The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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MAY 2019 THE WOLVERINE 21 BY JOHN BORTON G one are the days when a spring "game" represents any sort of knowledge rev- elation, if it ever did. The risk of injury with shortened rosters looms too great to roll out a Bo Schembechler-style, full-contact war of attrition. Plus, more information gets out of spring practices than it used to, so the plusses of early arrival fresh- men like wideout Mike Sainristil and tight end Erick All have already been discussed. So when the Wolverines took the Michigan Stadium field April 13 for an open practice/controlled scrimmage, no jaws dropped. The event did allow for reflection on what took place over the past month, though. Here are five items underscored over the course of the spring. The list isn't exhaustive, but it is significant in Mich- igan's charge toward the 2019 season: NEW OFFENSE MET WITH CHEERS Nobody's going to greet a new of- fensive coordinator by going to the press with, eh, the new offense is okay. I'm not that impressed with it. But the player response to Josh Gat- tis' up-tempo spread has involved much more than politeness or hierar- chical awareness. Senior quarterback Shea Patterson insists he feels made for the new scheme, and others agree, watching him operate with it. Meanwhile, last year's backup quar- terback, redshirt sophomore Dylan McCaffrey, isn't conceding anything in regard to who might start this year. Nor should he. He feels at home in Gattis' "speed in space" approach as well. "I'm really enjoying it," McCaffrey said, following the April 13 exhibition. "We're moving at a much faster pace. The offense has a lot more energy, and I'm loving it. I think come season time, it gives a lot of our players a lot of op- portunities to make plays. "We have a group of athletic quar- terbacks, and this offense allows the quarterbacks to be athletic. That's go- ing to be good for us." So will Gattis, Michigan quarter- backs agree. A vibrant force at 35 years old, he's impressed others not just with what he draws up, but how he goes about his business. "The biggest thing is the energy he brings to the offense," McCaffrey said. "He gets all of us going, playing harder than we have before. Especially at the quarterback position, he does that." Energy without direction goes no- where, and that's not the case here, Patterson predicts. Even relatively early in his coaching career, Gattis spent several seasons at Penn State under offensive guru Joe Moorhead before working for Nick Saban at Ala- bama last season. Gattis has been involved with strong offensive football, and it shows. Patterson noted he had watched a lot of Alabama football last year, which made him so excited to start working with Gattis that he "couldn't wait to get on the field." Now, he can't wait to get on the fall camp field with a healed-up offensive roster and a new plan in hand. He and the rest of the Wolverines on offense expect it to be a potent one. NEWCOMERS ON OFFENSE IMPRESS Michigan used to embrace talking about freshmen like it would wearing green-and-white alternative uniforms. Rookies were not to be seen or heard about until production forced the issue on an actual game day. Not so much anymore. Two early arrivals in particular have gotten the thumbs up from head coach Jim Har- baugh and from their teammates. Sain- ristil and All simply proved too adept on the field to ignore when it came time to talk. Sainristil, the 5-10, 179-pound wide receiver out of Everett, Mass., showed some flashes in the spring game, ex- hibiting his quickness and speed. That was only a glimpse at what's been tak- ing place all spring, those watching regularly noted. Harbaugh's head turned on far more than receptions, cuts and speed. "He is a tough player who gets his pads low on blocks," the head coach stressed. "He's really been outstand- ing. "He's getting open. He's fast. He's added a level of speed and quick- ness to our offense that has been out- standing." McCaffrey proved equally im- pressed. "Oh, Mike, he's awesome," the third-year quarterback said. "He's playing great. I love the energy he brings to practice, too. Coming in as early as he did, a lot of guys don't think they can make an impact. He's a guy who, the first day he walked in here, he started making an impact. "He came in, bright-eyed, with a smile on his face, and played like it, too. He's been a great receiver for us throughout spring ball." With snaps available this spring due to injuries, Harbaugh went so far as to say Sainristil is "on his way to cementing a starting spot." All, meanwhile, arrived at Michi- gan amid a bit of uncertainty for tight ends. Gattis hadn't demonstrated where they fit in his offense, but the 6-5, 225-pounder out of Fairfield, Ohio, appeared unconcerned. He just went about opening eyes, including those of the head coach, throughout winter into spring. U-M tight ends coach Sherrone Moore noted: "He's going to do ev- erything he can to win. He's tough as nails, he's physical, and he catches everything. He has like suction [cups] for hands. He's going to be a really good player for us. "For a freshman … he'll throw his face in the fan. He doesn't care who it is, whether it's a linebacker, if it's a defensive end. He's a physical, phys- ical kid. And in the pass game, once he knows the route he's supposed to run, he runs it extremely fast and he LESSONS LEARNED Five Takeaways From The Spring The new up-tempo, spread offense that Shea Patterson operated out of this spring was noticeably different than what the Wolverines have previously done under Jim Harbaugh. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN