Pulling in an offensive coordinator from Alabama doesn’t guarantee instant success, regardless of how the Tide rolls year after year.
Just ask Brady Hoke.
Considerable excitement rippled through Michigan football optimists in anticipation of the 2014 football season, despite a 7-6 campaign in 2013. After all, Hoke — whose head coaching run in Ann Arbor appeared on the downside — had gone out and grabbed ‘Bama OC Doug Nussmeier.
That triggered delusions of grandeur around The Big House. In a few short months, Ann Arbor would surely feel like Tuscaloosa, plus some IQ points and minus the recruiting scandals.
Problem was, Michigan’s lineup wasn’t ready for prime time in the SEC or the Big Ten. The Wolverines averaged 20.9 points per game in 2014, threw it to the other team 18 times, went 5-7 and said goodbye to the head football coach.
Meanwhile, ‘Bama rolled on at 12-2 and SEC champs.
So there’s the disclaimer. Obviously, nobody sees anything close to a repeat coming. Certainly not former Michigan captain and All-American Jon Jansen, who watched Alabama roll up 7,830 yards of total offense last season, 4,854 through the air, on the way to the national championship game.
Does all that automatically shift to Michigan Stadium, through the play-calling of transplant OC Josh Gattis? Certainly not.
At the same time, Michigan football 2019 appears as far from Michigan football 2014 as Tom Brady from Tommy Chong. The Wolverines have won 10 games in three of Jim Harbaugh’s four seasons at the helm.
Despite disappointments against Ohio State, Harbaugh has the Wolverines in position for a breakthrough. Jansen is convinced Gattis and what he could bring from his most recent coaching stop will help.
“When you look at the offense Alabama ran last year, one of the things I always look at is how do they give guys advantages,” Jansen said. “When you watch their motions, their personnel groups, the way they get the offensive line to have an advantage in blocking the run game, the angles, so they’re not asking a guard to reach a wide three technique … you’re blocking down, or you get into a different play.
“I thought they did a great job of putting their guys into position to always have the angle, always have the advantage. That works whether you’re an offensive lineman, a tight end, a slot receiver, wide receiver, running back.”
Michigan features a veteran quarterback with experience in a pro spread in senior Shea Patterson. It will trot out a veteran offensive line with several All-Big Ten performers. Given a summer of healing and prep, it should also feature one of the most potentially explosive wideout trios in the nation, in juniors Donovan Peoples-Jones and Nico Collins with redshirt sophomore Tarik Black.
“When you have plays you can go to the line of scrimmage with, and your quarterback is comfortable enough to say, okay, this this the look we’re given, this is the play we’re going to run, you can get those guys at any time,” Jansen insisted. “And it’s not always going to be the same guy.
“If they try to take away Donovan Peoples-Jones, or Nico Collins, or [redshirt junior tight end] Nick Eubanks or [senior tight end] Sean McKeon, we have other guys we can go to. They’re going to have an advantage on that play.”
Alabama featured no fewer than seven players with 20 or more catches last season. The Tide swept in with five performers at 693 or more receiving yards, led by Jerry Jeudy’s 1,315.
Those numbers alone should infuse alacrity into the healing process of the recovering, while giving plenty of hope to younger wideouts such as sophomore Ronnie Bell, freshman Mike Sainristil and redshirt sophomore Oliver Martin.
“When you watch how they executed the offense down in Alabama, that’s what they were able to do,” Jansen said. “It wasn’t one receiver catching all the balls, or they were trying to force it to one guy. They allowed the offense to run itself and take advantage of what the defense was allowing them to do.”
Gattis’ offense, the former All-American insisted, should enjoy every advantage in the world. Those on the ball-snapping side know the play, where the ball is going, the snap count, etc.
“When you know all that, and you’ve got a veteran quarterback, veteran receivers, veteran offensive linemen, veteran tight ends, you can do a lot more stuff to take advantage of what the defense is giving you,” Jansen said.
Obviously, ‘Bama transfusions aren’t foolproof. But this isn’t 2014, and Harbaugh isn’t going anywhere.
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