On LaDarius Henderson acclimating
I think it's a process that he's working through, that he's attacking. Very excited about LaDarius and the progress he's made just in the seven practices we've had with him. You know, it's something—you're gonna have your ups and downs and it's gonna be something that you're gonna have to just keep working at. But he's definitely made a great transition to us. Just being here in the summer, and now I'm just excited to have him and excited where he's at right now.
On whether he would like to see the OL competition extend through fall camp
I mean, competition only makes you better, so the more guys that are playing at a high level, the better. And it just keeps breeding, you know, high energy, keeps breeding the preparation, keeps breeding the passion and the physicality that we want at every position. So I want those guys to just keep striving to be the starter. Right now I feel like we have 10 guys, you know, 11, 12 that we can play in games. So we're just super excited about the depth. It's the most depth we've had and just kind of keep rolling. Excited for the next couple of days and how the days of training camp are going.
On Zak Zinter
Just the way he studies the game now is at a different level. He's taken his offseason studies, his off-the-field studies to a different level and he understands what the goal at hand is for him, you know, individually and as a team. So he's played at a really high level and you can see he's just really (picked up) where he left off and he's just playing super confident and having fun and having the time of his life right now.
On the battle at tackle and weighing transfers or returning players in the competition
You just turn on the film, who's playing better? Who's playing better, who's more locked in on their assignments? Who's playing more physical, who's playing more dominant? And it's a very healthy competition right now. We've got four starting tackles, and we'll see who the first two are in the first couple games, first game, and we'll see there. But very excited about where they're all at, and the steps that they're taking to be to be a dominant, dominant players.
On balancing competition and team chemistry
I think the biggest thing for us right now is the competition is needed. It's wanted. We mix guys up in practice. But how they study together, how they hang out off the field together is just as important as how they play together. Those guys are super close. I feel like the transfers have been here for so long already, that those guys have built a niche and really bonded together. So there's always, you know, you want to get the feel of who's in, who's there with the guys who are next to you. But it feels like regardless of the guys that are in there, they've got a good bond already of how it's rolling, so we're just gonna take it a day at a time.
On Roman Wilson and what he can do while healthy
Roman's had a phenomenal camp. Just very excited for what he can do this year and how he's going to impact the offense. Obviously, the injuries have hindered him, but he's been healthy and ready to go. So just super excited for him and the progress he's made. I think you're gonna see what you saw throughout the year when he was playing. He's gonna be extremely consistent. He's gonna do what he's asked to do. And he's taken it to a new level because of the leadership role and the experience he has now. As you play more games you get better, and I think he's really done that. You can see the confidence and the twinkle in his eye when he's in the game. He's got a little bit of swagger, understands the game more, understands the offense now and plays—he turns it up a little bit. So I'm excited to see him as a receiver this year.
On Blake Corum's return
Blake has been phenomenal this off-season. He just worked, worked and worked and worked. And now he's at the point where it feels like he's back. Yesterday, he made the comment to me, he feels like he's got his groove back. Just excited to watch him and Dono and just watch them spread their wings and continue to do what they've been doing in training camp because they're both feeling really good. They're feeling healthy. Obviously, we're going to make sure that they're good all the way through and ready to go, which I feel like they are now, so we're just gonna keep taking it day by day with them.
On J.J. McCarthy and building chemistry with the receivers
I think the big thing with the offense is we're going to be conceptual and we're going to fit people where we want them, you know, week by week. Can be a receiver, can be a tight end, could be anybody. So I think in all offenses, a quarterback has a person who he goes to when things break down. Last year, obviously we saw it was Ronnie. This year, he's got a lot of outlets, so we're gonna see who that person is. Do I know who it is yet? No. And really, you don't want to have one person that the defense is holding on anyway. So we want to be very multiple and allow all the guys to shine and look to everybody in different situations.
On whether A.J. Barner has been what they've expected from receiving and blocking
He's been outstanding. First of all, he's huge. He's a giant human being. Phenomenal kid. phenomenal person, does everything right. He's been outstanding. Because when you're on the edge and you're blocking Jaylen Harrell and Kris Jenkins and all those other guys or whoever's out there, and you can hold up, it's pretty impressive. In the pass game, he's so big and he's so fluid and so agile, he gives you another threat in the passing game. So you can't say, oh, yeah, he's in the game, they're gonna run the ball. So he's been extremely valuable. It's gonna allow very, you know, multiple things with him so very excited about him.
On becoming more balanced on offense
We want to be 50-50. I think there's going to be games where that might not happen. You know, we might see that the defense is solely set on taking one thing away, we might do the other. But we want to be as balanced as possible with sets, with the formations, how we do things, making everything look the same. So very conscious of that when we're putting together the game plans and that's something we're very focused on doing throughout training camp.
On the ceiling for Colston Loveland
Man, that dude is a beast. I don't know if there is, he could be as good as he wants to be. He could be the best one in the country. And I know there's one down in Georgia who's been extremely good and he's a phenomenal player. But just very excited to see where Colston is and his progress, what he's done already in training camp. He's already gotten bigger. He's already gotten stronger. He's already gotten faster. He understands where everything is in the offense now, so he's not being not spoon-fed everything. You're throwing it all at him and he gets it. Just very excited to see him and where he goes. He can be as good as anybody in the country. I think he's an extraordinary player and just excited to have the year with him.
On the battle for WR3
Really with all the receivers, we don't really want a type. We want them all to be fast. We want them to be all be playmakers, be able to run after the catch. To all be explosive. We don't want to have a guy that's thought of as a possession guy, we want everybody to be explosive. The goal of the offense is if the ball touches your hand, you should be able to kick take it to the house. So all those guys are doing a great job. Tyler Morris obviously doing a phenomenal job. We got CJ, we got Roman, we got Tyler, you got these young guys, you got Darrius Clemens, these young freshmen they're just making plays. Fred Moore, Karmello English, Semaj Morgan, those guys are extremely explosive, and they're just making plays day by day. So we're just, you know, we're just going to see what happens throughout the process and see who steps up come game time, who's ready to go.
On Jack Tuttle's impact
Jack's been awesome. First of all, you know, being an experienced guy that played in the Big Ten. He knows that JJ is the guy, but he's just coming with a great attitude, experienced leadership qualities that you want. He's a guy that has played you know, high-level football and he's just been a guy that you can count on in every second and every mode. He's just been awesome to be around. So just excited for him and obviously he's very talented, strong arm, can run. So very multiple on what he can do. So just happy to have Jack here on the program with us.
On Ben Herbert's impact on the program
It's untouchable the things he's done for the program, the things he's done for the line of scrimmage on both sides for us. He's the best strength coach in the country. It's not close. And what he's done for this program is, it's just undeniable. Any second I can praise Coach Herbert and his staff, I tell him. They are the best in the country. I mean, they even help the coaches, the coaches gets sore, they roll us out. I get a bad elbow, bad arm, shoulders, hamstrings, you know, they're getting stretched, bad foot. They're outstanding, they're exceptional in every way, shape or form and just excited that they're a part of our program.
On Zak Zinter's battles with Kris Jenkins
Those are some physical battles, as grown men. Two guys, they're gonna be playing at the next level for a long time that are battling, and it's give and take, it's give and take with the defense. As a whole offense, defense it's give and take, in the individual battles. It's just physical. It's not combative, it's just competitive. It's really awesome to see one guy win one, one guy won another. They're always just battling each other. So it's awesome to watch that competitiveness in practice, and happy that on game day we're not gonna have to deal with Kris.
On Zak Zinter proposing 10 offensive linemen being on the field at the same time
You know, I get—every day the linemen are sending me plays and formations. I'm like, 'can you guys just worry about what you got to do?' But I love that they're conceptually trying to understand, and they really do, conceptually understand the offense. So that we'll talk about down the road, but yeah, they're wild.
On whether they've had any good ideas
Sometimes they do. Sometimes we will talk about some of them that maybe get implemented or not but they do have good ideas. Most of them are well thought-out. Some of them are just thrown against the wall. But most of them are well thought-out.
On his thoughts on conference realignment
It's so crazy because people start talking about it, I'm like, 'Who? What? They're joining the Big Ten?' Like, I don't even know. I'm just so focused on the team and and what we're doing now, like, I can't be bothered with all that. I just don't worry about it. I'm really just worried about this team and worry about this day and how we can prepare. Because we got to go against our defense, which, I think it's gonna be best in the country, and dealing with all the things that they can throw at us. I got no time to think about conference realignment right now. Because when I go home I probably just want to watch TV and watch a show and feel normal for a little bit. Probably turn on Hard Knocks tonight and try to watch that. So yeah, so there's not really much I can give you from that point.
On whether Donovan Edwards has been practicing at wide receiver
I can't tell you that right now. But Donovan practices at a high level. He can do it all. So we're just gonna, we're gonna get the best players the ball, we're gonna put them in the right position every game. He'll be in different places. You saw last year, he lined up as a wideout, lined up in the backfield, he caught the ball out of the backfield, caught the ball out wide and we'll continue to do different things to showcase his talents and get the best players the balls in the times we need to.
On showing the passing game to help in recruiting
That goes back to being balanced. We have to be able to throw the ball at times, we have to be able to be balanced, to do those things to win the games that we want to win and we understand that. We know that, and I think our staff has done an unbelievable job. Really big shout out to them. Coach Campbell, Coach Newsome, Coach Bellamy, Coach Hart, all the support staff that we have. All of the research and things we've done throughout the offseason to really hone in on what we're doing and how we're doing it. Attacking the passing game and they've done an outstanding job, and we're putting this plan together. And it's just been really fun to watch and see the evolution of how these guys really attacked it, and they just come out with confidence every practice, and it's really big kudos to them and how they've attacked it every day.
On whether he needs to show results to QB and WR recruits
I mean, to a point. But at the end of the day, I think Michigan sells, so does winning. So we gotta go win. That's the biggest tool in recruiting you can have. You win, you get the best. You'll get more players. We're gonna just continue to do what we have to do to win football games and take it from there.
On whether the offense aims to be more balanced this year
I think you always want to be balanced. I think you don't want to give tells of what you're doing. Then it's just a conscious effort of knowing what you want to do and how you want to do it, and then when you format the plan to be that balance.
On whether he's allowed to comment on the NCAA investigation
No, I'm not.
---
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
