Everything Jim Harbaugh said during his pre-Bowling Green press conference
Opening State
It was a great weekend. A lot of wins on the field. Very enjoyable to watch, especially with our team. Was thrilled with the performance, really. Offense, defense, special teams. Having my son, Jack, their team got a win, Ravens got a win. Good weekend.
On the offense and the running game
The offense started extremely fast just like the way—how we're starting these football games. Long drives, so explosive in the passing game. J.J. is phenomenal. So on fire. So on point in the throws he is making from the pocket, doing severe damage when he does leave the pocket. Keeps his eyes downfield. Getting big chunk plays and yardage. Receivers, the explosive plays, the plus fifteens, they're just huge. The kind of throws he's making, too, they're NFL-caliber throws. Into tight windows. The accuracy is off the charts. He's putting balls six inches in front of the number, even the throws that are covering 30-40 yards, they're right on the number. Real runners ball where the receiver can catch and run like you saw on the 47-yarder to Roman Wilson. Run game, the thing I'm looking at is the inefficient plays. We're outnumbering the—efficient runs, to me, are 4 to 9. Explosives are 10+ and non-efficient runs are 0-3. We have far too many of those. It's a combination of, really, of everybody. We've gotta block better on the perimeter. We've gotta get the safeties better blocked by our wide receivers. Tight ends are really playing well. Offensive line, yeah, we're missing a guy, it's one guy on a play. Guys are coming off the second level and making plays. Running backs, when I say a guy here and a guy there, it's a missed cut here, it's a missed cut there. It's something we're very focused on and emphasizing. Plus, the big inefficient plays, two of those in the run games where we don't pick up a fourth and 2 and a tackle for a loss, one big inefficient in Davis Warren's interception. Emphasizing all and excited to go to work on it. My esteemed associate, Sherrone Moore, will be the head coach of this game and he'll be coming up after me, right? There he is right there. He can expand further. That is an emphasis for us this week and going forward.
On the offensive line gelling as a unit
As I said, it's a combination, really, of all levels. The offensive line, the backs and really having the guys dialed in. Planned, practice and then execution, something we have to do a better job of as coaches. That's not enough to say, hey, we practiced that and we told you that. If they didn't do it, we didn't tell them enough, we didn't practice well enough or we didn't plan well enough. When the plan doesn't go the way you want, you go back and reassess the plan. That's what we're doing. It's an emphasis and we're excited to attack it.
On Keon Sabb and Keshaun Harris
Keshaun and Keon are definitely playing great, so is Quinten Johnson. Those three, with Will Johnson being limited and Makari Paige, Rod Moore all limited, those three have stepped up in a big way. Along with Mikey Sainristil. The defense is playing fast and physical, no explosive plays whatsoever in the ballgame. The entire front seven, and anybody that participated in the front seven, is really playing great. So is the secondary. When you really look at the game, we were doing a lot of fire zone concepts which it doesn't always lend itself to tight coverage or man coverage. We were still good, we were still close. We tackled well in the secondary and we got home a lot in terms of sacks and playing in their backfield. That kind of coverage lends itself to be a little bit softer in coverage but I thought our guys played as tight as they could be. Keshaun Harris is playing really good. Keon Sabb is playing really good. Quinten Johnson is playing really good. They were playing right out there with starter level. They're playing starter level. The amount of young guys, too, watching the game, bodes well for us when I see every guy back there is a true freshman. DJ Waller had 16 plays, 2 tackles, really good to see him take the coaching that he got this past week from Coach Clink. Coach Clink, he's a straight-shooter. He doesn't mince the words, he doesn't mix them up. Just told it straight up to DJ and DJ didn't go sulk, he went back and produced. I was super excited, we made him Freshmen of the Week based on the way he played. Cam Calhoun, Jyaire Hill, just great to see those young guys back there getting that experience. Same could be said for special teams, thought it was really good, really solid the way we played on teams. Great game to learn from, we had so many different guys playing so many different positions. So many reps. Cam Brandt got 11 reps in there, Caden Kolesar was our special teams MVP. There's a lot of good tape to look at from a special teams perspective as well.
On being on the chain gang for his son's team
It was good. You go to the games and you have to ask the parents to do something, do some kind of job. Last week was a Friday game and we were responsible for the Gatorade and some of the snacks. This week they needed somebody on the chains. It was good. Got to get right close to the field and watch the game. Our team needed a win and they played really well. We gotta a young star in number 24 and my son Jack played good. They did a great job, Ann Arbor Saints, coaching. Fun to watch the practices, they do a really good job training the guys. They lost a couple of close ones and this week we broke through with a big win. It was neat to see the kids enthusiasm for that and confidence as they left the field. Makes them want to come back, makes them like football. It was cool to be apart of.
On where he watched the game
Watched it at home, Johnny, my six-year-old and Katie, my 12-year-old, and I, we watched the game from the TV. Got the front lawn cut pregame and then got the back lawn cut after the game was over. Good productive day. I think we forgot to eat, I forgot to feed them. Oh, at halftime we went to McDonald's. Halftime we went to McDonald's at Washtenaw.
On the positions Jack plays
Jack plays quarterback, tight end and middle linebacker. Silver lining there. It was cool to watch.
On what went into the OL decision for week two
Karsen has really done a great job, Myles Hinton has done a good job, really, at right tackle. The one we're still evaluating is the backup quarterback and we made a mistake, Coach Hart put in Davis Warren ahead of Denegal. This week you'll see it'll be J.J. and if we go to a backup quarterback it'll be Jayden Denegal and Alex Orji. Want to get all those guys looked at in game action. Hopefully this next game. If not, it'll have to carry into the next one. Two things about that, that situation. We planned it, we practiced it and then we gotta go execute it. Two great things is the way Jayden Denegal handled it. His poise in that situation, I could see it on TV. J.J. was talking to him. Right after the game, Mike Hart took responsibility. Great learning lesson. Coaches, we have to hold ourselves accountable to the same thing. We plan, we prepare, we practice and we go execute. Good learning experience for all, stick to the plan. For all of us, that's a good one. Where it stands right now, still to be determined who that backup quarterback is.
On why he thinks the play-action game has been so successful
Mid-fake you see the linebackers practically at no depth or one-yard, two yards depth and then turn and run with their backs to the quarterback. That's why it's been successful. Just how much respect they give to the running game.
On whether he thinks it's the next evolution of the offense
I thought it was pretty darn good last year. If I stood here last year and we were talking about this, felt tremendous about the run game and we were leaning on it. I knew the passing game was good and was going to be—it'll be used when we needed it. I just knew that like I knew my own name. This year, the passing game is hitting on all cylinders. Phenomenal. It's a point now where the goal is and only two steps into the process, two games in, and J.J. will come back and reload for the third one. The goal is for J.J. to be the best quarterback in the country on the best football team. We gotta get that in the run game, too. I want the best backs on the best team as well. I know we're gonna get there. Excited to make that happen and it'll be a great emphasis on that because we're capable. We're completely capable of getting that done. Excited to attack that.
On J.J. has given the most confidence out of any college quarterbacks he's coached
I hate to compare, right? Because he's very much like Andrew Luck, a quarterback that's once in a generation. I knew it first with Andrew Luck the way he took the field for his first practice as a true freshman. The way he walks on. You see it with other players. Just the presence that they have when they walk onto the field and the first time getting into the quarterback position, the presence that they have you go, ah-ha, there it is. J.J. first day he walked onto the practice field here at Michigan, that is what came to mind. This is very Andrew Luck-like. The presence and the demeanor. The everything. Well-documented, I think J.J. is a once-in-a-generation quarterback here at Michigan or anywhere.
On what it's like to have it now
It's perfect. Perfect.
On J.J.'s leadership
It's always been in a lot of ways. He's an ignitor. He sets the tone no matter what he's doing with his energy. It's always by example. It's always infectious, it's always encouraging. The thing that stands out the most, he's about the team. Never comes off about himself and he's always willing to do anything to for anybody on the entire team. No matter what. I don't know how it works in other businesses. In football, your antenna always tries to pick up, the first thing it always tries to pick up, what's in another man's heart? Is he about us or is he about himself? Human beings have a really good antenna for that. They say a dog has a really good antenna, is this person gonna feed him? Is he going to be nice to him? Treat him well, not treat him well. Dogs are really good at that, human beings are about 900 times better at picking that up than a dog. J.J. is that kind of guy. He will take others and raise them up and lower himself to raise a teammate up as opposed to a guy who pushes other people down and raises himself up. I truly believe when it comes to leadership as a quarterback, that's the secret. Every guy knows, everybody on the team knows what's in J.J.'s heart. He's not about himself, he's about the team.
On McCarthy coming to check on Jack Tuttle on the opposite sideline
It's what we always see. J.J., he's a great teammate. He likes everybody. Tell you a story, when I was recruiting Hayden Moore and the home visit, wanted to go over with him the application process and the dates to file that application. Coach, we already got them filed, they're all done, they've been submitted. Let's talk about this, let's talk about the scholarship, we understand everything about the scholarship. Well, here's where you're going to live, you'll be in the South Quad, East Quad or West Quad, it's going to be a block from the—Coach, we know. It's a block from the courses at Angell Hall, three and a half blocks from Schembechler Hall. You guys know everything. Well, we've got an older son, we've been through this process. It was really nothing that I could tell them about the process but I did tell them, well, I've got a question. Hayden, why Michigan? Hayden said, to tell you the truth, the walk-ons, coach. I go tell me about that. He goes, some schools they don't treat the walk-ons as well and kind of treated as second-class citizens. At Michigan, you don't know who the walk-ons are, the scholarship players are. They eat together, hang out together, live together. You don't know who is a walk-on or who is a scholarship player. J.J. hugs everybody, that what he said. That's a fact. J.J. is for everybody, hugs everybody. I just thought that was real profound, a real look into the entire attitude of the squad and the players and coaches. Just great guys. J.J., there's none better. He's great. A tremendous worker, by example. For the team, it's infectious. It rubs off. We've got 70 other guys just like J.J. in that regard but really makes it a pleasure to be their coach. Darn near a walk in the park to coach those guys.
On Scott Loeffler and Bowling Green
Affirmative and affirmative. Both. Always been friends with Scott and we keep in touch and text and talk sometimes. He's doing a heckuva job there. Their throwing game is really impressive. Studying their defense right now but we need to look at their offense, too, because some of their pass concepts are just dynamite. Their run game, very similar to ours. A lot of gap scheme, a lot of nuances that they have to it. Just really impressed with their offensive structure. He's got them on the move. Jack Harbaugh, Bowling Green, I could sing you Ay Ziggy Zoomba if you want me to or he can, that's something we can remember since we've first been around anything. First time I remember anything in life was when my dad was coaching at Morehead State but remember just about everything being 5-6 years old when Dad was coaching at BG. His basement, well-talked about, well-known basement of Jack Harbaugh. If you haven't there you oughta go by there sometime. Big section devoted to Bowling Green. My mom and dad met at English class at BG, heard all those stories. There's a great picture of my dad sitting on the bench wearing his number 13 and my mom behind him as a cheerleader at BG. Yeah, BG, there hasn't been a time where we haven't driven on 23 whether we were going to Crestline or Cleveland, Ohio, that we didn't look over to the right and look at the stadium. Or if we were coming back to Michigan, look over to the left and see the stadium and hear the stories. My dad has been right there telling us for the last couple of weeks, Bowling Green is going to come up here and kick your ass. We got that as well.
On Mel Tucker's suspension
Don't know anything about it. I know Brenda Tracy, respect her a lot. She's talked to our team. As far as—not in a position to weigh in on it. Don't have any understanding or facts on the matter.
On Kenneth Grant
A gift from the football gods, along with Mason Graham. They were the two. They're both playing tremendous. The front seven as I said, with Jaylen Harrell, Braiden McGregor. D-Moore had a great game, so did Kenneth Grant, so did Mason Graham. 2.5 TFLs for KG, 4 or 5 tackles. When he stops them, they stop. There's no yards being let out when KGs around or when Mason Graham is around. The penetration that they're getting, it's fun to watch. They're great guys, too. No entitlement, they go about their business, fun, hilarious to be around. KG and Mason Graham, both, tremendous personalities, hilarious and fun. Tremendous teammates.
On Jack Tuttle's status
Tells me he's going to be back this week practicing. I think we're gonna dodge a bullet there. Probably don't anticipate him playing, we really need to see Jayden Denegal and Alex Orji in this week. Jack's acquitted himself well, he practiced well. Had a nice play in the game, it was unfortunate that he got hurt. He's a tough guy, he'll be back, but we really need to find out what we have in Jayden and Alex.
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