On the common thread of successful Michigan teams

The players, just the culture that’s been built, the way they come in the building and the way they attack everything. They really have set the tone for everything, let us guide and let us lead them. But the players have done the work necessary on and off the field to be where we are at, this position right now.

On whether the plan was to be run-heavy heading into the season

It’s kind of a flow, it’s kind of a feel of what happens in the game. You know, if it’s working, you gotta force people to stop it. You look at the numbers from now to last year, at the same time, we’re about the same as we were last year, from numbers-wise, pass-run, run-pass yards, and actually sometimes even a little bit better at some things. So, it’s just kind of a feel for the game and you get to a game like that, and you run the ball and that’s five yards a carry and six, and seven and eight and nine, it’s like why start—why do anything else? So we’ve gotten into a groove, guys are playing good. Obviously, we got an elite running back who should win the Heisman in our case. But that’s why we are where we are right now.

On whether the offensive line is better than last year

I mean, yeah, I think, to some points. The biggest piece is that those guys that played last year are a year older, and you only get better by playing the game, and these guys are very experienced, they’re playing very physical, but the play is super confident. Because they’ve been in big games, they’ve played in big stadiums, they’re playing here at the Big House and playing in big atmospheres, so you don’t really get thrown off by everything. So the confidence level of the group is really high. Then obviously with Olu in the middle, who’s played a lot of football games himself, it escalates even more. They’re playing at a really high level. I’m just excited for the next challenge.

On whether the rushing offense is stopped, can the offense perform?

Oh yeah. We feel like we’re gonna do whatever it takes to win. Run, throw. We feel like we can be balanced in every area and we’re just gonna keep doing whatever we can do to get to 11-0 this week.

On having six different offensive line combinations this year

The kids are just doing an outstanding job, that really started in the spring. Because we would play guys all over the place and it’s the moment you get into game week and something happens and you got to move somebody around. They’re all comfortable playing either position, either side, so it’s all about finding the best five guys for that week and trying to make sure that combination—so, it’s been great. The kids are just, they just work their tails off to get this point for the depth that we have, for all the guys that have started and played makes us feel really good about the depth of this line.

On Olu Oluwatimi's reaction to the Virginia tragedy

It’s been tough. Started out, I texted him then called him, talked to him. We’re all supporting him in any way, shape or form. It’s something that’s super tragic and you’d never want to even think about but we all have his back and anything he needs, anything Virginia and their community needs, we’re there for them.

On the importance of Luke Schoonmaker to the offense

I think anytime you don’t have a really good player, an NFL-caliber tight end like that, it’s not good for your offense. But the thing is we have depth at that position, too. Colston Loveland played a heck of a game, probably his best game. You have guys like Joel Honigford and Max Bredeson. But Luke just brings you versatility in the run game and in the pass game, and can do so many things. He’s definitely trending in the right direction this week.

On whether the offense has changed with Cade McNamara not being available

It hasn’t. We’re just trying to do everything to J.J.'s strengths, to the offense’s strengths and whatever we have to do to win. So really, it hasn’t really changed. It’s just you evolve as the season goes on.

On the offense helping the defense

The defense is huge. Yeah, it’s huge. First of all, the defense is phenomenal, best defense in the country. We saw it in the spring, we saw it in fall camp, we knew how good they could be. Now you’re seeing it in games every week. So obviously, big strong in the middle, fast on the edges, fast in the back-end, and fast, physical in the middle with the linebackers. So, everything you want the defense to be. So we just like to play complementary football. The No. 1 goal in this building in this program is to win. So we’re gonna do whatever we have to do to do that.

On Illinois playing a similar style of football

We can’t really go out of the box and do something completely different. We’ve got to be us, and attack them how we’re going to attack them. They’ve got a really good defense. They’re fast, they’re physical, they don’t do a lot, but what they do they do really well. So it’s gonna be a great challenge up front, great challenge with our wideouts. So it’s gonna be a fun one. Offensively, I know we’ll talk about that but they’re a good football team, we watched the crossover. So we know what they do and see what they’ve done from a running game standpoint, especially with the running back, he’s a really good player. So I know they’re excited for the challenge as well.

On whether he sees Illinois as a similar team

I mean, somewhat different players, though. So different people, different players. There’s similar schemes that they run that are similar to us, but it’s gonna be a different format and different people running the plays.

On whether both teams wanting to run the ball changes playcalling

I mean, you want to just get a first score. So I think we’re gonna do everything we can, within our possession to do that and be successful when we do that. Not as much thinking about their offense, but more of what we have to do to help the team win.

On Trente Jones' status

He’s good. Practiced last week and full speed this week. So he’s ready to go. Everybody’s working out just be at full speed and full strength every day. But he’s looked good and he’s definitely back healthy.

On what makes Blake Corum elite

Everything. He’s got burst, change of direction, makes you miss, runs you over, sometimes jumps over you, even though that doesn’t seem like it should be a thing with how small his stature is, but he can. At any point in time, the ball can go from the line of scrimmage to the endzone and that’s a special characteristic that not every back has. But then, he’s tough. He just gets you the tough yards that you wouldn’t think a guy like that could get—he gets it. He’s an every-down back. He can protect, he can do everything you want. So he’s just special. Then as a kid, he’s just phenomenal. He’s somebody that you want your daughter to date. He’s just an elite back, an elite person.

On when he realized that Corum could be a third-down RB

In training camp. Watched him in training camp, you saw him protect and then we got in the first couple of games and then he just started stoning people. He took a lot of pride in it, took a lot of pride in the offseason how he worked, trained, put on the extra muscle, put on the exercise. Obviously in pass protection, schematically knowing where to go and how to block everything. So that’s when you kind of saw it and realized that he could really do it.

On the competition between Karsen Barnhart and Trente Jones

It’s been great. They challenge each other and really, it’s who’s playing the best, who’s practicing the best that week. In fall camp, Karsen was just trending upwards and upwards and upwards. At the point in camp, it’s like, OK, Trente won it, Karsen’s here. So both of those in our mind, we have really, we’ve got eight or nine starters, which is a blessing. So we just kind of just keep working minutes, and see who has the best week of practice and keep going from there. But Karsen’s done a great job filling in, and he keeps playing at a high level as well.

On the culture change at Michigan

I think it all took place after that 2020 season, I think everybody kind of took a lot of strong look at themselves and what we needed to do from offensive, defensive, coaches and players, everything standpoint. That was the turnaround, everybody realized we didn’t ever want to be, we never want to be in that situation ever again. We did everything in our power to make sure that we weren’t in that situation. You can just see us work and see what the kids have done and what as a staff is what we’ve done. I think that was the turning point to everything, to say, hey, we’re tired of it, we’re never gonna let that happen again in this program.

On how the wide receivers have fared in getting separation

They’ve done a good job and then we’ll continue to put them in different positions to get them in places where they need to be, but they’ve done a good job up to this point. We just got to keep rolling.

On whether the offensive line makes defenses lose confidence

When you feel a back just burst through a hole for five yards, and you put yourself in the position of the defensive line, it’s pretty demeaning. You just feel defeated a little bit. So for the o-line, when they feel that air, they want nothing more than just keep doing it. So our guys are they’re trying, they’re molded like that. That’s all we want to do. So for our confidence for the o-line, confidence for the play caller, it's fun. It’s what you want. It’s what you train for. So it’s a place you want to be.

On Biff Poggi leaving for Charlotte

Oh, so happy for Coach Poggi. A great man, great person, great leader. He’s going to do a tremendous job. We’re super excited for him and couldn’t ask for a better friend as well. He’s been helping me for the last two years and he’s been phenomenal. I’m just excited to see what that program does when he’s down there. So super excited for him, his family and the players that are going to go play under him and they’re going to be really excited about that.