The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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APRIL 2018 THE WOLVERINE 49 lot of points on the board. "They did that without having, re- ally, a No. 1 quarterback. He's going to have more talent at quarterback than he had at Florida. He's going to have more talent at the wide receiver position than he did at Florida. I'm re- ally excited about what he's going to do with our offense, and the explosive plays we're going to have." Moore gives Michigan's talented young tight ends a coach once again dedicated solely to their position. He guided CMU to consistently strong production at that spot, including Tyler Conklin's 77 catches for 1,064 yards and 11 touchdowns in his junior and senior seasons combined. Michigan's crew is deep and im- proving, including pass receiving weapons in redshirt junior Zach Gen- try and junior Sean McKeon. In 2017, that duo combined for 48 catches, 604 receiving yards and five touchdowns. Jansen especially looks for a big year out of Gentry, in tandem with Michigan's big wideouts. "If they put a linebacker on him if you line him up in the slot, or line him up wide and they put a little DB on him, it's a matchup win for Michi- gan every time he's out there," Jansen said. "When he gets in the red zone, and you get guys like Nico Collins, Tarik Black, Donovan Peoples-Jones, you can just throw the ball up to them. "Use the size advantage you have. Use the athletic advantage you have." Harbaugh entered the offseason de- termined to create better advantages for the Wolverines on the offensive side of the football. It's a long way from now until an evening kickoff in South Bend, but Michigan's offense is already on the move. ❏ Chris Balas and Andrew Vailliencourt contributed to this report. Jim Harbaugh's tenure as a head coach certainly hasn't been marked by offensive struggles. Rather, he's made the ball movers more dominant wherever he's been. Here's a quick look back at his head coaching stops, dem- onstrating the upward swing of his offenses, despite tem- porary setbacks: University of San Diego (2004-06) — San Diego went 7-4 in Harbaugh's first season there, with the Toreros averaging 36.1 points per game while rushing for 1,727 yards and pass- ing for 3,029. Quarterback Todd Mortensen threw for 2,874 yards and 25 touchdowns. The following season, his team went 11-1 and averaged 42.6 points per contest. The Toreros bumped their rushing yardage to 2,251 and threw for a gaudy 3,572 yards, with Josh Johnson throwing for 3,256 yards and 39 scores. Harbaugh's final year in San Diego, the Toreros went 11-1, earned a second straight mid-major national championship and operated at a high level on offense. They averaged 42.8 points per game, rushed for 2,411 yards and passed for 3,520, with Johnson piling up 3,320 passing yards and 34 touchdowns. Stanford University (2007-10) — Harbaugh took over a 1-11 Stanford squad and went 4-8 in 2007, getting an aver- age of 19.6 points per game out of his first crew with 1,334 rushing yards and 2,536 passing yards. A pair of QBs threw for as many interceptions as touchdowns (12). The following year, 1,000-yard rusher Toby Gerhart led an offense that ran for 2,395 yards and passed for 1,826. In 2009, Gerhart (1,871 rushing yards) led a ground attack that piled up 2,837 yards. Meanwhile, redshirt freshman Andrew Luck took over at quarterback, throwing for 2,575 yards and 13 touchdowns. Luck, who would go No. 1 in the 2012 NFL Draft, proved all skill in Harbaugh's final season at Stanford, throwing for 3,332 yards and 32 touchdowns, while the Cardinal piled up 2,779 yards and 34 more scores on the ground. San Francisco 49ers (2011-14) — Once again, Harbaugh revived a football entity mired in sub-mediocrity. They went 13-3 his first season there, rushed for 2,044 yards and passed for 3,193, with Alex Smith connecting for 3,144 yards and 17 touchdowns. In 2012, they went 11-4-1 while rushing for 2,491 yards and 17 scores with 3,298 yards and 23 touchdowns through the air. Smith and Colin Kaepernick split time at quarterback, and combined for 3,551 yards and 23 scores passing on the way to the Super Bowl. In a 12-4 2013 season, San Francisco rushed for 2,201 yards with 18 touchdowns, while Kaepernick threw for 3,197 yards and 21 scores. The 49ers struggled in 2014, going 8-8 despite 2,176 rush- ing yards and 3,063 through the air. But the upward trajec- tory has been unmistakable, with an occasional aberration — one that Harbaugh expects 2017 to become. — John Borton Jim Harbaugh Offenses Don't Stay Down Harbaugh's 2017 offense averaged just 25.2 points and 348.9 yards per game. His first two teams at Michigan combined to post clips of 35.9 points and 410.4 yards per contest from 2015-16. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN