Michigan Thursday: Jacks of All Trades - Master of None

Nick Baumgardner is now with the Free Press and wrote an article this week that Brian at Mgoblog wrote a post on it.   The key comment was from Grant Newsome:

The  offensive line? Players talked about how much new position coach Ed Warinner made simplifications this spring, mainly because he had no other choice. Grant Newsome told reporters Tuesday that Warinner stripped down the complex language and overall concept because it was overwhelming. 

"He said he was even confused by the amount of terminology and different plays we had in the playbook," Newsome said. 

On this blog, we have talked about "too many cooks in the kitchen" and this is a key example.  Jimmy had two offensive line coaches, coaching two different styles of blocking: Zone and Power.   What this did was confuse the offensive lineman and made sure they were not good at any expect of blocking.  

This is 100% on Jimmy and he should own it.   He had too many guys making too much money and not focusing on specific areas.   Tim Drevno was the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach for power, Greg Frey was brought in to coach zone blocking and the TE's, and Pep Hamilton was in charge of the passing game. (Jay of course was the RB coach)  What a mess! 

This year is much different:

• Pep seems to be the unofficial OC
• Ed Warinner is the only coach coaching the offensive line
• Sherrone Moore is coaching the Tight End's
• Jim McEwain is coaching the WR's
• Jay Harbaugh still has the RB's

I thought there were two embarrassing losses last year where Michigan's lack of blocking was very clear and could not be covered up by the dominating defense: Michigan State and the Outback Bowl.    The entire team looked checked out during the Outback Bowl.

Jimmy had to make changes to try to turn this battleship.   The schedule is brutal next season, thanks to Warde Manuel signing the new ND contract with the first game in South Bend.   Michigan will also have to travel to East Lansing and Columbus.   I love the ND rivalry, but would have preferred to keep the Arkansas and schedule the Fighting Irish where it was a better fit for Michigan then ND.   How Warde looked at the schedule and thought it was ok, is very hard for me to understand.   He has been a good AD so far but that was a "Dave Brandon" type of mistake. 

from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2018/05/michigan-thursday-jacks-of-all-trades.html