Michigan football WR Giles Jackson shares why he feels the offense has looked great at times and sputtered in others.
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — In Big Ten Week 1, it appeared that the Michigan offense was unstoppable, only punting once as it just never even grazed the brake pedal against Minnesota.
Since, however, it’s look great on some drives, while most have been terribly uninspiring.
The Wolverines have started slow out of the gates in all three games. Though the very first play of the season was a big game, against Minnesota, penalties caused the maize and blue to go three-and-out after that, and then the next two games featured three-and-outs to start things off, as well.
Michigan didn’t lead at all in the past two outings, both losses, and though the offense put up 48 points in Week 1, it only managed 24 against Michigan State and 21 against Indiana.
So what does the offense need to do in order to get back into form? Sophomore wide receiver Giles Jackson says that what the team does in practice is inconsistent, and its leading to the same thing happening once facing off against a different color jersey.
“I think we just have to be more consistent, like in practice,” Jackson said. “We practice good, Monday through Wednesday – the last couple Thursday practices haven’t been so well. We gotta pick it up – be more consistent in games, instead of just relying on one or two drives, doing good on one drive, taking it off. We just have to keep our foot on the gas the whole time.
“Thursday – that’s usually our last practice before Saturday. I think it’s not as intense, because we’re not in full pads. I think that carries a big role in it and we’re more laid back.”
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Additionally, Michigan is implementing a lot of new players — whether it be in a full-time capacity or as key reserves.
Last season, at the wide receiver group, the primary targets were juniors Donovan Peoples-Jones and Nico Collins as well as sophomore Ronnie Bell. Bell has continued his trajectory from a year ago, with 14 catches for 269 yards in three games — an average of 19.21 yards-per-catch, sixth in the conference, and that’s with more catches than any player ahead of him. But outside of Bell, Michigan is relying on a lot of players with inexperience, comparably. The second-leading receiver is Cornelius Johnson, a sophomore, with 9 catches for 134 yards. Then, it’s freshman Roman Wilson with 8 catches for 118 and Jackson with 10 receptions for 81 yards.
It’s an assuredly young receiving corps, and Jackson says that’s led to some lapses during the week.
“We’re a young receiver group – there’s some things we don’t – we’re not as focused as we should be,” Jackson said. “In the meeting room, we should be taking notes – we don’t take as much notes as we should be. It’s just the little things for us. It’s all there, we just have to put it all together. When it’s all together, we’ll be a really good offense and really good receiving room.”
So, outside of that, what does the group have to work on?
Compared to their predecessors, outside of the aforementioned Johnson, this group is relatively diminutive in stature. So it’s that much more imperative that they play bigger than their size.
Outside of that, they’re not getting as much separation as they were in Week 1 than in Weeks 2-3. The lack of focus certainly has encumbered them on that front.
“We definitely have to work on contested catches,” Jackson said. “We’re definitely not the biggest group, obviously. I’d say contested catches is what we need at this point and creating more separation on our routes.”
Beyond that, three Michigan receivers are in the top ten when it comes to drop rate in the Big Ten. Freshman A.J. Henning and sophomore Mike Sainristil each have drops, whereas fellow freshman WR Roman Wilson has three. Ronnie Bell also has two, and tight end Erick All leads the conference with four drops thus far.
The Wolverines will likely need a near-flawless game on that front with No. 13 Wisconsin coming to town on Saturday night.
