Wolverine Watch: No Loose Lips In Schembechler

Jim Harbaugh spoke to the media for 22 minutes Monday night, revealing precisely nothing he didn’t intend to put out there.

So far, so good, regarding sticking to the game plan.

Put it this way: if his tailbacks can stiff-arm would-be tacklers that well under the lights at Notre Dame, they’ll combine for 300 rushing yards.

Whether his team stands ready or not on the field, Michigan’s head coach has things where he wants them mentally. The wagons are circled. The script is certain.

The usual throng gathered for Harbaugh’s post-practice presser inside Schembechler Hall. Everyone from The Detroit News to We’ve Got A Laptop And Camera Phone, Too, News dutifully took down each word and ran off to pour them into cyberspace.

And the man occupying the big office at The Fort didn’t hesitate to speak. He simply — in the grand tradition of fall camp — wasn’t giving up anything not already known.

Junior linebacker Devin Bush is one of the fastest around. Junior defensive end Rashan Gary, at nearly 300 pounds, moves like a skill-position player. Fifth-year senior defensive end Chase Winovich and junior viper Khaleke Hudson are really good.

And so on …

But when it came to the unknowns, Harbaugh maintained the mystery of a man hiding a stash of gold coins in his mattress.

Quarterback?

“Great competition.”

When will you decide?

“Sooner, rather than later.”

Will we know before Notre Dame?

“Who’s we? The public? I don’t know. I haven’t decided that yet.”

How about the freshmen? Who might contribute from the Class of 2018?

Here, Harbaugh insisted he has a good feel for the class at this point, while summoning up a decades-old Schembechler Hall tradition regarding chatter about rookies.

“The longer it takes them to figure out they’re good, the better they’re going to be, at least for a year,” Harbaugh said. “I don’t want to hamper them by saying they’ve arrived, or in any way letting them think they’ve arrived. This is a blue-collar, hard-working group.

“It’s a shock. When you go from high school football to college football, that is a shock to the entire nervous system and the body. It’s a faster, stronger, more physical game. Sometimes I think they wonder what they got themselves into.”

Harbaugh likely wonders the same thing, when surrounded by inquiring minds. One of them sought to circumvent the script, offering that Gary praised freshman defensive lineman Aidan Hutchinson and frosh offensive lineman Jalen Mayfield.

The head coach wasn’t biting. He summoned the memory of another autumn curmudgeon, the recollection producing a grin.

“Coach [Bo] Schembechler had a great line: ‘When somebody tells you you’re good, kick ‘em in the shins,’” Harbaugh recounted. “It might be one of my all-time favorites. I tend to think along those lines. That’s my advice to Aiden and Jalen at this time.”

Evans earned Game Plan Keeper of the night among Michigan’s players. Nearly every quarterback question received an answer bearing the compulsory tag of “like all the quarterbacks.”

He’s a great leader, like all the quarterbacks. He’s picked up on the offense, like all the quarterbacks.

Evans deadpanned it well. The temptation was to ask about redshirt freshman Dylan McCaffrey, just to see if all the quarterbacks are 6-5, 217, from Castle Rock, Colo. Regardless, Evans did his job, like he’ll be asked to do on the field all season.

Evans did deliver one interesting insight when the topic wasn’t toxic, like QBs. Asked how Michigan’s four new offensive coaches have changed things, he opened up.

“The dynamic has changed a lot,” Evans said. “We feel like more of a unit, just how the coaches are coaching. They’re like player coaches. They ask us what we like, how we feel about this, how we feel about that, changing the footwork up on different plays.

“They want our input, not telling us, ‘This is what you’re going to do. Do it, right now.’ It’s more back and forth.

“When we have our offensive meetings, it’s more of a talk, instead of a lecture. That’s been a lot better, and we can focus in a lot better.”

Such an approach might be a shin-kicker to Schembechler, but there are different ways to skin a shin or return to championship form.

Harbaugh offered up a little himself, when pressed, noting junior transfer quarterback Shea Patterson has improved significantly since spring in the nuances of the offense. Harbaugh again praised new offensive line boss Ed Warinner for noticeable results.

“The offensive line is ascending very nicely,” Harbaugh said. “They’re coaching the heck out of it. We’re moving people better than we have. It’s been a big difference.”

But for the most part, the boys of fall kept it in the house. That’s how they want it, like troops prepping for an invasion.

“I don’t like to tell what our plans would be,” Harbaugh underscored at the end. “There’s no real reason to do that. We avoid it.”

At that, Schembechler would return the grin.

---

• Talk about this article inside The Fort

• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine

• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @BSB_Wolverine, @JB_ Wolverine, @AustinFox42,@Balas_Wolverine and @Qb9Adam.

• Like us on Facebook