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At AA's urging, here's my take on the M offense:
OL: The addition of Ed Warinner to the coaching staff has a lot of potential, unrealized at this point. Caesar Ruiz will start at C. He played in relief last season at guard. There's a lot of hype that remains to be proven. At RG and LG will be RS Junior Michael Onwenu and Junior Ben Bredeson. Both starters in 2017 they are solid players. The tackles are unsettled but my guess is that at the first live snap it will be 5th year Senior Juwan Bushell-Beatty at LT and RS Junior John Runyan at RT. RS Junior Grant Newsom, if he is cleared to play, will do so at LT and will start over JBB. Some observers believe the top five will consist of guys more suited to play interior line across the board,pushing Bredeson out to left tackle and having RS Sophomore Stephen Spanelllis on the interior line with junior Mike Onwenu at the other guard and sophomore Cesar Ruiz at center. The musical chairs at the tackle position reflect JH's miss on quality LTs during his 4 recruiting cycles and highlights Hoke's dismal recruiting for the OL overall. At this point OL depth in numbers is good for the first time in 4-5 years; talent? I don't know.
QB: Pecking order will be Shea Patterson, Brandon Peters, Dylan McCaffrey and Joe Milton. This QB lineup is the best that Harbaugh has had during his first three seasons. I'd be shocked if Patterson doesn't start.
RBs: Pecking order will be SeniorKaran Higdon, Junior Chris Evans, Sophomore O'Maury Samuels. Harbaugh prefers a three back rotation with each back having a different running style. That's the case with these three. Walk-on junior Tru Wilson, if the hype about him is to be believed, could supplant Samuels as the 3rd back. Higdon and Evans are proven quality RBs. Neither of them are elite but both could have break out performances this year if the Warinner potential gets realized - a lot riding on that for the RBs.
FBs: There aren't a lot of CFB teams that deploy a full back like Harbaugh does in his TE heavy, power sets. Last year, Ben Mason was effective but he was injured during spring practice. He's reportedly back to 100% and will enter fall practice as the guy at that position. He's backed up by Jarred Wangler.
TEs: Harbaugh is big on offenses that feature the TE. While at M he's been high on them using them as blockers in his TE heavy sets, decoys and receivers. Sean McKeon, Zach Gentry, Nick Eubanks will be the line-up. All of them played last year so, they know the offense and their roles in different plays. Given JH's penchant to use TEs extensively, that these three all have experience will be a factor in M's offensive efficiency. Mustapha Mohamed is a class of 2018 4* TE that could contribute.
WRs: The by-word is loaded. There is tremendous talent and skill diversity in the WR roster: Sophomore Donovan Peoples-Jones, Sophomore Tarik Black, Senior Grant Perry, Redshirt freshman Oliver Martin, Sophomore Nico Collins, Junior Kekoa Crawford, Junior Eddie McDoom. Black was injured early in the 2017 season but returns at 100%. He may be the most talented of the group. Perry is the odds-on starter at slot receiver but Oliver martin may end up replacing the oft injured Perry. Nico Collins is a Julio Jones type player maybe not Julio's equivalent but he's that big, fast and a very hard to defend outside WR. DPJ was up and down in 2017 but all of the WRs were because they were forced into starting roles that they probably weren't ready for. All of them, except Perry, are young but have a bit of experience under their belts ...... and the possibility of a good QB throwing to them.
Coaching: It appears that Harbaugh will continue to game plan and call plays by committee. The big difference for 2018 as compared to 2017 is that each position group has a dedicated coach. Many thought that when Jim McEwain and Ed Warinner were hired, one of those two would be the OC. Nope. Observers think JH is the OC and that is the way he has organized his coaching staffs everywhere he has been. The 2017 co-coordinator arrangement appeared to be a disaster. Only the faces have changed so, we'll have to see how this works out.
Overall: It's not hard to predict M's offense will be better in 2018 than it was in 2017. One blight on Harbaugh's M record has been his inability to deliver wins versus quality opponents. He has one of those versus Wisconsin, at home, in 2016. If M is going to contend, they have to knock off all the conference contenders including MSU, PSU, osu in the regular season and Wisky if M wins the East and plays them in the CCG. I think they'll go no worse than 2-1 regular season and I'd say it's a coin flip that they'll get to 3-0. At 2-1 v. the contenders, M likely goes 9-3 in the regular season and ends up in NYD bowl. If they go 3-0, M could be looking at a play-off berth, depending on how badly the other conferences beat up on each other. If M gets to the CCG and beats Wisconsin, they'll play in the final 4. At worst in the scenario where they make it to the CCG and lose to Wisky, they'll be on the outside of the final four looking in. That could be because, predictably, they'll lose to a team they should have beaten on paper and go 10-2. Right now, I'd call ND or @Maryland as likely candidates for that 2nd loss.
OL: The addition of Ed Warinner to the coaching staff has a lot of potential, unrealized at this point. Caesar Ruiz will start at C. He played in relief last season at guard. There's a lot of hype that remains to be proven. At RG and LG will be RS Junior Michael Onwenu and Junior Ben Bredeson. Both starters in 2017 they are solid players. The tackles are unsettled but my guess is that at the first live snap it will be 5th year Senior Juwan Bushell-Beatty at LT and RS Junior John Runyan at RT. RS Junior Grant Newsom, if he is cleared to play, will do so at LT and will start over JBB. Some observers believe the top five will consist of guys more suited to play interior line across the board,pushing Bredeson out to left tackle and having RS Sophomore Stephen Spanelllis on the interior line with junior Mike Onwenu at the other guard and sophomore Cesar Ruiz at center. The musical chairs at the tackle position reflect JH's miss on quality LTs during his 4 recruiting cycles and highlights Hoke's dismal recruiting for the OL overall. At this point OL depth in numbers is good for the first time in 4-5 years; talent? I don't know.
QB: Pecking order will be Shea Patterson, Brandon Peters, Dylan McCaffrey and Joe Milton. This QB lineup is the best that Harbaugh has had during his first three seasons. I'd be shocked if Patterson doesn't start.
RBs: Pecking order will be SeniorKaran Higdon, Junior Chris Evans, Sophomore O'Maury Samuels. Harbaugh prefers a three back rotation with each back having a different running style. That's the case with these three. Walk-on junior Tru Wilson, if the hype about him is to be believed, could supplant Samuels as the 3rd back. Higdon and Evans are proven quality RBs. Neither of them are elite but both could have break out performances this year if the Warinner potential gets realized - a lot riding on that for the RBs.
FBs: There aren't a lot of CFB teams that deploy a full back like Harbaugh does in his TE heavy, power sets. Last year, Ben Mason was effective but he was injured during spring practice. He's reportedly back to 100% and will enter fall practice as the guy at that position. He's backed up by Jarred Wangler.
TEs: Harbaugh is big on offenses that feature the TE. While at M he's been high on them using them as blockers in his TE heavy sets, decoys and receivers. Sean McKeon, Zach Gentry, Nick Eubanks will be the line-up. All of them played last year so, they know the offense and their roles in different plays. Given JH's penchant to use TEs extensively, that these three all have experience will be a factor in M's offensive efficiency. Mustapha Mohamed is a class of 2018 4* TE that could contribute.
WRs: The by-word is loaded. There is tremendous talent and skill diversity in the WR roster: Sophomore Donovan Peoples-Jones, Sophomore Tarik Black, Senior Grant Perry, Redshirt freshman Oliver Martin, Sophomore Nico Collins, Junior Kekoa Crawford, Junior Eddie McDoom. Black was injured early in the 2017 season but returns at 100%. He may be the most talented of the group. Perry is the odds-on starter at slot receiver but Oliver martin may end up replacing the oft injured Perry. Nico Collins is a Julio Jones type player maybe not Julio's equivalent but he's that big, fast and a very hard to defend outside WR. DPJ was up and down in 2017 but all of the WRs were because they were forced into starting roles that they probably weren't ready for. All of them, except Perry, are young but have a bit of experience under their belts ...... and the possibility of a good QB throwing to them.
Coaching: It appears that Harbaugh will continue to game plan and call plays by committee. The big difference for 2018 as compared to 2017 is that each position group has a dedicated coach. Many thought that when Jim McEwain and Ed Warinner were hired, one of those two would be the OC. Nope. Observers think JH is the OC and that is the way he has organized his coaching staffs everywhere he has been. The 2017 co-coordinator arrangement appeared to be a disaster. Only the faces have changed so, we'll have to see how this works out.
Overall: It's not hard to predict M's offense will be better in 2018 than it was in 2017. One blight on Harbaugh's M record has been his inability to deliver wins versus quality opponents. He has one of those versus Wisconsin, at home, in 2016. If M is going to contend, they have to knock off all the conference contenders including MSU, PSU, osu in the regular season and Wisky if M wins the East and plays them in the CCG. I think they'll go no worse than 2-1 regular season and I'd say it's a coin flip that they'll get to 3-0. At 2-1 v. the contenders, M likely goes 9-3 in the regular season and ends up in NYD bowl. If they go 3-0, M could be looking at a play-off berth, depending on how badly the other conferences beat up on each other. If M gets to the CCG and beats Wisconsin, they'll play in the final 4. At worst in the scenario where they make it to the CCG and lose to Wisky, they'll be on the outside of the final four looking in. That could be because, predictably, they'll lose to a team they should have beaten on paper and go 10-2. Right now, I'd call ND or @Maryland as likely candidates for that 2nd loss.
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