Taco Charlton (#33, image via Zimbio)
Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . someone with speed. Eddie McDoom, Jehu Chesson, Jabrill Peppers, Chris Evans, Jourdan Lewis, anyone. There’s a saying everyone’s heard, and that saying is “Speed kills.” Michigan hasn’t had a ton of speed for the past few seasons, but the roster isn’t entirely devoid of those players. What I didn’t see on Saturday was a great effort to get those fast guys the ball in space. It was De’Veon Smith (one of the slower backs in recent Michigan history), Jake Butt, and Amara Darboh touching the ball most of the time. Out of 40 non-Speight rushing attempts, only 12 went to explosive players (Chris Evans had 6, Jabrill Peppers had 4, and Jehu Chesson had 2). Out of 23 receptions, only 2 went to explosive players (Jehu Chesson had both), unless you count Darboh. In my opinion, that’s only 14/63 touches for players who are dangerously speedy, and that’s not enough. Additionally, if you’re going to use Peppers on offense, you have to be more creative. He either has to play more offense so the defense forgets about him a little bit, or the coaches have to use him the same amount but in ways defenses haven’t seen yet.
Hit the jump for more.
Let’s see less of this guy on offense . . . Jabrill Peppers running the zone read option. He’s keeping it, and you don’t have to worry about the pass. Next.
Let’s see more of this guy on defense . . . Lavert Hill. I don’t know which bowl game will end up inviting Michigan, and we obviously don’t know their opponent. But if Michigan has an opportunity, they should get Hill some more live snaps. He’s going to be counted on in 2017 to start, and he hasn’t had a ton of reps. If – but only if – Michigan has an opportunity to get him some snaps in the bowl game, they should. There’s no need to play Jourdan Lewis and Channing Stribling longer than absolutely necessary.
Let’s see less of this guy on defense . . . Delano Hill. This is kind of a two-for-one deal with the category above, but I would also like to see the heir to the strong safety throne get some more snaps. Play Hill for as long as needed, but otherwise, the coaches seem to like Josh Metellus and/or Khaleke Hudson, so get them on the field in the bowl game. Experience is very important at the safety positions, and the only guy with extensive time on the field is Tyree Kinnel, who will be a junior next year.
Play of the game . . . Wilton Speight’s 5-yard touchdown throw to Amara Darboh on 4th down in the first overtime. There were a lot of outstanding defensive plays – and few outstanding offensive plays – but this was a crucial play that kept Michigan’s hopes alive. After Ohio State QB J.T. Barrett scored on a 7-yard touchdown run in the first overtime, Michigan needed a touchdown and the extra point to stay alive. After a very questionable 3rd down run by De’Veon Smith that went nowhere, the Wolverines were down to their last gasp. Speight dropped back under pressure and lofted a ball to the back of the endzone, where Darboh came free for a diving catch, cradling the ball perfectly for the touchdown. It was one of just a couple plays that were truly do-or-die situations, but the Speight-to-Darboh connection came through.
MVP of the game . . . Taco Charlton. Charlton has had some good games in his career, but he saved his best for (almost) last. He continuously terrorized Ohio State’s offensive tackles and quarterback J.T. Barrett for a career-high 9 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, and 2.5 sacks. Not only did he show some excellent pass rushing skills, but he made a couple hustle plays from behind, too. Maybe it was because it was Ohio State (he’s from Pickerington, OH) or maybe things just finally clicked for him or maybe OSU’s tackles are just bad, but Charlton might be showing up in the nightmares of Barrett, Jamarco Jones, and Isaiah Prince, especially if the Buckeyes had lost.
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I agree that Peppers should be used on offense conventionally… enough of this gimmicky packages, line him up as a tailback or in the slot and either use him as a decoy or actually give him the ball and see what he can do.
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They’ve tried that (e.g., OSU last year). It doesn’t get you much more than what Smith and Evans have produced.
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Still better than his zone read package that gets you nothing
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Not much of a bar. It’s perplexing that they didn’t have a call ready for the typical response to the predictable zone read. Better off running a straight run-play with 10 blockers.
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I agree, a QB power, or fake a tunnel screen and just take off… Denard made a living doing that although he was somewhat of a passing threat. It just feels like Peppers is being misused, similar to the way the previous regime bungled the whole Denard/Devin situation.
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It makes me wonder … if Peppers had any passing ability at all, don’t we think it would have been displayed somewhere in the season to really freak out defensive coordinators? But if memory serves, he did throw a pass once … back to Speight I think … which then makes me doubly-wonder why that wildcat play was *always* Peppers keeping.
It’s a head-scratcher.
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I think Peppers had a few Run-Pass options. Some of these were legitimate decisions by him.
Maybe they felt they had to get the OSU D thinking about the zone read before calling for the big surprise play, but as with the Morris stuff, we never got the payoff. They ran what was expected and teams shut down the predictable. They seemed to be too conservative.
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I’ve purposely stayed off of the internet for the past 24 hours, so this may be written elsewhere. But aside from the officiating, I thought one of Michigan’s biggest obstacles was the vanilla play calling by Harbaugh.
All year I saw jet seeeps and Peppers at wildcat… and I thought that Jim was setting something up specifically for the OSU game. I have no doubt that the program is on the right path, but I thought that Jim’s performance yesterday was disappointing.
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I would expect Clark and Watson to start at CB next year.
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You think Clark gets a 6th year? And that he’d be ready?
I’d like to see one of the younger guys pass Watson, but maybe he does improve… we’ll need it
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I don’t know if Clark would get a sixth year, but if he can, then I’d be in favor of him starting.
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I’d expect so until given reason not to. The NCAA isn’t always consistent but they’ve granted eligibility for a lot of 6th year guys, often with more dubious rationale than would apply to Clark.
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I don’t see Harbaugh going the development route. Last year the departing seniors got about every snap they usually got. Plus Michigan’s had plenty of opportunities to play Hill and other backups all year and yet plays the starters deep into blowouts. That won’t change. If anything, Harbaugh seems to look to build up the highlight reel for the NFL bound players – of which there are so very many on this team.
The guys that will get marginalized in the bowl IMO are the ones they are looking to encourage to seek transfers.
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Agree here. Unfortunately, building depth through playing time hasn’t happened yet under this staff
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While I’d like to see more than we’ve seen of it in blowouts, I think most development happens in practice.
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I thought Gedeon was real good again. If I had a vote, I’d give him the most improved award among guys who got minutes last year. I think Gedeon has a chance to make somebody a pretty good three down LB at the next level. He might be mobile enough and has a pro linebacker’s frame. Charlton would be a close second on the most improved thing.
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