The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1477128
22 THE WOLVERINE SEPTEMBER 2022 BY JOHN BORTON J im Harbaugh and his offensive co- ordinators know they've got the horses. They want to turn them into Secretariats. That's why co-coordinators Matt Weiss and Sherrone Moore are hard at work tweaking an offense with which they were intimately involved last year. That's also why nobody should expect simply more of the same, even though the Wolverines put an average of 35.8 points per game on the board, and 42 apiece in wins over Ohio State and Iowa. The Wolverines will be physical, but not identical, they insist. "Our vision is directly from Coach Harbaugh," Weiss noted during the first week of fall camp. "If you look at his his- tory of teams and the culture that's here at Michigan, that's the vision for the of- fense. "I think you can see the evolution last year with what Sherrone did with the of- fensive line, with how physical they were and the way he coached gap schemes. I think that's a calling card of Michigan football. It's an all-weather conference. You have to be able to play in the cold, in the rain — and certainly running the ball is a part of that." Michigan's offense will continue to evolve, Weiss noted. Moore has prom- ised the physicality up front, while the Wolverines use a rich talent base. "You're going to see some things this year that you didn't see last year, just like last year you saw things that you didn't see the year before," Weiss said. "And I think you have to do that, because right now every team we play is looking at our tape. If they're finding a way to exploit us and the stuff that worked last year, we may not be as good. But we still want to be great at that, and we want to have new things to be good at. That's the vision." Harbaugh himself insists the offense won't stand pat, especially with invalu- able experience gained last year. "It was a real no-star offense last year, and they played really good together," Harbaugh said. "The line, the tight ends, the quarterbacks, the receivers, backs — everybody meshed. "Now you have some real legitimate stars over there. The quarterback posi- tion, as deep and as good as you could ever hope. The running backs, receivers. There are six right off the bat you could say could be your leading receiver, as the season goes on, and the three freshmen coming in, playmakers." Here's how they were lining up at the halfway point of fall camp. QUARTERBACK Harbaugh promised the first snaps with the first string to senior Cade McNamara, Michigan's returning starter. But he noted sophomore J.J. McCarthy — who took time off with a sore arm in the spring and STACKED , BUT NOT SATISFIED Talented Offense Is Being Tweaked To Become Even Better Senior Cade McNamara (right) and sophomore J.J. McCarthy continue to compete daily for the starting quarterback job to lead the Michigan offense in 2022. "The separators will be who plays better, who plays the best," head coach Jim Harbaugh said. "They're both really good." PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETICS