Tag: Josh Gattis

Josh Gattis blown away by Michigan offense in practices before College Football Playoff

If this translates to the game on Friday, look out! #GoBlue

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DANIA BEACH, Fla. — Some of the talk as it pertains to Michigan football’s Capital One Orange Bowl tilt against Georgia on Friday is whether or not the Wolverines will be able to replicate their incredible play before the near monthlong layoff.

The maize and blue had some solid momentum, taking the comeback Penn State win, turning into a trouncing victory over Maryland, before putting up 42 points on both Ohio State and Iowa in the Big Ten Championship Game. But now, it’s having to rekindle some potential momentum lost.

Or so it would seem.

When Michigan arrived in Fort Lauderdale on Christmas Day, quarterback Cade McNamara espoused how incredible practices had been thus far.

“I think we’ve honestly done a really good job of picking right up where we left off at the Big Ten Championship over the last couple of weeks in practice,” McNamara said. “I think as we come back here as the environment shifts just a little bit, I think myself and the other leaders on this team are just going to do the best we can to make sure that that momentum carries into practice because however we practice it’ll reflect to how we play in the game.”

But how would that translate once the Wolverines got out of the controlled environment of Al Glick Fieldhouse in Ann Arbor?

The maize and blue practiced on Sunday in Hollywood, Florida, and while offensive coordinator Josh Gattis was also concerned that the sharpness would wear off to some degree, he was more than pleasantly surprised by what he saw on the field when his offense suited up.

”Yeah, I think the challenge was after we won the Big Ten Championship Game, if we could just ball ourselves up and then ship ourselves to Miami and just play the next day, and we were ready to go,” Gattis said. “Leading up to our bowl practices, we had phenomenal practices back at campus, and then the next challenge came, okay, would we be able to carry that over with all the excitement, with all the different distractions that can potentially come with bowl preparations down in Miami.

”I’ll tell you what, I was blown away yesterday. The type of urgency, the effort, seeing how fast our guys fly around, it’s different for us because we’re coming south, so when you put us out here in warm weather and we’re able to run around nice and fast, we look different. We’re used to practicing in 30-degree, 20-degree weather right now wrapped up in clothes.

”So just having the great weather, having a great surface, the practice facility at the DNR Stadium was unbelievable, or International Miami Stadium, I think called — I can’t remember the exact name, but it was unbelievable. Just was a fast surface, allowed our guys to fly around and execute, playing with tremendous confidence.

“I think the maturity of our team and the leadership of our team obviously led us to have a great season, but it’s also prepared us to have a great night on Friday. We couldn’t be more pleased with the effort that our guys are playing with and the attention to detail.”

Michigan and Georgia will kick off on Dec. 31 at 7:30 p.m. at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. The winner will advance to the Jan. 10 national championship game in Indianapolis.

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What Josh Gattis said about Michigan football vs. Georgia in the College Football Playoff

Will #Michigan’s offense have success on Georgia’s defense? #GoBlue

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DANIA BEACH, Fla. — The talk of the College Football Playoff semifinal games isn’t the Crimson Tide vs. Cincinnati. It’s the matchup between the Michigan offense against The Georgia Bulldog defense.

Though Josh Gattis’ offense is billed as a similar one to Georgia, that might be true stylistically, but the Wolverines feature the nation’s most explosive offense statistically, with 17 plays of 50 yards or more, leading the nation. The Bulldog defense, conversely, is as stout as they come, ranking behind only Wisconsin defense in total yardage allowed, but boasting the nation’s top scoring defense.

Obviously, Gattis is ready, presumably with some tricks up his sleeve. Here’s everything he said about the matchup on Monday.

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Report: Josh Gattis meeting with ACC team for head coaching position

Will Michigan football’s success mean a new offensive coordinator in short order?

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Fresh off winning the Broyles Award, given to the nation’s top college football assistant coach, it’s no surprise that Michigan offensive coordinator Josh Gattis would be in demand. As the Wolverines gear up for a College Football Playoff semi-final, teams looking for a new head coach would logically be looking at the third-year coordinator.

While Michigan assuredly want to retain Gattis, when he was hired away from Alabama before the 2019 season, he was expected to be more of a rental, and now that he’s coming into his own, he’s starting to get schools calling.

And Thomas Jefferson’s school is calling.

While it appeared that Virginia was set to hire Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott after Bronco Mendenhall stepped down, that’s reportedly hit a snag. According to FootballScoop, Gattis is meeting with the Cavaliers about their head coaching vacancy.

Sources share with FootballScoop Thursday evening, Michigan offensive coordinator Josh Gattis – newly minted Broyles Award winner – is speaking with Cavaliers’ leadership this evening.

Gattis has strong ties in the Atlantic Coast Conference footprint where the Cavaliers reside; he’s a Durham, N.C., native who played collegiately at Wake Forest. Gattis was drafted into the NFL, had a brief professional career and then transitioned into collegiate coaching in 2010 at North Carolina.

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Whether it be Virginia or Duke, it seems like there’s a good chance that we only get one-to-two more games of Gattis coordinating the Michigan offense.

After 13 games, the Wolverines have the No. 19 offense in the country per yards-per-game, and the No. 13 scoring offense in the nation, as well.

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Michigan football coach wins assistant of the year award

It’s been quite a turnaround this year!

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Just months ago, Michigan football fans were speculating about who should take over the offense should things not work out in offensive coordinator Josh Gattis’ third year with the program. Now, they’re hoping Gattis sticks around instead of taking a head coaching job elsewhere.

A year ago, Michigan had the No. 78-ranked offense in the country, a far cry from expectations after Gattis arrived talking about ‘speed in space.’ Now, with the Wolverines set to take on Georgia in the College Football Playoff semi-final, the maize and blue have the 19th-ranked offense in the country.

The look is much different than anticipated, with the offense looking more like Jim Harbaugh’s old offensive attacks, but with some flair similar to the spread concepts that Gattis is more familiar with. He’s overhauled his philosophy, and not only has it paid off this season, it’s earned Gattis top honors, as he was announced as the Broyles Award winner — an honor given to the top college football assistant in a given year.

With Michigan’s offense highlighting the run, it has much more parity than many suggest, as the passing game has become more and more of a focal point.

Gattis will certainly have his work cut out for him on Dec. 31 when Michigan takes on Georgia and the No. 2 rated defense in the Capital One Orange Bowl.

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Josh Gattis on Ohio State: ‘They’re a finesse team, they’re not a tough team’

The truth is stinging right now in Columbus, to be sure.

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The truth is gonna hurt, Ohio State, perhaps just as much as 42-27. OK, maybe not that much.

Michigan football eviscerated OSU on Saturday, not just beating the Buckeyes, but dominating them. The Wolverines battered, bruised, and bullied Ohio State, with the offensive line making Zach Harrison and the defensive line look pedestrian, while the maize and blue defensive line with Aidan Hutchinson wreaked havoc on a vaunted offensive line.

And one of the coaches had a really good feeling that the team’s game plan would work. Why? Because Ohio State would not be able to stand up to Michigan’s physicality.

This is why Jim Harbaugh renamed the team’s most physical drill the ‘Beat Ohio’ drill. This is why he emphasized ‘blocking and tackling’ last Monday. This is why Michigan won the game.

And the Wolverines knew it be true on the first drive.

Speaking with Jon Jansen on the ‘Inside Michigan Football’ radio show on Learfield IMG, Michigan offensive coordinator Josh Gattis called Ohio State a good team, but a finesse team. Most hurtful of all? Not a tough team.

“Started fast in setting the tone for the game and really creating the identity of the game that we were going to dominate on both fronts, not just offensive line but defensive line as well, just being able to smash them however we could and really set the tone,” Gattis said. “They’re a good team.They’re a good team. They’re a finesse team, they’re not a tough team. And we knew that going into the game that we can out-physical them, we can out-tough and that was gonna be the key to the game, and that’s what we prepared for all year long. You saw earlier this year in the game they lost to Oregon, Oregon was the most physical team on the field. That’s the way they lost, and we committed to that recipe, and it paid off.”

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Again, based on the results of the game, he’s not wrong. Ohio State failed to register a single tackle for loss since 2005. The Buckeyes were beaten on the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. They rely on their talent and their skill players, but when it came to lining up and beating the team in front of them, OSU couldn’t do it. Ryan Day’s squad is all about out-scheming his competition, not beating the man across the line of scrimmage.

Look no further to Michigan’s four sacks and eight tackles for loss on one side and 297 rushing yards on the other.

Certainly, this won’t be popular in Columbus or in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, and it will likely be a call to arms. But Michigan has established itself as the new bully, and for one year at least, it has the right to talk its talk.

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What Michigan football OC Josh Gattis said before Maryland

This should put a lot of the conspiracies about Michigan’s offense to bed.

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan is still 9-1, but there remains loads of consternation from the fan base about the state of the offense. There have been questions about the Wolverines’ viability in the passing game as they’ve leaned heavily on the run game. There have been questions about Cade McNamara starting over true freshman J.J. McCarthy. There has been a week-to-week microscope of whether or not the offense we’ve seen every game could beat Ohio State.

In his first meeting with the media in quite some time, Michigan offensive coordinator Josh Gattis addressed most all of those things, giving a particularly full-throated defense of McNamara, while also sharing why he likes the current offensive philosophy.

Starting with the below locker room celebration at Penn State, Gattis addressed multiple aspects of the offense in his latest press conference. Here’s everything he had to say.

RECAP: Josh Gattis talks Michigan football offense (video)

Watch the best parts from Gattis’ press conference in just under 5 minutes!

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Sept. 8, 2021:

• Josh Gattis

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In accordance with Michigan football policy, the media isn’t allowed to upload more than 5 minutes of footage from any press conference. But we found our way around that. Giving you the best of every press conference, we cut out the questions to give you the straight answers, with the most interesting parts of each media availability taking center stage.

WolverinesWire presents our new series: RECAP in five minutes or less.

—————————————

Topics include:

• Keeping the quarterbacks efficient with a tougher opponent ahead

• Playing against Giles Jackson

• J.J. McCarthy’s big TD throw

• The importance of winning the game with big recruits in attendance

And MORE!

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What Josh Gattis said about Michigan’s offense before Washington

The offense looked incredible last week. Fingers crossed it does again this week!

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Wolverines offense looked explosive in their Week 1 outing against Western Michigan, but it’ll get tougher on Saturday when Washington and the nation’s No. 13 defense comes to town.

Michigan football offensive coordinator Josh Gattis met with the media to discuss the matchup, as well as to look back at what he liked and what he feels the offense may need to work on before taking the field against the Huskies in primetime.

Covering a range of topics from the running back and quarterback performance to replacing Ronnie Bell, here is everything that Gattis had to say on Wednesday.

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Bill O’Brien among top assistants who could become a head coach according to 247 Sports

Will we see Bill O’Brien be a head coach again?

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Former Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien is preparing for his first season back in the college game as the offensive coordinator for Alabama, but could we soon see O’Brien back in charge of his own program? According to a recent ranking of top assistants with head coach potential compiled by 247 Sports, it wouldn’t be shocking.

O’Brien was highlighted as one of 247 Sports’ top 10 assistant coaches who could become a head coach, which should come as no surprise to Penn State fans. O’Brien spent two seasons as head coach of the Nittany Lions before heading off to the NFL for an opportunity to coach the Houston Texans. But after his time with the Texans came to an end, O’Brien landed where all coaches seem to do well in rehabilitating their coaching chops, as an assistant under Nick Saban.

You would have a difficult time finding a Penn State fan who honestly didn’t like O’Brien. O’Brien took on an incredible challenge at Penn State, taking over the program as it was going through the thick of the Jerry Sandusky scandal, officially replacing Joe Paterno amid massive controversy and scrutiny. O’Brien took the job in 2012 and months later learned his new program was being slapped with hefty sanctions that included a significant reduction in scholarships and a four-year postseason ban. It wasn’t a death sentence, but it was a heavy burden to work through.

But it may have been those tough times that showed O’Brien had the right mentality to guide the program through the mess. Under O’Brien and with the world essentially against them on and off the field, Penn State strung together back-to-back winning seasons. And because of the work done by O’Brien, James Franklin came into a position that could have been much worse than it was, and Franklin was able to continue picking up the pieces to make Penn State a Big Ten champion and regular contender.

O’Brien is replacing Steve Sarkisian as Alabama’s offensive coordinator this season. Sarkisian left Alabama to be the new head coach at Texas. Sarkisian replaced Lane Kiffin, who left Alabama to be the head coach at Ole Miss. Given the history of coordinators under Saban and his brief experience at Penn State, it’s safe to say O’Brien will have some opportunities to explore jumping back into the head coaching role.

Whether or not O’Brien wants to jump back into the college coaching game remains to be seen, as the NFL has always seemed to be where O’Brien’s focus is set. But after his time in the NFL with the Texans, it may be more likely O’Brien works his way back up as an offensive coordinator at the professional level again before being a head coach.

Former Penn State offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, who is now the offensive coordinator for Michigan, was also ranked in the list by 247 Sports.

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Josh Gattis breaks down Michigan’s offense as spring ball nears an end

The Michigan football offensive coordinator thoroughly broke down every offensive position and which players are standing out on offense.

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It’s been relatively quiet this spring in Ann Arbor, as Michigan football has nearly completed its spring practice sessions, with the culmination of the month and a half camp coming on Saturday.

Though most of the questions for the Wolverines come on the defensive side of the ball, considering that there have been wholesale changes with Mike Macdonald coming aboard this offseason, the offense hasn’t lived up to the lofty expectations anticipated when Josh Gattis arrived in 2019.

Speaking with Jon Jansen on the ‘In the Trenches’ podcast, Gattis shared the state of the Michigan offense, breaking down where each position group stands with just a handful of practices left.

One thing that Gattis is particularly excited about is not entering this season with any depleted groups, as there is a lot of returning experience coming back this year on the offensive side of the ball.

“I’m excited because this is the first time in two years that we haven’t had a wholesale change,” Gattis said. “Two years ago, coming in, the lack of depth we had at running back. The roster that we had, we had all new players at running back to start the season that had never touched a football in a game-like scenario. You go into last year having to replace four starters on the offensive line, with all guys who hadn’t really started games for us. When you got that amount of attrition that totally wipes away a position each year, there’s challenges that you go in and approach with. But going into this offseason, there’s no major attrition. We’ve got good depth across the board, maybe not as deep at some positions, but we’ve got quality depth with players that have played or started in games.”

Here is what Gattis had to say about each position group, breaking down which players have made an impact this spring.