Will rushing yards improve this year?

Submitted by GVSUGoBlue on

After reading this article on MLive about our OL this upcoming season I began to wonder how our rushing output could change. It's the offseason so let's do what we do best, speculate.

http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2017/05/from_mason_cole_to_ce…

 

The team is entering into year 3 of Harbaugh and I was curious how his previous coaching stops would compare.

 

Stanford Total Rushing Yards under Harbaugh

2007 - 1134 yards

2008 - 2385 yards

2009 - 2837 yards

2010 - 2779 yards

 

San Francisco Total Rushing Yards under Harbaugh

2011 - 2044 yards

2012 - 2491 yards

2013 - 2201 yards

2014 - 2176 yards

 

Michigan Total Rushing Yards under Harbaugh

2015 - 2057 yards

2016 - 2768 yards

 

As you can see by the numbers, Harbaugh's 2009 Stanford team had the best output at 2837 yards. Obviously the NFL game is a little different, but I included those numbers for those curious of the rushing trend in San Fran.

With the addition of Frey and tidbits that Michigan is going to run more spread looks, how much of an improvement can we really expect in terms of total rushing yards? Or should we just expect better pass protection and cleaner holes for the RBs? The current projections of the OL are LT Cole - LG Bredeson - C Kugler/Ruiz - RG Onwenu - RT Runyan/JBB

 

SPECULATE

war-dawg69

May 19th, 2017 at 1:22 PM ^

The only constant about this years team is opinions go from one end of the spectrum to the other. I read article after article and comments from the so called experts vary, but most assume Michigan cannot field a product as good as last years due to all of the starters lost and how young the new starters will be. They really have no idea about returning talent and how much experience they have. One thing is a given and that is we have more speed on both sides of the ball. If my opinion is biased so be it, but after the Florida game the secret will be out. I think our defense will basically shut down Florida's offense and we will flat out dominate this game. All of the naysayers will be backtracking and changing their opinions even if they want to hate. This team is way better than the team Michigan fielded in 2015. It looks like and with good reason the main concern among Michigan gurus and fans is the offensive line. Just watching the spring game alone this line is miles ahead of the line of 2015. Yes there was pressure, but it had to mostly be manufactured from the blitz. Also please remember that the o-line is going up against the first or second best d-line in the big ten. So what I am saying Michigan fans is the o-line will be quite good this year and that more than a few will have their eyes opened to the future of dominating Michigan offensive lines. The same goes for our d-line. I do not know what people who doubt this team are looking at, but this d-line may be better than last years. Yes they are that good and maybe they didnt always dominate in the spring game, but who were they playing against but Michigan's o-line. Will we rush for more yards=YES. Will we pass for more yards=YES. Will we have a top five defense= YES. This team is not starting any freshman unless they are outstanding at their position and beat out a really good player. Our o-line starts COLE=senior Bredeson=soph. Kugler=fifth year senior   Onwenu=soph.  Jbb=red shirt junior not as young as people think. D-line Winovich=red shirt junior  Mone= red shirt soph. Hurst= senior who would have been drafted round one Gary = all world soph.  We have a nice mix and mostly experienced players but a boatload of talent. I could go on and on but yes we are young in the secondary but I trust players like Hudson who was three star...Ya right. Washington is a red shirt soph. if he starts. I hope people across the country keep singing the praises of teams like penn state and wisconsin who in no way shape or form have the talent the wolverines have. I hope they keep saying this team cant possibly field a team with any talent after all the losses. I didn't mention osu because they have talent, but even they will be much more vulnerable in the d-backfield. If we can block them we can beat them and by then are young recievers will have a great deal of experience. I really hope that people like Dinardo on btn, who think this a down year for Michigan football just keep talking.  When they see what I believe, they better like crow and then just watch as the panic sets in when all of the so called experts see the product on the field with just five returning starters. Yes 2014 and 2015 classes were weak and everyone says it, so there is no way Michigan can be any good this year. Really cant wait for them to be disappointed. This is the most excited I have been in a long time to get the season going. You can laugh at me if you want, but I still feel that as the season goes on we will be favored in every game. I may be over confident for sure, but what if I am not. Of course we have to be undefeated going into the osu game and we have to be favored against Florida which I think we will be.

The Fan in Fargo

May 19th, 2017 at 7:38 PM ^

I agree if you can block OSU, you can beat them. Tough to say how the refs would've let that play out in The Game had the o-line been dominant though. I'd say they would've thrown more flags to keep the bucs in the game but that's just my opinion. The starting d-line has the talent edge over this past years d-line but the unit as a whole isn't as strong obviously in the two deep and that might play a factor in the big games if the second stringers cant get it done. It all depends on Speight and the o-line though. Speight has to get it done at a high level every damn game. His young receivers aren't going to be able to bail him out early on. Speight needs to take that offense by the horns and get in the ears of his o-lineman to get the job done. Along with Cole and Kugler. Leadership is key for this team with all of these young guns. Good leadership (during) the games will mean the difference for this teams season. When you have bosses on the field, you follow their lead and just play with the best of your abilities. Age doesn't matter. 

StellaBlue

May 19th, 2017 at 3:02 PM ^

Enthusiasm unknown to mankind, war-dawg. Who the hell needs to hit return when the juice is flowing. I hope you are right on the team bro.  You keep this up and you could become a classic, just like THE KNOWLEDGE.

fksljj

May 19th, 2017 at 8:07 PM ^

I sure hope so. I don't like speaking ill of people but I won't be sad that De'Veon Smith is gone. He was too slow to hit the hole and he went down on first contact. I wish him the best, but adios.

Lou MacAdoo

May 20th, 2017 at 12:09 AM ^

Well Evans in good for about 2000 yards this year, so we just need 800 from the rest of the stable and it'll be a statistical improvement. Seriously Evans is going ham this year.

Hannibal.

May 20th, 2017 at 8:42 AM ^

No. The schedule is brutal this year compared to last year's and the line is facing all kinds of major issues, like having no depth at LT and no talent at RT.

Night_King

May 20th, 2017 at 8:53 AM ^

Honestly I care more about when we get the rushing yards rather than just looking at total outputs.

We desperately needed to rush for first downs and keep the clock moving against teams like Iowa, OSU and Florida State. 

I wouldn't be upset if our total rushing yards number goes down, as long as our 4th quarter rushing improves in tight games. 

One of the main reasons we were able to squeak out a win vs Indiana with O'Korn at QB was because Deveon went beast mode in the 2nd half and broke off two incredible runs. Would love to see our RB's improve as the game goes on. 

waterfordjoe

May 20th, 2017 at 3:54 PM ^

Still wonder how last season would have turned out just by eeking out a 1st down in the end of each of those losses...was it OL? RB's? play calling too conservative?

Seemed like it all started in the final 5 minutes or so of the State game, even though the game was put away.  We obviously saw this as well in the 2015 late October horror show.

 

 

MichiganStan

May 21st, 2017 at 12:48 AM ^

Of course. Deveon Smith was a slow ass bum and now that he's gone we can finally get a consistent and reliable running game back. Not sure there was anything I hated more last season than Deveon as our starting RB.

Chris Evans will be great but I think Kareem Walker is going to give Evans a run for his money. Kareem's hungry and judging from some twitter posts he worked out a lot with Jabrill so he's defintely in good shape. I also want to see what O'Maury Samuels can do. Dudes more ripped than players in the NFL combine and he's not even in college yet and he's pretty damn fast too.