Throughout the year, the Michigan program has had to achieve a number of benchmarks on the offensive side of the ball. Teams having talent that the Wolverines must account for bringing the next big question mark for first-year coordinator Mike Macdonald.
While U-M has passed almost every test this year, the talent is only going to get bigger and better the deeper the Wolverines go during postseason play.
This leads the Wolverines to plan for its next big test when game-planning for Georgia in tight end Brock Bowers.
"Brock is a heck of a player, man," Macdonald said. "He's really dynamic. The thing that they do with him is he can play—he really plays every position. He'll play the Z, the Y, the X, the move guy, the down guy. They'll give it to him on reverses, screens. It's pretty impressive. A tribute to their coaching staff for putting him in positions to affect the game.
"The difference between a tight end and a receiver is that a receiver you can build some things to find him, where he's at, and try to get multiple guys on him. Tight end, it's a little bit more difficult. I guess it's just not the same if that makes sense."
That dynamic playmaking ability isn't just exclusive to Bowers, though. The Bulldogs have multiple players on offense that could make an impact on any play.
With that being said, though, Bowers is a crucial piece to the puzzle for the Wolverines on defense.
"He's a heck of a player," Macdonald said. "I think the first thing you have to have is an awareness on where he's at, and if he's out of place you have to understand that. And then just understand the things that he likes to do from certain positions so we can help try to slow him down as best we can.
"They've got great skill guys all across the board, guys that can really hurt you at any point during the game. The stress points of our zones and when we play man-to-man when we pressure when we don't, that'll kind of be an interesting chess game throughout the game."
---
Not a subscriber to The Maize and Blue Review? Sign up today!
Discuss this article on our premium message boards
Follow our staff on Twitter @MaizeBlueReview, @JoshHenschke, @AESchnepp, @BrandonJustice_, @DanielDash_, @DennisFithian, @StephenToski, @TannerWutang, @Baird_CJ, @ZachLibby, @JimScarcelli
Subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify
Subscribe to The Maize and Blue Review on YouTube!
Like The Maize and Blue Review on Facebook!