Scouting Michigan’s Offense

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Because life is the way it is, and because we try to work a week in advance when scouting Penn State’s opponents, 75 percent of what you’re about to read might be obsolete in 24 hours. The reason? Well, Michigan is pretty banged up.

As of Friday, the status of the following playmakers was still unknown: RB2 Blake Corum, RB3 Donovan Edwards, TE1 Erick All, breakout WR Andrel Anthony and WR AJ Henning.

Formations/Philosophy

RIP, Speed In Space.

From a distance, it appears that Michigan OC Josh Gattis has been somewhat neutered philosophically by Jim Harbaugh’s need to win now, because the Wolverines 2021 Neanderball offense doesn’t really resemble any of the cute stuff we saw two years ago. Brandishing a slew of heavy and tight formations, Michigan’s run-pass splits are some of the most lopsided in the conference. As you might have guessed, designed runs (379) are the fat kid on the seesaw with designed pass dropbacks (255) way up in the air.

For comparison, Penn State has chosen to run the ball 230 times this season and intended to pass 387 times.

Perhaps fearing a Jake Fromm-Justin Fields situation, Michigan is one the few teams in college football that randomly subs quarterbacks in and out while contests are still competitive. Third-year quarterback Cade McNamara (Fromm, in this scenario) and 5-star, All-World true freshman quarterback J.J McCarthy (Fields) split time at the position (albeit not evenly), each offering different looks to the defense.

McNamara has been the second-most efficient passer on the team posting a PFF Pass grade of 77.9 and also has seen the lion’s share of pass attempts. Coming off his best passing performance of the year vs. Sparty – 28 of 35, 383 yards, 2 TD – McNamara reverted back to the mean with a ho-hum 168-yard outing on 18 attempts against Indiana seven days later.

McNamara provides Michigan with a veteran presence at quarterback who can run the offense smoothly and make accurate throws. He’s at his best when the running game forces defenses to overcompensate, thus allowing McNamara to take advantage of the short and intermediate parts of the field.

J.J McCarthy is the more athletic of the two quarterbacks. He offers more with his legs, especially in the read option game. Technically, he’s Michigan’s most efficient passer on a per snap basis posting a PFF Pass grade of 83.8. Keep in mind, though, that McCarthy has thrown the ball less than 40 times this season.

Michigan employs an offense that uses heavy gap run schemes. The Wolverines loooove running counter where they bring a backside fullback or tight end playside and attack the B and C gaps. They use many heavy formations with multiple tight ends. The best part about this offense is they can pass out of these heavy formations or use motions and shifts to dress the same runs to look different.

On this run play, instead of using backside pulling linemen, Michigan jet motions TE 83-Erick All out of a Trips Bunch look to block playside where he’s joined by the pulling wing back.

On this counter run, Harbaugh switches it up. Michigan is still operating out of the pistol, but this time they bring the backside guard and tight end to attack the B gap gaining 10+ yards on this play with a great effort by running back Hassan Haskins to get yards after contact for the key first down:

Here we have a zone run that doesn’t go for many yards, but the formation is still pistol with an offset fullback. Michigan executes a crosslead play where the fullback is going to attempt to come frontside for lead block with another jet motion:

On this play, Michigan passes but makes defenders SEE run. Same pistol formation, this time with the fullback to the quarterback’s left. Michigan uses the offensive guard to make it look like the same effective counter play while also running that same crosslead action. Michigan also motioned the wide receiver in while rolling the quarterback right to give his wide receiver a chance to win one-on-one.

Further along in the game, Michigan flashed another wrinkle to its bread-and-butter counter plays. McCarthy shows read option action, but this is a designed QB run with the backside guard and tackle pulling to spring the heralded freshman for a first down.

Players To Watch

25-HASSAN HASKINS, RUNNING BACK

We’ll start with Haskins because unless he slips on a banana peel tonight, he’s definitely playing tomorrow. You’ll recall Haskins was Michigan’s lone source of offensive competency in last season’s 27-17 noon snoozefest in front of friends and family at The Big House. In that loss, Haskins eclipses 100 yards on just 17 carries and crossed the goal line twice. Haskins is a big, physical, athletic runner who probably doesn’t get enough credit for his straight-line speed. He’s been the back that Michigan uses in short yardage situations, evidenced by his 51 first downs gained, which is most on the team. In addition, Haskins is the best pass blocking back on Michigan’s roster, earning a 68 grade from PFF.

 83-ERICK ALL, TIGHT END

IF All plays on Saturday…he’ll be the most impressive player on Michigan’s offense, in our opinion. Versatile enough to lineup everywhere on the field — from fullback, to slot wide receiver, to inline tight end — All is a proven mismatch nightmare capable of winning against any defender, big or small, strong or fast. Physical but a precise route runner, he’ll remind some of a Dollar Store George Kittle. He leads the team in catches with 26. Whether he’s able to suit up and add to that season total tomorrow remains up in the air.

 2-BLAKE CORUM, RUNNING BACK

IF Corum plays on Saturday…he’ll present the most unique threat Penn State has seen in some time on defense. The best stop-start-stop runner in the Big Ten since…man, IDK, Saquon Barkley, Corum is a touchdown waiting to happen every time he touches the ball. A big-time recruit out of Maryland football factory St. Frances Academy, Corum has finally lived up to his high school hype this season. Corum has made 48 defenders miss tackles this season – tops on the team – and has 11 runs of 15+ yards – also tops on the team. Corum’s shifty running style obviously puts strain on his ankles/knees/feet so it will be interesting to see how much his injury alters his approach on Saturday…assuming he plays.

Corum left last week’s game vs. Indiana in the first quarter with an apparent lower body injury. TV cameras caught Corum wearing a walking boot on his right leg.