Who is Going to Fix Michigan Football's Terrible Offense

Tim Drevno resigned as the offensive coordinator at Michigan today.

To me, this is a bit of a shock. Don’t get me wrong, he has not done a very good job since he signed on when Michigan hired Jim Harbaugh. Drevno has been with Harbaugh at almost every stop he has been a head coach. But, his three offenses at Michigan have gotten progressively worse. Michigan’s offense was never the threat it could have been under Drevno and Harbaugh. Drevno’s best season was probably 2 years ago, but I think that had more to do with the experience and athletes they had as opposed to his play calling. He was very predictable as a play caller. My dad and I could call most things he was going to do before he did them. Opponents echoed this same sentiment. You knew on third and long that he was going to call a draw or screen. It was too easy to tell.

This past season with a ton of new, and inexperienced, but also very talented players, the offense really struggled, and Drevno was part of the problem. He never really trusted his QB, be it Wilton Speight, John O’Korn or Brandon Peters. He almost always gave way to the running backs on crucial downs. O’Korn got markedly worse under Drevno’s watch. Peters played fine, but his play book was very small. Hell, even Speight, before his injury, looked rough with all the new receivers.

I also was frustrated at his lack for picking a bell cow running back. Karan Higdon should have been the guy, with a little Chris Evans sprinkled in here and there. But no, he pushed guys like Ty Issac and Kareem Walker. Those guys are fine, but Higdon is far better. Drevno also totally went away from Khalid Hill, which drove me nuts.

The worst thing though, he did not have a single good call for third and long. As I stated before, he almost always ran a screen or draw. He was basically giving up the bank without a fight. He became a very frustrating coordinator for me to watch by the end of last season.

Where this move has me a bit confused, who will be the new play caller? Will it be Harbaugh? Will it be one of the many new assistants they’ve hired this offseason? I don’t know. I feel like Harbaugh already has a hand in what the offense does, so I’m sure that won’t change at all. But, who from the new staff could he possibly pick? The name that I’ve heard all day today is new receivers coach Jim McElewain.

I’m very conflicted about this. He was a very mediocre head coach at Florida, and the problem was the offense. Michigan was bad on offense last year, but Florida was much worse. He did an okay job at Colorado State, but never set the world on fire. Where he did excel was at Alabama as an offensive coordinator. That was what propelled him to be a head coach. So maybe, this will be the same, but I wouldn’t count on it. Where Michigan has big time talent on offense, Alabama gets the best of the best. They turned Lane Kiffin into a decent head coach. I just don’t know which McElwain Michigan will get. Will he be happy to be a coordinator, of is he just positioning himself to be a head coach again? I don’t know, and I’m a little scared to see. Maybe they will hire another person, a prominent person, to run their offense, but all of that will have to wait to see if Shea Patterson gets cleared to play.

Therein lies the biggest question. Did Drevno leave because Patterson won’t get cleared and he doesn’t want to deal with who is left behind? Or can he not work with Patterson because he is more of a dual threat guy and he’s used to pro style QB’s? Did he leave because of McElwain? Maybe.

This is all very confusing, and I hope Michigan and Harbaugh have a plan in place. Next season is a big season for everyone involved with the Michigan football program, and today’s news has other furthered my skepticism. We will see how this all plays out, but for now, I’m just scratching my head.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. May we recommend Ty as the new Wolverines Offensive Coordinator. He does have about 100 straight National titles with Michigan on NCAA Football for the X-Box. 

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Some Conflicted Feelings about Quarterback Shea Patterson Transferring to Michigan

Yesterday Michigan football got a pretty big name transfer to commit to their school. Shea Patterson, after a very short courtship, announced his decision to finish his college football career with the Wolverines.

I have a lot of conflicting feelings about this decision. I did not know anything about this kid until this past weekend. I don't pay attention to college recruiting stuff, and this kid was at Ole Miss, and since I do not watch the SEC, I never thought to pay any attention to him. After all the sanctions that were handed down on Ole Miss, due to their former coach Hugh Freeze, a bunch of players have decided to transfer. Much to my surprise, the big time college football pundits that I read and listen to were talking not only about this Patterson kid, but some other Ole Miss players that were coming to visit Ann Arbor. I'm all for having the best players competing for playing time at my favorite school. This makes everyone better. Why do you think Alabama and Clemson are always good? It is because they have just as good players on their bench as they do that see the field as starters.

So from a competition stand point, I couldn't be happier about this kid coming to Michigan. He is going to push Dylan McCaffery, Brandon Peters and any freshman coming to the school this season. But, I'm conflicted because I kind of liked what I saw from Peters at the end of this season. He went 3-1 as a starter. I legitimately believe that had he started the University of Ohio State game, the Wolverines would have won. I know his three wins came against Rutgers, Minnesota and Maryland, but he won those games. He also looked pretty good at Wisconsin until he got his head driven into the ground by a Wisconsin linebacker. I was kind of excited to see how he progressed during the bowl practices, and over the summer. I also read recently that Peters was given a scholarship offer over Patterson in 2016. The Michigan staff must have seen something in him that they liked a bit more over Patterson.

Which leads me to my next conflicted feeling. I know that Peters got the offer, but this Patterson kid, from what I have read, was the top QB prospect in 2016. He, according to all the recruiting websites, was the number one pro style QB. He played his high school football in Louisiana and Florida, but he was born in Toledo, and grew up a Michigan fan. Even with all that, they didn't offer him, but teams like Notre Dame, Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma, basically every other major program was on this kid. He chose Ole Miss, I'm sure because Freeze promised his family something crazy, and proceeded to play pretty well. I read that as a freshman he went for 2,200 plus yards and 17 TD's to 9 picks. In his sophomore season, prior to getting hurt very early on, he still threw for around 800 yards and 7 TD's. He is also very mobile, which Michigan hasn't had since Denard Robinson, and that was his best trait by far. This kid seems like a mobile guy, but he can also throw the ball all over the field. Maybe the hype is legit.

But yet again, another conflicting feeling. I'm not super stoked about all the transfer QB's that Harbaugh has brought in so far. I was not happy about Jake Rudock but he turned out okay. He was a very good game manager, and when he needed to throw for a ton of yards, he did. I was very high on John O'Korn, but man was I wrong on him. I never thought in my life that I would opine for Wilton Speight, but that is what O'Korn did to me. With 2 already established Michigan QB's on the roster, I don't know that they necessarily need Patterson. He has played in big time games, and played well, but so has Brandon Peters. Also, Dylan McCaffery was a big time recruit. Hopefully they all push each other to play the best they can.

Another odd feeling that comes to mind. This kid may not be able to play this coming season. He has to get a hardship waiver, which he has applied for, and while it seems like he will be granted it, what if he doesn't get it? How will all the bandwagon fans react to that news? Will it be another, "we have to wait until next season?" again scenario. I don't necessarily think so. I think Peters or McCaffery will be just fine. What Michigan needs to do is lean on that run game and get some better play from the offensive line. They already have a very good defense, and if the offense can average right near 28 points a game next year, they should be just fine.

But this all leads me to another conflicting feeling. What if this Patterson kid is as good as advertised, and they plug him in at QB and he thrives. I would love to have, not only a stout defense, but a very exciting offense. There were too many games this past season where Michigan let teams stick around way too long. If this Patterson kid is as good as advertised, and can play right away, it would be nice to see them score 28 in a half, and have the game well in hand by the middle of the third quarter. That would be awesome.

I don't know how all this is going to play out. If you listen to the pundits, they love it. They say this will solve all of Michigan's offensive woes. Hell, even Paul Finebaum said that this transfer turns Michigan into an immediate title contender. But, I was looking forward to a roster filled with Harbaugh recruits. I wanted to see how the kids he personally picked for his offense performed. We will have to wait and see, but I just don't know how to totally feel about this news yet. I bounce between good and bad every other day. I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens next year, and this, in no way, tampers my expectations for next season. Michigan should be much better, no matter who starts at QB for them in 2018.  

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is willing to play QB at Michigan if need be. The Wolverinbes could make hostory by starting a 35 year old freshman next season. Sounds like a good movie to us.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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