on our team offensively and everyone’s committed together to build the best offense we can and put our kids in position to win.”

Jim said a couple guys might be back by the very end of practice. Did you get a chance to see a Christian Turner or even what Nico [Collins] can do?

“Yeah, Christian was able to come back towards the end and obviously we were able to see him early on and he’s such an explosive player as a runner. He’s often a guy that the message from me to Christian is “slow down” sometimes, everything doesn’t have to be so fast. And so I’m excited about the skillset that he brings just from his explosive nature as a running back. He’s got great vision, balance, and body control—everything that you need to be an elite running back—and so I’m really excited about when we get him back fully [and] coach Jay Harbaugh being able to take his development to the next level and make him an elite player.

“And then I was fortunate to see Nico get back out there yesterday. Nico did some individual drills and to see a big kid like that being able to sink his hips and stick his foot in the ground and transition, that just made my spring just finish off in the right way being able to get him back and then how excited I am about him and his development. Obviously he missed quite a bit, a big chunk of indy and so I’ve got to catch him up now and he’s got to catch himself up throughout the summer but obviously people were able to see the talented player he is. I think he can be an elite receiver. I really do believe in that and I’m excited to get a chance to work with him when we get back in the fall and take his game to the next level.”

This is your offense. Is Jim—what is the interaction with Jim? Is there an interplay or is this you and he’s there to kind of chime in?

“Coach Harbaugh has been amazing. Just the support that he’s given our offense. He hasn’t been involved at all. He hasn’t stepped in, and I think that’s one of the greatest attributes of a great head coach is his willingness—and let me say this: a lot of people have put a lot of questions and comments out there in the spring. This is a sign of what great head coaches do. They’re willing to change. I don’t think coach Harbaugh’s ever been labeled one way as a head coach. His offenses at Stanford were different than the offense he had at San Francisco. You look at what he was able to do when he had Colin Kaepernick and how he changed and evolved the NFL with the quarterback read game stuff, and so he hasn’t been labeled just one way as a head coach and this is another example, obviously, switching things over offensively.

“There were some spread elements in the offense in the past, but he has given us full authority. This is our offense. Like I said, this is not my offense, this is our offense. I want every kid to feel like this is our offense on our team. This is not about Josh Gattis and what I’m running. This is not about the offense changing from the year past. Is it different? Yes, it’s completely different than what’s been run in the past. I brought this offense in and I’ve allowed everybody to have a piece of it, but he does not get involved with the offense and he’s really given me the freedom. he’s given me the authority to run it the way we see necessary and put our kids in position to be successful. That’s truly a great attribute of his as, being the head coach and being the CEO of the program, he’s felt like he’s doing what’s best to put our kids in position to win.”

Usually when you hear about an offense protecting a defense it’s the crunching, time consuming, that kind of thing. In what ways can the offense that you run protect the defense?

“Well, first and foremost, the first thing we talk about is dictating the tempo of the game and when we talk about dictating the tempo of the game it’s not necessarily about the time of possession. To me on offense when we talk about dictating the tempo of the game it’s applying pressuring on the opposing defense so they must stop us every time that we’re gonna have to go out there and score and it’s also putting pressure on the opposing offense that if they don’t go out there and score every time that they’re gonna fall behind the chains, and so from an aggressive standpoint on offense, we want to put the other opposing team defensively and offensively in conflict that when they face us and they face this brand of football and the Michigan offense that every possession matters to them.

“And obviously coach Brown is going to lead our defense, and one of the advantages of being an offensive coordinator here is you know you’re gonna get the ball back. Our defense is going to play extremely well and he’s going to get us the ball back and it’s our job to go out and score.

“And so the three things we talk about, the three things we want to dictate is we want to dictate the tempo of the game; we want to dictate the style of play, keep a physical brand of football but also have spread elements; and we want to dictate the aggressiveness of a defense. And if we can dictate those three things throughout a game and limit how aggressive an opposing defense can be, but also put stress on them that we’re going to score on every series and if they don’t stop us the opposing offense is going to feel pressure to go out [and score] and they’re going to make mistakes versus our defense, and so not necessarily are we looking at it from a time of possession standpoint, we’re looking at it about the impact we can make throughout the game.

“But we won’t go extremely fast; we’ll protect our defense. But if we’re going fast we better be scoring, and if we’re scoring points we’re ultimately putting our team in position to be successful and I know our defense will go out and continue to play at an extremely high level. I do not have one concern about the effect of the offense that we have affecting our defense. We will do whatever it takes offensively to put our team in position to be successful, so if there’s times that we need to go slow, we will go slow. If there’s times we need to go fast, we’ll go fast. But most importantly, now we have an offense and a defense that’s going to be able to apply pressure on the opposing team throughout the game.”

[Ed. A--I was travelling and unable to attend these pressers on Friday afternoon. (These==Gattis and Brown went back-to-backl there's a Brown transcript coming tomorrow.) This transcript exists thanks to the video taken by Game of Thrones enthusiast (and publisher of wolverineswire.com) Isaiah Hole]