Everything Sherrone Moore told the media during Michigan's spring practice
On the M flag planted at Ohio Stadium being displayed at Schembechler Hall
I love seeing that. I think about that game every day. Think about every moment. When you walk into the building, you see it as soon as you walk in. Obviously, you see all the things about the rivalry and what it is, but you think about that every day. So it’s constantly on my mind. It’s constantly on the players’ minds and we’re always preparing for it.
On the motivation to beat Ohio State again
I think human nature, you’re gonna remember that moment, you can remember how it was, but at the same time, that was last year, and there’s a new year ahead of us. So we have new goals and we’re just gonna continue to keep working.
On his playcalling duties changing from last year
As far as play-calling duties last year, I’m not going to talk about the specifics. So good try. So you know, I was part of the play calling last year but, this year, I have a great staff. First of all that I’ve worked with—Coach Campbell, Coach Newsome, Coach Hart, Coach Bellamy, all the GAs, all the analysts. I have an incredible group of guys that are all working in the same line, same vision, to help us win championships, to beat Ohio State, to beat Michigan State, to beat Penn State, to win the Big Ten, their end goal. So we’re all working on the same vision to do that. Is it a little bit more work? A little bit, but this is something I’ve prepared for my whole life. Motivated to do it and I’m just gonna continue to work and only keep my head down and do what I know best.
On the early enrollees
First of all, the guys have been great additions from a culture standpoint, just a great fit. Love all the guys, love all the kids. Start with the guys up front; all those guys have been awesome. Just excited to keep them rolling and get ready for fall camp. Spring ball’s come and we’ve got the spring game coming up and excited to see the progress of everybody, especially our young freshmen. Amir, just to watch him grow, just to learn the system and see what he’s doing. He’s been really good. Really, really excited about these young receivers, and to see what they do. They’re just like little puppies out there, but they’re just full of energy. Full playmaking ability. We’re just excited about that.
On the process for the spring game draft
I’m not going to reveal that information.
On the most important thing he's looking for during the spring game
You’re in a game day atmosphere, especially guys that haven’t played in a game day atmosphere. Younger guys, or guys that haven’t played, just see how they react, see how they react in The Big House, who they are, how they react with fans. And it’s not the practice atmosphere with the coaches right there behind them. So that’s the biggest thing for us. We know what Karsen Barnhart is going to do. We know what Trente is gonna do. We know J.J. and he’s just gotten better and better. So I’m seeing those young guys see how they react in that atmosphere and just let them all have fun. The big thing we’re wanting to do is go out there and compete. Enjoy the time, embrace the time, and have a lot of fun.
On his relationship with J.J. McCarthy
Me and J.J. have always been close. I was part of his process while he was coming out of high school, so I’ve known him since he was a freshman in high school. So we’ve always been close-knit and we were super close last year and it’s just grown and grown and grown every day. So there really hasn’t been a crazy maturation of a relationship because we’ve all been really close. But to watch him and his progression, his confidence after being a full-year starter has been something really cool to see. You can just see his confidence. You can see his bravado, you can see how he carries himself, the control, the command of everything he has in the offense. It’s turned up to that next level you would think it would, just excited to see him just keep progressing, keep growing.
On what it means to have so many players returning for one more season
They love being here, they love everything that we’re doing. They just love being around. Sometimes you’ve got to kick them out because they always just want to be here. So it just says that this thing is—it’s bigger than really a culture it's a brotherhood. It’s something that you really—it’s hard to describe unless you’re around it every day. You guys probably saw videos of Blake lifting in the weight room and watching the joy and happiness with everybody around him, to watch him be successful in that moment, it’s just like, that’s what this team is built off. It’s there’s no one individual person that thinks they’re bigger than anybody else. They’re all for each other and they’re willing to do anything they can and make sure that their teammates are successful so it’s just really cool to be a part of it and see it all come to fruition.
On Blake Corum lifting as much as of the offensive line
He’s a freak. I mean, he benches as much as many dudes that are gonna be in the draft. So I mean, you put up 30 reps for 225 pounds, there’s not many people in the draft that do that. Mostly it’s offensive linemen, defensive linemen, you get a rare running back or a linebacker. But he’s a special dude.
On what the offense will look like this season
We want to be balanced, be able to do both. Really, the division is what our players are good at, what J.J. wants to throw. How we’re going to attack the defense every week is going to change. There will probably be a game we’ll run the ball more and people will be mad at us and if it helps us win, we’ll be OK with it. So, really, it’s about winning. Whatever we got to do to win, that’s what we’re gonna do. We’re not going to value the opinions of people that don’t understand what we’re doing. We’re gonna do whatever it takes to win. So whatever that is, in that game, if it’s throw, pass, we’re going to do. So that’s the vision and build it around our players.
On Benjamin Hall and C.J. Stokes
They’ve been awesome. Ben Hall, we knew he was a good back. He showed some things that obviously Mike knew. Mike does a great job recruiting and evaluating guys and he’s a guy that wasn’t very highly ranked, but he walks into the building, his legs are giant, they’re huge. He’s built. He’s always in here. You’ve gotta kick him out. He’s always walking around with a water bottle with his headphones on just always locked in, focused. And he goes on the field, he runs like a train. So excited to see him progress. C.J. has been great. He’s just continued to build on the progress that he’s had. To watch him really evolve has been really cool. So, excited about that back, we’re as deep as we’ve been back there. And you don’t even have two and seven rolling out there. So excited to watch them get back to it.
On whether Corum and Donovan Edwards will be on the field at the same time more this season
I can’t tell you that.
On the competition at center
It’s a competition. I mean, even when Olu came in here, he didn’t come in and he was first on the depth chart. He had to earn it. So at every position, it’s earned. There’s guys that have started games that just won’t let you take their spot. And that’s just how they work. That’s how they go about their business. So if you think you’re gonna go take Trevor Keegan’s spot, you can go try, but he’s probably not gonna let you. Same thing with Zak Zinter and Karsen, he’s the same way. So, it’s a competition everywhere. So everybody knows that any given day that you have an off-day, you have an off-week, your spot’s up for grabs. So everybody, not just the centers. It’s just competing, and we have the depth with guys that they understand and know that you can’t just go about your business in a way that’s nonchalant, you got to be ready to attack because we’re striving for big things.
On how his role has changed
Just a little bit. I mean, there’s a little bit more work involved because you’re looking at every single piece of it. I did the same thing last year. So there’s not too much difference, just be on game days the play-calling will be a little different. To me, I see it all the same, just because I always have a watchful eye of everything that’s going on. So just try to delegate a little bit more, which has helped but I have a great staff to do that. So it’s been awesome, especially with Kirk and the guys have been phenomenal. So I don’t come in here and work at all. It’s fun for me. This is just too fun for me. I live a dream right now. So I’m just gonna continue to grind as hard as I can and live out this dream that we’re living in.
On building chemistry with the offensive line
I think a lot of that chemistry people talk about, when you jell, you don’t really know until you get to like halfway through training camp and really hit that first game. So the chemistry is going to be built, it’s starting to be built now. It’ll be built in the summertime when they’re working together, working out together, and then really, we’ll figure it out in the fall. That’s when you really figure out who those guys are going to be, who’s going to help you and then that’s when you build the chemistry because you can build it off. They hang out together. They’re all like best friends. You can’t see one without the other. They’re a crazy group. I try to stay away from them because they’re nuts. I love them to death. It’s an amazing group to be around. The spirit, the joy, the fun that they have together is really awesome. And you can just see the chemistry getting built, but you’re really going to feel the full chemistry happen in the fall.
On the elevation of Kirk Campbell to QB coach
I was a big fan, big fan of Kirk. Kirk actually worked hand-in-hand with me a lot last year. So it was easy for me to know. And he has already gained the trust of everybody in the building. For coach, it was pretty easy. Coach saw it and understood what his value was to the program. So it was very easy for us to make that change for us, to be successful.
On Campbell correcting mistakes on the field
A lot. It feels like he’s like me on the field coaching the quarterbacks. He’s ripping them, it’s great. I love it. No, it’s awesome. He does a really good job. He’s extremely detailed. He works extremely hard. He’s on top of them. He corrects them. He coaches them extremely hard. But just like I do with the linemen, he loves them hard. They know, they understand that it’s not the tone. It’s the message and they’re responding. They’re responding well, and they’ve just taken off and he’s done an incredible job with them.
On the transfers having previous captain experience
The first thing, if they walk in the building, they don’t act like they were captains anywhere, from a standpoint of they’re not trying to boss people around. Because if you do this, I mean, they’re all just bought-in team guys trying to just do their part to win. That’s all they’re trying to do, every single one of them. On the field, they’ve all been awesome. Drake’s been a little limited, but he’ll be ready for fall. Then AJ, he’s a stud, Jack’s a stud. And it’s just been fun to be around them. They’ve been they’ve been awesome. So it’s cool to have guys like that, that—and LaDarius—that were all captains. It speaks volumes to the program that we’re attracting dudes like that, that have been leaders in programs that want to come here.
On how much he looks at the offense against TCU being successful
It’s motivation because we lost. We know we threw the ball more and all that, but we lost the game. So we’re like that’s in the back of the mind every single second when we walk in the building along with that game. What could have been, what the motivation is. So we understand, we already knew what J.J.’s capabilities were, but it’s just motivation for the future and what we’re gonna do.
On whether it was encouraging to see the passing game work
Not really, just because there were just situations where we had to do it. So again, we did whatever we needed to do to win at that time and that’s what we felt like was best. So going through the air was the process. there was no like, that’s part of the offense, whether we need to do that or not. So for us, it’s just again, motivation because, at the end of the day, we lost the game. So doesn’t really matter how good it looked at the end. You looked at the scoreboard, we didn’t win. That’s what we want, we just want to win.
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