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How Michigan is turning into a classic Jim Harbaugh powerhouse
Aaron Taylor is a former two-time All-American lineman at Notre Dame and won a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers. He’s been retired for almost 20 years now, but he says he’s almost watching as much tape of line play as he did when he played.
Taylor’s worked as a TV analyst for over a decade (full disclosure: Taylor and I were colleagues at CBS for three years). However, before last season, he undertook a passion project to put more of a spotlight on the most misunderstood aspect of football -- offensive line play -- and in the process he would pay homage to one of the people who changed his life, his former O-line coach at Notre Dame, the late Joe Moore.
"The least understood aspect of the position is that inherently, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts,” Taylor said. "That’s what makes the OL so unique. It’s the quintessential team position, within the quintessential team game, because five have to function as one. If four of us do our job and one guy breaks down, somebody pays the price."
Last year, Alabama won the inaugural Joe Moore Award as voted on by FBS O-line coaches as well as former players and colleagues of Moore. Taylor serves as the committee’s chairman. Later this week the Moore committee will unveil their Midseason Honor Roll.
My hunch is Michigan will be somewhere on it. The undefeated Wolverines are No. 14 in the nation in rushing, up 70 spots from last season. They also are coming off a game at Rutgers where they ran for 481 yards and nine touchdowns on almost nine yards per carry. But the real measure of an offensive’s line success is about a lot more than stats.
To get a better sense of Taylor’s work, I asked him about the Wolverines’ front in part because I’ve heard from a lot of coaches how good of an O-line guy Michigan’s Tim Drevno is.
“If you squint your eyes a bit on a cloudy day, Michigan’s OL is beginning to look like the lines Harbaugh had at Stanford,” Taylor said. ”They’re not there yet, but their progress from where they were a year ago is noticeable. The mark of any really good line is one that continues to get better. If they continue to improve at the rate that they’ve shown, the Wolverines' OL has a chance to be special in the coming years.”
The growth curve is a big aspect in Taylor’s mind. Chemistry of the unit is crucial. "It takes time because you are continually working together with another linemate on any variety of combination blocks and it takes time to jell and click.”
He cites the 2014 Ohio State Buckeyes. “I watched them get their (butts) kicked in Week 2 versus Virginia Tech, but by the end of the season, they were one of, if not the most dominant, physical offensive lines in the country,” he said.
The Buckeyes' arch-rival, Michigan, "struggled to run the ball inside earlier in the season, and then they got 'healthy' against a banged-up Penn State team. I think that was the turning point. Often times, having some success and seeing it on film afterwards gives a unit the confidence needed to take the next step."
What Taylor now sees from Michigan is a "well-coached, very physical group that plays with good pad level, strength and extension. They’re not the most athletic group, but they give good effort and when they get out of position, they work their techniques in an effort to get back into position.”
The latter point is especially key with O-line play. "The job of the guy across from you is to not get blocked. It’s critical for an O-line to have the ability to recover when things don’t go as planned or anticipated after the snap of the ball, whether it’s because (the defender) stunts inside, your pad level is too high or your steps or hand placement wasn’t perfect."
Taylor and I were discussing the Wolverines’ line last week after starting left tackle Grant Newsome was lost for the season with a serious knee injury. The former NFL lineman told me he was very impressed with what he’d seen from redshirt sophomore Juwann Bushell-Beatty, the guy expected to take over.
“Watching the game tape, I thought they were rotating left tackles because he came in and there was no noticeable drop off,” Taylor said. "I liked that he was aggressive and it was clear that he knew what he was supposed to do. One of the first things I saw was a high level of play for a backup. He came in and dug out a defensive lineman who had an advantageous inside alignment in a short-yardage situation, meaning the D-lineman was already where he needed to be pre-snap ... so Bushell-Beatty had to cut the guy off. In football jargon, it’s a 'backside cutoff versus a 4i technique.' That’s not easy to do, and if he hadn’t, they likely wouldn’t have converted. I call those situations, 'Gotta Have Its,' and he did. That really speaks to coaching, technique and 'want to.'"
Another example of a high-level play that caught Taylor’s eye came from Wolverines right tackle Eric Magnuson on a delayed draw, where the 6-foot-5, 305-pound senior gets a two-for-one, a rarity on a running play. “Initially, he drove the inside shade off the ball, but then he notices that the backer is unblocked,” Taylor said. “He immediately eases up, takes his foot off the gas pedal and starts to sink and sift over to absorb and body presence the ‘backer. That took unbelievable awareness and ability, and is what coaches are talking about when they mention Football IQ or 'being a football player.'"
Mason Cole, the Wolverines' center, is another guy who impresses on film. A 6-5, 305-pound junior, Cole displays the kind of athleticism you’d expect from a guy who’d earned all-league consideration as a sophomore from Big Ten coaches. "I think he has pretty good awareness as well,” Taylor observed. "When the defensive line run 'games,' meaning they criss-cross and exchange alignments, he does a nice job of picking them up quickly. He anticipates very well. I also think he comes off the ball well in the run game. You’ll see the D-lineman’s pads pop when he comes off the ball."
The first things Taylor says he notices when he studies film are: Is there explosion and movement when they come off the ball? Do the lineman accelerate on contact or stop their feet? Do they have good contact balance? What’s their attitude or demeanor? Do they sustain their blocks after initial contact? Do they compete to win their one-on-one battles? How well do they recover when they get out of position?
“Offensive line, much like the game of football, is about leverage, and there are only two types for an O-lineman,” Taylor says. “Up/down, which is about pad level, and inside/out, which is about hand placement.”
Moore had a wonderful ability to simplify the complex, Taylor said.
“How would you push a car in the snow?” Moore asked his players when trying to teach them proper drive-blocking technique.
After listening to their theories Moore explained that you gotta keep your elbows in and have good body lean with a good balanced base and leg drive.
Every Monday during the season, Taylor and several of the other Moore Legacy Committee members (which have over 600 years of coaching experience) have a 3 p.m. conference call to compare notes, although the conversations about life in the trenches usually stretch out into text messages from late-night film sessions.
“I get from some of them messages like, ‘YOU GOTTA SEE WHAT LG 64 DOES TO THIS LB!’ We all clearly have issues, but it’s what we know. It’s who we are."
Michigan's defense is on a historic pace
Speaking of Michigan, I was on the sidelines this week for Arizona-Utah Saturday night for FS1 and didn’t get a chance to see any of the Rutgers-Michigan game, but at one point during a break in our game, I glanced at a box score and did a triple take. Michigan held Rutgers to 0-for-17 on third downs?! Digging a little deeper, the Wolverines forced Rutgers into 14 three-and-outs. I can’t recall stats like that ever for a Power 5 conference game.
The Wolverines are holding opponents to a nation-leading 12.2 percent on third down tries (10-for-82), which is far and away No. 1. Of course, it’s still relatively early in the season and the Wolverines' toughest opponents remain ahead on the schedule. But keep in mind that no defense in the past decade has been under 20 percent on this stat. Boston College’s 24.1 percent last year ranked No. 1 in the country and was the best in five years. That BC defense was also coached by Don Brown, who’s now running the defensive show in Ann Arbor.
Washington has a Heisman contender
I’m not surprised that Washington snapped its long losing streak against Oregon in resounding fashion. The Huskies are the class of the Pac-12 this year, and I’m very interested to see how much better their young offense continues to get. Sophomore Jake Browning, who is very accurate and anticipates really well for such a young QB, is playing at a high level. He’s up to No. 2 on my latest Heisman list.
He's completing 72 percent of his passes and has a strong 23-2 TD-INT ratio. Better still, in first half play -- before all these games turned into blowouts -- he's been at his best, completing 75 percent and throwing 15 TDs and zero interceptions.
Kyle Whittingham is not happy with Arizona
In our Utah game, the Utes had a staggering amount of false starts in the first half -- eight. Now, the Utes were starting their fourth-string center, Nick Nowakowski, a former walk-on guard who had never played center in an actual game in his life before this weekend.
But head coach Kyle Whittingham had a very specific explanation of why Utah had all the false starts, and he wasn’t very happy with Arizona even after the 36-23 come-from-behind win.
Utah's Kyle Whittingham was not happy with #Arizona tonight: pic.twitter.com/57Fg2CfJcA
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) October 9, 2016
Charlie Strong's Texas defense got shredded by Oklahoma
With Oklahoma beating Texas, 45-40, Saturday, the Longhorns have now allowed 198 points through five games. That point total is more than four FBS teams allowed through all of last season. UT was shredded by Lincoln Riley’s offense. The Sooners had a 300-yard passer (Baker Mayfield), a 200-yard rusher (Samaje Perine) and a 200-yard receiver (Dede Westbrook) in the same game for the first time in OU history and just the fifth time that’s ever happened for a FBS team. That’s obviously not the kind of start Charlie Strong would’ve liked to have seen after he took over the UT defense.
That said, I watched the game and still thought this Longhorn team is better, especially on offense. It looks a lot like what most of us expected before the season. This is still a team with 27 freshmen and sophomores on its two-deep, and essentially half the starting defense are sophomores. I’m very curious how Texas responds from here out. It feels like a lot of folks already have their minds made up about Strong. I’m not sure if 8-4 is going to feel any different than 7-5.
Meet Baker Mayfield
I spent some time with Mayfield for a feature that ran in our OU-Texas pre-game. He was a very good sport about it. This is the piece.
An impressive young quarterback to know
Name to remember: Khalil Tate. He’s still only 17 and the Arizona coaches had planned to redshirt the young QB, but injuries to both Anu Solomon and Brandon Dawkins have forced them to scrap those plans. The 6-2, 220-pound Tate is an ideal fit for Rich Rodriguez’s offense and their RPO game. He’s got as strong an arm as any quarterback Rodriguez has had, but also has very good touch. He doesn’t quite have Denard Robinson’s speed, but he does have terrific feet and is a very powerful runner.
Tate comes from LA prep powerhouse Serra High, the same place that produced Marqise Lee, Robert Woods and Adoree’ Jackson, among others. Tate produced the rare 2,000-yard rushing and 2,000-yard passing season in his senior season. His high school coach, Scott Altenberg, told me Tate is about as competitive as any kid he’s been around. Tate never wants to give up on a play, and so he plays every play like it’s the last play of the Super Bowl, Altenberg said. That can be a good thing and a bad thing. It was the latter at one point Saturday night when he extended a play before throwing a pick.
My hunch is there will be a lot better days for Tate and Arizona sooner than later, especially once they get dynamic freshman RB J.J. Taylor back next season from injury. Folks inside the Cats' program rave about that kid and his Noel Devine like elusiveness and burst.
Stat of the Week
It is stunning to see Stanford with Christian McCaffrey ranked No. 100 in the nation in rushing. The Cardinal ranked No. 19 last year. Worse still, they’re also No. 106 in fewest sacks allowed with 16 in five games, only four fewer sacks than they’d surrendered in 14 games in 2015.
Stat of the Week, Take II
Fordham’s Chase Edmonds ran for a Patriot League record 359 yards on just 17 carries against Lafayette, meaning Penn State’s new OC Joe Moorhead, the old Fordham head coach, had his old RB and his new RB, Saquon Barkley, combine for 561 rushing yards this weekend.
Stat of the Week, Take III
One common thread among elite teams this season -- sacks. The three teams tied for the nation lead in most sacks per game against Power 5 opposition (minimum of four games) are Alabama, Michigan and Washington with four per game. Next is Clemson at 3.75. Way down near the bottom is Notre Dame, which has just three sacks in five Power 5 games.
