Donovan Peoples-Jones – Page 20

Nico Collins explosion showcases Michigan’s multiple weapons in the passing game

Michigan football has figured out the offense the past few weeks, and with today’s performance, their depth at wide receiver is deep.

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All the off-season chatter of how explosive the wide receivers would be this season can finally be seen by everyone. The offense was struggling for the first five games of the season when it came to passing the football. Michigan was 4-1 with a close win against Army and got their only loss to Wisconsin. Michigan was coming off their 10-3 win over Iowa and head coach Jim Harbaugh had an interesting comment on the offensive performance in the close win against Iowa.

He said the offense was “hitting its stride.”

Hitting its stride after just putting up 10 measly points against Iowa? In a game where your defense won you the battle? Nobody believed what Harbaugh was saying. Now Harbaugh is laughing at everyone for doubting him.

Michigan would beat Illinois 42-25 in a close game, but the offense saw some explosive play and a pulse in the offense. Next week against Penn State, Michigan did lose 28-21, but the second half of that game has been the starting point of something special as Michigan has been dominant on the offensive side of the football.

Since the comment made by Harbaugh, Michigan has drastically reduced the number of turnovers they have had, with only five total in seven games. Turnovers were a major talking point early on in the season, but since then they have cleaned up their act.

Not only have the turnovers have gotten better, but the offense is putting up yards and they now average 439.5 yards and 38 points per game. How does that happen? Get your wide receivers involved and showcase the offense you hyped up all offseason long.

Today against Indiana, Michigan kept putting their foot on the gas and today’s star receiver was Nico Collins, who finished with six catches for 165 yards and three touchdowns. Last week it was wide receiver Ronnie Bell who blew up for over 100 yards. Wide receiver Giles Jackson has been getting more involved in the offense too, getting a catch for 50 yards today.

You can’t forget about the other stud wide receivers, Donovan Peoples-Jones had a phenomenal snag for a touchdown today, finishing with five catches for 73 yards and the lone score. Tarik Black had three catches for 30 yards and freshman Mike Sainristil had a beauty of a catch for 35 yards.

Michigan has weapons in the passing game and the depth behind the starting three wide receivers is deep. The youngsters have gotten involved in the offense this season and giving quarterback Shea Patterson just more options to throw to when on the field. With these receivers constantly getting some big games, it’s hard for Patterson to share the ball fairly between everyone.

Patterson has seen an increase in his play and part of that is because of the play by these wide receivers. They are creating separation and making big catches when needed. Earlier this season you couldn’t see much separation between them and the defenders. Now they are making the moves to get open, and catching the 50/50 balls and coming down with the grab.

This offense was led behind Patterson once again today and Collins just happened to be the lucky winner by constantly getting open and making plays when needed. All of the hype about “speed in space” from offensive coordinator Josh Gattis is finally showing. It’s here and dealing with some damage to its opponents. Now that Michigan has hit their stride on offense, can it continue into next week?

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Halftime Analysis of No. 13 Michigan vs Indiana

Michigan football is up 21-14 against Indiana today at halftime. How are the Wolverines playing as they hold the seven-point lead?

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After their big 44-10 win over Michigan State last week, Michigan had to travel to Indiana to take on the Hoosiers as they look to try and avoid the trap as Ohio State is looming in the background.

The trap started out as one as Indiana drove down the field against the Wolverines and scored off a one-yard touchdown run by running back Stevie Scott. Quarterback Peyton Ramsey was 4/5 for 39 yards and had 13 rushing yards on the drive as he was confident attacking the Wolverines defense.

Michigan wouldn’t be phased by the early score from Indiana, as quarterback Shea Patterson was perfect on the drive, going 7/7 for 79 yards and a six-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Ronnie Bell, his first this season after he’s been struggling to get in the end zone.

Indiana would struggle on their next drive as Ramsey got hit as he threw and safety Daxton Hill, who is starting for the first time this season, intercepted the ball. Michigan wouldn’t move much on their drive and would end up punting the football.

After the interception, Indiana would have another solid drive that went 52 yards on seven plays as Ramsey got into the endzone on a one-yard quarterback sneak to give Indiana the lead once again.

Michigan didn’t let them enjoy the lead for long as once again Patterson helps drive the team down the field. Running back Zach Charbonnet got his first carry for 22 yards to open the field, but Patterson overthrew on two easy touchdown passes. He would want the tough touchdown as he threw a beautiful 11-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones who made a wonderful catch as well. Michigan ties it up at 14.

After three straight punts, two by Indiana and one by Michigan, the Wolverines would break the punt spell as Patterson just threw up an 18-yard pass to wide receiver Nico Collins that would be caught for a touchdown as Collins just used his size to dominate the defender and give Michigan the 21-14 lead, their first of the day.

POSITIVES:

Michigan’s passing game is working well once again. Patterson is 13/18 for 176 yards and three touchdowns. Earlier in the year, we saw a more run-first approach for the Wolverines offense as they seemed to adjust to their old playstyle. Now the offense seems to have switched to a pass-first approach as Patterson is playing his best football this season.
The wide receivers for Michigan are getting open against the Indiana secondary. On two of the incomplete passes by Patterson, he overthrew two wide-open receivers for touchdowns. The Indiana secondary is having trouble covering the multiple weapons from Michigan as they don’t know what else they can do.

NEGATIVES:

Michigan has five penalties so far today for 44 yards. While the yards aren’t much, they have hurt themselves on defense with two penalties in the secondary. On offense, a false start and an intentional grounding forced Michigan to punt on their second possession. Special teams even got a penalty as tight end Erik All was taunting. Just mistakes everywhere by the team that is only helping Indiana stay in this game.
Michigan hasn’t had much success when running the football so far, as the team has 16 carries for 56 yards. The longest run as been by Charbonnet who got off a 22-yard run. Besides that big gain, it’s been tough getting yards on the ground for the Wolverines.
Punter Will Hart is having his worst game of the season so far today. He has three punts for just 94 yards with his longest being 39 yards. The poor punts gave Indiana some good field position when they came back onto the field on two of the three punts. His third punt was his best so far today, so maybe he has figured out his issues.

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Michigan’s native-sons ball out against rival Spartans

On Saturday against the Spartans, Michigan got its best performances of the day from the players native to the state.

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The ‘Battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy’ may not have the historical significance of ‘The Game’ at the end of November, but Michigan’s in-state rivalry provides something the matchup with Ohio State does not.

On Saturday, the Wolverines fielded 44 players native to the state of Michigan, while the Spartans fielded an additional 48. Many of these players have competed with or against one another throughout their years playing football.

Saturday in Ann Arbor, the Michigan natives sporting maize and blue out-performed their brothers donning green and white, and many of the biggest plays of the game came from those Wolverines who grew up watching and living this rivalry.

It started with Michigan State’s first possession. After forcing a punt, the Spartans crossed midfield and faced a third-and-3 from the Wolverines’ 38-yard line. Michigan’s Michael Danna, from Detroit, sacked Spartan quarterback Brian Lewerke, ending the scoring threat.

Danna would finish the game with six tackles, including the sack and tackle for loss.

Michigan carried a 17-7 lead into halftime, but with the Spartans receiving the second-half kick, the outcome was still very much in doubt. That began to turn when Detroit-native Ambry Thomas picked off Lewerke to set the Wolverines up with great field position.

Michigan capitalized four plays later when Donovan Peoples-Jones – another Detroit native – scored from 18 yards out to extend the lead to 24-7.

“He’s got the ability to elude and also out-run people,” said head coach Jim Harbaugh. “Good to see him getting the ball and making those type of plays, and finishing in the endzone.”

Thomas would finish with six tackles and a tackle for loss to go along with his interception. Peoples-Jones had four catches for 48 yards.

Asked what it was like seeing players from Detroit making plays in this game, Peoples-Jones smiled.

“It means a lot. I can’t even describe it in words,” he said. “It’s a big game, big-time opportunities out there and we came out and…didn’t make the most out of our opportunities but made plays when they needed to be made.”

Later in the third quarter – after Michigan State closed to within 14 points – Wolverine kicker Quinn Nordin, from Rockford, connected on a 49-yard field goal attempt to extend Michigan’s lead back to three possessions, 27-10.

“I’ve got to give a lot of credit to Quinn,” Harbaugh said. “He comes in, hits a 49-yarder from the right hash. He told me when I was recruiting him that someday he was going to kick a 49-yarder from the right hash to beat Michigan State. So, that was kind of a cool moment. After he kicked that one, I walked out there and reminded him of that. It was a big kick at that point in the game.”

The Detroit natives weren’t done, and next it was Lavert Hill’s turn. He intercepted Lewerke early in the fourth quarter, setting up a drive that would end with Nordin connecting on his third field goal of the game to make it 37-10.

“That was a big moment for us,” said defensive captain Khaleke Hudson. “Just being able to get the ball back for our offense and give us a chance to put even more points on the board.”

In addition to the interception, Hill broke up another pass attempt and made a tackle.

“It was great,” Josh Metellus said. “Ambry got the pick first, and he’s from Detroit and the Michigan [State] rivalry is really big to him. It’s also big to Vert, and when Vert got his pick, you could just feel the intensity. You could feel it through him, and the vibe that he had just went throughout the whole stadium. From the field, to the fans, to the top row – whatever you want to call it. You could just that this team knew what we did today.”

Rivalry games are the lifeblood of college football. Wins in these games can breathe life into a program, while simultaneously sucking it out of the program on the other side.

On Saturday, in Ann Arbor, the Wolverines who grew up calling this state home led the way against their hated rivals from East Lansing.

“We just came out here and played a physical game,” Peoples-Jones said. “It was obviously a rivalry game, the tension was up a little bit, and everybody wants to make a play. Everybody wants to make a play for the team. I feel that’s what everybody, individually, wanted to do for our team.”

Patterson shatters Tom Brady’s passing yard record vs. MSU

It was a prolific performance against a rival, and there are some things about it that fans might not have known.

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On Saturday afternoon, Shea Patterson played the best game of his Michigan career in one of his most important games as a Wolverine – with hated rival Michigan State in Ann Arbor.

The senior completed 24-of-33 passes for 384 yards, shattering Tom Brady’s prior record for most passing yards against the Spartans. Of those 24 completions, 14 went for at least 15 yards.

“We can start with Shea,” head coach Jim Harbaugh said when asked about players who impressed him in the win. “Getting the ball to nine different receivers. Somebody told me he broke a record for the most passing yards by a Michigan quarterback in a Michigan State game – 384, and the old record was 285 by Tom Brady. [He broke the record] by 99 yards. I’d call that a whale of a game. That’s a heck of a game by the kid.”

Patterson played the whole game for the Wolverines, including the final snap where he took a knee to conclude a 44-10 beatdown of Michigan State.

“I told him before he went out there to take that snap, ‘This year, after you take the kneel down, keep the ball and don’t throw it up into the air,’” Harbaugh said with a smile. “Because he had a heck of a game, and I thought he should have the game ball.

“Then he said, “I have another plan.’ And I said, ‘What?’ and he said, ‘You’ll see.’ He came over and gave me the ball, and that was neat. But, I went back into the locker room and it’s now in his book bag. I shoved it back in his backpack. He had a great game. That’s just a great game by a quarterback. It was a real gem.”

In addition to the passing yard record versus MSU, the 384 yards was the first time Patterson reached 300 passing yards in a Michigan uniform. The senior’s four touchdown passes against the Spartans were also a new high as a Wolverine.

“The O-line did a heck of a job of giving me time and the receivers just found the open space,” Patterson said. “We had a good gameplan all week. We had an extra bye week to prepare and really diagnose what they do on defense. I just thought we had a good gameplan. The plan wasn’t to pass the ball all game, but our guys were getting into open space and making plays.”

The quarterback’s play drew praise from his teammates in addition to his head coach. Junior wide receiver said Patterson brought something extra to practice this week ahead of the rivalry contest.

“He just brought a different type of passion today,” Peoples-Jones said. “He’s always passionate, but today, the whole team, it means a little bit more. All throughout the week, I could see it in practice, he was confident with his reads, confident with his throws and he trusted us. He trusted the gameplan, and we all trusted each other. We came out victorious and it feels really good.”

Following the game, as Patterson was conducting an on-field interview with Fox Sports’ Jenny Taft, defensive captain Khaleke Hudson brought the coveted Paul Bunyan trophy over to Patterson to celebrate.

“I was going towards the M, and I saw Shea doing an interview with Fox I believe,” Hudson said. “I just wanted to give him a chance to take it all in, give him a chance to see the Paul Bunyan trophy, and give him a chance to celebrate with us.”

Patterson appreciated the moment.

“Usually it’s kind of the other way around,” he said. “Usually the defense is the one being thanked and everything.”

But on Saturday, it was a total combined effort of offense, defense and special teams, and Hudson enjoyed watching Michigan’s offense more than hold up their end.

“Shea was throwing the ball, putting it in the right place,” Hudson said. “The receivers were blocking, they were catching the balls, and the offensive line was playing their tails off also with the running backs. So, I’m very proud of them guys today. I’m very proud of how they played, how they executed and I just want them guys to keep up this energy.”

Saturday’s showdown in Ann Arbor was Patterson’s final opportunity to play against the Spartans, and the senior put on a performance that he’ll remember for a long time.

“Just wish I had two more shots at them,” Patterson said. “I wish I could’ve started here and gotten four shots at them, but…it was a lot of fun today.

“This one’s special. I’m proud to just be a part of this team and part of a win like that, a dominant win like that. We knew how important this game was, and we prepared our tails off.”

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Ronnie Bell’s 2019 season showing he’s the true number one WR

Michigan football wide receiver Ronnie Bell had a career game against MSU today, showing he’s the top threat in the passing game.

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Ann Arbor, MI — Last year, freshman wide receiver Ronnie Bell wasn’t a part of the plans for Michigan as they planned to have wide receiver Tarik Black back from his season-ending injury from last season. That plan was derailed as he would have a similar injury happen to him before the season started, and he would miss the first half of the 2018 season.

With that said, Bell moved up in the depth chart, but he didn’t see much action until late against Nebraska when he caught a 56-yard touchdown pass. He would get involved with the offense minorly, only getting eight catches for 145 yards and two touchdowns.

Headed into 2019 the storyline at wide receiver was the same as it was headed into the 2018 season. The talk was mostly about Nico Collins, Donovan Peoples-Jones, and Tarik Black and how those three could thrive under new offensive coordinator Josh Gattis’ offense in his speed in space attack.

The addition of freshman wide receivers Giles Jackson, Cornelius Johnson, and Mike Sainristil also overshadowed Bell. He was lost in the mix to begin the season, but he certainly wasn’t forgotten about.

While he was quiet in the season opener, Bell had a solid game against Army, getting seven catches for 81 yards. It was after that game you started to see some kind of connection with quarterback Shea Patterson and Bell.

“Over the past few weeks, think we developed a certain kind of chemistry,” Patterson said. “I just think we play well together.” Patterson then credited Peoples-Jones, Bell, and all the other receivers for creating plays when he gets pushed out of the pocket and says it’s like backyard football at that point.

The connection between the two was huge today against MSU, as Bell finished with a career-best nine catches for 150 yards. Despite him putting up big numbers this week, he once again couldn’t find the endzone, something he hasn’t done this year despite being the top receiver on the team.

“That’s weird,” Patterson said. “I think he had 150 (yards) today. Just as far as his production and playmaking abilities, I think that makes up for not having a touchdown, but yea I didn’t even know that.”

While Patterson thought it was weird that Bell hasn’t seen the end zone yet, Bell knows he will get in there sooner or later.

“Yea, I don’t know if there hasn’t been a time yet where I came back to the sideline, like 20 seconds to go let me know like I still ain’t got in there,” Bell laughed. “It hurts every time, but it’s alright I’m a get in there.”

Bell is proving to not only the coaches but to the fans, especially the ones that turned their back on him after the drop against Penn State. He is more than just a depth wide receiver, he can be a top threat in this offense.

So far this season, Bell is the leading receiver with 36 catches for 610 yards. Collins is tied for second in catches with Peoples-Jones, but Collins has 25 for 484 yards and four touchdowns. Peoples-Jones has his 25 catches for 259 yards and four touchdowns. Black has 21 catches for 284 yards and a touchdown.

The way Bell has been able to get involved with this offense and rebound after that huge drop is something special. The same people who were booing Bell and sending horrible things his way, probably were quiet today and maybe even cheering for him.

Bell is having a career-best year so far, and it could certainly open the door in his final two years at Michigan. So while Peoples-Jones, Collins, and Black get all the attention, Bell is quietly having himself a season he will never forget. Another year under this offense will be huge for Bell and if he can continue the trend from this season, he could be the top threat once again in 2020.

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Halftime Analysis of Michigan State vs No. 15 Michigan

It’s halftime for Michigan football as they are up 17-7 against Michigan State at the break. What’s working and what isn’t so far?

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Ann Arbor, MI — Coming off their bye week last week, Michigan had an extra week to prepare for the Michigan State Spartans. That extra week seemed to have not been enough for the Wolverines as they started the game poorly with three penalties in less than five minutes. They could clean their act up as the game progressed, but it wasn’t a pretty start for the Wolverines.

After both teams traded punts, Michigan would get a drive going and land at the 40-yard line on fourth down. After an incomplete pass from quarterback Shea Patterson to wide receiver Nico Collins, MSU would get the football and have a solid drive led by their quarterback Brian Lewerke.

Lewerke would find wide receiver Cody White on fourth and one as he would go 29 yards before being tackled at the one. The next play Lewerke found fullback Max Rosenthal on a one-yard touchdown pass as MSU took the 7-0 lead.

Michigan wouldn’t let the score bother them as quarterback Shea Patterson started going on a tear as the offense opened up the playbook for their RPO. Big catches by wide receivers Collins, Donovan Peoples-Jones and Ronnie Bell helped move the ball down the field. Patterson went 4/4 on the drive for 48 yards as running back Hassan Haskins would finish the drive for a one-yard touchdown run as Michigan ties the game up 7-7.

Personal fouls by MSU killed their next drive as two on one play pushed them back and despite getting the first down, they would eventually punt back to Michigan. So far there have been three unsportsmanlike/personal penalties in this game, three by MSU, one by Michigan. This game is usually chippy so those numbers aren’t a surprise for either team.

Michigan would get the ball at their own two-yard line and in five minutes and 39 seconds and 12 plays later they would score as Patterson found tight end Nick Eubanks for the touchdown as Michigan took the 14-7 lead. Patterson made some nice reads on that drive, running the football and finding the correct man on the RPO’s.

MSU would stall out on offense again and Michigan would continue to strike. Patterson found Bell for a huge 42-yard catch to put Michigan inside the red zone. Michigan couldn’t find the end zone though as kicker Quinn Nordin would make the 28-yard field goal attempt as Michigan expanded their lead to 17-7. Nordin has been kicking every extra point and field goal so far today, so it looks like he has won the kicking job against Jake Moody.

POSITIVES:

Michigan’s offense started slow but have been using different types of RPO plays and plays where men are in motion. That is something we haven’t seen this season as that looks like some of Josh Gattis’ “speed in space” offense he was trying to bring to Michigan. Patterson has been playing great in it so far, going 14/21 for 182 yards and a touchdown along with three carries for eight yards.
Michigan has done well in keeping the MSU run game in check. Ignoring Lewerke’s runs, Michigan has held MSU to just 23 rushing yards on 12 attempts. MSU had some success last week running the rock but that isn’t the case so far this week.

NEGATIVES:

MSU is doing well at running RPO against the Wolverines defense. Michigan started to figure things out, but it has still been a threat to the Wolverines defense. Lewerke is 6/10 for 79 yards and a touchdown along with five carries for 16 yards. So far as he seems to be leading this offense down the field.
Penalties have been an early problem for Michigan as they had three in less than five minutes to start the game. So far they have had four for 41 yards and they have hurt the Wolverines greatly. They have improved at discipline in the past few weeks, but these are not what you want in this big rivalry game.