Though the Michigan Wolverines' football offense ranked 21st nationally last year by averaging 35.2 points per game, their 17.6 points per contest against three of the four best statistical defenses they faced (Notre Dame, Michigan State and Florida) left plenty to be desired.
The subpar scoring output unsurprisingly led to a 1-2 record in the aforementioned games, with a lack of explosiveness and creativity on offense being two of the main culprits.
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The hiring of Josh Gattis, however, is expected to fix both of those issues, with junior center Cesar Ruiz confirming there has been a significant increase in explosive gains from the offense in practice.
“Yeah, definitely,” he exclaimed. “It’s big play after big play every practice, and it’s not just from one guy. There are big plays all over practice, and we see it all throughout — from the competitive periods to the scout periods.
“I’d say it’s a little different [from other years]. We know what the athletes on this team are capable of, and for them to be put in positions to show off their athleticism has been amazing to see.”
One player responsible for the increase in the number of big plays has been senior quarterback Shea Patterson.
He and Ruiz were actually high school teammates when the former was a senior at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., and were wildly successful running a similar type of spread offense.
“I’ve seen him doing a lot of ‘Shea things’ in practice,” Ruiz laughed. “I think you guys know what that means — some of the things he was doing when he first got to college.
“He’s been more comfortable and is doing what he does. He’s in his own category — ‘Shea things’ are trying to turn a play from nothing into something, along with other mind-blowing things.”
While all the reports have indicated that Patterson appears to be more comfortable in Gattis’ new offensive attack, Ruiz revealed that not a whole lot has actually changed for himself in terms of comfort level.
“I’m still calling out my protections and IDs, though I have to do it a little faster,” the junior explained. “I’ve tried to mature more and put more things on my plate — I already had a lot before, but I wanted even more to make sure everything is alright.
“Not getting shaken up when things don’t look right was something I wanted to get better at as well.”
Notes
• Redshirt sophomore Andrew Stueber's indefinite knee injury likely means that redshirt freshman Jalen Mayfield will earn the starting right tackle job, as the two were locked in a heated competition before the former went down last week.
“Jalen is young, but that’s not an issue for him," Ruiz explained. "He knows what he has to do and is mature now that he’s in that position. He practices just as hard as everybody else and wants to learn.
"Jalen is all in and wants to be great, and I’m excited to see what he’s going to do. He’s an athletic kid and a talented player.”
• Senior left guard Ben Bredeson admitted he was a bit skeptical when he first heard about Gattis and the new spread offense, but Ruiz, on the other hand, said he never shared that same mindset.
“I was excited," the center exclaimed. "I knew we were going to change the entire offense and I had an idea what was going to happen with the spread. I love stuff like that, because it allows me to expose my athleticism a little more — I can do different things I wasn’t able to do last year, in terms of how I block, pull and get out in the open field.
"Once I found out we had Coach Gattis and the new offense he was bringing in, I was excited just thinking about what we were getting into."
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