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There will be a lot of moving parts, new and old, when it comes to the Wolverines offense, but if one thing’s for certain, despite having to replace seven starters from a year ago, Michigan should be taking a step forward on that side of the ball.
The reason why is because of offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, who enters his second year with the program.
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We saw the offense take off as the season went along, but like with anything in college football, experience is key. But that’s not limited to on-field experience. Just as important is having familiarity with a playbook and system, something Michigan’s starting quarterbacks have had all of once in the Jim Harbaugh era — in 2016, when Wilton Speight had a second year with Tim Drevno and Jedd Fisch.
But, simultaneously, there are a lot of second-year players who are more ready now to step into the limelight. Players like Giles Jackson, Mike Sainristil, Erick All. That showed flashes of capability, but took some time to get their feet underneath.
Speaking to Jon Jansen on the In the Trenches podcast, Gattis was asked about the difference between his first and second year. He had to install a new offense in 2019, so this year can be about getting the players to reach their maximum potential.
“Across the board, I think this is gonna be about player development,” Gattis said. “Just developing our players that are on our roster. Because that’s an area of growth in the spring, that you’re able to really focus in on the fundamentals, the details, the technique – and not necessarily the plays. Just trying to get them to be the best they can be individually at their craft, and that’s across the board. That’s a tremendous challenge for us as an offensive staff – we gotta develop our players better. And once we get them into that level, we can put them next into that position to be successful.
“This spring’s gonna be about development individually, making sure that everybody’s equipped and ready to win their one-on-one battles when the time comes.”
“There’s a lot that goes into it, a more than you actually think as far as managing players, managing coaches, managing your staff,” Gattis said. “I think that’s a big piece of being a coordinator. But also, like with what we talked about throughout the year, being able to handle adversity. Whether that’s rallying the troops and handling adversity among players or within games. Just being a voice of confidence and a voice of reason that when the kids need someone to fall back on they can look towards as far as leadership.
“I think we had a season that was full of everything you could imagine! Highs, lows, mixed emotions there. But the thing that you saw with our kids is they never got too down, never got too high. The thing that we’ve gotta maintain and the thing we’ve gotta preach this offseason this spring is consistency. Because there were times that we played at extreme high levels and there was times that we hurt ourselves rather than other teams hurting us. If we can carry that consistency and add to that to build confidence, that’s gonna lead to a growing group.”
Part of having a successful offense isn’t just personnel — it’s confidence.
Confidence in the system, confidence in knowing your assignment, having the ability to execute it.
That’s also a large part of what Gattis is instilling and why he feels like the offense can take a major step forward in 2020.
He explained what went wrong to some degree a year ago, and why a lot of those issues could or should be mitigated this time around.
“Just carry that mentality,” Gattis said. “I felt like we had that mentality in the spring, I felt like we had that mentality last fall camp. But then as soon as adversity hit early in the season and we started fumbling the ball, we kinda tucked our tails and hid in our own shadows. We can’t be fazed with adversity. We have to be able to go out and play confident because of our preparation and our practice and really perform.
“And then, what we really saw towards the end of the year, the other thing to playing confident is, just understand just do your job. We don’t need any extraordinary plays or players. We just need everybody to do what they’re asked each play and no one has to try to make a play out the framework of the offense. Trust the details that are laid into them, but also trusting in each other. A big part of trusting in each other is holding each other accountable and I think that’s gonna be the biggest area of growth for us from year one to year two, but this team’s completely different.
“Year Two team is going to be completely different. We’re possibly gonna have five returning starters. Got a lot of guys that are gonna have to step up and provide us with some leadership and guys that are gonna have to step up and provide us with some depth.”