Michigan Football, Team 140, 2019 Season

[Jeff Buchanan]

Saban was a big FB guy. That's changed, but it wasn't that long ago. Our last FB drafted to the NFL was Jalston Fowler in 2015.

The thing is, you can have a FB, but he has to be versatile and be able to move around to the slot or even shift to the line as a TE. Fowler was thrown to 15 or so times his senior season at Bama. He could be a single-set back, a TE, a slot, and if push come to shove we could move him to defense and let him play mike.

Ben Vansumeren could fill that roll. He came in as a TE recruit when Harbaugh wanted to feature those guys in his offense and filled up the TE unit with a ton of them. But now he's getting talked up as playing both offense (TB) and defense (LB).

Also, at the link below is Harbaugh's full presser comments from today. First off the injury stuff is about as open as Harbaugh has ever been about this sort of thing. Charbonnet is not practicing after Meniscus repair and Harbaugh notes quite a few names not praciticng as of today that may or may not practice this spring. The list was long. Second. He did mention Peters as getting snaps contrary to comments I read elsewhere. Finally, this was one of the longest pressers for JH who has been virtually silent since the UF failure in the Peach. Busy? Sure, but he was not happy with himself. Not even close. It was also one of the most revealing about concrete stuff that isn't hype or speculation. Good read:

https://mgoblog.com/content/spring-practice-presser-3-18-19-jim-harbaugh

[Jeff Buchanan]

........ pertaining to the presser above, Seth wrote a piece on M's offense. The one where he goes what we want to hear, what we're hearing and what it means. It's OK becasue it is just one man's view although he claims he has some inside access that is otherwise pay-walled but gives hints...... I think he does have access to guys who really do have insider access but it's been my theory all along that these guys are fed "propaganda" the Harbaugh wants to get out to fans. Carr was the same way.

Anyway, this was a really good post Seth Post comment:

One of two things will happen: 1) the transition to an up-tempo spread will turn out to be a spectacular success and Don Brown will adjust by developing a bend-but-don't-break scheme that has a knack for forcing turnovers, enabling Harbaugh to finally get over the hump, or 2) Gattis' offense turns out to be a repeat of the square-peg-round-hole debacle of 2008, the defense breaks under the strain of repeated three-and-outs and turnovers by the offense, and we have ourselves another 2017 (or worse, another 2014).

In any case, I think Harbaugh's aloof exterior belies a mindset of "fuck, I hope this works."

I really agree with that last sentence. I've watched him in season, after the osu loss and after the Peach disaster. He was glum. I mean you could see it in his posture. See it in his face.

I'm an insider, Ha, Ha. Why? Because his wife's nephew's kid and his grandson both play flag football in the same league my grandson does and I see him all the time at flag football games. He's there with his wife and family members a lot. He doesn't stay the whole time but he's there for a while ..... long enough for me to judge for myself how he's doing. He's very friendly and approachable if you want to say hello. He'll stop and chat. Generally nice guy. During the season, when M was winning, he was ebullient, walked with a confident stride. So, I had a basis to compare that confidence with what he looked like after the osu loss and the UF loss in the Peach in person.

The difference in posture and how he carried himself after those two season ending losses was starkly noticeable. After osu he was angry; after the Peach, he was despondent. After osu, he knew M's offense, the one he had championed for 4 years, wasn't winning games but he was still married to it. Go back to the practice field, repeat the stuff you practiced well and beat UF. Didn't happen. It is then you could see realty sinking in. His offensive philosophy was a bust and not at all in tune with what elite teams, the ones winning championships, were running. It simply wasn't even beating teams with equal talent becasue it was predictable and you can't over-power or out execute teams that know what's coming and have the talent to stop you.

So, enter Gattis. TBH, he's not a silver bullet. He is not likely, alone, to turn M into an offensive juggernaut. There will be bumps in the road. Patterson, if he does start in the fall, is good but he is not without limitations that he may or may not be able to rise above. JH is a good QB coach, He is not a whisperer and from what I've read, no coach is. Some QBs are coachable and ascend, some don't for a variety of reasons. There's a lot of uncertainty and the best place to be right now, for me, is cautious.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Figuring out what the Gattis offense will look like ........

This may not be a worthwhile endeavor at all but, there's been enough said in the last couple of months to take a stab at it.

Mike Gattis said, just recently that he wants to run more pro-spread instead of power-spread. This was said in the context of the run, not the pass game. People who heard this have been trying to understand what he might mean by that. The best explanation I have heard on this question is that in power spread, the TEs straight line block. M is notoriously bad at TEs blocking. I've seen it over and over again and I'm not a coach. It's obvious. You see it when the OL executes it's blocking assignments, the RB finds a crease, gets to it only to be cut down by a S or a LB playing the viper type role for a 3 yard gain instead of the 10-20y gain the play could have produced if the TEs make their blocks.

If the experts are understanding what Gattis means - or what they hope he means - by running more pro-spread, TEs have less of role in blocking. The point of attack is rendered much less obvious as the formation becomes 1X in it's appearance. The OL outside instead of inside blocks fulfilling the blocking role that TEs would be called upon in power (2X formations) or power spread (1X formations).

This may say a couple of things about both the passing and the run game. Running out of a pro-spread formation usually means you are getting more space for the ball carrier to run through. It plays to the RPO for one thing. For another, it sets up option ball off a sweep. IOW, this is Patterson faking the keep and pitching to his option or, just keeping it. You can pass off the RO as well. Allows for a lot of diversity in plays and sets up the potential for counters to them.

M has 3 NFL caliber WRs on the roster. Obviously, what an effective run game does is to set up the deep ball. I don't expect M will depart significantly from the plays that spring from that philosophy. We are not going to see M run a 40/60 run/pass mix. Nor are we going to see an offense like osu used against M to score 63 points. To the un-discerning eye the kinds of things they will see in n the run game will look the same. Line spacing to the discerning eye will look different, the blocking will look different. RBs and TEs, esp. out of a flex position, will be used more in the passing game out of RPO plays. TEs will block less.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Interesting piece from the Detroit News on Chris Evans. He says his suspension was not about grades. He's appealing it and the appeal will be heard by a board of four students and four faculty. Sounds like an honor board to me which leads me to conclude there might have been an incident where Evans broke an honor code rule like plagiarizing a paper he submitted.

In any event seems like there's a good chance he's fighting to continue his track to a degree and hopefully he'll be back playing football this fall.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/2019/03/24/chris-evans-finds-himself-outside-looking/3261534002/

[WM Wolverine]

^ That's what's been rumored all along: plagiarizing/cheating. This is an appeal process that is difficult to get reduced supposedly as they'd be overturning a previous decision.

[hack]

I assume plagiarism as well.

[WingsFan]

Spell check Nazi today? Bad mood, never mind.

There is no doubt in my mind that is what happened. Wasn't failing anything. On track to graduate. He will have to go in front of review board. He is getting his ducks in a row on what he has been doing. He's going to be back for fall as long as he keeps his head on straight.

[Jeff Buchanan]

^ That's what's been rumored all along: plagiarizing/cheating. This is an appeal process that is difficult to get reduced supposedly as they'd be overturning a previous decision.

Was this out there and pay-walled or was this information generally available or easily deducible. If it was, I sure missed it.

[WM Wolverine]

First sentence is basically what I read on both 247sports and twitter from people who weren't just throwing something out there shortly after the Evans story broke... Second sentence is info from 247 insider (Webb I think) on what he thinks would/will happen.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Thanks, WM ....... on the honor board thing. I've been involved in these on both sides - as a member of one and as a defender of my oldest daughter who was accused of plagiarism while she was a senior at UNC. The evidence in my daughter's case was weak and when we brought in an attorney, the U decided it wasn't worth fighting. Dropped the charge and cleaned up her record.

As an Honor Board (Academic Integrity) member at ECU, I was an adult among children and two professors that didn't care. Kid's have a pretty good idea of what due-process means so, they try. A finding by an Honor Board is generally considered final and does not get reviewed unless there is an appeal. These are not courts of law. Technically, the U can do what ever it likesd as long as it is in accordance the written policy.

The appeal has to have a strong basis though for the reviewing official(s) - usually the President or one of his representatives will preside on appeal and the school's attorney will be present - to hear the case again. If there is a due process problem, i.e., policy was not followed, it will almost always get reversed and there is no double jeopardy.

All other issues get tricky because you're not dealing with the law; it's policy. Arguing I didn't mean to do it but you did isn't going to wash. You are expected to know how to avoid plagiarism and the U will have plenty of information on how to do that. But the U has an equal burden of proving you did plagiarize and they have to show you the evidence they came up with to support that conclusion. You can attack the evidence. That's what we did with my daughter's case. It turned out the accusing prof couldn't make his case when he was faced with alternative theories of how my daughter came up with similar language in her paper to that of previous submissions in the same class.

Anyway, I hope Evans has a strong case on appeal. I fear though that politics might play a roll or ..... he's getting a break because he's a good football player so, don't do that.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Crossing the Atlantic by cruise ship, enroute to Rome then on to Lausanne, Switzerland by train to visit with daughter and new grandson. Internet connection for the last 24h to catch up .......

Read mgo's reviews of a Don Brown's presser and a 247 article on Josh Gattis.

Brown said the way the 2018 season ended was the worst experience in his entire life. I can relate. Follows is the standard spring practice hype that Seth does a good job of sorting through.

Here's my take: The DL is going to be a weak spot against good teams and like it was v. osu when it couldn't get pressure on Haskins and that was BEFORE, as Brown put it, he had to put the back-ups to the back-ups in due to injuries. That Ben Mason is getting hype along with Jeeter tells us that Kemp isn't great and that Dwumfor, who is recovering from foot surgery and not practicing, couldn't get pressure and couldn't stop the run.

Look, I'm cautiously pessimistic so, understand my bias ....... but, I think teams are going to run at Michigan's front and the DL isn't going to be able to stop it. Standard football comments about teams then being able to pass the ball follow. This isn't about the loss of talent on the D to the NFL. While there was plenty of talent going to the NFL, I don't think that talent materialized when it was needed ..... against the good teams M played. That's not a hit against any of those guys. Great football players. But those key guys - as they've been described by many - being gone isn't the going to be the problem in 2019. It's simply going to be an overall talent deficit that's needed to produce a decent pressure metric along with a statistically significant run stopping capacity for the front 7, however uniquely Brown might deploy it.

The offense is going to have to score 40+ to keep up and that's just not M's thing.

[WingsFan]

In things that don't matter, off season gossip and such.


Greg Mattison call Michigan 'That Team Up North' I guess (?) didnt watch it. What a trader


Adam Biggers who I liked his podcasts a lot always said he was a fan of 'another' B10 team. Last night on twitter he (laughing) posting Tom Izzo celebrating on going to the final four. I should have never gave him a fucking dime.

And finally.....



James Yoder is back!!!!

[WM Wolverine]

Mattison twice left M to coach for a rival, he's no "M man."

[Jeff Buchanan]

Mattison has always done what is best for Greg Mattison and his family.

He left for a better deal.

I could care less.

Like Brady Hoke who was a great DL coach and recuriter and a shitty HC, Mattision is a very good DL recruiter and position coach potentially headed to the same fate as a DC He may thrive. My take is that he won't. osu is not likely to be happy with him as a coordinator. He brings to osu immersion in a Don Brown defense that failed against teams running hybrid spreads that punished defenses like Brown's that tries to field, run stopping, heavier players that are then over-matched v. skilled receivers working within an aggressive passing game.

[Jeff Buchanan]

This is a very good article that describes where modern football offenses are headed. Harbaugh appears to be following in their footsteps.

The key for me in this article and what might associate's M's emerging 2019 offense with Gattis as OC was the author using the term "21-I formations." I'm not entirely sure JH wasn't trying to do some of this in 2018 but M was a predominant 21 personnel offense. He certainly likes the FB and TE. He used Trips with the WRs and slots (sort-of). It certainly didn't look like OU's offense in 2017 that the author uses as a n example of where CFB offense are trending. I also thought JH's use of the tailback as a pass receiver was woefully lacking. He also didn't use a lot of 4 wide formations and they seemed to be poorly called and at the wrong times.

The primary thing though that appeared to be lacking in 2018 that would have put M among the trend setters offensively was what we all expected to happen, the heavy use of RPO along with more option ball than we actually saw. It's pretty clear in this article that successful run-centric teams, which M is still going to be, but hopefully better than the woeful numbers it racked up on offense in 2018, used a highly varied offensive scheme and play calling that punished defenses for defending against the run by bringing a 7th defender into the box (see the description of this diagrammed in the article). I never thought Patterson did that well - either because he wasn't coached to do it or he was coached and couldn't do it (favor the later).

https://www.footballstudyhall.com/2019/4/5/18295457/positionless-offense-and-the-21-spread-hybrids-spread-i