The Wolverine

April 2018

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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APRIL 2018 THE WOLVERINE 47 BY JOHN BORTON C hange seemed inevitable af- ter Michigan's offense took a nosedive in year three of the Jim Harbaugh regime. Dra- matic change emerged in the weeks leading up to the start of spring foot- ball. A quick recapping of the moves since the 2017 season ended reveals what amounts to a massive structural overhaul: • Offensive coordinator and inte- rior offensive line coach Tim Drevno is gone. Drevno guided Harbaugh's offensive lines at every stop along the way, including San Diego, Stanford, the San Francisco 49ers and Michi- gan. • Tackles and tight ends coach Greg Frey's second stint as a Mich- igan assistant lasted just one year, with Frey heading back to his native Florida to coach at Florida State. • Sherrone Moore arrived to begin coaching Michigan tight ends. Moore spent the past four seasons coaching tight ends at Central Michigan, serv- ing as assistant head coach and re- cruiting coordinator in his final year there. • Former Florida head coach Jim McElwain moved in to take over the coaching of Michigan's wide receiv- ers. Prior to his half-dozen years as a head coach with Colorado State and Florida, McElwain served as a highly successful offensive coordinator at Alabama. • Ed Warinner became Michigan's offensive line coach, after initially getting hired as an offensive analyst. Warinner coached Minnesota's of- fensive line last season, after a strong run as Ohio State's offensive line coach under Urban Meyer. In other words, there's more that's different about the Wolverines' braintrust on offense than there is status quo from 2017. Pep Hamilton remains, under the title of assistant head coach and passing game coor- dinator. Jay Harbaugh is in place as Michigan's running backs coach. And, of course, there's the senior Harbaugh, who's in control of the offense overall and takes a big role in guiding Michigan quarterbacks. It's safe to say he's expecting different results than the Wolverines achieved on the scoring side in 2017. A SEASON OF STRUGGLE U-M's offense, which averaged 40.3 points per game in 2016, veered into the ditch in 2017, for many rea- sons. The quarterback who guided the Wolverines to the previous gaudy scoring total suffered fractured verte- brae in the Big Ten opener at Purdue and was lost for the season. Wilton Speight's successors proved a mixture of sporadic effectiveness and youthful struggles. But Spei- ght himself looked like he was on a tougher road than in 2016 anyway, due to the loss of two fifth-year se- nior wideouts, an All-American tight end, his team's pass-protecting tail- back and several fifth-year senior of- fensive linemen. Fifth-year senior quarterback John O'Korn at one point found himself replaced by redshirt freshman Bran- don Peters, but Peters himself got knocked out of the Wisconsin game via concussion. O'Korn oversaw a hot start in the regular-season finale against Ohio State, but a 14-0 lead eventually became a 31-20 defeat. Peters recovered to start the Out- back Bowl against South Carolina, with an opportunity to stake his claim for the QB job in 2018. He didn't slam the door shut, going 20- of-44 passing for 186 yards with two interceptions in Michigan's 26-19 loss to South Carolina. In the end, the Wolverines aver- aged 25.2 points per game, easily the lowest in Harbaugh's three seasons at the helm and the third lowest in the past 21 seasons of Michigan foot- ball. U-M averaged 20.9 points per game in the final year of Brady Hoke's ten- ure. They averaged 20.2 per game in Rich Rodriguez's first season, follow- ing the departures of Chad Henne, Mike Hart, Jake Long and a wealth of other offensive talent. Harbaugh isn't at all accustomed to ineffective offense, and didn't sit back and hope for improvement only via hard knocks. He brought in Mis- sissippi transfer quarterback Shea Patterson, whom national pundits say could lift the Wolverines into College Football Playoff contention, if eligible in 2018. The head coach then began reor- dering his staff following attrition, with several significant moves. WARINNER TAKES THE REINS Warinner could prove a major piece of the puzzle going forward. Hired as an offensive analyst in January, he of- ficially became the offensive line boss March 8. He'll look to bolster a group that underperformed in 2017, draw- ing on more than 30 years of coaching experience. Warinner guided a Minnesota of- fensive line that blocked for the third- best running attack in the Big Ten in 2017. Before that, he spent five years at Ohio State (2012-16), coaching in a pair of College Football Playoffs, including the 2014 national champi- onship game. He spent his first three seasons there as offensive line coach and co- offensive coordinator before becom- ing the sole offensive coordinator in 2015. OSU set single-season offensive records in 11 categories during his coaching stint in Columbus. He spent two years coaching Notre Dame's offensive line prior to heading for Ohio State. Harbaugh hopes he'll make a home in Ann Arbor for a long and successful run. "Ed Warinner has been fantastic," Harbaugh said. "To a man, everybody that we've brought in, including our graduate assistants, are just top notch. I feel great about Ed. I didn't know Ed before, but feel like we're becoming best friends. "I believe, as good a coach as he is, A NEW DYNAMIC Offensive Staff Changes Come Into Focus New assistant Ed Warinner was named the FootballScoop.com Offensive Line Coach of the Year in 2012 and 2014 while working at Ohio State. He is the only mentor to garner the honor, which was first handed out in 2008, twice. PHOTO COURTESY MINNESOTA ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

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