Matt Weiss on deep ball issues: 'We've got to own that, no doubt about it'

Michigan quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator Matt Weiss isn't hiding from the fact that the Wolverines have been struggling to connect on the deep ball in games this season.

In fact, he's open about the fact that it's an area marked for improvement heading into the final games of the season.

Appearing on Inside Michigan Football this week, Weiss was asked about the deep ball woes and what can be done to fix them. He mentioned the need to improve it and see success in practice translate to games.

"The thing I would say is that it's certainly an area we've got to improve," Weiss said. "We've got to own that, no doubt about it. The thing is that we see it in practice, we see those connections happening. As players, as coaches, we're very confident that it's going to show up in the game. The game just has a limited number of reps. We're here talking about one play. Yeah, Andrel could've made an unbelievable catch and caught it, he would tell you that. If you talked to J.J., he would tell you that he threw the ball with not enough air and a little too far up the field, made it a tough adjustment for him. He can throw a way better ball, especially for a guy that's so wide open."

Of course, there are moving parts when it comes to the completion of downfield passes but you can't have one piece without the other, the quarterback has to deliver a catchable ball.

For J.J. McCarthy, it's all part of the learning process of being a starting quarterback at the collegiate level.

It's something he and Weiss are working to figure out, the many different types of throws a quarterback can make to have an effective downfield passing attack.

"For a young quarterback, that's part of the learning process, too, of not every throw has to be right on the money," Weiss said. "There's different degrees of how open someone is, where it has to be put through a small loophole where everyone has to be, hey, I'm so wide open just get him the ball. I know J.J. is going to learn from that and, sometimes, you have to make those mistakes in the game before they really sink in and make that part of your game. We're very confident that those connections are going to happen."