Josh Gattis Talks Position Battles, Recruiting Remotely

Michigan football offensive coordinator Josh Gattis joined host Jon Jansen on the In The Trenches podcast to discuss life as a coach during the COVID-19 pandemic, how U-M is dealing with the current circumstances and more.

The team is allowed to have eight hours per week of time spent together virtually. They've been using that time meeting as an entire team and splitting up into position groups.

"I think technology in today’s world has created an environment, for us now, that we’re still fully functional," Gattis said. "We’re creating cut-ups and installs the same way that we would in the building. We’re doing unit meetings on Google Hangouts. We’re pushing out installs to their iPads. So, you’re really able to do everything you would be doing as if you were in the building, except being able to shake a hand, pat a guy on the back from that standpoint, and you’re just missing the practice reps.

"Our kids are doing a really good job. We have unit meetings every week. They’ve done a really good job taking notes, studying the film. And, we keep it to a point where it’s always engaged in the meetings, where it’s not just me presenting or me just talking in front of the unit. I’m asking those guys questions. Their face gets a chance to pop up on the screen. The other players see them. I think that’s good. The social interaction that we are having on all the different social media platforms has given us a way to really take advantage of this time."

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From an offensive standpoint, there are several positions that will have competitions to see who the starter will be to replace outgoing players. That includes quarterback and four spots on the offensive line. Conducting those competitions without spring practice and the team being together is a challenge.

"That’s definitely going to be a challenge that we’re going to have on our hands," Gattis said. "First and foremost, the biggest thing that we need to address when we get back is getting our guys caught up with competitive reps, good on good. Get the speed of the game down because we missed 15 practices in the spring, so we’re going to have to really speed up the process of preparing our players to be ready for the first game, whenever that first game is. You’re going to have to balance that. You’re going to have to balance all the different competitions.

"This may be a case where competitions aren’t quite solved leading up to the game. You don’t know what the process may be. What you do hope is that every player is preparing himself from a mental standpoint, and they can come in and execute at a high level when the time comes."

One positive that has stemmed from the current circumstances is communication with recruits and their families, Gattis said, even though they're not able to take visits on campus in-person.

"This time has been so good for us from a recruiting standpoint," he said. "The accessibility to these players. Now, obviously, everyone’s calling them or everyone’s having them call them. Everyone’s messaging them.

"I think the biggest thing, right now, or the challenge was that we had so many really good players that were looking to come visit Michigan in the spring, because obviously that’s a high visit time. Kids want to come see your spring practice. They want to come watch your spring game. They want to take official visits. And now, the uncertainty that is in college football, whether or not visits are going to be allowed — even this summer — has really kind of slowed down the recruiting process for a lot of kids. A lot of kids are anticipating that when this is all over, they’re going to be able to get back on college campuses, and that’s just the unknown right now.

"So, that’s the biggest challenge — especially for us with how national we recruit — that we’re challenged right now with recruiting virtually across the country with some kids who haven’t been here. So, we’ve had to increase virtual tours, we’ve had to do all kinds of virtual presentations. And, you just find any way that you can to present what you have and what you’re able to show them, whether that’s through videos or presentations."

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