Wide receivers and running backs
Michigan does have a ton of playmakers returning, despite having also lost quite a few.
The most prominent are returning wideouts Nico Collins and Ronnie Bell — the duo who led all Wolverines receivers in 2019.
Collins returns a senior and Bell a junior. Gattis feels they’ll have a giant impact on what the offense is capable of, not just with their playmaking ability, but also in leading the other players around them.
“I think both of those guys are really gonna step up from a leadership standpoint,” Gattis said. “I think one of the things you saw towards the end of the season, we played, I would argue, two of the top four teams in the country the last two games. We played them competitively for 90 minutes out of 120 and you really need full games.
“The things that stood out in those two games was the skill. And that’s an area we have to develop. Games are gonna be won by our skill players, and they understand that and they know the challenge. No offense, the days of just depending on the line – which, we developed there. We were much better by the end of the year than we were at the beginning of the season. But you need skill to take over games. And you need that from your quarterbacks, you need that from your running backs, you need that from your receivers. And that was an area at the end of the year where we just didn’t capitalize and make the plays that needed necessary to be able to win those two games.
“When you look at the receiver position, there was some big time opportunities that we missed in those last two games that could have been difference makers in the games. It’s gonna be refreshing this spring. Just to be able to get Nico Collins out there for a full spring. He’s a guy – when you look at our skill players, everyone except for Ronnie Bell didn’t even participate in spring ball last year. Nico Collins was out all spring. Donovan Peoples-Jones was out. Our running backs, all of our running backs playing at the end of the year, they didn’t even participate in spring ball. That’s exciting now to get those guys out here for all the valuable time that they were missing. And it’s not just affecting them – it affects the quarterbacks. The quarterbacks get rhythm and confidence in those guys, well if they’re not out there in spring ball practicing, how are they gonna be able to develop that confidence?”
But it’s not just Collins and Bell who will make the difference.
There’s a ton of young wideouts who started to come on late, like Giles Jackson, Mike Sainristil and Cornelius Johnson. Gattis anticipates all will take a step forward, which could make the offense better than it was a year ago.
“For receivers, obviously we’re a little thin as far as scholarship-wise,” Gattis said. “But the leadership of Ronnie Bell and Nico is something we’re going lean on heavily. And, as the year went on, you saw the emergence of Giles Jackson, Mikey Sainristil, Cornelius Johnson. We’ll be a much better skill unit even though we’re younger. We just gotta be able to capitalize and make the plays we’ve gotta make.”
Gattis delved deeper, looking more specifically at Jackson and Sainristil.
The duo were 7th and 8th in receptions on the team in 2019, with Sainristil reeling in 8 catches for 145 yards and a touchdown and Jackson pulling in 9 for 142 yards and a touchdown.
Gattis shared how he’s looking at them moving forward, and why they could have a special sophomore season compared their first year with the program.
“We’re really excited about those guys,” Gattis said. “You look where we were at at the beginning of the year, and it was a little bit of a slower process for Giles learning the offense. And he was a guy – I won’t lie, earlier in the year, I didn’t know what kind of impact he was gonna make. I was actually a little disappointed in his development at that point. But by the end of the year, I was sitting there saying, ‘How many ways can I create opportunities to get him the ball?’ Because he’s so dynamic. If I have one regret, it’s probably not getting those guys a little more involved earlier in the season, Mikey and Giles. They have a skill set to be able to create separation. They also have a skill set of being dynamic with the ball in their hands.
“That’s one of the challenges when you have so many receivers is: how do you develop them all? How do you get them all the right amount of opportunities that they need to be successful? But also, how do you bring the young guys along? Probably brought them along a little bit slower than I wanted to, now looking back on the season. But those guys are gonna be big-time contributors to what we want to do offensively. The threat that they present, when you look out there on the field, you gotta have somebody out there that scares the defense. Makes defensive coordinators think, ‘Okay, where’s this guy aligned?’ How he’s gonna touch the ball, what’s the game plan? And as the year went on, you saw those guys really make a difference in opposing defense’s thoughts.”
He continued, noting the duo’s versatility as being a factor in their utilization.
As Gattis recalls, they’re both really, really young. So as they mature, they could be that much better.
“One of the biggest challenges is just making sure you don’t put too much on their plate,” Gattis said. “I think what you saw this year, the multiple alignments for Mikey and Giles. You saw us line them up wide receiver. You saw them line up in the slot. You saw them line up in the backfield. So we’re asking those guys to do multiple different things that have multiple characteristics for what you want out of that position – even handing the ball off to those guys.
“Once I felt comfortable that they could really maintain – their main position is playing receiver, but the more they can learn the offense and the more they can show they’re understanding what you’re asking for them to do at first, then you can put more on their plate. And just trying to not overwhelm those guys with too much too fast so they don’t get a chance to perfect their craft and what they’re supposed to do. They did a really good job preparing all-year long. And as you saw at the end of the year, once they learned everything, the game became easy. That really allowed them to really make some plays, and they both made some big time plays. And they’re only gonna grow from that confidence from year one. Because it’s not easy to play as true freshmen. A lot of people think at first you’re gonna come in, you’re gonna provide immediate playing time, or immediate game-changing plays. But playing college football is hard. And you’re talking about two young men who are 18. Giles turned 18 during the season. They’re young. They’re young. They’re exciting and they’re young. And they’re only gonna get better. They sky’s the limit for them both. They just gotta continue to focus in on the details and that’s something they really take pride in them doing.”
But there’s also the running backs, which is an equally loaded position group.
Gattis didn’t spend nearly as much time discussing them, but he did note jsut how many players return that can make a significant contribution this year.
“We feel like we have great depth at running back that will be able to make sure our guys are competing at a high level now,” Gattis said. “We’ve got some guys back that have played. We’re adding some new pieces that have played here before in Chris Evans. So we should have some competition brewing there.”