The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1465168
MAY 2022 THE WOLVERINE 23 role as a freshman, and a veteran cor- nerback like redshirt sophomore D.J. Turner felt the rush of a championship run highlighted by a Buckeye beat- down. They all experienced the offseason toil and togetherness needed to get it done. Players such as McNamara vowed to replicate the formula. Whether it comes together remains to be seen. Former Michigan All-Big Ten offensive lineman Doug Skene weighed in on the importance of having gotten the job done a year ago. "I agree with you, with an asterisk," Skene offered. "Yes, they lived it. They experienced it. They know what it takes — on the field, off the field, in the locker room, in the training room, all those things. They understand it because they lived it. "The reason for the asterisk is, can the 2022 leadership match what the 2021 leadership was able to do? Every team is different. They had a working relation- ship last year — that team played hard. "All the indicators in the spring game looked the same. This team really likes each other, and they have fun together. If that's the case, yes. That will be abso- lutely one of the reasons." 2 Coordinator Stability Counts For Plenty This one's a head scratcher — at least on the surface. Both of last year's co- ordinators, Josh Gattis and Mike Mac- donald, moved on following the 2021 championship. So, where's the stabil- ity? Simple — those who follow are steeped in what worked in 2021, and they are committed to keeping it going. U-M quarterbacks coach Matt Weiss and offensive line coach Sherrone Moore step in as co-offensive coordina- tors. They each enjoyed a major hand in what was taking place with Michigan's offense last year. They'll surely tweak some aspects, but likely take a don't-fix-what-isn't- broken approach to so much of what the Wolverines did well on the way to a championship. That involves a strong rushing attack, smart and safe passing game and wearing down foes over the course of a contest. Defensively, new coordinator Jesse Minter wasn't around in 2021, but he knows exactly what Macdonald was do- ing, having worked side-by-side with him previously for the Baltimore Ra- vens. He'll also put his own stamp on the defense, but there won't be a mas- sive stylistic change from the crew that surrendered only 17.4 points per game a year ago. "I feel more comfortable about that [premise] offensively than defensively," Skene said. "Coach Moore and Coach Weiss — in the headset, in the game- planning, in the play-calling, to a de- gree. " De fe n s ive ly, I t h i n k H a rba u g h plugged in a guy that's from the same system, but what we don't know is, can that guy motivate and communicate and get the guys in the right spots? "Boy, I hope so. Because we're obvi- ously not going to have the pass rush talent on the edge like we did last year. It's hard to believe we're going to have that kind of production out of those two positions again. And this offense had better be good." 3 Buckeye Blueprint Gets Finalized Perhaps the key element of reason No. 1 the Wolverines could repeat as champions involves the fall of OSU. It's not a permanent fall, obviously, with Ryan Day & Co. already planning a pay- back next Nov. 26, including defensive fixes and tarping the top of The Horse- shoe to ensure against any snowfall. The latter is fiction, of course, but you never know. The Buckeyes did not react well to giving up, even temporarily, their too-lengthy dominance of the series. For Michigan's part, the Wolverines seized upon several advantages in tak- ing down OSU. They ran over the OSU defense, not unlike what they pulled off in 1995, winning the war up front and seeing backs run wild. They also made massive strides in containing the incredibly explosive Ohio State offense, holding the Buckeyes 20 points below their season scoring average. The chess game doesn't end there, of course. But finding a winning formula makes for a strong starting point. "This will always come back to what