Michigan Wolverines football has gone with a heavy rotation at the running back position, and that's not expected to change, according to position coach Jay Harbaugh.
In Michigan's 27-24 loss to Michigan State last week the backs that played the most snaps were sophomore Zach Charbonnet (32) and fifth-year senior Chris Evans (23), but the two only mustered up a combined 13 yards on eight carries. On the other hand, redshirt sophomore Hassan Haskins averaged seven yards per carry (eight rushes for 56 yards) and scored a touchdown in his 17 snaps, while freshman Blake Corum toted the rock five times for 15 yards and two scores in his 16 offensive plays.
"They all have a little different skill sets," Harbaugh explained, while appearing on the Inside Michigan Football radio show with host Jon Jansen this week. "They all bring something a little something different to the table. The rotation is a little bit of everything — it’s situations, it’s putting guys in the situations to do the things that they’re really good at.
"Obviously, if a guy starts to catch fire, so to speak, and we feel like he’s running it really well, that guy’s going to get a little bit more opportunity. You saw that a little bit with Blake last week and Hassan a little bit as well. There’s situations that come into play.
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"I have a hard time imagining a scenario where all the guys don’t play, just because they all do bring a little something different to the table. If they were all more similar, I think there wouldn’t really be a reason to. The fact that they provide a little bit different assets to the offense, it gives merit to all the guys playing, as long as they’re performing the way that they need to.
"I don’t anticipate anything changing in that regard, and obviously would love to see, in the course of the game, be able to find a groove as an offense, where guys are running and being more productive. But it’s not at all a ‘Hey, we don’t like the way a guy is playing. We’re going to pull him out.’ We’re trying to get guys on the field and give them opportunities, and we believe good things will happen if we do that."
Though there were struggles running between the tackles against Michigan State (nine carries for five yards), the Wolverines have had success on the ground this year, totaling 408 yards through two games.
Harbaugh explained that it's all about putting the right guy in at the right time, depending on down and distance, the play call and other factors, and that he and offensive coordinator Josh Gattis communicate a lot throughout the week on how to handle substitutions based on the game plan.
"I think Coach Gatt[is] does a great job going into the game of giving us a heads up on what calls are going to be coming, a possible sequence of calls if they did come up," Harbaugh said. "So we have the ability, as coaches, to try to be able to get in for a certain play or whatever.
"But as a running back or as any position, you can’t be a specialist, so to speak, where you can only run these types of runs or run these types of routes. You can’t limit yourself, because if you do that, then you get into a real problem in terms of substitutions, as well as in terms of tendencies. With the backs, we’ve always preached to them about trying to become complete players, where you don’t have anything that you can’t do.
"So if we can establish that as a baseline, where we can have a freshman Blake Corum in there on protection downs, that’s really helpful and the defense can’t tee off every time he’s in there, think it’s going to be a run to him or only a perimeter run. So, having that balance is key, and the way that guys prepare, rounding their games out, makes that really possible for us to be well-rounded like that."
In fact, Corum has been a pleasant, early-season surprise, notching four receptions for 51 yards and carrying the ball 10 times for 39 yards and a pair of scores. Harbaugh explained in detail what he's seen from the youngster so far in both practices and the two games.
"He definitely is what he looks like. We start there with the obvious — he’s really, really explosive, a super fast kid, a guy that’s literally fast, in a timing sense, but he also plays fast, he plays full speed," Harbaugh said. "That’s something that you don’t always see in football. He plays at his absolute top speed, which is smoking fast.
"The things that maybe aren’t quite as obvious at first is that he’s a tough player. He likes contact. He’s a tough runner. He’s willing to put his nose in there in protection. He’s really latched onto special teams. In the first game, he might’ve had the most snaps on the team on special teams, actually.
"For a young player, he’s got a pretty broad skillset. It’s fairly rare for a young running back to be well-versed and trustworthy in protections. He’s been solid in that regard. Zach Charbonnet is another guy who was kind of unusual in that aspect.
"And really, Blake is consistent with the other guys in his approach. He absolutely loves practicing, he loves lifting, he loves running, he loves meetings. He loves everything that has to do with football. And I think Michigan fans, they already are excited about him, but they should be even more excited about him and the other guys because of the way that they approach things. You really can’t put on a limit of them."
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