At the time of writing this (before Week 5’s games), the Michigan Wolverines lead the country in rushes of 50 or more yards with five. Michigan only managed four such rushes over the last two seasons combined
(28 games).
What changed? How is Michigan able to consistently manufacture explosive plays on the ground week after week? Firstly, having a burner for a running back certainly doesn’t hurt, nor does playing Central Michigan and New Mexico in the first few games. But going deeper, Michigan has done a great job of modernizing its rushing attack without sacrificing its identity under first-year offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey.
Let’s check the tape for a few examples.
Unbalanced Mammoth Personnel G/H Counter vs Oklahoma
Gap-scheme runs have been a staple of Michigan’s offense for the better part of a century. And with their backs against the wall in Norman, Lindsey and the Wolverines came out of halftime with an old favorite.
The Wolverines lined up with seven offensive linemen (from left to right: Blake Frazier, Lawrence Hattar, Evan Link, Nathan Efobi, Greg Crippen, Brady Norton, Andrew Sprague), and dialed up a classic G/H Counter play. On this specific call, Efobi and Max Bredeson are going to pull to the right into the boundary, hoping to create space on the short side. But, as is always the case with Counter, over-pursuit could open up a massive backside alley.
At the snap, Efobi and Bredeson pull, but the line is already being challenged. If running back Justice Haynes hits this frontside, he probably picks up a decent chunk of yardage. But look at the safeties — both No. 3 and No. 22 are slow-playing this to hit front side and would make the tackle after a gain of maybe five or so yards. Now, this is where Haynes becomes deadly; he presses the frontside hole to draw the safeties out of position before one-cutting to the backside and taking off. Credit to Link and Hattar for the excellent seal blocks on the backside to create a lane big enough to drive a truck through.
The only other player that could have made a stop was the backside corner No. 4, but due to the threat of quarterback Bryce Underwood running, he had to maintain contain on the mobile quarterback. This play was Counter all the way, but Underwood’s hand-off sells the possibility of a read keeping the corner at home and taking one extra player out of the box to help spring Haynes.
11-Personnel Pin & Pull vs Central Michigan (Called back)
I know, I know, this play was called back, but we still need to talk about it. Once again, coming out of the half, Lindsey saw something he liked during the intermission. Again, returning to a tried and true gap scheme favorite, Michigan has run pin and pull for several years, and although it’s not a staple of previous Lindsey offenses, he understands its role and importance in Ann Arbor. Most will remember it from 2022 against Penn State when Donovan Edwards broke free down the sideline.
In 2022, Michigan ran the play out of 12-personnel into the boundary with the nearside tight end sealing the edge, Colston Loveland selling a line route backside, and the guard/center combo pulling. Against Central Michigan, the Wolverines ran it out of 11-personnel and added some window dressing to increase leverage.
Before the snap, Underwood brings nearside wide receiver Channing Goodwin in orbit motion to draw the corner closer to the formation and ease the burden of the block for the linemen. In an ideal world, the corner would be in man-to-man and would move to the far side of the formation, but nothing is ever that perfect. At the snap, Goodwin’s motion draws the eyes of both safeties, pulling them out of position.
Up front, left guard Nathan Efobi and right guard Jake Guarnera pull to the boundary with tight end Marlin Klein sealing the edge. Efobi’s job is to kick out the first thing he sees (the corner), and Guarnera takes the most dangerous man to the inside (the linebacker). Everything is setting up beautifully until Efobi’s man over-pursues to the inside. This “mistake” by the corner interferes with the spacing on the play and saves the day for the Chips. As the corner recovers, he draws Efobi into a slight tug of the jersey and nullifies a 75-yard touchdown run. IF the corner plays this “correctly,” there is no flag. Sometimes you fail upwards.
During the run, watch the safeties just miss Haynes down the field. Now go back and watch their reaction to Goodwin’s motion. That little wrinkle Lindsey added will help Michigan hit this play for an explosive later this season. But after the game against Nebraska, look for center Greg Crippen to be involved as a puller.
11-Personnel Outside Zone vs Nebraska (x2)
Until this season, Michigan has probably run outside zone rushing concepts less than 10 times over the last five years. The scheme just never seemed to fit. Even last year against Indiana, if the Wolverines had just had ONE reliable outside zone run, they might have won that game. But the group could never execute consistently.
However, within Lindsey’s offense (and perhaps explaining the addition of Juan Castillo to the staff), outside zone is quickly becoming a key component of Michigan’s overall rush plan, and to great success. Against Nebraska, the Wolverines ran it more than 10 times, with two of them resulting in long touchdown runs. Both came on open zone (run toward the split end), 11-personnel looks, but differed in almost every aspect beyond that.
On the first run, Michigan motioned Max Bredeson to the bottom of the formation. This motion adds an RPO element with Bredeson and Channing Goodwin in space, prepared to block for Semaj Morgan. Furthermore, this draws strong reactions from three Cornhuskers fearing another screen pass. This is why Lindsey throws so many screens.
But at the snap, Bryce Underwood makes the correct read and gives the ball to Justice Haynes into the short side of the field. This is where the magic happens. Zone-blocking to the left, center Greg Crippen chips the defensive tackle into his left guard before advancing to seal off the linebacker. On the backside, right tackle Andrew Sprague seals off his man as the nearside defensive tackle twists and removes himself from the play. With his man lost without a map, right guard Jake Guarnera goes looking for work at the next level and seals off the backside linebacker. HAT ON A HAT.
Not to be outdone, far side receiver, Donoven McCulley, prevents his man from getting in on the action, leaving Haynes 1-on-1 with an over-pursuant safety. Advantage Haynes, who leaves him behind and is off to the races. The backside defensive backs try to make a play, but the RPO action moved them just enough to help Haynes reach the end zone.
Later in the game, Michigan returned to this play, although it looked entirely different from the onset. On the right hash, Michigan has a tight end (Marlin Klein) and a wide receiver (Fred Moore) to the top of the formation, with two receivers (Semaj Morgan, Donoven McCulley) split to the short side. No motions, no window dressing. Just SMASH.
At the snap, the line zone blocks into the boundary. Now, let’s address every block on this play.
Starting at the top, Moore engages his man and immediately gets his body in between the play and his assignment. Klein correctly steps down, allowing a backside rusher (more on that shortly), and works his way up to hit the linebacker. Evan Link lateral steps, plants, and drives his man out of the equation. Nathan Efobi, please take a quick moment of silence…Efobi uses a Cornhusker to block a Cornhusker! Initially beaten, Efobi remains engaged and drives the three-tech into the backfield and into the pursuing backside rusher! A brilliant example of not giving up on the play and finding a way to win the rep.
Center Greg Crippen is once again masterful on this play, as he helps his right guard with a chip before eliminating the linebacker at the next level. Jake Guarnera and Andrew Sprague both offer no quarter to their blocking assignments, the second the ball is snapped. And, lastly, both Morgan and McCulley at the bottom of the route engage and hit their assignments, allowing the play to go from good to great. Running back Jordan Marshall reads the blocking like a children’s book and pays off his teammates’ blocking efforts with a touchdown.
When head coach Sherrone Moore announced the hiring of Lindsey, he proclaimed Lindsey was the right hire due to his ability to marry his scheme with Michigan’s. And what we have seen over the first four weeks is exactly that. Lindsey has added key details to help rejuvenate the gap schemes and overhauled/installed the zone schemes to tremendous effect. Michigan still has its identity as a smash football team, but like a boxer adding a new punch, the Wolverines have new ways to land a knockout.
