Reading The Tea Leaves From Michigan's Camp
We have had three practices that we’ve been able to attend for Notre Dame’s camp. Even with three full practices, it’s difficult to glean too much from what we’ve seen. The coaching staff has not shown much in regards to scheme or unique ways that they may choose to use their personnel.
That’s the smart move. Brian Kelly doesn’t need to be giving anything away to Michigan leading up to this game because Jim Harbaugh isn’t giving anything away to Notre Dame.
Harbaugh has had closed practices their entire camp. The media hasn’t seen a single thing that Michigan didn’t choose to release on their own. They don’t have practice reports detailing specific drills. They have been granted some interviews with veteran players and one appearance by Jim Harbaugh. That pretty much sums it up.
With that in mind, it’s tough to know how things are progressing in camp for them less than three weeks away from their showdown with Notre Dame. All we can do is read the tea leaves and interpret what that means for their team.
This is my best shot at doing so. We know the defense is deep, talented, and one of the toughest the Irish will face this season. There are more unknowns about the offense and that’s where we know the least.
Is the Quarterback Battle Decided Yet?
I’m not really sure why they are playing coy with this. I know who the starting quarterback will be. You know will the starting quarterback will be. Everyone knows who their quarterback will be.
It’s going to be Ole Miss transfer Shea Patterson.
They might be telling their players to not reveal anything, but it’s definitely Patterson. This non-answer answer from running back Chris Evans was hilarious, but it’s just a way of not showing their hand when we know they have an ace up their sleeve.
What Could Patterson Starting Mean For Their Scheme?
In case there was any doubt that Patterson would be the starter, this piece of information sealed it.
21 personnel is two backs and one tight end. That’s been pretty much the standard Harbaugh base personnel at Michigan and Stanford. But Patterson is a spread quarterback. So more 11 (one back, one tight end) makes a lot more sense with them spreading things out more.
The buzz about them running more shotgun and installing more RPOs in the spring, something Patterson ran frequently at Ole Miss, only adds fuel to what Evans mentioned. This is going to be Patterson at wheel of this offense. Harbaugh is going to adapt to Patterson.
This is something Clark Lea and the Notre Dame defensive coaching staff is going to have to be ready for. A good amount of what they saw from Michigan last season on film is not what they will likely see on September 1st.
Harbaugh has the reputation of being an old school two-back or multiple tight end coach who is married to playing hard nosed football. The hard nosed part is accurate, but his time with the 49ers showed he is open to adapting to what makes his quarterback comfortable. When Harbaugh leaned on the athleticism of a young Colin Kaepernick to help lead the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl in 2013, he did so by implementing wrinkles in the offense that other teams weren’t used to seeing when Alex Smith was playing quarterback.
As NFL.com’s Bucky Brooks mentioned in this article prior their Super Bowl against the Baltimore Ravens, the Niners went from employing the Pistol formation just 70 of 969 plays (7.2%) during the regular season to working out of that formation 49.2% of the time during the playoffs that season.
The Pistol is something Kaepernick ran in college at Nevada and he had great success. Harbaugh smartly took advantage of that. I think the Notre Dame staff should be looking at Ole Miss tape in addition to what Harbaugh did with a mobile quarterback in San Francisco.
The defense needs to be ready for some of that to show up against Michigan with Patterson running the offense.
More Receivers to Worry About
It’s a good thing Notre Dame’s corners have looked as good as they have during camp because Michigan will test them with sophomores Tarik Black and Donovan Peoples-Jones on the outside. With more three receiver sets out of 11 personnel, they need to think about whoever that next guy might be too.
It could be former Notre Dame recruiting target Oliver Martin, who has the skills to be a tough cover out of the slot. Grant Perry (25 catches last season) could be another alternative. The one that stands out to me is former blue-chip prospect Nico Collins.
He had his redshirt burned last season even though the plan was for him to sit out. He only appeared in a couple of games and there was no four-game redshirt rule at the time. He’s been mentioned as someone who is making a leap as a sophomore during this camp.
The Irish corners have had plenty of practice going against 6’5” receivers in practice every day. They might have to deal with another one in Collins.
Offensive Tackle is Undecided
The Wolverines’ struggles up front last season were well documented and one of the ways they are attempting to remedy that is with Ed Warriner as the offensive line coach and the hiring of a new strength and conditioning coach. It’s not surprising that the reports about the offensive line have been positive so far.
How accurate is that? I have no idea.
They have a tough test going up against Michigan’s front seven every day and it sure sounds like they are getting after it to work on things like a Harbaugh team would.
Running the ball is something that they will probably do pretty well, but there still remains a question about the players protecting the edges for Michigan. It sounds like three man battle at the two tackle spots right now.
That would be 4th year junior Jon Runyan Jr., 5th year senior Juwan Bushell-Beatty, and redshirt freshman James Hudson.
The fourth entering into the mix would be true freshman Jalen Mayfield. He’s a talented athlete that should be a very good left tackle eventually, but starting him at Notre Dame as a true freshman does not seem like something they would prefer to do. Grant Newsome, a starter back in 2016 that had a horrific knee injury that has kept him out since, has not been mentioned.
Runyan Jr. split right tackle with Bushell-Beatty last season and neither played particularly well. Now both could be the starting tackles for Michigan against Notre Dame.
Hudson seems to be the most intriguing option. The converted defensive lineman received praise from starting left guard Ben Bredeson for improving so much since the spring.
If Michigan does want to sling it around a bit more than they have with Patterson at quarterback, they need to get their tackle situation settled. With only 18 days until they face Notre Dame, the defensive ends for the Irish look like they could have a very favorable matchup against the Wolverines.