After injuries reshuffled the offensive line on Saturday against UTEP, head coach Kyle Whittingham provided a pair of crucial updates on the Inside Michigan Football Radio Show:
“Jordan [Marshall] will be available unless there’s a setback,” Whittingham told host Jon Jansen.
“Andrew Sprague, gosh, that’s a tough question,” Whittingham continued. “I think, you know, it could be anywhere from this week to several weeks, and so we just don’t know.”
With backup tackle Andrew Babalola already out indefinitely,
Sprague’s status puts an uneasy strain on the unit.
However, Whittingham was particularly pleased with their play, and 185 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 42 carries bodes well for future matchups:
“Those are the two areas that have really started to get some traction,” Whittingham said. “Offensive line played their best game of the season on Saturday, and obviously Bryce played his best game.”
Underwood, who went 19-of-25 for 223 yards and two touchdowns, looks more comfortable in this new offense every game:
“I think it’s in his read progression in the throw game. He’s been able to go through his reads in a much more timely fashion,” Whittingham said.
His favorite target was wide receiver Andrew Marsh, who hauled in a team-high 10 catches for another team-high 105 yards and a score. It is still early, but he and JJ Buchanan might be the strongest wide receiver duo the program has seen in recent history.
Marsh echoed the improvement theme, and these upcoming Big Ten tests will prove if this offense has taken a step, or if the 52 points were a product of the competition:
“I feel like the team, we performed — probably not our best performance — but we’re definitely getting back to true Michigan Football,” he said.
“You know, we’ve been a little bit hit and miss in the first two games, but we really got things under way in that second half on Saturday, and good to see the offense click on all cylinders,” Whittingham added.
Inside wide receivers coach (yes, inside wide receivers) Marques Hagans joined the show later and discussed the versatility of his group. Beyond Marsh and Buchanan’s big days, freshman Salesi Moa reached the end zone for the first time and fellow freshman Travis Johnson recorded his first reception.
They both took carries, too:
“They can be inside. They can be outside. They can be in the backfield. They can play tight end. They can do it all,” Hagans said.
Hagans also preached unselfishness. There are only so many targets to go around, and Underwood can not feed everyone heavily:
“I think the main thing is they got to understand that some concepts do call for complementary routes, where you got to run a route to open up another route,” Hagans said.
Yet…
“You have to expect the ball every single time, ‘cause you can run that concept 70 times, and the ball will never come your way, and then you’ll be in the biggest game of your life, and they blow a coverage or someone falls down, and the quarterback throws it, and you’re not expecting it,” he added.
Now, the Wolverines have a chance to build on this momentum at home against Iowa this weekend. For Whittingham, all these games in Ann Arbor have been a new treat:
“That’s another very positive thing is eight home games is something I’ve never experienced, and so that’s, you know, very welcome, especially when you get a crowd like what we have at the Big House,” Whittingham said. “That’s a huge advantage.”
