Michigan Football, the 2020 Abbreviated COVID Season

[iam416]

In any event, this is an exercise in 2nd guessing Ohio State QB decisions that have produced over 8700 passing yards, 111 TDs and 11 interceptions in the past 2 seasons.

That's where we are.

[lineygoblue]

Well, good.

Now that we've established where both OSU and Michigan are, we can move on.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Put away your red pen. I got burrow right 2X. ..... and yes, it would have been a Burrow clone QB'ing osu v. LSU with the real Burrow under center in an NC contest and no, osu would have still lost to LSU.

[iam416]

it would have been a Burrow clone QB'ing osu v. LSU with the real Burrow under center in an NC contest and no, osu would have still lost to LSU.

That's a weird hypothetical, then. Cool.

[froot loops]

Isn't the more pertinent question is why can't Harbaugh! get these type of quarterbacks? He's the quarterback whisperer. You might work some permutation after the fact that OSU would have won a national championship with a certain combination but it seems to be a truly foolish argument. Those things are hard to win and OSU's last two splendid years have proven that.

[Niffla]

Isn't the more pertinent question is why can't Harbaugh! get these type of quarterbacks? He's the quarterback whisperer.

I think the quarterback whisperer aura is long gone at this point. He did pretty amazing things with Alex Smith and Kaepernick in the NFL, and did a nice job with Rudock I guess, but since? Speight was just okay, O'Korn was a borderline disaster by the end of his run, Peters went from potential savior to 3rd string seemingly overnight, and Shea, while he was probably above average, still overall ended his UM run as an underachiever considering he was the #1 overall qb recruit coming out of high school.

And while yes Andrew Luck was, well, Andrew Luck -- I mean sure Jim gets a lot of credit for recruiting him, but looking back Luck was just so good that wherever he ended up he was almost assuredly going to excel.

I think it was after Alex Smith and Kaep where Harbaugh really developed that quarterback miracle worker aura about him. Since coming back to Ann Arbor though (5 years ago) the qb play has been really just okay and nothing more.

[lineygoblue]

Isn't the more pertinent question is why can't Harbaugh! get these type of quarterbacks? He's the quarterback whisperer.

Echoing Niffla's excellent answer here, but just to add one additional point.

I don't think anyone on the planet would characterize Ed Ogeron as a quarterback whisperer, but dangit, Joe Burrow has turned into one of the best QB's in college football under Ogeron's coaching. Now, I don't think Ogeron made Burrow the great QB that he is, but he put him in a system that works, and surrounded him with players and coaches that helped him become great. Sometimes, that's the way it works out.

Coach Harbaugh doesn't have to be a QB whisperer to get Michigan on the right track. At quarterback, all he needs is a guy with natural QB talent, that can make plays when it counts.

There are other areas of need that must be addressed as well.

[froot loops]

For Burrow it is less about Ogeron and more about Joe Brady.

[WingsFan]

[lineygoblue]

Dang... that was one I wanted to keep

[WM Wolverine]

Nobody wants to work with Don Brown?

[iam416]

HARBAUGH!!! does.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Nobody wants to work with Don Brown?

No. Michigan is not alone in assistant coach moves.

I'm stating something you know, WM. Harbaugh hires good assistants just like Saban at Alabama does...... and he bitched about this at the end of the 2017 season I think it was when he claimed coaches and players had one foot out the doo in Bama's loss to Clemson.

Assistants like that want to move up and in this case, looks like Campanile wanted an NFL gig. I suppose you could argue the defection of Mattison and Washington to osu along with Campanile not leaving then sort-of unexpectedly leaving could indicate that "nobody wants to work with Don Brown," but I think my take is more likely.

One thing I think it important to watch: who will replace Campanile? The mgo diary poster I linked to up-thread criticized Harbaugh for not having a plan in place to replace all the NFL level assistants he brought with him as his assistant coaches/recruiters in his first year. They predictably moved on. That then created a mess in the 2017 and 18 recruiting cycle.

Assistant coaches moving up and out is something that happens all the time. The good ones are going to be pursued. HC have to have a plan to deal with that and it's not just the money cannon. The business world has similar problems: good employees have options and are pursued. CEOs absolutely have to have transition plans in place if their companies are to remain innovative and competitive. Same for CFB. Part of the game.

[iam416]

As long as your assistant coaches are moving up, it's all good. If they're accepting lateral positions, then it's bad (assuming you want to keep them).

Kerry Coombs left for the NFL to be a position coach. I personally think he had enough of the UFM gulag, but it might have just been difference challenge. (Coombs will be back at OSU if the Titans ever fucking lose).

The only loss that I think was reflective of the staff was Mattison. And there I think he didn't like being subordinate to Don Brown, and Ryan Day offered him a chance to do what he really wants to do. The Al Washington move was lateral, but he's from Columbus.

[Tom W]

Coach Harbaugh doesn't have to be a QB whisperer to get Michigan on the right track. At quarterback, all he needs is a guy with natural QB talent, that can make plays when it counts.

I wouldn't say that Harbaugh ISN'T a QB whisperer- it's just that he whispers in a language that too "high level" for a lot of (most) QBs to understand. He's had a lot more success with the "intellectuals" (Luck, Ruddock, maybe even Kaepernick) that were less talented than skilled players like Speight and Patterson.