The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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THE WOLVERINE 2021 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ■ 75 [ W I D E R E C E I V E R S ] receivers excel. He's fully invested, as the one who has been around the Michigan program the longest among the wideouts. "My game is just to build on ev- erything that I've done," he said. "No types of steps backwards. Nothing but steps forward, personally, in my game. But not just me, the whole offense is what I want to see. I want to see all of it just take off and take over." Bell talked about taking everything to a different level, and again, he wasn't just referring to his own game. "All of us need to improve from last season," he said. "I feel like we all have and are all acknowledging that. It's not something that the room is bypassing. We're all acknowledging that we need to play better, and I'm excited." Ron Bellamy, Michigan's new as- sistant coach, was originally assigned to the receivers, before moving over to the defensive side of the football. The former Wolverine receiver weighed in on the expectations for Bell before spring prac- tice began. "I told him, the torch has been passed to you," Bellamy said. "This is about the culture of Mich- igan football. The lead- ership. The expectation. You don't have to be that rah-rah guy, but you can lead by example and do things the right way. Be- cause these young guys are watching your every move. "That's what sets success up. When older guys are doing things the right way that the young guys can emulate, so when the older guys leave, the ex- pectation will change in the room. That's something I challenged him with, and he accepted the challenge right away." They're all willing to accept the chal- lenge of getting better. Gattis and other coaches quickly follow up such assent by detailing what that means — going the extra mile to congregate and get bet- ter over the summer, continuing to work on moves and patterns, and creating the sort of separation he's seeking. When fall camp hits, Gattis will not only be looking for improvement among the wideouts themselves, but also for a higher level of synchroni- zation between Michigan's quarter- backs and those on the other end of the throws. They've worked with both returning veterans and now early ar- rival freshman J.J. McCarthy. But it's nowhere close to a three- or four-year relationship. Building the offense into a reliable machine takes time. If a key component of it — the passing game — takes a major step forward in 2021, everything has a chance to look better. Third-down throws that move the chains are game- changers, Gattis stressed. "That's of major importance, staying on the field," he said. "I think last year, total, we had the second-fewest amount of snaps in the Big Ten on offense. We were right there, second-to-last. "Then, when you look at other sta- tistics, we were third in yards per play. Those two things don't go together, that doesn't say you're playing complemen- tary football. You have to do a much better job staying on the field. You have to do a much better job having early- down success to allow us to stay on the field. In order for us to be as successful as we need to be, we need to stay on the field. "That's playing complementary foot- ball. Make sure you're not getting be- hind the chains. Make sure you're not getting behind the score early in games and coming out having early game suc- cess, so you're not down 21-0 in the first quarter or you're not down 28-0 or whatever. That ends up putting stress on your team and how you can manage the game itself." Bell & Co. want to answer the bell, in receiving throws and relieving stress. ❑ WIDEOUTS ARE HOPING FOR A BREAKTHROUGH YEAR Michigan offensive coordinator Josh Gattis didn't need to polish up his résumé when Jim Harbaugh came look- ing for an offensive coordinator. The numbers spoke for themselves. In Gattis' one year as wide receivers coach and co-of- fensive coordinator at Alabama (2018), he guided one of the top crews in the country. He coached All-American wideout Jerry Jeudy, who earned the Biletnikoff Award as the nation's top receiver. Jeudy made 68 catches for 1,315 yards that year, averaging 19.3 yards per grab and hauling in 14 touchdown passes. Gattis also fielded another All-American in true freshman Jaylen Waddle. The Crimson Tide featured four wideouts with at least 500 yards receiving that season. Michigan didn't show- case any last year, although junior wideout Ronnie Bell (401 yards in six games) certainly would have qualified in a normal full schedule of contests. In 2019, Michigan trotted out a pair of wideouts top- ping the 500 mark. Bell (758) and Nico Collins (729) both reached that level in transfer quarterback Shea Patterson's final season behind center. The question now becomes, can Michigan ramp up its receivers production to a higher level? Perhaps not to the gaudy totals of the Crimson Tide, but possibly to what Gattis produced with his wide receivers at Penn State. With the Nittany Lions, Gattis coached a pair of All- Big Ten wideouts in DaeSean Hamilton and Chris God- win. Hamilton caught 53 passes for 857 yards and nine touchdowns in 2017 for Penn State, with quarterback Trace McSorley throwing for 3,570 yards overall. Godwin paced the Nittany Lions in 2016 with 982 yards and 11 touchdowns on 59 catches. Penn State also featured four more players on the receiving end of at least 400 yards of tosses, although one of them was standout running back Saquon Barkley. It's all about taking the next step, and turning what Gattis has seen and assisted into what's happening at Michigan. Part of it, the U-M offensive coordinator in- sists, has to do with a little normalcy returning. The Wolverines replaced the majority of their top re- ceivers last year, as well as dealing with the COVID situa- tion. Now, with a normal spring practice schedule in the rearview mirror, all of Michigan's offensive coaches and players are hoping for more. Second-year freshman offensive lineman Zak Zinter indicated he believes the settling in of young players at several positions will raise all boats. "It [2020] was different, but I honestly think it's going to propel us as a team, we'll be even bigger and better this year," Zinter said. "We were a really young team. A lot of guys got experience, and especially having spring ball this year [helps]. "We were able to put some of that stuff together, kind of get the snowball rolling. We're really starting to put stuff together, as an offensive line and as a team. That's really going to help us excel, even though we had a weird, shortened year." — John Borton "We finally feel we have the speed needed, and we have come along with the detail. We've got some guys right now that are playing at a really high level from a detail standpoint." U-M OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR/ WIDE RECEIVERS COACH JOSH GATTIS