On the quarterback competition

JJ is definitely working his way back into it. I think we're blessed to have two guys that would start at most places. We have two really good quarterbacks and the best player is going to play. I would say they have both really improved. You look at last fall, Cade has improved physically. Just like any player, he's improved mentally with experience and he's playing at a really high level. JJ has done the same thing so we're in a great position with both of those guys.

On the two-play caller system

I think it's a blessing for us to have another Jim Harbaugh stroke of genius. He found a way where he got two (coordinators) where everybody else has one. I think we work really well together and we're very collaborative. I know Sherrone is a great resource for him and I try to be a great resource for him. I think, so far, we're really happy with where the offense is at and where we're going. We have the same vision, all on one accord. I think it's exciting. I'm glad he's here with me, he's a great coach. Hopefully, he'll tell you the same thing.

On whether there's been limitations with JJ McCarthy's shoulder

We monitor all of our guys in terms of how many throws they have in practice. Even Cade, we put a lot into that in terms of not only counting reps but making sure everything they take out they're putting back in with exercises. Throwing, it's stress on the arm. It's the act of throwing the ball, it's a weighted object. It's an unweighted deacceleration. We do everything we can to make sure they're putting everything back into their arms, taking care of their bodies. JJ is on the exact same plan as everybody else.

On what he picked up from Tom House

I've tried to become a student of Tom and also John Beck, who has been a great resource for us. They're from the same tree, Tom taught John a lot of what he knows. I've tried to learn as much as I can from those guys as a communal process of learning. It's helped me be a better coach, a better resource for those guys. I think that's helping make them become better quarterbacks.

On quarterbacks not overdoing it with extra throwing sessions

That's not something we're doing anymore. That's right, yeah.

On Kalel Mullings

He's splitting his time with both sides of the ball. I think he can be a talented guy, he could probably do anything that he wanted to but I think he could be a really high-level back if that's what he committed himself to. Right now, he's doing everything that we ask, obviously. It's hard when you're splitting time to be a master of both and he's been doing that and we're spending extra time with him. We're excited what he could potentially add to a talented backfield.

On Mullings' attributes

He's a bigger back. We have an embarrassment of riches in the backfield with Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards, both guys who could be playing at the next level. They're not 200-and-however-many pounds Kalel is. He's a really big, physical guy that gives you that presense, obviously, we had a lot of success with Hassan last year. We're not saying that Kalel is going to be Hassan, we're just asking him to be Kalel. He has an element that the other two really talented players is a little bit different.

On his involvement in recruiting quarterbacks

Recruiting is really important because we all understand the quality of your players is the biggest input into your program. That's something that we all have a responsibility to do and it's something that I take pride in. It's also something I'm learning a lot about, it's not something that I did for the last 15 years. I was coaching football (in the NFL) and trying to get better at that. That's what I was invested in. If I was in college football, I would've had 15 years of recruiting experience, I would be a lot better at that. Just like any job. I think I'm figuring it out and I'm learning it fast. To answer your question on the quarterbacks, yes, that is what I'm focusing on with recruiting. We're fortunate, too, we're not in a position because of what we were just talking about, Cade, JJ and we have other guys who are really talented, we're not looking to take a transfer like some other programs. We're in a good place and happy with where things are.

On the vision of the offense

Our vision is directly from Coach Harbaugh. If you look at his history of teams the culture that's here at Michigan, that's the vision for the offense. I think you could see the evolution of that last year with what Sherrone did with the offensive line and how physical they were last year and the way he coached gap schemes. I think that's kind of the calling card for Michigan football. It's an all-weather conference. You're gonna have to be able to play in the cold and the rain and, certainly, running the ball is a part of that. Running the ball sets up the pass game. It's a lot easier to throw the ball when you can run the ball. It's a lot harder to throw the ball when you can't run the ball. Even if you look at the best passing teams in the NFL, which is more of a passing league, they still run the ball because it's part of the pass game.

On whether Michigan wants to replicate what it did last year

I think any good offense will continue to evolve. So last year you saw an evolution of the offense, where it was different than previous years. That's a starting point. It's not any wholesale changes, we still have the same system. Same ways of calling everything. There's areas where we're looking at to get better. It's going to be a continued evolution. There's going to be a few things that you didn't see last year. Just like last year, you saw things you didn't see the year before. I think you have to do that because, right now, every team you play is looking at our tape. They're finding a way to exploit us and the stuff that worked last year may not be as good. We still want to be great at that, we want a few things to be great at. That's kind of the vision.

On how his time at Stanford shaped his coaching career

I think my time at Stanford, obviously I was really young, it was a formative type of coaching experience where you're still figuring out what you want to do as a coach, professionally. That was my first introduction to coaching. It helps that I learned Jim's vision for things, his culture. That was the core of what I started to believe. Then I got to his brother who really—maybe they're a little bit different as people but they're way more similar than they are different. They believe in the same things, their core values are the same, their vision for things are exactly the same. I've been fortunate to be indoctrinated with that my whole career, a great philosophy that works. They're both great head coaches. Jim doesn't really get the credit he deserves in terms of the coach that he is. I would credit both of them, that's the only thing I've known as long as I've been coaching.

On how the personnel is different and similar to last year

The personnel is a lot of the same guys. Certainly we hope that, just like I mentioned that Cade is significantly improved, we hope that all our players are improved and that will allow us to be more effective with better players, even though they're the same players, to do more. Certainly you're going to see very similar personnels as they're all the same guys.

On how he feels about splitting reps at quarterback

I think the philosophy here, and I think Sherrone would tell you the same thing, Jim would tell you the same thing, we'll win by any means necessary. The best players are going to play, the best quarterback is going to play, it's true at any position. Then, if there's something we can do, if somebody can add an element that we don't have, just like we were talking about with Kalel, we're going to use that person. We can go back to last year now that it's over to explain what we were doing with that. The first thing you had is your backup quarterback had never taken a snap in college football. Certainly, you don't know when you're going to need him and you don't want to be in a position where the first time you need him is on the road in a close game against a ranked opponent and the guy has never taken a snap. You look through college football, you've seen that happen to a Big Ten team last year. The first thing is we need to get him on the field and get him experience to develop our backup because that's the only way to do that. Then, the other thing we did, we used him on a lot of quarterback runs, certainly threw the ball effectively also. With that difference, it controlled the defense. If you're running a lot of quarterback runs, you're not going to be running blitzes and showing them all different coverages, they're going to make sure they have everything gapped out. They're going to be more static. That made things easier for him. He didn't have to go out and third and 15 with some crazy blitz coming. We were able to control when he was in the game, what he was doing and help him have success so he can build on that success. We were able to build our backup. Then, at the same time, he was able to do things athletically that helped us. He helped us win games. To his credit, he earned the opportunity to go out there and do that and he helped us win games and he was really effective. He's a really good player and he's going to be really good. We're excited about him and his future. It's hard to see him being anything but really, really good at the University of Michigan whenevr his time comes. We're just going to continue to develop him and he'll be playing for us at some point. It's just a question when.

On whether he focuses on creating an attractive offense for quarterback recruiting

That's one thing I'm learning about recruiting. I thought that's what it would all be about, right? It's like in the NFL, guys wants to go where, and certainly money is a factor, usually the money is pretty close when guys pick between that's going to utilize him the best, that's going to give him the best opportunity to win and that's where they go. That's what I thought coming in here, that we get the offense looking really good that recruiting would be easy. One thing I've learned is that there is a lot of relationship elements to it. If an NFL free agent signed with a team and went to the press conference and said I'm just here because I love this position coach, we have a great relationship. We're up playing Fortnite every day at 2 in the morning and this guy is awesome and that's why I'm here. Everybody would be like, wow, what's wrong with this guy? In college, that's kind of what happens. It's not the only thing things are based on but it matters. I'm learning that, figuring out how to do that. I'm not playing Fortnite with anyone at two in the morning. Just like I tell recruits this, the guy that is playing video games with you at 11 o'clock at night or whatever, that's what he's going to be doing when he's trying to help you become a better player. He should be gameplanning and thinking of ways to make the offense go. He's going to be playing Fortnite with some 16-year-old.

On whether he finds quarterbacks have been receptive to his ideas of the offense

I think the guys who are successful here, we have a great culture here. We have great guys on the team. A lot of it is credited to Jim for building it, obviously. It self-selects. The guys who do well here are the guys who like football. The guys who are good guys who want to play football and that's what they want to do. It's like a football cathedral. All the football you can handle and more. Those are the guys this place self-selects for that. The guys who are into other stuff, whether it's a locker that turns into a bed, or a flat screen TV in your locker, whatever it is. Those guys usually don't do well when they come here and they usually don't come here. It's the same thing with the quarterbacks. We get our types of guys, they want to come.

On the freshmen receivers

I think those guys all have bright futures. All three of them are going to play. If we can find a role for them where they can help us, we'll do that. Right now, it's week one of training camp and they're trying to learn the offense. We're trying to see what they can do. There are guys that are ahead of them on the depth chart. They all have bright futures. Talk about guys who are our types of guys, those three guys fit here. They're going to be really successful. Great guys. Those guys are going to be good and we'll find a role to use them any way we can.

On what makes a successful starting quarterback

The way I look at it, first of all, you have two things in camp you can't really do much about. You can improve them, certainly, but it's hard to move the needle which is mobility and arm strength. Either you can throw a football 70-yards or you can't. You can either run a certain speed and be able to cut or you can't. You always look at that and knowing those things aren't going to change. You also look at the accuracy, timing and decision making. Those are things that you know you could potentially improve more. That's how you look at the skillset. Mobility and arm strength, those things are a bit more fixed. Accuracy, timing and decision making knowing you can shape those a little bit more. Then, obviously, the intangibles. Leadership, what type of guy is he? Is he a winner? All the things that you want your quarterback to be. Really, all the stuff we have with our guys. With Cade, certainly, you can say all those things about him. He's a winner. He has all those intangibles. That's what you look for.

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