Michigan Football, Team 140, 2019 Season

[iam416]

I'm disappointed in this move in that I had reached the point where I didn't think the "HARBAUGHFFENSE" could ever beat a topshelf team. It's a shame HARBAUGH!!!! appears to have eventually realized that. I'm happy because Buchanan is now fully back on board! I'm also happy because we finally bury the miserably awful term "HARBAUGHFFENSE".

My hope is that Gattis is being brought in to run a hybrid effective spread offense with whatever HARBAUGH!!!! does. I'm pretty sure that's not the case. He had the Maryland offer with full control. He would have taken that, IMO, absent assurances of control from HARBAUGH!!! I mean, this is HIS career. Guys who do this what to own what happens to them.

Of course, he's never called plays before. So....

Another thing that crossed my mind is that The Nick passed on him after Locksley left. There's almost no question in my mind that if UAT wanted him he would still be there. Now, I also don't think The Nick is in the business of handing over the OC keys to someone as inexperienced as Gattis.

[Rocky Bleier]

I give the move two thumbs up. Harbaugh could have pulled a Dantonio and put Ed Warriner in charge of the offense.

Hey Froot, is MD tired or stubborn? Did he even look outside of his circle of friends?

[Jeff Buchanan]

........Another thing that crossed my mind is that The Nick passed on him after Locksley left. There's almost no question in my mind that if UAT wanted him he would still be there. Now, I also don't think The Nick is in the business of handing over the OC keys to someone as inexperienced as Gattis.

Interesting point ........ OTH, do we know one way or the other if the Tide's actual OC is Saban? Was Locksley actually calling the plays or like I'm pretty sure was the case at M under Harbaugh, it was Harbaugh calling them? I think that makes a difference in the value that Saban placed on Gattis. I also think it interesting that the first announcement was that Maryland had hired Gattis. Then about 3h later he was a Harbaugh hire. Money or control?

Another scenario more likely to come from an M slappy like me: Gattis wanted a job with full control and Saban wasn't willing to give that to him. Apparently, neither was Maryland's new HC, drum roll, Mike Locksley. That price was too high for Saban or apparently, Locksley to pay. It looks like to me Harbaugh wanted to give up the keys and neither Saban nor Locksley did. It could have very well been a money thing between Maryland and M though. Who knows.

[iam416]

Saban is a defensive guy. I think he's specifically a DB guy, but his expertise is defense. He gave Lane Kiffin the keys. He have Sark the keys. I'm sure he gave Locksley the keys. And I'm sure he'll give whoever he brings in the keys.

[hack]

Harbuagh is an offensive guy; he gave Don Brown the keys to the defense. So although you make a very good point about Gattis wanting to own his future -- he probably intends to be in AA for 2-3 years max -- I'm still minded to believe it when I see it. Even if Harbaugh actually thinks he's giving Gattis the keys, I'll still believe it when I see it. Harbaugh loves the Xs and Os of the running game. Loves it.

[WM Wolverine]

Talent hit on all the points I've been wary of with this move...

?????? Positives first, he's young, an excellent recruiter, been around the B1G region and a very good WR coach... Saban giving him the title of Co OC says he was valued by Satan though agree Bama is willing to spend anything to keep someone he really wants...

Negatives... Zero true OC experience or calling plays that were aware of... Is this another OC in name and it's still Harbaughs offense? If so, the evolution of the offense likely won't likely be what elite offenses are doing...

[hack]

I bet it's a half-measure.

[iam416]

If he brings in Gattis to work around the edges, then you're fucked, IMO. I really don't think HARBAUGH!!!! can coach offense at the requisite level to win national titles. I'm not even sure it can win B10 titles provided Ohio State doesn't drop off too much.

I can't see Gattis hitching himself to HARBAUGH!!!'s version of offense, though. I just can't. There may be some growing pains in that M's roster has players that aren't necessarily geared toward the evolving CFB offense. But, they have to move in that direction. Well, at least IMO. If I'm lucky I'm right as much as I'm wrong, so what do I know.

[froot loops]

I give the move two thumbs up. Harbaugh could have pulled a Dantonio and put Ed Warriner in charge of the offense.

Hey Froot, is MD tired or stubborn? Did he even look outside of his circle of friends?

He might think Salem can be a good coordinator.

[WingsFan]

I like the infusion of successful young, aggressive, recruiters who seem to be moving quickly up the coaching ladder. Anthony Campanile was rated Boston College's best recruiter (No. 143 in country, No. 19 in ACC) by 247 last year. For context, he was six spots higher than Greg Mattison despite being at BC. . He coached defensive backs at Boston College, so he could do that or take over the open linebackers spot that Al Washington left.



Josh Gattis is is 34 years old and Anthony Campanile is 36 years old.

[hack]

Anyone know how much zone BC's been playing post-Brown?

[WM Wolverine]

More than M.

[Jeff Buchanan]

That's a hard question to answer. It prompted me to look some stuff up.

First, I assume we are talking about what we fans see as Don Brown's questionable ability to coach and implement an effective zone defense. We think that's what he needs to do more often. We fault him based on what untrained, from a defensive coaches standpoint, fans see when M's defense got blasted in it's last 2 games. Right?

If so, it's worth pointing out that Brown does play zone. He used what is called a trap-2 Fire Zone at BC and I'm not sure he called it that at M but I suspect it was an underlying scheme he adapted to his players on M's roster. It requires the back end (CBs and Ss) to be technically sound and make the reads.

For it to work, you also have to have really good interior line play (DTs) that consistently gets pressure on the QB by collapsing the pocket. When that happens, you can rush 4 - one of those guys is going to be a DE assigned to get to the QB in 3 man fronts - and be effective v. a passing attack. It's effectively zone coverage ("trap 2 refers" to what amounts to a cover 2 scheme when the Ss, sometimes one of the 3 LBs, makes the right read and either drops into coverage or steps up to the run). In long yardage situations, Brown brings a blitzer almost all the time and even at other times he does that. When DTs and/or DEs aren't getting pressure, the scheme breaks down and even the blitzers can become ineffective. We saw that v. osu and UF.

I really think Brown is taking heatl for weak interior line play (hello, Greg Mattison) and DEs other than Winovich before he was injured and Gary his entire M career that weren't as disruptive as Brown may have liked them to be. The net result was that The Ss and Brandon Watson playing CB, as is usually the case when the DL isn't getting the job done, got exposed...... and abused. In a way, his tried and true defense worked fine I think until maybe IU and M still won and then got torched in the next two games as OCs saw what was going on. Should he have planned better for injuries? I don't know, next man up is the usual approach. I think next men up turned out to be a significant step down for the DL, DEs and, of course Bush not playing his usual interchangeable LB roles v. UF. That was a huge detriment to DB's scheme.

So, long answer that some may see as an excuse to your question: yes he played his type of zone at BC. It's probably pretty similar to what he runs and from what I could garner from the defensive UFRs at mgo, I think I understand it. Does he need to do what Schiano apparently did at osu when his very aggressive approach started to get beaten - bail and cover at the safeties positions and corners? That turned out to help but osu's D still looked like a mess. Guess what will happen if Brown does that? Fans will gripe about the lose coverage and easy pitch and catch throws to wide open receivers on the sidelines. I think Don Brown knows what he is doing. I'm going to let him do it. I think Mattison and Washington leaving and Campaneli signing on suggests Brown wasn't too happy with how the DL played how prepared back-up LBs were and wants to make sure the back end, especially Dax Hill, gets coached up to suit his scheme.

[hack]

As has often been said in the past month or so, "uses a zone sometimes" isn't the same as practices it enough to be good at it. By the time it was time to make the OSU gameplan, Brown knew what he had on the DL.

[hack]

So what's the deal with Yoder and the athletic department? What brought on the acknowledgement of the riffraff?