My biggest questions going into Fall Camp

[LuCane]

Going into this Fall and season with managed expectations. Optimism for the future, but some level of caution as well. Perhaps that’s just PTSD. Maybe it’s founded on the reality of where I know we were and how much needs to be done to jolt our program in the right direction.

Here’s what I’ll look for during Fall camp (and the early parts of the season):

1. Will Coach Gattis’ offensive ‘identity’ formation lean toward TVD’s downfield and opposite hash abilities?
In his interview today, he mentioned he’ll run a personnel-driven offense. A few moments later, he said the Fall was about establishing the identity of the team through the offense. I don’t think it’s difficult to interpret his comments as wanting a physical brand of football. He mentioned how, while they may not have the depth they want on the OL, they’ve got the potential to be as good as anyone (or something to that effect). We’re all wondering what the offense will look like. The Fall will only give us some hints. Let’s see how TVD-driven it might look.

2. How will we hold up physically?
I must’ve spent the better part of the last two seasons complaining - in subtle and not so subtle posts - about our tackling and hitting in practice. People close to the program continuously mentioned how we hit less than they ever expected. It became obvious on gameday. I fully expect Mario to ramp up the physical nature of our practices. The way it needs to be done. We shall see what happens, but it’s exciting to be prepared for actual football again.

3. Which 2-3 defensive players will surprise us?
Everyone I’ve heard from says the players are *fully* bought into Coach Steele. They are genuinely excited. Stephenson and the Safeties are good bets to be at least solid, if not more, but we need at least a couple of surprise ‘leaps.’ One of the DTs? One of the Edge players? A surprise LB or CB?

 

[FrancisSawyer]

Being physical is welcome and it's obvious that Mario wants to make us a much more physical team. I think what everyone wants to know is if Gattis is going to run a conservative run first offense or if he is going to get creative and utilize TVD the way he needs to be utilized while still having a good ground attack.

As far as holding up physically I think we will see a team that is leaps and bounds more physical than we have been in many years.

As for surprises on defense, there are just too many candidates for me to even begin to guess. Having said that, I'll go with JHH taking it to the next level to go along with Couch being comeback player of the year. At LB I like Waynmon Steed to surprise.

 

[dycane]

Dunson and Davis my picks to emerge and surprise on defense…

 

[canes732]

DJ Ivey with real coaching ? Lol but for real my picks are T Couch and Harvey.

 

[CANEMC]

#1 - Will music be played?

#2 - Will the cleats be black for good?

#3 - Who will be ‘flyin around?’

 

[OldhamA]

Being physical is welcome and it's obvious that Mario wants to make us a much more physical team. I think what everyone wants to know is if Gattis is going to run a conservative run first offense or if he is going to get creative and utilize TVD the way he needs to be utilized while still having a good ground attack.

As far as holding up physically I think we will see a team that is leaps and bounds more physical than we have been in many years.

As for surprises on defense, there are just too many candidates for me to even begin to guess. Having said that, I'll go with JHH taking it to the next level to go along with Couch being comeback player of the year. At LB I like Waynmon Steed to surprise.

I think Gattis is smart enough to wee with the willy he's got.

He might want to run a creative, run heavy, physical offence, but we don't currently have the pieces in place to do that consistently.

He'll adjust accordingly.

 

[OldhamA]

#1 - Will music be played?

#2 - Will the cleats be black for good?

#3 - Who will be ‘flyin around?’

Will pants be above the knees?

 

[FrancisSawyer]

I think Gattis is smart enough to wee with the willy he's got.

He might want to run a creative, run heavy, physical offence, but we don't currently have the pieces in place to do that consistently.

He'll adjust accordingly.

I agree. I honestly believe Gattis will run an offense that is suited to the personnel he currently has available. However there is another angle to consider here. Mario has said on numerous occasions that TVD is the best QB in the country. Does anyone really think that the offense won't revolve around TVD's strengths? Does anyone seriously believe that Josh Gattis fresh off a Broyles award and a respected OC who wants to be a HC wants to be known as the guy who wasted TVD? Does anyone think that Gattis wants to fail to craft a creative scoring machine with the pieces he has in place? Gattis knows what is at stake here for UM and for his future.

 

[SinCityCane]

I think Gattis will take advantage of what TVD brings to the table...his play won't leave him much of a choice. While we almost certainly won't throw it as much as we did last year, we'll throw it more efficiently in this system with it's heavier use of the run game & playaction.

I'm confident that Mario & the elite staff he hired will have us playing physical, grown man football right off the bat. We have too many coaches who know what it takes.

My surprises on defense are Couch & Bissainthe. I think Jackson will be a difference maker - not sure how much of a surprise he should be considered.

 

[Canegrad89]

1. Will Coach Gattis’ offensive ‘identity’ formation lean toward TVD’s downfield and opposite hash abilities?
I hope the offense will be slightly skewed in favor of the passing game this year because: (i) the OL (while much better) may still not be great at run blocking (that will come in 1-2 years); and (ii) TVD is the best player on offense so you've got to maximize use of his talents. Thankfully, our blocking schemes and run design should be light years better than it was under Lashlee (no more 3 straight runs up the gut -- good times).

2. How will we hold up physically?
Just based on the spring game, tackling will be much improved and our defense will be more physical. I do think our players will be stronger this year after an offseason of S&C under Feld & his team. However, I don't believe we should try to impose our will on teams like ATM or we will lose. It will take a couple of years of stacking chips before we can lean on teams.

3. Which 2-3 defensive players will surprise us? Couch as comeback player of the year. Also, very much hoping that 1-2 of our guys on the D line will emerge as a true pass rushing threat. Hoping that Harvey will put it together this season & Moss will get some chances as he seems to be a playmaker (especially on 3rd downs).

In addition to the above, my biggest questions are:

1) Which of the WRs will emerge & really establish themselves as a leader (in addition to Restrepo)? There is talent in the group. Who will show the "dawg" in them and command more targets as a result of consistent performance?
2) Will the DL generate a consistent pass rush (without being overly reliant on blitzes)?
3) Will the LBs play as a cohesive unit?
4) Will Mallory exhibit greater physicality in his blocking? If he does, it will help the offense tremendously (and give him some much needed film of his blocking skills for the NFL draft). He's a talented pass catcher. Would love to see him play a more physical brand of football & lay some m@f@s out.
5) Will Thad Franklin start the season in great shape & run hard? If he does, he could be an absolute wrecker for us. I think he has great potential, if he's in top shape & runs hard. I'd love to see Roger Craig style knees pumping, "beast mode" running & making it a nightmare for opponents to tackle him.
6) Will we finally have some dynamic return men again? We need someone with great vision & some wiggle.
7) Will Special Teams become a competitive advantage again for us? Mario will get us there over time. That I'm sure of. Less sure as to whether that will be the case this year as Mario hasn't had time yet to stack chips for a couple of years.

 

[Dghustla]

It’s mainly PTSD for me.

Trying to trust that Coach Gattis won’t “forget half his playbook”

And that the offense will finally be dynamic to match the strength of our personnel and situational gameday coaching will improve hopefully a lot.

WR is a concern there is a lot of raw talent there… can at least 2 step up?

TVD put up great numbers the second half of
Last season. His hype is through the roof. Will he play like the top overall pick for the entire year?
Will he be an automatic completion when given time in the pocket?

How will we use Jaccuri Brown situationally?

How much improvement is a reasonable expectation for a super maligned Oline full of vets? Many on the board felt Lashlee could have helped the Oline out with better cadence and less predictability in his play calling.

What’s the plan/package for Rooster. He’s arguably our most explosive offensive player?

If Chaney stays healthy can he sustain the flashes of elite running ability he’s shown in the past…will all the depth at RB will he earn a chance to?

————

Defense

IMO we have 3 Elite safeties my main question there is: can they stay healthy enough and make enough plays to help out and make up for a woefully undermanned LB unit?

Who (if anyone) is going to finally break through as an elite Edge rusher? For all his faults Manny did do a decent job of getting and keeping long athletic edge guys on the roster. With a spring and summer in Mario’s physical development program is there actually stud in that bunch?

LT…is he going to play like LT or just be another Leonard? His name hasn’t come up a lot but he was an elite prospect and had spurts of dominance last year.

And for what feels like the 10th year in a row…

Ivey and Blades ….

I’ll just leave it at that!

Go Canes!

 

[Damiencane86]

I expect us to be improved running the ball and stopping the run. Arroyo was vote my breakout player on offense and Chase for defense. Skinner, Citizen, Kelly, and Bissanthe will be the freshmen with the most PT.

 

[DTP]

I still have PTSD from previous coaches saying “we’re going to tailor our schemes” and then when the games start, their scheme looks exactly like it did at their last job.

 

[Bender]

Am I the only one excited to hear by Coach Addae about player-led practices? With Stevenson as the leader?

 

[cway313]

#1 - Will music be played?

#2 - Will the cleats be black for good?

#3 - Who will be ‘flyin around?’

Don't forget #4 Will pants be above the knees?

 

[The Sphinx]

I only have two:

1. Can Mirabel and Mario improve our OL to the point that we can actually run the ball almost at will? We’ve got to be able to establish a ground game.

2. Can our Defense return to form - especially the front seven? Really hated to see our D regress last year.

 

[Canesfan1899]

I liked the hiring of gattis but my big concern is we become too run focused on offense. But at the end of the day just want to see the operation move like a well oiled machine whether it’s through the air or on the ground.

 

[JD08]

How many times have we heard about how impressive a player looks in practice just to see them be average at best on game day. I'd like to see one or two of them actually step up now that they have better coaching.

 

[423Hurricane]

I have the same sentiment - managed current expectations with optimism for the future with a certain level of caution. Every CFB team across the country has question marks this time of year. We just happen to have more ??? with all that’s transpired in the last 8 months.

But our question marks are mostly positive due to the staff Mario has assembled coupled with the new resources infused into the program. I’m trying to to temper my excitement but I haven’t been this excited for a Canes season in some time.

 

[Empirical Cane]

Going into this Fall and season with managed expectations. Optimism for the future, but some level of caution as well. Perhaps that’s just PTSD. Maybe it’s founded on the reality of where I know we were and how much needs to be done to jolt our program in the right direction.

Here’s what I’ll look for during Fall camp (and the early parts of the season):

1. Will Coach Gattis’ offensive ‘identity’ formation lean toward TVD’s downfield and opposite hash abilities?
In his interview today, he mentioned he’ll run a personnel-driven offense. A few moments later, he said the Fall was about establishing the identity of the team through the offense. I don’t think it’s difficult to interpret his comments as wanting a physical brand of football. He mentioned how, while they may not have the depth they want on the OL, they’ve got the potential to be as good as anyone (or something to that effect). We’re all wondering what the offense will look like. The Fall will only give us some hints. Let’s see how TVD-driven it might look.

2. How will we hold up physically?
I must’ve spent the better part of the last two seasons complaining - in subtle and not so subtle posts - about our tackling and hitting in practice. People close to the program continuously mentioned how we hit less than they ever expected. It became obvious on gameday. I fully expect Mario to ramp up the physical nature of our practices. The way it needs to be done. We shall see what happens, but it’s exciting to be prepared for actual football again.

3. Which 2-3 defensive players will surprise us?
Everyone I’ve heard from says the players are *fully* bought into Coach Steele. They are genuinely excited. Stephenson and the Safeties are good bets to be at least solid, if not more, but we need at least a couple of surprise ‘leaps.’ One of the DTs? One of the Edge players? A surprise LB or CB?

1. Season lives or dies on Gattis recognizing he doesn't have Michigan's OL and adjusts scheme accordingly.

2. We shall see how good the mustached tornado really is won't we?*

3. I believe S and LB rooms make a big leap if we are to believe what upgrades Steele and Strong bring over previous

*Side note: did you notice how many times Swasey was mentioned in Rolle's I am Athlete?