On how it felt being the head coach
Harbaugh: It was an honor. Love being part of a team and it's an honor to be given that privilege and that responsibility. We have the kind of team and coaches and culture that makes that kind of thing pretty easy for us to be able to step in. It's a well-oiled machine, it's running really well. Players make things easy when they play great football like they did today.
Hart: Just to add on to what Jay said, I think it was awesome. It was awesome having an opportunity, we miss Coach Harbaugh without a doubt, he's the one that runs the show. The culture he's placed with the coaches, how we operate on game day, doesn't really switch much. Obviously, having Coach Moore back was huge. Him being able to call the offense, his energy, how smart of a coach he is. I would say that, too, having Coach Moore back made it a lot easier.
On being the first African American head coach in Michigan history
Hart: It's a great honor. I had a chance to play for Tony Dungy, I had a chance to play for Jim Caldwell. My first coaching job was with Ron English at Eastern Michigan. We have a athletic director in Warde Manuel that's African American, I've had a close relationship since he's been here. I just had a lot of great coaches who are African American who I've looked up to. Just really let me know that it can happen, it's a possibility. Hopefully, we see more African American coaches in college football. We need more. Hopefully, I will be one of those one day, I will be one of those one day and it's really just a great honor. This is my university, I played here, this place changed my life. To have that opportunity to always say I was the first African American head coach here is huge.
On J.J.'s performance
Harbaugh: I was on the wrong end of that for a lot of spring ball and training camp with the defensive backs. He throws a high number of balls throughout a practice where it's like, man, we were in really good position there's nothing else you could've done there. You saw this coming a little bit in just the way those receivers and him were getting in sync throughout the preseason and it's been great to see so far.
On the running game
Hart: I think it's a growth, we're growing. We're getting better every week. You break off two of those long runs and no one is saying that, right? I just keep telling them that we're one block away, we're missed tackle away. When we turn on the film I think that's what we're going to see. Whether it's a receiver getting a block to the safety, whether it's a back cutoff on the D-line, whether it's a linebacker we didn't go all the way up to or it's a back taking the wrong cut. I think we're leaving a lot of yards out there on the field right now but I think we're in the correct play calls, I think the guys are blocking really hard, they're moving guys. We just have to put it all together and we will.
On McCarthy's 47-yard touchdown
Hart: We're in a heavy personnel there so play-action. It's an inside zone play we always run, we run that all the time with the tight end coming backside. We just run a play-action off it with two guys deep down the field and tried to get the safeties up, which happened. J.J. stepped up and avoided some pressure because he held the ball, it's a long-developing play, so he slid a little bit to the left and ripped that pass and Roman did the rest. It's a thing of beauty when it all works out the right way.
On whether you're seeing the evolution of the offense with McCarthy's play
Hart: I think it's our goal to be 50-50 every game. We're going to do what works. It makes it easier when J.J. can throw the ball that hard and that far down the field and we can get explosive plays. Obviously, we want to have explosive plays. I think the development you see is the development of J.J. McCarthy, of the receivers being on the same bandwidth and getting things done together and having confidence. J.J. is a confident kid right now and he knows where to go with the ball. That, to me, is a development you see in J.J. McCarthy that makes it easier for us to do that stuff.
On Blake Corum's game
Hart: I think he's 100% as far as injury-wise, that's not slowing him down. I just told him he's thinking too much, just run. You can't always look for the big play, just go and it will happen. He knows that and he was better this week than he was last week and he will be better next week. Also, shoutout to Blake, he's my agent if you guys didn't know (laughs). Really proud of him. He wants to be perfect in everything that he does and when he's not he's frustrated because he's a perfectionist. Really, it's my job to keep him confident and keep him doing what he's doing because Blake Corum is going to be Blake Corum and Blake is going to have a lot of long runs this year.
On Makari Paige and Rod Moore's status
Harbaugh: Rod and Makari, they're coming along. They've been practicing and I think we should have a good shot at them both being available this next game. Them being out is a blessing for some of the other guys just to be able to get in there and get some live action. Maybe even before they're fully ready so you get better so much faster when you do get in the game and you're able to coach up some of those live reps. Been pretty pleased with them but still a ton of stuff to clean up.
On where he's seen the most improvement on the DL from week one to week two
Harbaugh: They played outstanding. The whole front was dominant and we're really thankful to have those guys in the secondary, just the way they create havoc, the way they disrupt the quarterback and create a run wall. Try to make teams one-dimensional. Major credit to them, Coach Elston and Coach Roney, they do a fantastic job.
On Donovan Edwards improving on the ground
What did he have, about 12 touches last week? 10 to 12 touches I think he had. I just think that, he had more touches than Blake last week, I think that's just the way the game is going. What I told him, if you saw the runs that he had, there wasn't much there to get. The runs that he had today, it wasn't many yards for him to get. Just keeping him confident. I think you guys are used to seeing those 80-yard runs for him, right? When you don't get those, is there something wrong with him? There's not. Like I said, I think we're just one block away from a lot of those plays. When there's holes, he's going to get through.
On Jack Tuttle
Hart: He's good. He got hit out of bounds late over there. He came right out of the tent, he was throwing and he wanted to come right back in. We weren't putting him back in. No reason. Just not worth it, right? At the end of the day, the health of the kid is best and if the kid gets knocked out over there, you don't know what's happening. Let it heal up. As far as medically, he's good to go and he wanted to go back into the game.
On how much is these last two games have been putting things on tape for opponents
Hart: I think I kind of already mentioned it but we want to be 50-50. Whether that's play-action, quick game or drop-back. Outside run, inside run, power, counter. We do a little bit of everything and that's one of the strengths of our offense. Being able to set up plays off of plays every single week, that's what game planning is for. If they come and try to stop the pass, then we're going to run the ball. If they try to stop the run, we're going to pass the ball. I think it's pretty simple math and hopefully, it works throughout the year.
On Will Johnson's status
Harbaugh: Yeah, Will's fine.
On Kenneth Grant and Tyler Morris
Harbaugh: KG, he's a monster. He prepares his butt off, maniacal. His focus, his habits, the way he runs to the ball. I think games like this, he deserves them. They play off each other, the whole front, it's never just one guy. Just the sheer mass of his body, his quickness and his effort, I think that's one of the cool things about today as you see a lot of sacks that we had, we might've finished with 5, we had 5 in the first half, a lot of them are just effort sacks where one guy almost gets there but he funnels the ball to another guy. When you have a front that's playing like that, it's a lot of fun to watch. To the question about Tyler Morris, Tyler, he's going to be a really good returner. These games are a good opportunity to try and build depth. Being in a game, in a pressure situation, with a guy punting it and wind and fans and the sun and all that good stuff. It's important to get guys opportunities to do that when you can. Just so when you need it later in the season, a guy has experience and he showed some good things today. I thought he had a good 19-20-yard return or something like that. Just trying to build depth and find out who our best guy is going to be.
---
Discuss this article with our community on our premium message boards
Not a subscriber to Maize & Blue Review? Sign up today to gain access to all the latest Michigan intel M&BR has to offer
Follow our staff on Twitter: @JoshHenschke, @Berry_Seth14, @TrevorMcCue, @DennisFithian, @BrockHeilig, @JimScarcelli, @lucasreimink
Subscribe to our podcasts: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify
Check out Maize & Blue Review's video content on YouTube
Follow Maize & Blue Review on social media: Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram
