The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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THE WOLVERINE 2018 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ■ 75 WIDE RECEIVERS Bellamy thought the same of redshirt freshman Martin, especially after hearing other coaches he knew rave about the kid on the summer camp circuit. Martin missed most of his freshman year at U-M with an upper body injury, but he impressed before getting hurt and showed up again this spring. "Everyone said, 'There's this kid from Iowa that's pretty good,'" Bellamy recalled. "I started watching his film because I like to watch high school receivers across the coun- try and look at what my guys need to work on at the high school level. "One thing that caught my eye is how this savvy kid was. The kid understands the game of football and makes plays, and I ex- pect big things from him." The year of learning has prepared him to play in 2018, Martin said. "Knowing the personnel groups, the for- mations, the shifts, all of that," he said. "Be- ing able to process it quicker … I think we're all pretty well-rounded. "I think one of my strengths is releases, though other guys are [doing well]. We saw that as an area of improvement last year, so that was one of our focuses coming into spring ball … getting our feet active, swip- ing hands off us." Schoenle, a junior walk-on, caught only four passes for 41 yards a year ago, but Har- baugh has been singing his praises for two years. He and the other veterans — Perry and junior Eddie McDoom — might not have the ceilings of their younger counter- parts, but they do have experience. That could be important this fall, Bellamy said. Perry missed much of spring recover- ing from an injury, but he's back and ready to contribute. "I like Grant," Bellamy said. "He's the old man out there, and every group needs that old man who can move the chains. That's Grant's niche. He's a great router runner, a very reliable guy when he's playing." McDoom hauled in 11 passes for 81 yards last fall and has been also used as a weapon in the run game throughout his first two years on campus, rushing 24 times for 203 yards. "Who is that one guy that can run vertical routes and outrun DBs, who you can put in the slot that can run a decoy post route in the slot or a seam route that's going to bring two defenders with him? That's McDoom," the former U-M wideout explained. Bellamy noted there is still plenty to fig- ure out for the receiving corps as a whole, but he is complimentary of the pieces and thinks the group will be successful in 2018. "I think everyone has their role," he said. "The sooner the guys understand what their role is, the more productive that position will be." ❏ Last year at this time, Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh was preparing to face Jim McElwain's Florida team in the opener at the Advocare Classic in Arlington, Texas. This year he's working with him to figure out how to beat Notre Dame. McElwain's addition to the staff was one of the more intriguing hires in the NCAA offseason. "Coach Mac," as they call him, brings a wealth of knowledge to the room and a great reputation as an offensive mind. He helped lead Alabama to two national championships as its offensive coordinator from 2008-11 and was considered one of the great offensive coaches in college football during his time as the head man at Colorado State from 2012-14. "Even at Florida, he coached in a couple SEC championship games," said former Michigan wide receiver Ron Bellamy, the head coach at West Bloomfield High in southeast Michigan. "I think people focused on some of the issues that arrived rather than his success. "I love that they have Coach Mac. He's coming here with a wealth of experience being a former head coach, offensive coordinator and receivers coach. I think Coach Harbaugh made some splash hires with him on board and [former U-M standout] Roy Roundtree as a graduate assistant." McElwain was in his element and grateful during his trip to Paris with the Michigan football team this summer. He'll be heavily involved in play calling and game planning, though he insists he'll defer to second-year assistant Pep Hamilton when it comes to coordination. Sophomore Nico Collins is among those who credited McElwain and Roundtree with helping him up his game. "They're just teaching different ways to get open to the ball," Collins said. "Here, this isn't high school. I learned what you can get away with in high school, you can't get away with here." Bellamy has seen McElwain in action during practices, and he's been impressed. "He's a great motivator, and just talking to Coach Mac and knowing some of the guys he's coached and getting feedback on him, he's a great recruiter and a great developer of talent," Bellamy said. "He's very creative when it comes to play calls as we saw at Alabama, Colorado State. And I think if they don't have issues at Florida with injuries early on, that would have been a much better team." Regardless, McElwain is happy to be in Ann Arbor. "Coach Harbaugh has been a guy that I've followed for a long time," McElwain said. "And the opportunity to come learn from him and see how someone else kind of puts it together has been a lot of fun." — Chris Balas Jim McElwain Brings Experience, Expertise To The Wide Receiver Group McElwain was a head coach at Colorado State and Florida from 2012-17, following a suc- cessful four-year stint as the offensive coordinator at Alabama under Nick Saban (2008-11). PHOTO BY BRANDON BROWN