Erick All Shares Thoughts On Cade McNamara, Team Message After Wisconsin

Michigan Wolverines tight end Erick All has become a prominent piece on offense in his third season with the program. The junior had some up and down moments during his first few years in Ann Arbor but is a steady presence on an offense that is continuing to climb and push the limits of what it might be able to do.

All is tied for second in receptions (9) through five games with wide receiver Roman Wilson and running back Blake Corum. His 97 yards receiving are good for fourth behind Cornelius Johnson, Daylen Baldwin and Wilson.

All, who had three receptions for 23 yards in some big moments in the win over Wisconsin, relished his role in keeping the Camp Randall crowd quiet.

“Feels great. It’s always great to be part of the passing game each week," All told the media on Tuesday night. "When they get you the ball down the field, it feels good. Especially when you hush the Wisconsin crowd, it feels great.”

Michigan leaned on its run game the first four weeks of the season, but it always seemed likely they would have to open it up through the air at some point. Mission accomplished, as the Wolverines threw the ball 30 times for 253 yards and three touchdowns on Saturday.

All said he never heard the cries from outside the building about offensive balance and feels like they have what they need to attack defenses.

“I feel like we’re a diverse offense," All said. "We can run the ball or pass the ball. It’s just whatever defense we’re going through and whatever weaknesses we see, we just attack that. With each team we play, we attack what we see can make work.”

Quarterback Cade McNamara has played a large role in the offense's success thus far. He has not taken a sack or turned the ball over through five games and All says his leadership permeates through the huddle.

“He’s just a leader by heart," All said. "The more we need a leader or someone to step up in those moments we need it the most, he’s the main guy to say, ‘Hey, get your head in the game.’ Or if you’re doing something bad, he’s not afraid to fix you. He’s not afraid to fix the little things. That’s what we need most, and he’s that guy 100 percent.

“He tells you what to look for. He’s not a fiery guy. If we haven’t scored on a drive, he says, ‘Hey, let’s take it down the field here.’ He’s a mellow-type guy most of the time.”

McNamara has done an admirable job managing the Michigan offense and leading drives that end in points. All said that is not only what has impressed him most about the third-year passer, though.

“Pocket movement, especially when we were in the endzone (at Wisconsin) and he got out of the way," he said. "It was like he juked the guy from behind him and got the ball out to Blake (Corum) out on the right boundary side. I was surprised. I was like, ‘Dang, Cade can move a little bit.’”

McNamara's pocket awareness and heads-up play were among many moments Saturday where Michigan was able to make Madison feel like home. All believes the seeds were planted for a much more confident football team moving forward.

“Going and doing that in somebody’s house, it’s just a great feeling," he said. "Especially when you come out there and dominate the game in all three phases on offense, defense and special teams, it makes you confident as a team that you can go out on the road and do the same thing that you do in front of 100,000-plus people that are on your side vs. (fans) cheering against you. It makes you more confident.”

There was never a particular moment in last week's game where All felt like the tide turned, but even he admitted that it did not seem like Wisconsin had the juice it typically does.

“The first or second drive we realized that they weren’t coming off the ball the way they were against Eastern Michigan," All said. "They knew after watching the film what we were capable of. It didn’t seem like they were coming off the ball as hard as they were when we were watching film. We were expecting them just like we would for any team. Like Nebraska, we’re going to expect them to come out and be good and that’s going to cause us to go out there and work harder. We go into every week expecting them to be great and then it makes us work harder. Coaches stress that a lot.”

Michigan coaches and players have maintained throughout their 5-0 start they are not going to "fall in love with their stuff" or stop looking at ways to get better. Senior captain and starting center Andrew Vastardis hammered that point home after Tuesday's practice.

“Vastardis said it great today at the end of practice," All said. "You can’t become complacent. You have to go out each week ready to get better. We have got a lot of room to grow even though we’re 5-0. We still can be way better than we are and we know that. That’s what the mindset is.

"Don’t become complacent and go out there and get better each practice, each game, each week for that main goal of beating Ohio State. That’s the main thing we are striving for and hopefully, we are able to get better each week and we’ll be able to beat them. That’s our main goal.”

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