On whether he feels like the WR group is headed in the right direction

Yeah, I do. The guys are working hard every day, and when opportunities present itself, be ready. Stay ready so they don't have to get ready. They live by that mantra. The guys are making plays and doing whatever they can to help the team win.

On his thoughts on being the only team in America without a 40-yard pass play this season

Yeah, I'm shocked by it. We're continuing to work every day, hoping we can connect on those plays. We've had opportunities for one region or another. We just have not collectively made that happen. It's one of those things where we're going to continue to work on it and just make the plays when we have a chance to.

On what it will be like going against AJ Henning this week

It'll be great. We got a chance to go against Giles a couple weeks ago when we played Washington. Now A.J., obviously he was here most recently than Giles was, but good seeing A.J. He left field on great terms, got his Michigan degree, got a chance to win a couple of Big Ten championships, someone that the boys love, still talk about. When we watch a crossover film, the guys are always commenting on it. They keep in touch, so he's always going to be a Wolverine, and we love A.J.

On the importance of finishing strong in recruiting

For us, it's just bringing the best players to Michigan. I don't really think we look at rankings. We just look at who's the best fit and who's going to help us win ballgames here and who can compete on campus and do well in the classroom and represent Michigan.

On the continuity at QB helping the receivers

Yeah, I think that's something that's real. The boys have a great rapport with Davis, and he's playing well. He knows where to go with the ball, and he knows what the receivers are capable of, and the guys just being in the right spot at the right time for him and showing up for him. So the continuity with the quarterback-receiver, that's a real thing, and it has shown up of recent.

On what the buy-in week looks like with his group

Yeah, the buy-in week for us is like traditional. Buy-in week is an opportunity to try to get your legs back, your body back. The mentals are still strong, but for us, we're just like, hey, let's keep this thing rolling. Obviously, the wins haven't been as frequent as we would like, but as far as working hard, being productive every day, let's keep that rolling. We've had a great week and a half thus far. We've got to finish off strong because we have a team that's trying to do the same thing. They're trying to become bowl eligible as well, get themselves an opportunity too. It's a physical team, smart team, and being in the right place at the right time, so we've got to make sure that we match that and we play well, and that's what the whole buy-in week was predicated towards, is being the best version of ourselves.

On Peyton O'Leary's growth

Yeah, that's a great question with Peyton. I got a chance to know Peyton differently. When I first started here, I was on defense, so he was a scout team player. I got a chance to go against him every day, and he made plays. Coincidentally, Davis was a quarterback, so the connection between the two of them and they just so happen are roommates as well. So we always tease Peyton about that, but Peyton is a guy that he's a student of the game, studies everything, knows every position, knows where to be at, understands what the defense is trying to do. He's not the most physically gifted receiver we have in the room, but he's definitely one of the smarter ones. He's a big-body guy, 6'3", that can create separation and make plays on the ball, and Peyton is a guy that continues to grow in his opportunities. He's getting more and more, and he's taking advantage of them.

On off-field chemistry translating to on-field play

Well, it does because that's the level of trust. That's the level of those guys go home, and they watch football together. They watch film together, so he knows what the quarterback's thinking. The quarterback knows what the receiver's thinking, and you can see it on the practice field, and you're starting to see it in the games.

On the development of the younger players Yeah, good, good, man. I have to tell you, both those kids are going to be really good football players. They're just playing behind some older guys right now, and it's just one of those things where those guys continue to make plays in practice. As a coach, you feel confident that you can put them in a game and not miss a beat. That's kind of where we are with them. But those guys are showing up every day and just smiles on their face, and you can tell that they're accustomed to the college life as far as on-campus life and the football part of it. So we're really pleased with Channing and I'marion.

On having a bowl game helping their progression

Yeah, the more opportunities you have to play in practice, the better you're going to be as a football player. How do you get good at football? By playing football.

On who the best talent evaluator is on staff

I don't know. That's kind of over my thought process. But I do think we have, collectively, we have a lot of great recruiters on staff. The guys and the girls in recruiting, they do a phenomenal job of recruiting. You're starting to see that with the young men that are committed to us and that we have a chance to sign in a couple weeks. But overall, I think the guys do a very good job of that. Is there any one guy that if you were like, hey, I want to get a second read on this guy, you're going to go to on staff just to get their opinion? Honestly, I think we do it together. If there's a receiver that I like that I'm thinking about, obviously, the recruiting department, the personnel department seeing that, and then maybe go to Sean McGee, Coach Moore, and then I'll bring in some of the other coaches on the staff as well. Just see an eye. Sometimes I'll bring in Coach Morgan, hey, what do you think about this receiver? He does the same thing with the DBs. What do you think about this guy? Because from a cross-reference standpoint, you can see some of the things. I think we do a good job of sharing details with each other. But I can't answer that for you. I know I kind of went around, but I can't answer that for you.

On his thoughts on the developmental standpoint of the offense

Well, from a receiver standpoint, a lot of it is our tight end group is probably the strongest group on our offense, right, and they have depth. So you may take a receiver off the field because you want the tight ends to be on there. So in essence, a younger receiver may not get as many opportunities, but that doesn't mean that the guys aren't playing at a high level, that you can't count on those young men. You know, those guys, Channing and Omarion, they do a great job of, you know, coming in in between class periods, watching film, you know, studying, asking questions, you know, and then getting on the field and they're able to produce. So, it's not what they're not doing. It's more or less, you know, some of our, you know, the receiver tight end position, you may get a 12 personnel as opposed to 11 personnel. So, I credit that more to that than them not, you know, being ready.

On experimenting with Mason Curtis at receiver

It was one of those things where I wanted to get bigger at the receiver position. Obviously, you know, you guys, everyone knows that. We want to get a little bigger, more length at the position. We talked about recruiting a minute ago and I got a chance to watch Mason, although I wasn't a primary recruiter of Mason, but I got a chance to watch his film and saw it. I'm like, hey, what is this kid? What position does he play? Very talented. In high school, sometimes coaches play guys out of position. What's best for the team? But I saw like eight interceptions and I saw elite ball skills. And the first thing I saw, six-floor receiver, six-floor athlete that could catch the football. And I remember going to Coach Moore and saying, hey, you know, can we check this out? Because we had tapped in a portal and brought a couple of older safeties in. And nonetheless, we tried it, but Mason's heart was on defense. And I remember he came in and said, Coach, he was like, I love you. Receiver's fun, but I want to focus on defense. And, you know, and it's fair to the kid. You know, whatever needs to be done to help Michigan win, the kid was all in. But, you know, he did tell me he wanted to play defense and I think he's a real heck of a defensive football player. But we did experiment with Mason playing receiver and I think he would have been a good receiver as well.

On how much he's engrained in the high school scene at Michigan

A lot, a lot. You know, I still – the coaches, you know, if they need something, you know, talking football or want to share a prospect with me, they go through me now being pretty much the area recruiter in Metro Detroit area, Oakland and Wayne and Macomb County. So, you know, a lot of high school coaches, you know, my relationships with those guys. So, you know, they were relying on me to provide information for them and, you know, recruit their kids. N

On how having bigger receivers will open things up for him

If you go to my office, there's – how many pictures, Dave? Five maybe, five or six. So I have pictures – yeah, I have pictures of guys I play with here in Michigan. And in my era of Michigan football, it was David Terrell, Marquise Walker, Braylon Edwards, Jason Avant, Steve Breaston. So those are the guys that are on my wall. And they were my team, happy to be my teammates. And they all are big receivers. Not to say your whole room has to be big receivers, but you have more room for error with bigger receivers. I grew up in the era of Michigan football where that's the case. And, you know, that's something that, you know, if you guys follow recruiting, we're, you know, we're going to attack. And I think you've got to have, you know, different plethora of options, you know, size-wise, but getting bigger is something that we really want to focus on.

On his thoughts on the senior class

Yeah, it's been awesome. You know, just for me to say, hey, my first three years at Michigan, we're going to win three Big Ten championships, a national championship, and the success we've had. And obviously, you know, this year hasn't been as good as the previous three years. But it's been unbelievable for where I came from. You know, being a former player, I have a unique story of being a former player and being in the high school for over a decade and then having some of my former players from the high school that I was at come to Michigan with me. You know, at one point we had five kids from, you know, where I came from on the team. That's, for a coach, that's a dream come true, you know, and to share the success that we had. And it's surreal. It's surreal. And I know where we came from. Everyone's proud. And, you know, you just got to keep it rolling, you know. Need more kids from the area.

On the recruiting sales pitch when the offense isn't working

I think a lot of kids hold themselves in high regard of their talents. And, you know, come in and obviously, you know, from a receiver standpoint, we're able to, we've always been able to recruit at a high level as far as getting the kids here. And maybe, you know, kids may pick a different institution, whatever that may be. But they do see themselves here. They do see themselves, you know, being a change, being the reason why things do change. You know, at the end of the day, you know, it's a great program. It's Michigan. And, you know, kids do visualize themselves here and want to be part of that change. I think it's an easy sell as far as showing them what they can do here. A long time ago, you played your last game at Michigan Stadium.

On striking the balance between optimism and honesty

Yeah, we self-reflect. Everyone in our program, from coaches, players, staff, we self-reflect. And the biggest thing for us is we're all pulling in the same direction. Like, no one's like, we're not there. Nor do we want to be there, right? Everyone knows that things have to be better. This is a result-driven business. But the way we know how to fix things is by hard work and dedication and staying aligned, staying together. And that's been our big focal point is just make sure we stand together, limit the distraction, the outside forces, and play for one another. And, you know, like I said, the wins, we haven't had as many as we've had. Recently, but, you know, when you put a great product out there, as far as going out there, playing hard every snap, you give yourselves a great opportunity to win.

On Kirk Campbell saying the offense is explosive and it's not

I think, you know, with the optimism, there's – yeah, you look at it, guys like Donovan Edwards, he's had those moments, right? We've all seen explosive plays. Kalel Mullings, we've seen that. You've seen Tyler Morris in the Rose Bowl. You've seen that. You've seen what Semaj can do. You know, we've seen, like, Fred Moore, things that, you know, he could do in practice and he did early in the season. And, obviously, Colston Loveland, you know, is arguably the best tight end in America. And, you know, offensive-line-wise, you had Josh Priebe that came in with a ton of experience. And some of the other guys have played a lot. And, you know, it's just one of those things where you have the players and we just haven't executed. We haven't – you know, 11 guys have not played as one, you know, throughout the year. And that's something as coaches and players that we're constantly challenging ourselves to be better at. You're a former head coach yourself, although, you know, at a different level.

On how he's seen Sherrone Moore deal with being a first-year head coach

He's been great. He's really been great. You know, I think Coach Harbaugh left a great blueprint, right, for the success of the program and, you know, just kind of following suit. And, obviously, there's different things. There's going to be different challenges. It's a different ball club. And he's been great. Everything that's shown up, he's addressed. He's, you know, he's not afraid to attack it. You know, he's not afraid to, you know, challenge us as coaches and players. And, you know, for us it's growth, right? You know, we look at ourselves, you know, from a growth and development standpoint, that's how you get better. That's how you're able to separate yourselves from others. And, you know, he's constantly challenging us in that realm. And, you know, we just got to keep attacking it and being better and just focusing on the details. That's the word that we use a lot in the program. And, at times, we're missing it. I'll be honest with you. You know, I challenge myself to be, you know, get my guys to be more detailed on a consistent basis. And we just got to keep working at it. You know, we're guaranteed two football games. You know, so we just got to make sure that we're showing up every day, being the best version of ourselves.

On what he's going to remember the most about Donovan Edwards

I think, for me, a lot of great memories with Donovan. You know, I still remember him committing to Michigan. He had me in the snow. He had me in the snow when he committed to Michigan. And I didn't know what school he was going to. I knew the list of schools. I knew the final two or three. But I didn't know one of my memories I love is kind of doing a mock interview, kind of getting them ready for ESPN, and he kind of slipped up and said he was going to Michigan. And my wife and I looked at each other. We're like, oh, that's good. But I'll go Tony Alford won't, you know. He won't like when I tell that story. But anyway, you know, just watching him, you know, come to Michigan and the success he's had and the big moments he's had, whether it's his freshman year, sophomore, junior year, and, you know, even the success he's had his senior year, man, just to watch and I've known him for a very long time and just watching the young man that he's developed into. You know, Donovan, he's always been a special place in my heart. You know, his mother passed away when he was younger and just watching the relationship with him and his father and just watching, you know, just him grow from that and how being a mentor, being a leader, being a captain at Michigan, which is a very special honor. You know, he's left his mark on Michigan football, and, you know, obviously we've got some games to play, but I'm proud of him. I actually told him that yesterday. He and I had that conversation, very similar.

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