Michigan football set to open up offensive playbook in 2024

Photo: Isaiah Hole

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Convention would say that without J.J. McCarthy at the helm and with Michigan football breaking in a new quarterback, the Wolverines would get more conservative and lean more on their roots of running the football.

But general convention doesn’t necessarily win games. Go big or go home.

The maize and blue are still embroiled in a quarterback battle in fall camp with no clear winner at this moment. But the mentality remains the same as if McCarthy had returned for his senior year. There’s more experience, more on the table, and with a new offensive coordinator in Kirk Campbell — the former quarterbacks coach — there’s more opportunity through the air.

If that sounds like music to junior wide receiver Tyler Morris’ ears, that’s because it is. Morris shared that the plan for 2024 is to rely perhaps a little less on the run game while finding ways to make more explosive plays.

“I’m excited. I feel like he’s going to open the offense up a little more and maybe we’ll throw in some things and try some things that maybe we hadn’t in the past couple years,” Morris said. “I think he’s a great coordinator, real smart, and he’s definitely gonna give us multiple ways to attack defenses.

“I wouldn’t say there’s a lot of major changes, but I think we’re trying a lot more. We got a lot more put in. And just, I think opening the playbook a little more.”

The idea of Michigan finding multiple ways to beat you held true last year and looks to continue into this one.

Starting with East Carolina in Week 1 in 2023, the Pirates unexpectedly stifled the run game, so Michigan went with the aerial attack. The same thing happened the next few weeks, so the Wolverines kept at it. Then there’s the inverse of that, at Penn State, when the pass rush was so brutal that Michigan ran the ball exclusively in the…


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/michigan-football-set-open-offensive-145450503.html

Author : Wolverines Wire

Publish date : 2024-08-07 14:54:50

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