Michigan Wolverines Football: Jim Harbaugh News And Views, Oct. 8
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh is preparing his team for the meat of the schedule, with Saturday kicking off a three-game stretch versus Wisconsin, at Michigan State and then home against Penn State following a bye week.
He talked Monday about the Badgers, some of his players and more, and we tackle his comments in News and Views format:
NEWS: Wisconsin, the nation’s No. 10 team according to the coaches, comes to Michigan Saturday night. The Wolverines have lost three of the last four to the Badgers, and four of the last six.
HARBAUGH: “Both sides of the ball, they’re really good on both lines … they’re a physical team. We’re going through that right now … right now it looks very difficult.”
VIEWS: U-M has to control the Badgers’ running game to prevent the Badgers from shortening the game and staying in control. Running back Jonathan Taylor is a beast with 849 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground through five games.
But they’ve also got to be wary of quarterback Alex Hornibrook. He’s a pocket guy and not a world beater, having thrown for 963 yards and seven touchdowns this year, but he’s capable and has played a lot of games. His come-from-behind win at Iowa was impressive.
“He’s got really good stature in the pocket. He can get hot,” Harbaugh said. “He throws those intermediate dig routes at times as well as anybody can.
“He’s a very experienced guy, has played a lot of big games. He’s a really good quarterback.”
The Michigan defense needs to get to him Saturday and make him uncomfortable. There’s no question, though, that they’re excited about the meat of the schedule, Harbaugh said.
NEWS: Big Ten teams brought out trick plays like crazy Saturday. Michigan State, struggling offensively, has gone to that well a lot this season.
HARBAUGH: “Offensively and defensively, just schematically you prepare for things even though you haven’t seen them. You go back years, 2015, '16, maybe you see a coach ran this in 2014 when he might have been at a different school. You’re always on the alert for what could happen.”
VIEWS: MSU’s Mark Dantonio called one against Northwestern Saturday that he was stunned didn’t work. He praised one of the Wildcats’ defenders for staying with it, noting it definitely should have worked.
So how many of those do you think they’ll have dialed up for Michigan in two weeks? The answer … quite a few, and at least one or two usually seem to work. U-M needs to be well prepared and focused.
“Schematically, defensively you want to be gap sound … if you recklessly do things, you’re vulnerable to a trick play,” Harbaugh said. “They still happen because of an eye distraction or a play that’s so good … these are the kinds of things that keep you up at night.”
NEWS: Redshirt junior tight end Zach Gentry had a career day Saturday with 112 receiving yards.
HARBAUGH: “He’s progressing really well to have everything you want from a tight end. He can block, catch, gain separation, make the tough catch, has a big catch radius. In-line blocking, in-space blocking … he’s got that speed you like to see, is an athlete.”
VIEWS: And as we wrote in Saturday’s Notes and Quotes in the postgame, he’s still got plenty of room for improvement. He still needs to win the 50-50 balls and learn how to move without the ball, follow his blockers at times.
“Probably the next thing for him to be one of the best tight ends would be his yards after catch,” Harbaugh said. “Get the ball and create yards after catching the ball. I think that will come.”
He left a potential touchdown on the field by failing to follow blockers on a screen Saturday. He’ll get better.
“Everything he has done as a player has improved, developed,” Harbaugh said. “That will be the next thing he’s grown and gotten proficient at.”
NEWS: Michigan all but eliminated Maryland’s offense for three quarters last game, and it was due in large part to communication.
HARBAUGH: “I like everything about [junior linebacker] Devin Bush. The thing I like best in the pass game is just how well he did getting everybody lined up on defense. [Junior safety] Josh Metellus, too, with the pass game in particular was just terrific.”
VIEWS: There are so many shifts, motions and eye distortions going on with the Terps’ running game that it takes great pre-snap discipline to succeed on defense. They had it Saturday, as they have much of the year.
“Devin and Josh really did a fantastic job in that game,” Harbaugh said.
Though fans like to remember the negatives with Metellus, he has been really, really solid much of the year.
NEWS: Fifth-year senior defensive end Chase Winovich has been up there with Bush as U-M’s best defensive player this year. He’s hoping the Badgers test him Saturday, after Maryland decided to mostly run away from him.
HARBAUGH: “Chase has been an animal this season. I don’t really like to use human-to-animal analogies, but he’s been great, just doing so many things. He’s a catalyst … plays every play all out. Bo [Schembechler] used to have a saying, every man on every play. Chase is living that.”
VIEWS: That’s why Schembechler’s sometimes under-manned teams won, and there’s still another gear a few guys can reach.
Winovich isn’t one of them. He gets a lot of it from his father, Pete, who wears a long-haired wig to games to honor his son … Harbaugh said he saw it and it was the least surprising thing he’d seen that day.
“He’s the same guy he was in high school when he played linebacker and quarterback,” Harbaugh said. “He has a beautiful family, all outgoing , gregarious. The branch doesn't fall too far from the tree from Pete to Chase.”
He’s on track for a long NFL career, even breaking onto ESPN expert Mel Kiper Jr.’s big board of the top 25 available players for the 2019 NFL Draft, checking in at No. 24.
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