Top Five Storylines As Michigan Prepares For Spring Football
After a very disappointing 2020 campaign filled with cancellations and a strange contract extension process, Michigan football is ready to embark on the 2021 season. Normally under Jim Harbaugh, Michigan has begun spring practice sometime in March and finished sometime in April, usually with some sort of a spring game. That didn't happen at all last year and then U-M had to cancel three games due to COVID concerns. All of that likely led Harbaugh to moving things up a bit. The Wolverines will start spring practice on Monday per MLive and with that start come a lot of questions.
Since we won't really get to see any answers until the fall rolls around, I proposed a question this way earlier on Twitter.
"If you could attend Michigan's spring practices, what storylines would you be following most closely?"
1. Quarterback situation
It feels like the quarterback situation is at the top of every Michigan fan's list when it comes to what they want to know about. As Harbaugh embarks on year seven, that's a little alarming.
There has been a quarterback battle under Harbaugh just about every year, but this one might be the most wide open of them all because it really feels like three, or perhaps four, players all have at least a shot. Joe Milton and Cade McNamara both started games last year, but neither ran away with the job. Both played hurt and seemed to struggle more as the year went on, but they do have experience and showed flashes of being serviceable. Redshirt freshman Dan Villari is also worth paying attention to because of his size, athleticism and arm strength. He's never seen the field but he might've started last year against Ohio State had that game taken place. Finally, there's incoming freshman JJ McCarthy. He's a winner, he's talented and he's confident. He's already on campus so he'll be in the mix starting Monday.
It's going to be really interesting to see who emerges from that group. If it ends up being McCarthy, and he looks ready and succeeds early, that should set Michigan up for several years to come.
2. Mike Macdonalds' defense
If the quarterback situation isn't No. 1 for you, it's probably the defense under new defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald. He's been with the Baltimore Ravens since 2014 as an analyst, defensive backs coach and most recently as linebackers coach. As a young man in the profession (33 years old), those are some nice positions to hold, but he's never called a defense before and hasn't really done any recruiting either. He has learned under some solid, aggressive and blitz-happy coordinators Dean Pees and Don Martindale, which can make for some exciting defenses if the talent is there. He is billed as a very bright, very energetic coach and should get his guys to play for him right away. If he can utilize Michigan's talent, and put guys in a position to succeed, he should be fine.
With a very solid player at all three levels of the defense — Aidan Hutchinson, Josh Ross and Daxton Hill — Macdonald certainly has some resources at his disposal. It's just going to be really interesting to see if he runs a Ravens-like 3-4 and blitzes a lot. It makes sense that he would because that's what he's learned over the last six years.
3. Offensive line starters
With Sherrone Moore now coaching the group, Willie Allen now on the roster via transfer, Zach Carpenter in the transfer portal and Jalen Mayfield getting ready for the NFL Draft, there are certainly a lot of changes along the offensive line.
There are several guys who seem poised to start, including Allen, Karsen Barnhart, Ryan Hayes and Zak Zinter, so Moore certainly has a lot to work with. Throw in redshirt freshman Reece Atteberry, who seems like the leader in the clubhouse at the center position, Trevor Keegan who saw the field some last year and returning veterans like Chuck Filiaga and Andrew Stueber and Moore should definitely be able to find a serviceable five. What the unit will look like under Moore is a huge mystery, but he's a super smart coach and seems to have a knack for just flat out knowing what to do.
4. Running back rotation
We've talked about the running back rotation here several times because frankly, it hasn't made any sense for a while. Last year, we'd see Hassan Haskins absolutely kill it on a drive only to disappear for quarters at a time. We saw Blake Corum do some things that no other back on the roster could do, yet he only carried the ball 26 times all season. In hindsight, maybe there was an issue under the surface with Zach Charbonnet, as evidenced by him transferring to UCLA, but after setting the freshman record for rushing touchdowns in 2019 with 11, he carried the ball just 19 times in 2020. The position just hasn't been one of impact under Jay Harbaugh. With Mike Hart now on the staff and coaching the running backs, there's a strong belief the the position will now be utilized much better.
5. Culture
And finally, there's the entire vibe within and around the program. It was broken last year, perhaps beyond repair, but it could be salvaged. We'll get a chance to find out once the season starts. However, Jim Harbaugh and his coaches will know a lot earlier than that, and it starts on Monday.
It looked like some players had given up after some bad losses and Harbaugh hired five new assistants this offseason. That's obviously indicative of some culture problems. The early start of spring practice itself seems to indicate that Harbaugh is ready for a complete overhaul.
This type of thing is impossible to measure since there are no stats for it, but it's visible and it shows up in the win-loss column and how everyone conducts themselves after wins and, more importantly, after losses. In 2020, it was crystal clear that something was off. Harbaugh looked like a broken man, there were problems all throughout the program and it manifested itself in the form of a 2-4 record with one of those wins being a triple overtimer against Rutgers. Harbaugh would love to forget about last season, get things started on the right foot in 2021 and put it all on the line in a make or break year.
