With a new coaching staff in Ann Arbor, there’s always the danger of possible square pegs and round holes. However, the way new Michigan football offensive coordinator Jason Beck describes his evaluative process, what he wants to run and what it might look like in Year 1, it’s less about what he prefers and more about who is in the locker room.
Right after being hired, new coach Kyle Whittingham shared the plan is to run an 11-personnel base offense (one running back, one tight end, three wide receivers). But Beck says that will be entirely dependent on the talent in his room. Because the most important thing is molding the attack to the talent.
He shared more with Jon Jansen on the In the Trenches Podcast.
“We want to install kind of a base of what we’re going to do, what we’ve had success with, what’s been good for us,” Beck said. “But we’re very much driven by the personnel, and so we’ll adapt to the offense, to the people we have and what they do do well, so we’ll be versatile that way. So, personnel will we be more 12, more 11, more 10? That will totally be driven by the players in the program, and who gives you the best chance to score points to win games. But a lot of it’s driven by the quarterback, what does the quarterback do well, and we want to build the offense to his strengths and his talents. And so that can look different based off who the quarterback is and what they do well.
“After that, we want to look at the O-line. What can the O-line do? Because there’s no sense in doing stuff if the O-line can’t block it up at a high level. So we look at what the O-line can do, and then after that, it’s all the skill guys we’re putting out there with them. And so it’s molding the offense to that. So at first it’s kind of put in the base stuff, evaluate, see who’s emerging, see what guys are doing really well, and then start building the offense towards those strengths and those capabilities.”
Just because there is a bit more of a focus on the skill position players and the quarterback play doesn’t mean Michigan football will abandon its roots. As Beck noted, it might start with the quarterback, then flow through the offensive line, but all that also leads to what he also deems of paramount importance: having a powerful, dynamic running game.
Beck will be set up for success there, with Jordan Marshall and Bryson Kuzdzal returning, as well as the addition of five-star freshman Savion Hiter coming in.
So, much like we’ve seen in recent years in Ann Arbor, running the football will continue to be a focus, if not the bread-and-butter for the Wolverines with Beck overseeing the offense.
“You have to be able to run the ball and be physical and attack,” Beck said. “Be able to attack teams that way. So, having said that, now you also want to be able to throw it and be balanced, be dynamic, really attack teams. And so that thing will have been flow — I’ve been a part of, like, we really throw the ball at a high level and then, like this last year we’re running it at a real high level, and just throwing it efficiently enough and so that will kind of play out as the players and the personnel kind of show what they’re capable of and how we build this thing.
“But there’s no doubt, it’s always going to start with being physical, be able to run the ball. Because anytime you can outrush the other team, you’ve got a great chance to win the game. Now you’ve got to be balanced enough and dynamic enough doing both, but you’ve got to be physical and be able to run the ball.”
Michigan is in winter conditioning. Spring ball is scheduled to begin March 17 and the spring game is April 18.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Jason Beck details how Michigan will tailor offense to personnel
Reporting by Isaiah Hole, Wolverines Wire / Wolverines Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
