What will the Michigan football offense look like with the regime change from Jim Harbaugh to Sherrone Moore?
Moore ran an offense that looked similar to what Harbaugh has tended to run beyond just his years in Ann Arbor, but the pro-spread may be getting a bit of an upgrade with Kirk Campbell being elevated from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator. Once the OC at Old Dominion, Campbell got his chance to show off an enhanced passing game filling in at the position in Week 1 of the 2023 season. But now that he’ll run the whole show on that side of the ball, he’s looking to leverage speed, explosiveness, and talent once players get the ball in their hands.
That said, Campbell is still looking to embrace the physical nature that the maize and blue have played with the past few years, but he also wants to ensure that the Wolverines strictly aren’t about running downhill.
He shared more about his philosophy with ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg:
“The blue-collar, physical offense, that’s not going to change, that’s going to be our identity, but the players are explosive,” Campbell told ESPN. “Any time those guys touch the football, that’s what their traits do. My job as a coordinator is to get them the football, because they’ll take care of that explosiveness. They’re playmakers.”
That’s not excluded to the skill position players.
Famously, the maize and blue have a quarterback competition this offseason, and though there are multiple candidates to take over the starting role, there’s not an obvious heir apparent to J.J. McCarthy. Alex Orji is the odds-on favorite, but even if he doesn’t win the job outright, given his skillset, Campbell insists he’ll see ample playing time even if Jack Tuttle, Davis Warren, Jayden Denegal, or Jadyn Davis win the position battle.
But still, Campbell is excited about the talent on the roster and is playing wait-and-see when it comes to Orji with the starting role.
“There’s multiple power [conference] starters on our roster,” he said. “Which one’s the best, I need to find that out. Those guys make it harder for me because we’ve got really good players. Alex has just got to take it.”
Michigan has little time to figure out the offense and the QB position as it opens the season the night of Aug. 31 before hosting Texas at noon on Sept. 7.