Much of the negative attention Michigan football has gotten through the first six weeks of the season has centered around the quarterback position. But perhaps that position would be a little further ahead if the Wolverines had receivers who were stepping up to make the quarterbacks look good.
Thus far, through six games, the Wolverines have the 38th-best rushing offense but the No. 130 passing offense — completely one-sided. And on the ‘Inside Michigan Football’ radio show, head coach Sherrone Moore said that the bye week this week will be spent in large part working on becoming a bit more balanced.
“I wanna see us be complementary run and pass. I want the plays to look the same,” Moore said. “I wanna be fundamentally sound. I want the O-line to play fast and faster and keep playing faster and strain, but then the route detail and everything we do on offense, I want that to be pristine and a lot better than it has been.”
After starting Davis Warren the first three weeks and Alex Orji the past three weeks, Moore looks as if he’ll be starting Jack Tuttle, at least against Illinois in two weeks. And though Tuttle, now healthy, looked to be a competent passer, it’s not like he’s had a lot of help out there.
Through six games, the leading pass catcher is tight end Colston Loveland, who has 29 catches for 261 yards in five game appearances. The next closest nominal wide receiver? Semaj Morgan, who has also appeared in five games but has 13 catches for 78 yards.
Against Washington, we saw Tyler Morris get a big catch, but also Amorion Walker, who had a crucial third-down catch for 22 yards.
Moore says that there’s a lot he’s looking for when it comes to the wide receiver position and shares what he’d like to see coming out of the bye week.
“I need to see a lot of deep route detail,” Moore said. “The urgency’s been there. You can see it in the run game and what they do when they don’t have the ball, but we really gotta get better in the route detail, and putting guys in the position to be successful. Amorion Walker is a guy that had a big catch on third down, and it was probably one of the better third-down conversions we’ve had all year. It was third-and-long, so for him to get in that game and have that confidence was huge, and he’s the guy that really needs to step up.”
Michigan will have this week and next to prepare for a ranked Illinois team, which it will face in Week 8 in the second road game of the season.