Tag: Matt Weiss

Michigan football coach throws epic shade at Ryan Day

This is PERFECT! #GoBlue

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Remember when Ryan Day told his team last year that they would hang 100 points on the Michigan Wolverines when they met up next? Turns out, Michigan football remembers.

There certainly was a Buckeyes contingent that felt that, after the 2018-19 games, OSU could throttle the Wolverines yet again, as if two previous years of defense carries over into the following years. Though Matt Weiss is Michigan’s quarterback’s coach, he couldn’t let that comment stand, even if it was over a year later, now that the maize and blue have emerged with a 42-27 victory over Ohio State.

The Buckeyes only managed 64 yards on the ground on Saturday, with 30 yards coming via sacks and tackles for loss. Ohio State managed just 2.1 yards per carry against the Wolverines. Thus, Weiss found a perfect opportunity for a dig.

He wasn’t the only one who threw shade. Head coach Jim Harbaugh had his moment when he vowed to take the high road, but still got in a subtle dig at the Buckeyes, noting that he heard all the talk coming out of Columbus and that it motivated the team.

“It did. I know probably the things you’re thinking of are the same as the things I’m thinking of,” Harbaugh said. “But let’s move on with humble hearts, take the high road. But there was definitely stuff that people said that spurred us on even more, sure.

“Sometimes people that are standing on third base think they hit a triple, but they didn’t.”

For at least a year now, anyone in the Michigan camp can say what they want about Ohio State. After all, isn’t that what they’ve been doing in Columbus for awhile now?

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Why you shouldn’t expect J.J. McCarthy to supplant Cade McNamara anytime soon

Michigan’s quarterbacks coach emphatically says, ‘Cade is the starter because he earned it.’

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Every other week, Michigan football fans have reprised an age-old tradition: clamoring for the backup quarterback.

In Ann Arbor, often the backup QB is the most popular man on campus, until he gets the reins for a few games, then his backup is then the most popular. Last year, it was Cade McNamara who was backing up Joe Milton. But now that McNamara is the bona fide starter, at even the slightest hint of struggle, the most ardent maize and blue faithful quickly clamor for J.J. McCarthy, the former five-star who is now a true freshman.

Yes, McCarthy is talented and we saw an incredible throw in his first ever game, but that doesn’t mean that he’s ready to take over the reins. In fact, to hear quarterbacks coach Matt Weiss tell it, it’s not just because McNamara has bided his time or some other metric that eludes the fan base. No, he’s won the starting quarterback job fair and square, because the best player for the position will start for the Wolverines.

“Cade is the starter because he’s earned it,” Weiss said. “Really happy with both guys. But the idea that Cade somehow waited his turn and that’s why he’s playing — you guys know with Coach Harbaugh, ‘The Team, The Team, The Team.’ If you met somebody at a gas station with eligibility that could start for us and help us win, that guy would start. That’s why Cade’s the starter.”

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That said, it is something of a luxury this year that Michigan does have both McNamara and McCarthy. McNamara has been solid, but wasn’t great in limited throws against Washington, and the same can be said for the second half against Rutgers — though he had a spectacular first half. Michigan hasn’t called upon him much yet this year, though it’s likely to when it takes on Wisconsin and its vaunted run defense on Saturday.

As far as the competition between the two is concerned, Weiss wants to ensure that they bring McCarthy along more slowly, getting him properly acclimated and developed, because he’s seen what happens when coaches get enamored with talent and throw young signal callers in to save their season.

“We’re blessed to have really talented players who can play at a high level,” Weiss said. “I think at a lot of places, J.J. would probably be the starting quarterback, but we have the luxury where we don’t have to throw him in the fire right away. And we are trying to play him whenever he can get the opportunity so that he can develop. That’s really to his benefit, it’s to our benefit. Obviously, we want our backup quarterback ready to play whenever he’s called upon. The best way to do that is to play him when we can.

“I think he actually leads the country in true freshman quarterback snaps from the guys who were highly recruited. We’re gonna keep developing him, keep bringing him along. But the thing that will happen is, you put the guy in the fire and they come out fine and other times they don’t. The other part of that, too, is some guys have success, but you limit the scope of the offense because it’s an inexperienced player and then you have success. But you leave the offense like that and they never fully develop. I know I’ve seen that before with guys when they get to the NFL, to the next level, where they played all four years in college and you can’t believe how limited the offense was because they started as a true freshman. They started winning and would say, ‘Hey, this is great!’ and just kept doing it. This allows him to develop more fully with the luxury of being able to play Cade.”

But that doesn’t mean that McCarthy doesn’t have a mastery of the playbook. As Weiss notes, he does, and if he were to come in if, say McNamara was unavailable, then the offense wouldn’t be limited like the scenario he mentioned.

The bigger issue is that as talented as McCarthy is, Michigan is still working to refine it. Until that point where he has the decision-making, accuracy, leadership, and timing beyond what McNamara has displayed, he will remain the backup. But if he’s needed, he certainly won’t be limited.

“J.J. can run the whole offense, no doubt about it,” Weiss said. “Big thing with him, too, is there’s this narrative that he’s somehow this phenomenal talent. And he’s talented, but you look at the list of five-star quarterbacks, go through that list for years past, there’s a lot of names you’ve never heard of. And they were all talented. I think the difference for him, what he has, why we’re so excited about him is the makeup, the character, his approach to everything. All that stuff is there. So we’re excited about him.”

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What Matt Weiss said about Michigan’s quarterbacks before Wisconsin

Will Michigan pass the ball more this Saturday at Wisconsin?

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Wolverines offense has been predicated upon running the ball through four weeks. But what will happen if it runs into a brick wall against Wisconsin in Week 5?

The Badgers have the nation’s top-rated run defense, allowing just 23 yards a game, which means Michigan may have to pass the ball, something that Jim Harbaugh acknowledged to ESPN, as running the ball was the particular strategy used for the opponents played thus far. That could mean a heavy dose of Cade McNamara come Saturday in Madison, but McNamara didn’t have the best of second halves this past week against Rutgers.

On Wednesday, Michigan quarterbacks coach Matt Weiss met with the media to discuss the state of the Wolverines quarterbacks, what he’s seen from McNamara and true freshman J.J. McCarthy. Why McNamara earned the job, his philosophy on playing true freshmen and even his reaction to the Baltimore Ravens — his former team — winning against the Detroit Lions in dramatic fashion.

Here is everything Weiss had to say.

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RECAP: Matt Weiss talks Michigan football quarterbacks

The best of what #Michigan’s new QB coach had to say, all condensed into a five-minute watch! #GoBlue

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Sept. 1, 2021:

• Matt Weiss

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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.

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Topics include:

• How Cade McNamara earned the starting QB job
• What he’s seen from J.J. McCarthy and Alan Bowman
• His analytics background
• The QB run game

And MORE!

What Matt Weiss said in his first Michigan football media availability

Sharp stuff from the coach of the most important position on the team.

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — While Mike Macdonald was the first new Michigan coach to come aboard after having spent the better part of a decade with the Baltimore Ravens, he wasn’t the only one.

When linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary bolted for Tennessee on the eve of spring ball, instead of bringing in another coach at that position, Jim Harbaugh went out and got who he thought was the best he could get at any position — and that’s rising coach Matt Weiss.

Weiss coached the running backs last with the Ravens but also had been a quarterbacks coach — the latter being his job in Ann Arbor. On Wednesday, Weiss spoke about his position group, including what Cade McNamara did to earn the starting job, what he’s seen from Alan Bowman and J.J. McCarthy, his analytics background, his philosophy on quarterback runs, and much more.

Here’s everything he had to say at his first media availability for the Wolverines.

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Why Matt Weiss left Baltimore for Michigan football

Despite having a lucrative career in the NFL, Matt Weiss departed for Michigan football this offseason. He explains why and much more.

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In a tumultuous offseason for Michigan football, the complexion of the team has completely changed.

Not only has there been a bevy of transfers, but more than half of the coaching staff has been replaced, with the bulk coming on the defensive side of the ball. The final addition to the team was Matt Weiss, who oversaw the Baltimore Ravens’ rushing attack, one that accumulated over 3,000 yards on the ground each of the last two seasons. Only four times in NFL history has a team reached such a benchmark, with Weiss overseeing two of those years.

At Michigan, Weiss will be working with the quarterbacks, a position he also worked with in Baltimore in 2016-17. So, what led him to Ann Arbor after spending more than a decade in the NFL? He shared more with Jon Jansen on the ‘In the Trenches’ podcast.

“It was kind of an on and off discussion for awhile, and it’s something that I (had been looking for) before a spot came open, as you alluded to,” “It was obviously hard to leave a great organization, a great team, a great coach – a team that, in my heart I believe, has a chance to win a Super Bowl next year. At the same time, it’s the University of Michigan, it’s Jim Harbaugh. Michigan wins, Jim wins – both things are historically proven. I feel like I have a chance to do something special here.

“Also, I think anytime in life – whether it’s in your life or in your life professionally – it’s always good to get outside your comfort zone, challenge yourself, do something different. I’ve been in Baltimore a long time. 12 years, if you can believe that. It was kind of just an on-and-off conversation with Jim. John – he’s definitely understanding of it. He wants Michigan to be great, too. He didn’t want me to go, but at the same time, he could see an opportunity could be there for me and felt like helping Jim was a good thing, too. It all worked out for everybody involved.”

Looking at his accolades with the run game, what was Weiss’ experience with the Baltimore offense?

Weiss says that he was an integral part of reenvisioning the Ravens attack on that side of the ball and that that should help at Michigan when it comes to getting the best out of the players currently on the roster.

“Baltimore is a great example of what you have to do for an offense to be successful,” Weiss said. “A lot of people forget this pretty easily, but a lot of people didn’t think you could run that style of offense in the NFL and be successful. And maybe there’s still people who don’t. When we drafted Lamar and he eventually became a starter, the challenge that John posed to the offensive coaches – and it’s a great example of his leadership – he was like, ‘Hey, I want you guys to build an offense that you’re gonna take with you for the rest of your lives. An offense that people are gonna know as the Baltimore Ravens offense,’ you know, just like how people know the West Coast offense or anything else. It was built from the ground up with offensive coordinator Greg Roman, who was also with Jim Harbaugh in San Francisco and has experience with quarterback runs and everything just kinda grew from there. Lamar is an amazing talent, generational type of player. But everything was built around his skill set. It’s a great example of how you build and offense. You build it to the players that you have and the things that you can do.

“We call that the ‘black swan.’ Everyone knows the black swan period is something that’s out there, nobody can imagine it happening, kinda like the pandemic. Before it happened, nobody could have imagined all the stuff that happened in the last year would happen. You’d think somebody was crazy if they told you what 2020 was gonna be like. But then after it happened, you look back and go, ‘Oh yeah, I can see how that happened.’ That’s like the rushing offense that we built, right? People said nobody could rush for 3,000 yards, like you said. And then you do it with a quarterback-driven run system, and people go, ‘Of course they did that. They run quarterback-driven runs with Lamar Jackson.’ Yeah, it was awesome to be a part of.”

That said, while Weiss comes aboard as one of the most experienced young coaches on the staff, he’s not taking over, nor is he the one designing the offense.

That distinction still belongs to offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, who Weiss praised heavily in the discussion. He feels like it will still be a boon to have him on staff as he can bring different ideas, while still learning what this Michigan offense intends to do.

“It’s definitely Josh’s offense – I’m here learning his system,” “Which is great for me, because it’s totally foreign to me. I’m learning a lot of new stuff. At the same time, I think Jim is a visionary leader. Part of the reason he wanted me here is he wanted diversity. People think of diversity, you want diversity of background and race, all those things, which is great and we have year and is really valuable. But you also want diversity of thought. That’s really important in any successful team.

“Right now, I’m really trying to master this offense, and I’ll really try to contribute ideas where I can. But I’m here to coach in this offense. Josh has been great, he’s a great coach. I’ve learned things from him that I didn’t even know existed. You see a lot of the stuff translate on the field, in terms of the way he coaches footwork with receivers, in terms of the RPOs, obviously. I love the way he emphasizes physicality and perimeter blocking. With me, coming from the defensive side of the ball, it’s something not enough offensive coaches do at times. You’ve got Sherrone, too, as co-offensive coordinator. He’s a really talented coach. He’s the type of coach I could see coaching successfully in pro football or college football, because he has a style where he builds relationships with the guys. And the guys really respect him. Just a talented, really intelligent guy who is probably gonna be a head coach one day, too. Just enjoying the opportunity to learn from those guys.”

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Matt Weiss breaks down Michigan QB competition, coaching philosophy

What new Michigan football QB coach Matt Weiss is working towards coming from the Ravens and how he sees each QB on the Wolverines roster.

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Michigan football changed things up significantly this offseason, with a complete defensive staff revamp and a few changes on the offensive side of the ball. No matter which way you stretch it, in 2021, the team will feature something of a new look, not only with a complete defensive overhaul but some new pieces leading the charge offensively.

One of the changes that Jim Harbaugh made was dismissing quarterbacks coach Ben McDaniels in favor of former Balitmore Ravens running backs coach Matt Weiss, who has extensive experience working on both sides of the ball at several different positions.

Weiss appeared on the ‘In the Trenches’ podcast with Jon Jansen and shared his vision for the room, especially in an age where if you don’t win the starting job, there’s a high likelihood that you could be out the door via transfer.

“You want healthy competition,” Weiss said. “You want guys, obviously they’re gonna compete, but you want them to support each other. There’s gonna be enough people outside that room or outside this building that’s obviously trying to tear them down, and it’s really important that the people around them are supportive. I know you know from the best offensive line rooms you’ve been in, you want the other guy to succeed, genuinely. And that goes a long way to how people perform. It’s something that we definitely had in the running back room in Baltimore with a bunch of guys sharing the carries, which you alluded to. Just something that you work hard to build, whether it’s getting the guys to go out to dinner every week or the running backs in Baltimore take a trip together every year, they vacation together, which is pretty unique. Just encouraging that type of stuff to make that bond strong. There’s enough for everybody. A rising tide raises all ships. It’s not a zero-sum game. Our cups can overrunneth. You look at the history here at Michigan with multiple great quarterbacks being in the room, obviously, that’s well-documented. Hopefully, they’ll get to the point where they all feel that way and we can have the best of both worlds.”

One of the things that Weiss shared was why he’s particularly drawn to the quarterback position. Having switched to offense after several years on defense in Baltimore, Weiss says that the unique thing about quarterback is that they’re the last ones to adjust, and they can change the game on every play, because they’re not playing a reactive brand of football like some other positions must.

“I think the other part of the draw is the quarterback has the chalk last,” Weiss said. “That’s one of the unique things about football, there’s so many awesome things about football that are better than any other sport, but if you’re playing defense, it really is reactive. You gotta be able to adjust any formation, you have to be able to adjust a reroute, you’ve gotta be able to fit any run, you don’t really know what the offense is gonna present. You’ve got to react. You play offensive line, as you know, it’s reactive in that way, too, in a lot of ways. You’ve gotta be able to block any front, you’ve got to be able to pick up any blitz. And you’ve gotta react to whatever the defense presents. But quarterback gives you that opportunity as a coach, you hold the chalk last. Your players can adjust in a drop or change the protection or even an audible of where you wanna go with the ball. It’s an opportunity to teach those things and have the chalk last. That’s one of the things that’s really fun about football, the strategic element of it.”

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From there, Weiss broke down what he saw from each of his signal-callers in spring ball. Here’s what he had to say about each:

Michigan hiring Ravens RB coach Matt Weiss as new QB coach

The Baltimore Ravens will be looking for a new RB coach after Michigan hires away Matt Weiss to be their new QB coach.

The Baltimore Ravens will be looking for yet another new position coach this offseason. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Ravens running back coach Matt Weiss has been hired by Michigan to become their new quarterbacks coach.

Weiss will be going from one Harbaugh to another. After spending 12 years in Baltimore with John Harbaugh, Weiss will now coach under Jim Harbaugh at Michigan. Weiss is joining former Ravens linebackers coach Mike MacDonald, who joined Michigan’s staff as a defensive coordinator this offseason.

Cornerback Marlon Humphrey joked that the first practice will be a meet-and-greet session. While it’s a funny quip, Humphrey probably isn’t wrong. Weiss is the ninth coach to leave Baltimore this offseason and while Harbaugh has done a great job bringing in big names to replace them, losing that many people is going to have an impact on the team when everyone returns to the Under Armour Performance Center.

This is a potentially big loss for the Ravens, who have leaned heavily on their rushing attack to get them into the playoffs the last two seasons especially. Baltimore has finished first in rushing yards in 2019 and 2020 — the two years Weiss was leading the running backs. While much of that success can be attributed to quarterback Lamar Jackson’s prowess on the ground and Baltimore finishing first in rushing attempts each season, Weiss has been instrumental in developing the team’s young talent at the position.

J.K. Dobbins hit the ground running as a rookie in 2020, notching his first two career rushing touchdowns in Week 1. Dobbins supplanted veteran Mark Ingram as the top back by Week 8, eventually finishing with 134 carries for 805 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns — breaking the Ravens’ rookie touchdown record in the process.

For Weiss, it’ll be a great opportunity to take the next step forward as an offensive coach and potentially propel him to being a coordinator if he does well. For the Ravens, it’s yet another stack of resumes Harbaugh will need to dig through.

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Michigan dips into Ravens well again, hires a new QB coach

Instead of filling the linebackers coach vacancy, Jim Harbaugh is apparently bringing in a new QB coach.

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On Friday, the surprising news hit that Michigan linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary was departing for Tennessee, joining Josh Heupel’s new staff. After seemingly being set on the coaching front for weeks, the Wolverines suddenly were in the market for another LB coach.

Only, they didn’t fill the vacancy with a LB coach.

Sunday morning, NFL insider Ian Rapoport reported that Jim Harbaugh went back to the Baltimore Ravens well to hire another coach away from his brother John. But, instead of hiring a linebackers coach, Harbaugh hired Ravens running backs coach Matt Weiss, who will reportedly coach quarterbacks — the position Harbaugh was finally set to oversee once again — in Ann Arbor.

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Weiss is another under-40 coaching addition, and one that spent just two years as the Ravens’ running backs coach — his first on-field coaching job. A graduate of Vanderbilt, Weiss was a defensive/grad assistant at Stanford under Harbaugh, and like Mike Macdonald, he worked his way up from being a behind-the-scenes coach in Baltimore before getting a couple years in his on-field coaching role.

Though Michigan filled the coaching vacancy left by a linebackers coach, it did have a QB coach vacancy with the departure of Ben McDaniels — it was just anticipated that Harbaugh would be the one to fill that role. Likely, Macdonald, the new defensive coordinator, will oversee the linebackers as he coached linebackers with the Ravens — or the team could move George Helow to the position, as he worked with LBs at Maryland last year.

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