Sherrone Moore unconcerned with fan opinion of offensive strategy
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan football is entering 2023 with a national championship or bust mentality, which it should, given that it has the fifth-most returning experience across college football. The offensive side of the ball is particularly loaded, especially with J.J. McCarthy returning at the helm as the starting quarterback for the second-straight year.
But, Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards will also be in the backfield, which leads to the question: how much will Michigan run and how much will it pass on a game-by-game basis?
This week, offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore said that while the intent is to do both relatively evenly, whatever a particular game dictates is what the Wolverines will do.
“Yeah, we want to be balanced, be able to do both,” Moore said. “Really, the division is what our players are good at, what J.J. wants to throw. How we’re going to attack the defense every week is going to change. There will probably be a game we’ll run the ball more and people will be mad at us. And if it helps us win, we’ll be OK with it.”
The past two years, fans took to social media to voice their displeasure when Michigan started out being quite run-heavy, with the usual caveat stated, ‘This style of play cannot beat Ohio State.’ The first year, despite OSU’s weakness being against a physical run game early in the season, it made more sense. But the maize and blue’s style of play was capitulated by fans even last year until the rout over Penn State, when Michigan ran the ball for over 400 yards.
When it comes to fan opinion, Sherrone Moore insists that those who bleed maize and blue should just leave it to the experts.
“Whatever we got to do to win, that’s what we’re gonna do,” Moore said. “We’re not going to value the opinions of people that don’t understand what we’re doing. We’re gonna do whatever it takes to win. So whatever that is, in that game, if it’s throw, pass, we’re going to do. So that’s the vision and built it around our players.”
As shown late in the season last year, Michigan does have the ability to do both run and pass, and while it would behoove the Wolverines to pass more given the talent it has at quarterback and receiver, if they can run the ball, as expected, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see next season play out quite similarly to the past two.
