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Published Apr 4, 2019
What The U-M Coaches & Players Have All Said About Josh Gattis This Spring
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Austin Fox  •  Maize&BlueReview
Staff Writer

First-year offensive coordinator Josh Gattis has been the talk of the town around Ann Arbor this offseason, especially after it was revealed by head coach Jim Harbaugh that he would be handling the play-calling duties this fall.

Seemingly everyone has an opinion about Gattis and the type of offense he'll be running, so we've rounded up everything that's been said publicly about him from the U-M coaches and players this spring.

We start with Harbaugh…

Head coach Jim Harbaugh

• “Josh will coordinate the offense and call the plays. We’re all working together and learning — he's so good at explaining his style of offense, and has been showing us how to coach it.

"I’ve been enjoying it and have been learning so much from him. The biggest difference for us will be the tempo — it will be more up-tempo and less huddling. I like it because it has an attacking feel in terms of going downfield in the passing game.

"We’ll have multiple personnel groups like we always do, but we’ll attack in multiple formations as well. Our RPOs could be a run or a pass, and I like that it'll have an attacking feel that defenses will have to be aware of. Other teams can't just figure out what your tempo is all the time.

"Josh has done a phenomenal job of coming in, looking at our personnel and what we did well with the run and pass game last year, and making it cohesive with his system. It's blended really well, and the coaches have done a great job of making that happen. The tempo is a huge change, and so is going from huddling to not huddling."

• "When Josh was coaching at Western Michigan, Bill Cubit introduced him to his son after he'd been there for a month and said, 'Son, this is Coach Josh Gattis. Talk to him and get to know him, because he's not going to be here long.’

"The players he's developed at each stop has been eye-catching — Western Michigan, Vanderbilt, Penn State and Alabama."

Offensive line coach Ed Warinner

• “The linemen have all adjusted to the new offense very well. The only difference for them is that they used to be taught to listen for things in the huddle they should look for, but now they get it from our sideline signals.

“Everybody looks at the signals from the sidelines, but we also use decoys and have other things going on as well. It’s like baseball when you have fake signals from a third base coach. It’s also a good way to run plays 10 seconds faster — we’re not trying to feature a two-minute offense or anything, but we’re also not trying to snap the ball with only three seconds left on the clock.

“It’s not like we tried to do that last year, but this just gives us a little more time. The linemen have really liked it, because it gives them more time at the line of scrimmage to think about the plays being run as they wait for the skill position guys to get lined up.

“I didn’t feel like it took too long to gets plays in last year — it just depends on whoever is spitting the calls out and getting them in. We had a wrist band system last year, which means the number would get called in and then the player had to find it on his wrist band.

“I don’t think we had many delay of game penalties because of it. Our third group is now getting more reps than ever before — our third-team linemen have gotten more reps in six practices than they got in 15 all of last year. As a result, our young redshirted guys are getting a chance to show what they can do, because all they want is a chance.”

• “This kind of offense is made for [senior quarterback] Shea Patterson’s skill set, and [redshirt sophomore quarterback Dylan] McCaffrey and [redshirt freshman quarterback Joe] Milton are learning it as well.

“There’s nothing we’re missing to be a ‘speed in space,’ spread offense. There’s nothing we need to recruit. We need to find out what Shea is best at and what the running backs are best at, and then we’ll focus on those areas — that’s what spring is for.

“I’ve ran this offense as a coordinator at two different places, so there isn’t much I haven’t seen. Gattis has also ran this at different schools, and so has [quarterbacks coach] Ben McDaniels.

“[Tight ends coach] Sherrone Moore also coached in spread offenses at CMU and Louisville, so it certainly isn’t foreign to him. The staff is working together so well in this offense.”

Former U-M All-American offensive lineman Jon Jansen

• “I’m so excited to see what this new Josh Gattis offense looks like, because there are great play makers on this team at wide receiver in [junior] Nico Collins, [junior] Donovan Peoples-Jones, [redshirt sophomore] Tarik Black and [sophomore] Ronnie Bell.

“Those guys can get open and make big plays — I call them ball hawks, because they can go up and get the ball whenever they need to, wherever it is. When you pair that with what Michigan has at tight end, it's a scary combination.

“Fans are soon going to realize that these tight ends aren’t just going to line up next to the tackles — [senior] Sean McKeon and [redshirt junior] Nick Eubanks will be split out, and getting their big bodies downfield and on linebackers in one-on-one matchups"

Senior left guard Ben Bredeson

• Gattis is bringing different ideas in. We’re excited for the changes he’s implementing, because it’ll make us a tough unit to stop.

“Things are more accelerated now. We want to be the best offensive line we can be, and want to be the most dominant line both in the Big Ten and against every team we play. Winning the battle in the trenches will give us the best chance to win games.

“We take so much pride in that aspect and strive to be consistent. We know that if we set the tone, it'll help us move the ball.

"The new offense actually isn’t drastically different for us as a group, because Coach Warinner and Coach Gattis have done a great job working together. It’s not necessarily tougher for us with the no huddle, except other than maybe from a conditioning standpoint.

“We have a team who can run this offense because of the personnel and the coaches we have — it’s a great fit for us.”

Redshirt junior tight end Nick Eubanks

• “It’s a completely different offense, and the coaches have been doing a great job of explaining it to us. It’s basically some of the old stuff we ran last year, but with more tempo. It's also different in that it's a spread and has more RPOs."

• “I believe [the tight ends' roles] have changed a lot, especially knowing what we could do last year. Gattis came in here with a whole new mindset of getting speed in space, and is pretty much lining us up everywhere. The more we each can play outside and inside, the better. He’s putting us at different positions and giving play makers the opportunity to make plays. That's the main thing he's emphasizing on offense."

Senior viper Khaleke Hudson

• “The offense has been more spread out. They’re moving fast and having fun out there, and it’s been good going against them and changing it up a bit. The receivers are really looking good — Tarik Black, Sean McKeon and Nick Eubanks."

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