Jim Harbaugh surveyed the pocket, ready for the inundation of quarterback questions to come.
He didn’t dodge them. He didn’t even need to stiff-arm the who’s-your-guy attempts. Reporters have been around him long enough to know that particular foray would prove as successful as asking for a touchpad entry number key to Schembechler Hall.
Most of all, the Michigan head coach redirected some of the mad rush. He focused on what will have as much to do with the Wolverines’ success in 2018 — and perhaps more — as quarterback play.
It starts up front, even when the questions don’t.
Harbaugh know Michigan will be loaded on the defensive line, with ends like fifth-year senior Chase Winovich and junior Rashan Gary firing off while tackles like redshirt sophomore Michael Dwumfour and sophomore Aubrey Soloman toss 600-plus pounds of beef at opposing rushing attacks.
He’s counting on an offensive line — under new boss Ed Warinner — developing better and faster under new management. From sophomore center Cesar Ruiz on out, Harbaugh is banking on blockers that keep the wins coming and keep his QBs out of the hospital.
Whether he gets it will go a long way towards making junior quarterback Shea Patterson — or whoever stands behind center — all he can be.
After the third or fourth Patterson question, Harbaugh stepped up in the pocket.
“The thing I think about most this time of the year is the lines,” he said. “I really do. The defensive line, the offensive line, how those two position groups are coming together the most.
“I feel really good about our defensive line. They’re a bunch of guys who have really asserted themselves. You know about Rashan Gary, you know about Chase Winovich. Michael Dwumfour had a great spring. Of all our players, he was rmost improved. He’s had a tremendous summer.
“Did you really anticipate that, that he was going to be the kind of force he’s been this summer? Aubrey Soloman, it looks like Aubrey is really coming along and turning the corner to being a presence inside. That nose tackle position will be one that has a real identity, a real presence up the middle.”
The offensive line, he assured, “shows some signs” of coming together, of believing in each other. He called them more experienced, more athletic, stronger.
“I see them moving better, lower, quicker, and faster,” Harbaugh asserted.
The tackles were the big question mark going into the spring. But two weeks away from the start of fall camp, Harbaugh insisted fifth-year senior Juwann Bushell-Beatty — a key candidate for the left-tackle spot — is “more focused, working harder at it, losing weight.”
At the other tackle, Harbaugh sounded uncharacteristically definitive in the days leading to the start of fall practices.
“[Redshirt junior] Jon Runyan had a tremendous spring,” Harbaugh said. “We’re going to need him to be that right tackle, and consistently do what he’s been doing, stay healthy this camp — go be a really solid right tackle.”
Overall, Michigan’s line ought to be more consistent, period. That’s coming from one of the better defensive linemen in the country.
Winovich has watched Michigan offensive lines the past four years. Warinner, he insisted, is making a difference.
Whereas the Wolverines of 2017 were tentative and mistake-prone at times, they’re more locked in and forceful heading into fall camp, according to Winovich.
“A big complaint of some of the guys playing last year, from what I gathered as a defensive lineman, was sometimes it was over the top, or they tried to implement stuff that may have been too advanced,” he said. “Or people weren’t on the same page.
“That disconnect caused some issues. This year, through spring ball — which isn’t even as good as it’s going to be — guys were picking it up. When we did implement new defenses, they were able to better adapt on the fly than they did previously.”
Candor sometimes arises out of confidence. Michigan hasn’t taken one snap in anger since April, but there’s a different feel, both for Harbaugh, those protecting his quarterbacks, and the men whose job it is to ruin game days for opposing QBs.
It starts up front, whether Patterson becomes a swing and a miss, 10-win transfer Jake Rudock or ’97 Brian Griese.
Now, Harbaugh has good reason to deflect away from the quarterback talk. He’ll likely be hearing the questions from now until Notre Dame game week. His QB announcement could well arrive when Michigan’s offense trots out in South Bend for the opener.
But there’s a reality to his hard line about the lines. An already fearsome one, and another determined to get there, hold a big chunk of Michigan’s 2018 season in their soon-to-be-scarred hands.
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