ANN ARBOR, Mich. — There’s really no debate — last year, Michigan football had the best special teams unit in the country.
The oft-forgotten phase of the three phases of the game, head coach Jim Harbaugh often says that in order to win any game, you have to beat the team in two phases. And last year, Michigan often won all three.
This season, the Wolverines will be retooling the defense while it figures out who will be their starting quarterback. But the special teams unit is one you can always count on. That comes, in large part, due to special teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh’s emphasis on outplaying the opponent. Which means out-scheming them. Which means spending more time than other programs working on that element of the game.
“Well, I can’t speak for especially into any other school, but just from what I’ve seen, and what I’ve experienced, Coach Jay (Harbaugh), and the analysts, J.B. Brown and Bradford Banta, they do an amazing job,” special teams stalwart Caden Kolesar said. “Like it’s, it’s crazy. We come in on a Monday or Tuesday of game week, and everything’s just laid out for us. And it’s like — it’s really complex things but they make it simple. So like everybody can understand it. The schemes and then they also just put an emphasis on it.
“And head coach (Jim) Harbaugh, he also puts an emphasis on it, and that really helps us to be able to spend more time on it. We probably spend more time in special teams meetings than any other program in the country, would be my guess. And in practice, too, so I mean — it’s a third of the game so I think it’s only right that you do.”
“Yeah, I would say nobody focuses on special teams more than we do,” fifth-year kicker and Lou Groza Award-winner Jake Moody said. “Obviously, it’s very important. Games can be decided by special teams, whether you know it or not, whether it’s like a game-winning field goal or a punt getting down at the five rather than being a touchback. So, we don’t really get into the specifics, obviously, talking to other teams and what they do. You can just kind of see it on the field. The results that we have every year. We’re focusing on special teams more than anybody else.”
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If Michigan is outworking other programs on special teams, do they notice? Have the players noticed that when they see a team on the field, they’re aware of it?
It turns out, yes. Moody says that what they see in games often differs from what they’ve seen from those teams on tape — certainly a level of respect for Michigan’s prowess in that area, he says.
“I have a buddy that we’re playing against this season, and he’s a punter. I won’t name any names but yeah — he’s already calling me and, ‘Are you guys rushing me?’ like he’s worried that we’re gonna take his leg off on a punt block,” Moody said. “Other teams obviously notice it, they always have to bring their A-game against us, special teams-wise. So, you can obviously tell that they’re throwing curveballs — they’re doing different stuff than they normally do. I guess that’s kind of a pat on the back to us and just shows that they have to play that much better and do some kind of trickery to try and keep up with us.”
Kolesar praises Jay Harbaugh for his devotion to the forgotten art of special teams. He shares how difficult concepts are made simple through Harbaugh’s tutelage, such as using slideshows of celebrities being ‘in-phase’ or ‘out-of-phase’ when they’re walking with each other. These types of presentations simplify schematic concepts that otherwise may be too difficult for players to understand.
And Kolesar is betting most laymen wouldn’t get it, as it were.
“There’s so many different techniques and it can get so intricate that a normal fan would have no idea how intricate you can get and like the different types of techniques that are out in punt return,” Kolesar said. “And he also helps relate it to us.”
We’ll know more about whether or not the Michigan football special teams unit remains, well, special, in the coming days. The Wolverines open up their season on Saturday when they host Colorado State at noon EDT.
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