Name: Nate Schoenle
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 202 lbs.
High school: Ann Arbor (MI) Gabriel Richard
Position: Wide receiver
Class: Redshirt junior
Jersey number: #81
Last year: I ranked Schoenle #53 and said he would be a backup slot receiver (LINK). He played in seven games and made 3 tackles on special teams.
TTB Rating: N/A
Schoenle was the walk-on receiver with all the hype in 2017.
That hype fizzled.
Then in 2018 it was Jake McCurry.
Now going into 2019, all the hype is about new offensive coordinator Josh Gattis and #speedinspace. I’m interested to see how that plays out on the field. Michigan has the choice to play experienced guys with limited upside (Schoenle, McCurry) or inexperienced players with that aforementioned speed component (Giles Jackson, George Johnson III, etc.). Even though Jim Harbaugh has a history of playing those trusty types, he has admitted handing over the reins of the offense to Gattis.
Gattis’s former employer, Alabama, went 14-1 in 2018, and only five (5!) wide receivers caught passes, all of them scholarship guys and only one of them who wouldn’t be labeled as speedy (Derek Kief). By comparison, Michigan spread the ball out to seven wideouts, and I don’t know that the likes of McCurry, Grant Perry, and Oliver Martin would be characterized as being speedy. Granted, Alabama had more overall talent to work with, but Gattis’s history suggests that he’s going to get his playmakers the ball rather than try to involve everyone. And I think that’s the way to go.
This post got off track a wee bit, but the point is that offensive contributions from the likes of McCurry and Schoenle will probably be minimized this season. On the plus side, both players have shown the ability to contribute on special teams, so they still have value to the team.
Prediction: Backup wide receiver, special teamer
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Time to vent. I was going to throw this up on the Board Venting thread but since you’ve brought it up I’ll post it here.
Harbaugh’s public & completely handing the Offense reins to Gattis strikes me as a very Machiavellian move on Harbaugh’s part. In Machiavelli’s “The Prince” he describes Cesar Borgia, aka The Prince as hiring a guy named Remirro de Orca to sorta be a second in command and “whip the people into shape”.
As time went on and Borgia’s strategy wasn’t working it became easy for him to remain in Power by blaming the failures on de Orco and having him executed. This move made the people all love Borgia all the more!
Prince Harbaugh has made this move before: Baxter, Hamilton, Drevno, etc and it appears as if Gattis is the next de Orca. IF the Offense turns out to be great , then Harbaugh will be worshipped even more (ala David Shaw doing him right at Stanford) and if not Gattis will be another Hamilton getting executed all the while Harbs will continue to not get the blame but will get the credit. Chuckle
Smart ‘Teflon Don’ moves by Jimmy…………….Intjohn
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I am far from being convinced that Harbaugh has “handed the keys” of the offense to Gattis, or that our offense will be significantly different from last year. We’ll know for sure by the end of September, based on the number of MGoBlog posts trying to excuse a predictable, vanilla offense with the tired old “the coaches don’t want to give away the playbook!”
In any case, if Harbaugh can’t get beyond chronic 9-3ism this year, any excuses are going to start to ring hollow. He will have had five years to get his coaching staff and roster looking the way he wants. If he can’t take that step up this year, then when?
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I’m not sure I believe that Harbaugh has “handed the keys” to Gattis either. What I find way more interesting tho is Harbaugh publicly announcing it. Harbs has a well entrenched if not quirky reputation of keeping things very close to the vest and then suddenly a resounding if not deafening Public Proclamation; I’M HANDS OFF, ITS ALL GATTIS RUNNING THE OFFENSE!
To me a very Un Head Coach thing to say and since Harbaugh seems very calculating with public verbage it put me on notice as to what is his motive in stating this publicly. The only thing I can realy come up with is that it sets Gattis up for ‘the fall’ if ‘speedinspace’ doesn’t pan out all the while deflecting such a failure away from Harbaugh.
Again, a very Machiavellian move……………intjohn
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I think you guys are being way too cynical.
Previously, he had guys he had worked with before (Hamilton, Drevno, etc.) that he may not have wanted to “insult” by saying, “Yeah, Tim Drevno is our offensive coordinator.” Okay, then what the hell is wrong with Pep Hamilton? Is he unable to call an offense? Is he just a WR coach or a QB coach? And what is Jim Harbaugh doing? Etc.
People talked about it before, and they said “WHO’S IN CHARGE?!?! THERE ARE TOO MANY COOKS IN THE KITCHEN!!!”
Now he hires an offensive coordinator, publicly names him the offensive coordinator, and…gets criticism for doing it.
This is a classic case of, “Damned if I do, damned if I don’t.”
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I chuckle once again as I’m reminded of George Carliin’s words:
“Behind every cynic is a disillusioned Idealist.”
The Michigan Fanbase was extremly idealistic when Harbaugh was brought to Michigan and his lack of on the field accomplishment after 4 years has Yes deflated practically everyone and yes cynicism is, over time, a natural occurance of the overall situation.
I don’t think I’m being cynical but rather simply trying to understand the underneath motivations of a kinda interesting personality. I don’t realy care if Harbaugh runs RR’s offense, triple option, Power I or T or the Single Wing………..
Want I would like to see is , I think, what everyone wants: Beat OSU sometime and accomplish some kind of championship – until he starts doing this I think he ought to STFU and……….
“Just Coach The Team”…………..INTJohn
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