Michigan Football, Team 137, 2016 Season.

[lineygoblue]

Can Peppers play QB? .

He took some snaps last year, and if I remember correctly, he scored a TD from the QB spot.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Heh. The takes on O'Korn vs Speight from the offseason are particularly interesting in light of recent developments.

I can see, from your vantage point, why you'd say that.

OTH, from our view, I don't think any of us have thought that highly of Speight to begin with. None of us thought he was going to become a play maker. Most of us were pinning our hopes on O'Korn being really good after a year with Harbaugh..... the kind of guy that can make plays when making one is critical.

Accordingly, some are adjusting their expectations (win total) downward a bit.

[Cody_Russell]

At least we will get to see several Michigan QBs play assuming the blowouts in the early part of the season.
Michigan only needs to find a starter by at MSU.
... But be mindful of vs Penn State.

[Hannibal]

I really want Evans to work out so that Peppers can focus mostly on defense and not risk getting injured. If that happens, then we won't even have to put him in on offense until the MSU game.

That sucks so bad that we're probably going to lose him after this year. I can't wait until the day that we can finally get 3+ years of 5* production from a 5* recruit. With Peppers, we got robbed of most of his true freshman year, and with our other 5* recruits since Brandon Graham they have been busts or injury prone. Maybe Gary will finally be that guy.

[jaadam4]

I really want Evans to work out so that Peppers can focus mostly on defense and not risk getting injured. If that happens, then we won't even have to put him in on offense until the MSU game.

That sucks so bad that we're probably going to lose him after this year.

I'm a little more concerned with him playing some form of LB than anything. He's going to take a beating with that kind of workload including offense.

[Hannibal]

I think that he's essentially a glorified nickel back who will be heavily supporting the run against teams like Indiana and OSU. But yeah, let's hope that he's not facing off against a lot of pulling guards and fullbacks.

[The Oracle]

The first part, exactly.

[lineygoblue]

I think that he's essentially a glorified nickel back who will be heavily supporting the run against teams like Indiana and OSU. But yeah, let's hope that he's not facing off against a lot of pulling guards and fullbacks.

This ^

I doubt that we'll see Peppers going up against pulling guards or OT's. I believe we'll see him coming off the edge in delayed blitz situations, and probably spying the QB. He may match up with some TE's in coverage as well.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I'm pretty sure JH and Don B had a sit down before he was hired and JH asked him how he would have defended osu in their assrailing of M in 2015.

I can imagine them watching film of an alternating Elliott or Barrett getting to the edge for big chunks of yards with Brown offering his version of a defense with a hybrid LB in it.

I've read a little about his previous defences. There's been plenty of diagrams floating around. Peppers is perfect for the hybrid LB position in Brown's version of it. I'm guessing Brown's 2016 D may be one of M's best ever. We probably won't get a great look at how good it is against spready teams until UCF and even that may be a stretch because UCF ain't very good.

[Hannibal]

Hawaii runs a spread too.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Sure but woolsey, their QB, didn't seem very adept at running it, I didn't see much read option and I also didn't see any restraint plays. Cal's D didn't have to do much of anything but play a vanilla 4-3. Just my take on watching only the first half..... I saw enough to not be impressed by anything at all exotic.

[Hannibal]

They ran a lot of read option where the QB gave. Not worried about him though.

[WM Wolverine]

One, it's very true Peppers is as more a nickel-back than a linebacker. In today's CFP, that's what the position requires. Two, Peppers is terrific at making blockers whiff. Playing closer to the line of scrimmage will be a learning curve but smaller players have had great success at basically his position without his talent level. The SAM spot is one of my least worries for '16.

[Jeff Buchanan]

They ran a lot of read option where the QB gave. Not worried about him though.

Yeah, I saw those more as belly hand-off plays. I don't think Woolsey was reading anything but I can see how one could see it as a read option too.

The Belly Play was a Rodriguez staple. It required the QB to just hand-off and then the RB had to read what the DE did in relationship to his blockers. DE's helmet inside, go to the edge; outside go to the B or C gap. Everything in RR's offense was super simple but in Hawaii's offense who knows. I sure don't have the play book.

Either way, read option or belly play, the DE is the key. The thing about the hybrid LB in a Brown D is that he's there to attack either outside or inside. M has never had an athlete like Peppers to do that nor has that been Mattison's or even Durkin's thing which is why M has looked so utterly bad against spready teams that can execute those plays off zone blocks. M had that frustratingly deep S who was a wasted 11th man that was routinely blocked out of the play as it developed.

I think most of the BT knew M couldn't defend a play like that and even if they were more pro-style than spread, teams put that play in and practiced it. Minnesota 2015 is a good example.

[Jeff Buchanan]

For those of you having doubts, including me, about the efficiency and explosiveness of M's running game, Brian did a very well documented and videoed piece on Deveon Smith.

The guy is a warrior. He doesn't fumble, he's gotten much better in making the right cuts and, according to Brian, aside from LSU's Fournette, there isn't a college player better in getting extra yards after contact.

So, maybe a game manager like Speight or a more conservative O'Korn is all M's offense needs to keep a defense honest. Maybe M doesn't need a play-maker at QB. With a running game that can possess the ball and move the chains at 4 yards a crack, with a guy like Smith, who can turn 3 yards into 4,5 8, 11 yards working with a passing game that if the defense puts 8-9 guys in the box to stop M's run game, the QB/receiver combo can make them pay, maybe ......

This discussion has raged before but up tempo offenses that can run 70+ plays with enough that are explosive and efficient to score more than 1/2 the time the ball is possessed is probably going to win games 95% of the time. That percentage of wins v. plays/possessions is not going to be anywhere near as high for offenses geared to plod and run 60 plays a game.

That's the concern and it's probably why, if M has a pretty good run game, better than most of us are expecting, and an unexciting, infrequently used passing game because, you know, the QBs aren't that good at it, M will crush teams with inferior talent, do well against teams with equal talent and get handled by teams with better talent.

Not saying M can't win the East and go on to capture a playoff spot but it will likely lose a couple of games in the process and get a draw in the CFB Playoffs against a team that is going to be way more explosive on offense, just as good as M is on defense and M will lose.