Michigan “didn’t dodge the bullet,” head coach Jim Harbaugh relayed this week as it pertained to freshman receiver Tarik Black, losing the standout to a broken foot. They’ll look for ways to compensate starting this week at Purdue.
Black is expected to be miss 6-8 weeks (at least) with the injury, though Harbaugh didn’t specify a time period.
“Kekoa Crawford, Nate Schoenle, Grant Perry. Donovan-Peoples Jones is going to play a bigger role,” Harbaugh said on 97.1 The Ticket Wednesday. “And other freshmen are going to have an opportunity: Nico [Collins] and Oliver [Martin]. One of them or both will definitely be in the mix.
“We’ve got good players and they have to step up.”
So do the coaches. The red zone offense has been abysmal — one touchdown in 10 trips, plus eight field goals — and whether it’s been a mistake up front, a bad pass or a bad play call, Harbaugh knows it’s not good enough.
“We all understand that the job for the offense is to move the ball and score touchdowns and put points on the board,” he said. “Scoring touchdowns at a higher rate is something that we’re focused on and we think will come.
“What I said after the game was, there was a time where they had the better call than we did. That’s not me saying we got out-coached. That’s not me saying anything on the coaches. Sometimes that happens, and we have to be able to manage that.”
The way you manage it as a quarterback is to throw the ball away, avoid the interception in the red zone and make sure to get some points on the board, he added. In that respect, redshirt junior Wilton Speight has succeeded.
“… You don’t turn it over and you do get the field goal and put the points on the board. That’s also smart football,” Harbaugh said.
He noted there were a number of hands involved in the play calling.
“It’s a combination. [Offensive coordinator] Tim Drevno and [passing-game coordinator] Pep [Hamilton] have the greatest share, and I’m probably third in line,” he said, hesitating before answering ‘yes’ when asked if he had ‘veto power.’
“That’s probably the simplest and best way to explain it,” he continued. “It’s a group effort by our offensive coaching staff, with Tim and Pep having the greatest share of the play calling.”
They’ll need to be even more creative now without their leading receiver. Black had racked up 11 catches for 149 as the Wolverines’ best receiver. Junior Perry has 10 receptions for 124 yards, while sophomore Crawford is at five catches, 86 yards and a touchdown.
Freshman Peoples-Jones, though, has the highest ceiling. He caught the first two passes of his career in the 29-13 win over Air Force, also has a 44-yard run on the end around to his credit and returned a punt 79 yards for a touchdown, adding a 25-yarder later in the game.
“Phenomenal effort, talent and strength the way he ran the ball. It was very impressive and a big play for us in the game,” Harbaugh said. “He was our offensive player of the game.”
The tight ends should have more to give, as well, in an effort to pick up the slack. All of them said Saturday they added a few new wrinkles for the red zone, and they’re more than capable.
Regardless how they do it, the Wolverines need to find a way to score more points. Harbaugh is confident they will.
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