Michigan Wants Its Stars to Get the Football — and It's a Good Plan

Jason Beck shares how he's going to make sure the stars get the football.

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When Michigan takes the field on Saturday night against Western Michigan, it will mark the first game under Kyle Whittingham and both new coordinators. On the offensive side of the ball, Jason Beck comes to Michigan after having back-to-back successful seasons at both New Mexico and Utah.

Beck has had the No. 2 rushing offense in the nation, along with a steady passing attack. The Wolverines haven't released a depth chart, but Beck knows who his stars are going to be, and who he wants to work into the equation.

And while the Wolverines might want to spread the ball around, Beck shared on Wednesday that he has a certain system in place to make sure Andrew Marsh, Jordan Marshall, and the other stars get the touches they deserve.

"I go in with a real specific thing for the top guys," Beck said. "Now, not everybody, but our top back, the next guy in, the receivers. I want to make sure our best players are getting the ball and getting touches, and I want to track that. So, for one reason or another, that might be off. 

I can, 'Oh, shoot, we don't have so-and-so enough targets, enough touches,' so we can catch up that way. There's always an element of, if somebody's just hot, man, keep it going. You know, we're not going to take away from somebody because he's playing so great. OK, let's keep that going. But, yeah, we want our best guys getting touches on the ball."

Expect a rotation of players

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Michigan is going to have its set starters, but Beck has packages for each skill player and personnel grouping. While Jordan Marshall is Michigan's starting running back, there could be a game that Savion Hiter technically starts because he fits in better with a play call.

Or at wide receiver, Channing Goodwin is the WR3, but there might be games that either Salesi Moa orJaime Ffrench fit better and they earn the nod. Either way, Beck is going to use seven WRs and he said the Wolverines could use up to eight offensive linemen in any given game due to their ability on the field.

"Yeah, we talk about it being the circle of trust. The guys that have demonstrated that they can get their job done consistently and make the play when it comes their way," Beck said. "So kind of after the main guys — and when I say main guys, Jordan Marshall's the No. 1 back, but Savion and Kuz will both play, both touch the ball. 

"In the receiver room, there's seven guys that will play. And up front, we'll see eight guys play. Because they've all demonstrated that, proven that, and will be in the mix, just starting in their personnel groupings and contributing to what we're doing."

We will see what it all looks like on Saturday when Michigan takes on Western Michigan, but one thing that is for certain — it's going to look different than what it has the past several years.

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