The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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8 THE WOLVERINE MAY 2019 O ctober 21, 2017 doesn't carry pleasant memo- ries for Jim Harbaugh or Michigan football watchers in general. Something germinating on that miserable evening could still lead to many smiles around Schembechler Hall once au- tumn 2019 arrives. That night, the Wolverines drew a black eye in a white out at Penn State, 42-13. Offensive guru Joe Moorhead drew up a plan to beat the Wolverines, and the Nittany Lions ran with it. The Wolverines weren't the only victims of that offense, by any means. Penn State aver- aged 41 points a game, hanging 66 on Maryland and 56 on Ne- braska while also beating Wash- ington 35-28 in the Fiesta Bowl. Why does any of that matter when the Wolverines take the field this fall? Simple. Every snap of that season entered the whir- ring computer inside the skull of new U-M offensive coordinator Josh Gattis. He served as the wide receivers coach and passing game coordina- tor under Moorhead. Last year, he worked as co-offensive coordinator and wideouts coach at Alabama, which merely averaged 45.6 points per game, hung 65 on Arkansas, 58 on Tennessee and 45 on Oklahoma in a College Football Playoff semifi- nal to reach the national champion- ship game. There's no question, Gattis knows what good offense looks like. Now it's all about replicating some measure of such overwhelming ef- fectiveness in The Big House and beyond. Harbaugh appears convinced he will. So much so, that when he caught wind of Gattis readying to bolt from Bama after a year to be- come Maryland's offensive coordi- nator, he intercepted that pass like Charles Woodson on a leaping one- hander in East Lansing. Now, all of Gattis' knowledge gets injected into a pro spread at Michi- gan Stadium. "I've been fortunate enough to have been around some pretty good offenses," Gattis said near the end of spring practice. "I've been fortunate to be around some pretty good play- ers. I truly believe in what we're do- ing offensively, because I've seen it be successful. It's been successful in a number of different places. "The kids were able to see that, and they were able to go out and execute." It's not a tough sell, putting on an Alabama video and telling a quar- terback, running back or wideout, "Hey, we want our offense looking like that." Making it happen is always the toughest part. But Gattis finds him- self surrounded by talent more than willing to give it a go. "I was just excited," senior quar- terback Shea Patterson said when the new deal went down. "I watched Alabama a lot last year. As soon as he came in, day one, we got with the installs and looked it over with him. "I just couldn't wait to get on the field." Harbaugh couldn't wait to get Gattis into the fold. So much so that he was willing to go hands off with the offense and allow both his coordinators to do what they do. It wasn't hard, Harbaugh noted on his "Attack Each Day" podcast. Success tends to shout, without saying a word. "You can just see the résumé, the track record of success when you look at Josh as a coach," Harbaugh noted. "And the development of players really jumps out at you right away. Wherever he coaches, they are really successful at the highest level. "[He coached an] All-Amer- ican at Western Michigan, All-American at Vanderbilt, a couple at Penn State, a couple at Alabama as well." There's plenty of potential at Michigan. Harbaugh's teams have been knocking at the door. A higher-powered offense could be the key to smashing it down. "Coach Harbaugh has been amaz- ing to me, just the support he's given our offense," Gattis stressed. "He hasn't been involved at all. He hasn't stepped in, and I think that's one of the greatest attributes of a great head coach. "A lot of people have put a lot of questions and comments out there in the spring. This is a sign of what great head coaches do. They're will- ing to change." Harbaugh's challenge has crystal- lized over the past three seasons, if it wasn't already completely clear. Change the end of the season. Gattis is fully on board. "Every day has been like living on cloud nine," he said. "It's been a dream. All the work and the prepa- ration it's taken to get to this point, now to be able to run my own of- fense and be in charge, my brain doesn't stop thinking about the next play." Neither does Harbaugh's. His lat- est play might be the biggest yet. ❑ Editor John Borton has been with The Wolverine since 1991. Contact him at jborton@thewolverine.com and follow him on Twitter @JB _ Wolverine. WOLVERINE WATCH JOHN BORTON Josh Gattis Ready To Step On The Gas Senior quarterback Shea Patterson was excited when Gattis was hired, noting he "couldn't wait to get on the field" and begin working in the new coordinator's offense. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN